On March 21, 2025, Arbitrator Dennis R. Nolan issued his final and binding award, setting the terms of the 2023-2026 National Agreement. Since then, NALC and USPS have been jointly working to prepare the new National Agreement for release, as well as plan for the implementation of some new provisions included in the agreement. The online version of the National Agreement is now available on the NALC website.
Since the date of the Nolan Award, NALC and USPS have been discussing the best course of action to implement some new rules. As a result, the parties agreed to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Re: Resolution of Issues Left Open by the Nolan Award of March 21, 2025. This MOU explains that some new provisions in Article 8 of the National Agreement will take effect on July 1, 2025, and that until that date, the language from those sections in the 2019-2023 National Agreement will remain in place. The specific sections of the contract that are being implemented on July 1 are fully explained in the MOU.
New overtime options
The provisions of Article 8, Section 5.A create new opportunities for full-time letter carriers to volunteer for overtime. Under the previous language, in effect through June 30, 2025, letter carriers could either sign the Work Assignment List or the Overtime Desired List (ODL). If they signed the ODL, they were volunteering to work overtime on both their regularly scheduled and non-scheduled days. While they could indicate their preference to work either 10 or 12 hours each day, they were still available to work seven days a week. Beginning July 1, full-time letter carriers will have more options.
As before, they can sign the Work Assignment List indicating their availability to work up to 12 hours only on their own assignment on a regularly scheduled day. The new language does not change the rules regarding the Work Assignment List. Under the new contract, letter carriers who wish to be on the ODL can now select to volunteer to work up to 12 hours on their scheduled days only or they can volunteer to work overtime up to eight hours only on their non-scheduled days. If they desire to do both, they can do so by signing both ODLs. Letter carriers who select to work up to 12 hours on their scheduled days only are available to work up to the daily limitations on each of their regularly scheduled days. On their non-scheduled days, they are treated like other letter carriers who are not on the ODL. For letter carriers who have selected to work overtime up to eight hours only on their non-scheduled days, they can work only on their non-scheduled days up to a maximum of eight hours. On their regularly scheduled days and beyond eight hours on their non-scheduled days, they are the same as non-ODL letter carriers. If a letter carrier chooses to sign both ODLs, they may do so, and they are volunteering to work up to 12 hours per day on both their scheduled and non-scheduled days. In essence, it is the same as the ODL that has been in place for many years. There is no longer an option for letter carriers to indicate their preference to work up to 10 hours in a day.
As under previous contracts, letter carriers have the right to sign the ODL or Work Assignment List in the two weeks before the beginning of the calendar quarter. Once a letter carrier signed the list, they never had to sign it again as long as they remained in the same installation and did not remove their name from the list. Because of the changes to the ODL, letter carriers who are on the list during the current quarter must sign one or both of the new ODLs if they want to remain available for overtime. The next quarter begins on July 1, so every full-time letter carrier who wants to sign one of the ODLs should indicate their preference during the two-week signup period. Letter carriers who previously signed the Work Assignment List and wish to remain on that list do not need to sign up again.
Automatic payment for hours worked in excess of daily and weekly limits
While the new language in Article 8, Section 5.G.3 will take effect on July 1, the Postal Service may not have its payroll system updated to compensate letter carriers who voluntarily agree to work in excess of 12 hours in a service day or 60 hours in a service week. As explained in Article 8, Section 4.G, any letter carrier who works over these limitations is automatically paid an additional 50 percent of their base hourly straight-time rate. Until the pay systems are updated, the parties have agreed to a process that requires management at the district level to review the hours of every letter carrier and identify the city letter carriers who have worked in excess of the daily and weekly limitations during the previous pay period. Management must then input the pay adjustments for those individuals into their Grievance Arbitration Tracking System (GATS). Every pay period, the Postal Service must provide documentation to the NALC at the headquarters level detailing which employees worked over the limitations and how much each letter carrier was compensated. Because the new language does not take effect until July 1, any letter carrier who is required to work more than 12 hours in a service day or 60 hours in a service week should notify their shop steward so they can investigate and file a grievance if necessary. After July 1, and until the Postal Service’s payroll systems are ready to provide automatic payments, any disputes regarding the proper payment for hours worked will be handled at the headquarters level. Once the payroll system is updated, the additional compensation will be paid automatically.
New Employee Experience, Retention and Mentoring Program
In addition to the changes in Article 8, the parties also agreed to the nationwide implementation of the MOU Re: New Employee Experience, Retention and Mentoring Program on July 1. Until that time, the only places where this program will be in effect are those locations in which the parties jointly selected to conduct pilot tests under the MOU Re: New Employee Experience and Retention Program and the MOU Re: New Employee Mentoring Program. Under these two agreements, the parties used an alternate dispute resolution process to handle issues that arose in the pilot offices. After July 1, when the pilot programs end and every office nationwide is included in the New Employee Experience, Retention and Mentoring Program, violations of this MOU will be handled through the Dispute Resolution Process outlined in Article 15 of the National Agreement.
The electronic version of the 2023-2026 National Agreement is available here. NALC is in the process of printing hard copies of the National Agreement. Information on distribution and availability of hard copies will be provided in the future.
