Some 200,000 mail carriers have reached a tentative contract deal with the U.S. Postal Service that includes backdated pay raises and a promise to provide workers with air-conditioned trucks.
The new agreement, which still needs to be ratified by union members, runs through November 2026. Letter carriers have been working without a new contract since their old one expired in May 2023. Since then they have continued working under the terms of the old contract.
Both the union and the Postal Service welcomed the agreement, which was announced Friday.
Some states don’t require observation of heat stroke risk mitigation for their workers. Getting it into their federal labor contract ensures a) the feature will be required as a functional feature in all their vehicles, and 2. they can’t be told not to turn the feature on.