USPS employees rally in Midtown demanding better wages and working conditions

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Sunday, a group of United States postal service employees gathered to protest their displeasure with USPS' latest contract offer to the National Association of Letter Carriers union.

USPS city carrier technician Mike Willits joined his peers in this rally in front of the post office on Speedway and Campbell. Willits and other postal workers said they don't approve of the tentative labor agreement as it stands. They argue the terms don't reflect a significant increase in pay, better working conditions, and more favorable hours.

“We do the same route everyday and see the same customers and build relationships,” Willits said.

"We can get a better deal,” carrier Isaac Owen said.

As is, the contract says all city-level USPS letter carriers will get a retroactive 1.3-percent pay increase for having worked in 2023 & 2024, and the same increase into November 2025. New letter carriers would get a 2.3 percent pay increase for those same years, plus a 50-cent-an-hour increase.

“Those wages are just not good enough to attract people to do what is a very physically demanding and stressful job,” Owen said.

“Brand new people at the post office, they don’t get the same benefits as regular carriers," Willits said. "They don’t get very good pay. They get terrible hours."

The agreement would let some workers clock out after working 11.5 hours a day or 60 hours in a week; letter carriers would also get paid two and a half times their hourly base rate if they work either 12 hours a day, or 60 hours in a week.

Owen said his union peers are also fighting for better shift hours and an end to USPS' mandatory overtime policy.
“You should be able to come in, work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and be able to support yourself,” he said.

If union members reject the agreement, NALC and USPS can either continue bargaining or refer the dispute to an arbitration board that would make the final decision. Willits said several NALC members hope the deal gets sent to a natural arbitrator, instead. “We just take care of everything in the community and we couldn’t not do that for our people,” he said.