An arbitrator announced Tuesday that it has imposed a concession contract on members of the National Association of Letter Carriers. The contract is virtually identical to the one which workers rejected by 70 percent earlier this year. Because the new deal was reached through binding arbitration, mandatory for federal workers, NALC members will not even get to vote this time.
The contract contains a provocative series of pay increases of 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 percent over three years, only 0.2 percent better than the contract workers rejected. The contract also contains a 1 percent plus 50-cent-per-hour raise for second-tier City Carrier Assistants, which still leaves them far behind career employees. City letter carriers will still make less even than UPS drivers, themselves under attack through massive job cuts under the company’s “Network of the Future” program.
