All non-bargaining employees of the U.S. Postal Service will get a 3% salary raise on their paychecks, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced.
The salary increase will go into effect on Sept. 24, and employees should see the change reflected on their pay stubs beginning Oct. 14. The raises will apply regardless of current salary maximums for all Executive and Administrative Schedule and non-bargaining unit employees.
“Much has been accomplished this past year in the face of significant challenges — the continued impact of a global pandemic and record inflation,” said DeJoy in a statement. “Our management team consistently rises to overcome these and other challenges and perform at a high level.
The National Association of Postal Supervisors said in a statement that while it applauds the agency’s recognition of financial hardship imposed by high costs of living, additional pay relief for EAS personnel will be required to offset the nearly 9% inflation of the past year.
NAPS is not a union, but advocates on behalf of 27,000 active and retired Postal Service workers and educates policymakers on the needs of this workforce. One of its biggest tentpoles has been fighting for competitive pay and benefits.
“Members of USPS bargaining units will receive greater salary increases through their ongoing contractual and cost-of-living adjustments and step increases in the months ahead, and EAS employees should receive additional increases to maintain an adequate salary differential above the craft employees and compensation comparable to the private sector, as required by law,” it said.
Two years ago, NAPS sued the Postal Service over the terms of its 2016-2019 pay package, arguing that the agency violated the Postal Act by failing to provide a pay differential between clerks and carriers and the supervisors that manage them.
The agency disagreed, saying provisions in the act merely state “policy goals” that the agency “should attempt to achieve,” but which are not not mandatory and enforceable directives.
That suit is still ongoing and not resolved by the pay increases announced this week, NAPS said.
The Postal Service employs approximately 625,000 workers, about 49,000 of whom are supervisors and other professional and administrative workers known as EAS employees.
Molly Weisner is a staff reporter for Federal Times where she covers labor, policy and contracting pertaining to the government workforce. She made previous stops at USA Today and McClatchy as a digital producer, and worked at The New York Times as a copy editor. Molly majored in journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
