New deadline set for December 7, 2011
Nov. 21. 2011 — NALC President Fred Rolando and USPS Postmaster General Pat Donahoe announced on Sunday, Nov. 20, that the parties’ 2006-2011 National Agreement has been extended to Dec. 7, 2011, to give the parties additional time to negotiate the provisions of a new contract. The 2006 agreement had been set to expire at midnight Sunday.
“We have been working in good faith to hammer out a new contract and we hope that this extension will lead to an agreement that our members can enthusiastically ratify,” President Rolando said.
The entire NALC Executive Council and the USPS negotiating team have been sequestered at a hotel in Washington since Nov. 13 in order to work around the clock on the terms of a new National Agreement. Council committees chaired by the union’s resident national officers have engaged management counterparts in intensive discussions on the full range of contract issues affecting working conditions and workplace rights during daily negotiations that often stretched late into the night.
President Rolando has coordinated the work of all the committees and has taken the lead on the key economic provisions of the contract, including pay, health benefits and other matters such as the structure of the city carrier workforce. As the expiration date approached, the focus shifted to finding innovative ways to reduce the cost of employee health care while preserving and protecting the benefits of NALC’s members.
The 2011 round of bargaining kicked off in August at a time of extreme challenges for the Postal Service, as the congressional mandate to pre-fund future retiree health benefits has crippled the agency’s finances. Over time, the talks have gathered momentum. In the end, the parties agreed that more time could help the talks succeed.
“We remain committed to negotiating a fair contract that will advance the best interests of the nation’s city letter carriers,” Rolando said.
| Contract Term | Type of Settlement | Bargaining Structure* |
| 1971-1973 | Negotiated settlement | JBC: NALC, APWU crafts, NPMHU, NRLCA |
| 1973-1975 | Negotiated settlement | JBC: NALC, APWU, NPMHU, NRLCA |
| 1975-1978 | Negotiated settlement | JBC: NALC, APWU, NPMHU, NRLCA |
| 1978-1981 | Healy Award (partial arbitration) | JBC: NALC, APWU, NPMHU |
| 1981-1984 | Negotiated settlement | JBC: NALC, APWU |
| 1984-1987 | Kerr Award (arbitration) | JBC: NALC, APWU |
| 1987-1990 | Negotiated settlement | JBC: NALC, APWU |
| 1990-1994 | Mittenthal and Valtin Awards | JBC: NALC, APWU |
| 1994-1998 | Stark Award (arbitration) | NALC |
| 1998-2001 | Fleischli Award (arbitration) | NALC |
| 2001-2006 | Negotiated settlement | NALC |
| 2006-2011 | Negotiated settlement | NALC |
| * In many rounds of bargaining, two or more unions formed a Joint Bargaining Committee (JBC) to negotiate with the Postal Service. The NALC has negotiated on its own since 1994. | ||
Anyone interested in learning about the history of postal bargaining may wish to consult this time line or read the NALC’s official history, Carriers in a Common Cause, available from the NALC Supply Department.
A R B I T A T I O N………There will be numerous extensions with nothing done..just like the congrssional committee who quit…..
stop playing the usps game….they have no intention of negotiating….just a stalling game…and the nalc falls for it…
well done simon the watcher,,good story, po needs to get rid of saturday delivery there is too much savings
That is one of the best Streams of Consciousness I’ve read. I do give great credit to all craft employees. We all sink sink together. We all should row and bail together
Lube your selves up carriers the NALC is about to give you reality harder than it ever has before. LOL at the poor idiots out there with their short memories. USPS will once again ignore the fact that at the end of the day you are what the public sees as the post office. They will treat these negotiations as if they were dealing with comfy indoor unexposed to infinite outdoor hazard workers. They always forget the conditions you have to work in. They will ignore that they increased your workload substantially. They will forget that your safety always comes second to the delivery of mail. Carriers are exposed to the elements, nutjobs, dogs, street violence, wear and tear from delivering an average of over a thousand deliveries racing against the clock all while expected to work “safely” carrying multiple bundles going up and down icy or moldy steps. You the carrier should be the top paid worker in every post office. You put up with these conditions. You deliver the mail. You not management has to answer the bulk of customers questions and complaints. You are the only craft that is expected to be in motion every last minute of your eight hour work day. You are the craft that gets spied on with street supervision and offensive gps tracking devices. You are the craft that is insulted each and every day by management. You are handed the bulk of the USPS burden so that management can continue to manipulate data in order to make their bonus quotas. Any idiot can repeat the same unrealistic instructions day in and day out, any moron can work a spread sheet with fabricated numbers, any goof ball can push a broom and mop any simpleton can unload and load a truck or separate mail in the comforts of a/c and heated offices. Only you know what it is like to have to hump in extreme heat and below zero temperatures where it does not matter what you have on these conditions hurt. You are the ones told to take your gloves off so that DPS can be worked on the street house to house. You gave to provide most if tour own uniform you are not given any hazard pay. You are not given workers comp, but are harassed when you use your sick leave after breaking down from illness sue to the conditions you work in. You the carrier are stupidly and cruely given only one sporadic day off at a time and expected to come back ready to do it all again. You are expected to do a six day week every five weeks with only one day of leave after that hump. The NALC has screwed you time and time again concentrating all of their strenghth on preserving this schedule which these same union officers do not have to abide by az they get every weekend off. Coming back refreshed to a desk job, not a mountain of mail and deliveries to be made. I hope that congress does right by carriers and points out all of these discrepancies to the NALC next time they bring up their selfish save saturday (the dues) agenda.
Lou,
You’re kidding right? Rolondo’s statement ” Carrier workforce structure” means your contract will mirror APWU.
ENTHUSIASTICALLY RATIFY !! The dust coming off the trillions of dollars floating around Washington has effected your mind. Yes there are many harsh realities coming down the pipe. The bumbling policies of past decisions can’t be juggled any longer. Please don’t tell me I will be enthusiastic at the final product. All choices will be loaded with sacrifices, if this is a true productive contract. We carriers [and other crafts] have sacrificed a lot. Workload increased, management bullying INCREASED, respect of the american public DECREASED. Our job has always been service. The conditions today are causing great HARM to service. I am proud of my career, but today I am embarrassed at many of the stories I hear. The overburdened routes, and incredible gulag management style, are reasons No. 1 and No. 2. for the unhealthy work atmosphere today. Volume drop and neg. deficit are beyond my paygrade. Show me how to be ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT WORK CONDITIONS !!
Clerks get ready to see what real unions can do.Compare the members of the Nalc Committee and the Mailhandlers committee and you will see stark differences in the quality of the negotiating teams.The proof will be in the pudding.