Bath Beach residents woke up to honks, chants and a firetruck blaring its horn on Sunday morning as postal workers rallied in front of the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Branch 41 office to demand higher pay.
Carriers from as far away as Hawaii and Louisiana joined Brooklyn postal workers to pressure the national leadership to secure a better contract for the union that represents over 285,000 letter carriers across the country.
The tentative agreement struck between NALC President Brian Renfroe and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in October would give some postal workers a 1.3% raise, not nearly enough to meet the needs of workers, according to Branch 41 President John Cruz.
“The cost of living right now is way over 1.3%,” Cruz said.
Cruz and other members of the Concerned Letter Carriers, an organization within the union, are urging members to vote no to the tentative contract so they can go into arbitration with the U.S. Postal Service.
Based on his prior experience, Cruz said he believes the letter carriers, who must vote on the tentative contract by Jan. 13, 2025, will get a better deal if the two sides go into arbitration.
James Henry, a 37-year veteran of the post office and the vice president of NALC, said he is particularly concerned about City Carrier Assistants, an entry-level position in the post office, which has a starting wage of $19 an hour.
“At In-N-Out Burger, there you have them starting out at $20 an hour,” Henry said, who travelled from California to attend the rally. “This is a union job, this should not happen.”
Pay issues are not isolated to entry level positions, as tenured employees told BK Reader they also have difficulties making ends meet.
Todd Lane Jr., a shop steward at the Kensington post office, has worked for the post office for eight years. A single father to three children, Lane said he sometimes misses paying a bill despite working full-time.
“I can’t make bills… it might not be a great Christmas or the TV might go out,” Lane said. “Even now, I'm struggling paying rent. It's really hard.”
Antoine Murray, a shop steward at the Shirley Chisholm post office in Bedford-Stuyvesant, said the 1.3% raise was a “smack in the face."
“When you see what healthcare takes away, you're in the negatives,” the 26-year veteran said of the tentative agreement. “I like to say we're ‘Blue Santa,’ which is delivering all the presents for everybody else, but can't even afford to buy presents.”
Steven Mahomy, a shop steward at the Blythebourne office in Borough Park, said letter carriers are working longer hours, carrying heavier packages and delivering more mail compared to 20 years ago when he first started.
“One thing that I notice, management is always pushing you to complete your assignment," which includes ringing doorbells and bringing packages to a customer's door, Mahomy explained. "But in order to adhere to time constraints, they kind of pressure, especially the younger carriers, to just drop the packages [in front of the building or house].”
Mahomy said that this practice can lead to packages being stolen.
“Would you consider in a 70-family building, a common hallway where anybody can come in or out, a safe and secure location?" asked Mahomy.
Henry, who is looking to unseat Renfroe in 2026 when the union holds elections, said he is against president-elect Donald Trump’s plan to privatize USPS.
“The biggest mistake anyone could do is to privatize the post service,” Henry said. "For our competitors like FedEx and UPS, we're the last mile. We deliver to every single house in every, state, city in the country and they pay us sometimes to finish their deliveries."
