This week, the NALC Executive Council met at NALC Headquarters in Washington, DC, to continue preparations for the next round of collective bargaining. Negotiations with the Postal Service will officially begin in February 2026, as the current National Agreement is set to expire on May 22, 2026.
Internal bargaining subcommittees, composed of Executive Council members and Headquarters staff, have been assigned specific articles of the National Agreement and are meeting on a regular basis to review information and develop proposals for submission in the bargaining process. Click here for a list of the subcommittees that each Executive Council member has chosen to serve on, along with the related National Agreement articles.
Each subcommittee is tracking its progress by preparing and submitting reports following each meeting. These reports detail information including which articles were discussed, what materials were reviewed, the status of proposal drafts, and when the subcommittee is scheduled to meet next.
Subcommittees are reviewing the following materials:
- Official NALC bargaining positions — Resolutions submitted by branches and state associations that have been debated, voted on and adopted at past national conventions dating back to 1970.
- Prior bargaining proposals — Proposals from previous rounds of collective bargaining that can potentially be reworked or resubmitted.
- Collective bargaining agreements of other unions — Contract items and elements that might translate well into our craft or prompt ideas relevant to city letter carrier issues.
Rank-and-File Bargaining Committee reports—Ideas developed by the Rank-and-File Bargaining Committees comprised of Branch Leaders, Contract Enforcers and Newer Members. These committees met in the Washington, DC, area in mid-September and underwent a weeklong review process similar to the one followed by the Executive Council and staff bargaining subcommittees. Click here for more information.
The Executive Council is scheduled to meet at Headquarters again later this month. NALC will continue to provide updates about the work of the subcommittees involved in the collective-bargaining preparation process.
Keep working at this
By all means let’s get these proposals out in the open for all to see, or is the NALC going to return to secrecy. It would be good to know, but the fact is these very proposals will never be agreed upon by the USPS. It’s about dollars and cents for them and that’s it. No contact for two years and how many proposals were agreed upon? Zero if any; the fact is these things can be decided by an mou but it makes the NALC look like they’re “fighting like hell.” There needs to be a six month at most time limit for negotiations and send the thing on to arbitration with a three week limit on that. The USPS NEVER negotiated in good faith, so why is the NALC going along with the charade.