One of the things we've been tracking as we expand CREA to all four crafts is the bargaining landscape. Each union negotiates separately with USPS, on different timelines, with different priorities. It's a lot to keep up with, so we put together a summary of what we've found as of early 2026.

A note: Bargaining situations change. For the most current information, always check with your national or local union. What follows is our understanding based on publicly available information.

NALC — City Letter Carriers

Status: Settled through interest arbitration

The NALC's most recent round of bargaining went to interest arbitration after the parties couldn't reach a voluntary agreement. Arbitrator Dennis Nolan issued what's become known as the "Nolan Award" in early 2025, setting the terms for a multi-year period.

From what we've researched, the award addressed several areas that stewards have been asking us about:

• Wage adjustments and cost-of-living provisions
• Changes to how overtime distribution works under what's now a restructured system
• Pathways for non-career employees to move into career positions

CREA has the current NALC agreement, the JCAM, and over 30,000 arbitration decisions indexed. If you're researching how any of these provisions apply to your situation, that's what we're here for.

APWU — Clerks, Maintenance, Motor Vehicle

Status: New agreement ratified

The APWU reached a deal covering 2024 through 2027, and the membership overwhelmingly approved it in a ratification vote in mid-2025. From what we've seen, voter turnout was strong and the approval margin was wide.

Areas the new agreement touches on, based on our research:

• Wage increases spread across the agreement's term
• Adjustments to how non-career PSE (Postal Support Employee) positions convert to career status
• Craft-specific articles covering the different APWU crafts — clerk, maintenance, and motor vehicle

We've indexed both the new agreement and the JCIM 2025, plus 2,673 APWU arbitration cases. APWU stewards can search all of this through CREA now.

NPMHU — Mail Handlers

Status: In interest arbitration

This is the one we're watching most closely. The NPMHU's previous agreement expired in late 2025, and from what we can tell, the parties negotiated past the deadline but couldn't close the gap on economic issues. The process has moved into interest arbitration.

While that plays out, the previous agreement stays in effect — that's standard procedure under postal labor law. The issues on the table reportedly include wages, overnight pay differentials, non-career employee compensation, and subcontracting protections. Subcontracting is a particularly significant concern for mail handlers given the growth of contracted processing operations.

We have the current NPMHU agreement and the CIM v.6 indexed, along with 212 mail handler arbitration cases. When a new agreement is reached, we'll update our database.

NRLCA — Rural Letter Carriers

Status: New agreement ratified

The NRLCA ratified a new agreement covering 2024 through 2027. The vote passed, though the margin was narrower than APWU's — roughly two-thirds in favor, from what we've seen reported.

What caught our attention in the rural agreement:

• Changes to how the RRECS route evaluation system works — this is the compensation system unique to rural carriers that replaced the old mail count method
• Pay adjustments for RCA (Rural Carrier Associate) positions
• Updates to probationary period rules

We've indexed the new NRLCA agreement, the RCAM (their interpretation manual, which is brand new as of 2024), PO-603, and the RRECS guide. We also have 73 NRLCA arbitration cases and are actively looking for more.

The Big Picture

Three of the four unions have settled agreements in place. NPMHU is the exception, with interest arbitration ongoing. For stewards in all crafts, the practical takeaway is the same: the better you know your current governing documents, the stronger your grievance arguments. That's true whether your contract was just ratified or has been in place for years.

We built CREA to make that research faster. Each union's stewards now get search results scoped to their own craft's documents and arbitration history. If you haven't tried it yet, we'd love to have you.

We'll update this post as the NPMHU situation develops and as new information becomes available. Last updated: April 2026.