While today is not the time for specifics, we want you to know that any new contract should have appropriate general wage increases along with a continuation, if not improvement, of the COLA formula. And it should come as no surprise to you, and especially not to Doug, who has heard me repeatedly say that we need to focus on our leave replacement ranks who need much deserved upgrades to wage rates and benefits. It will be an investment you will be glad you made as these carriers are the future of the Postal Service and you could not survive without them.
We will be spending many days with one another over the coming months and while we may sometimes take positions that the other side cannot accept, we must remember that we need each other. We need a functioning, healthy Postal Service and you need the finest women and men America has to offer to safely and securely deliver the mail to almost 45 million households across the country.
We have a higher calling because we are servants to the Constitution and provide universal service, and in the far corners of our vast country, we are literally the last mile. We are the face of the Postal Service to every customer we cross paths with when we provide service with a smile.
Megan, Doug, and Cathy—on behalf of the NRLCA, we thank you for your leadership and we look forward to working with you again to find common ground so that we can once more put together an agreement that these officers with me today can proudly bring to our members for ratification.
Full Statement is in the April 2018 National Rural Letter Carrier Magazine