The NALC’s 2023–2026 National Agreement expired at midnight on May 22, 2026, without a new deal. After three months of bargaining — including a final week where the entire NALC Executive Council negotiated around the clock in Washington — NALC and USPS couldn’t get to yes. The contract is now officially expired, and around 200,000 city letter carriers are in the next phase: mandatory mediation.
Here’s what actually happened, what mediation means, and what city carriers should be watching over the next two months.
What Happened at the Table
NALC and USPS opened formal negotiations on February 25, 2026. For three months, the two sides exchanged proposals on wages, cost-of-living adjustments, CCA conversion timelines, overtime rules, and route evaluation. Progress was made — NALC described the talks as “intense” — but not enough.
In the final week before expiration, NALC brought its entire Executive Council to a Washington hotel and negotiated essentially nonstop, trying to bridge the remaining gaps before the May 22 deadline. It wasn’t enough. Neither side requested an extension. At midnight, the contract expired.
NALC President Brian Renfroe confirmed that a mandatory 60-day mediation period will follow, as required by federal statute. The existing contract remains in full force and effect during that period — meaning your current pay rates, overtime rules, route protections, and Article 6 layoff provisions all continue unchanged.
What Mediation Actually Means
Mediation in the postal labor context isn’t arbitration — it’s a structured negotiation with a neutral third party from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) facilitating the talks. The mediator doesn’t have the power to impose a settlement. Both sides still have to agree.
The 60-day clock started May 22. That puts the mediation window at roughly mid-to-late July 2026. During that time, NALC and USPS will continue bargaining — now with a mediator in the room — trying to close whatever gaps remain from the final week of negotiations.
Mediation succeeds more often than people expect in postal labor. The fact that NALC said the parties “made progress” but didn’t close the deal suggests the gap wasn’t enormous — just enough that both sides needed more time or a mediator to help them get there. It’s possible this resolves in the next few weeks.
If Mediation Fails: Arbitration
If the 60 days of mediation end without a deal, the dispute moves to binding interest arbitration. This is where things get more significant. In arbitration, a neutral arbitrator — or more commonly a three-person panel with one neutral and one person from each side — reviews both parties’ proposals and issues a binding decision on every unresolved issue. Whatever the arbitrator decides becomes the new contract.
NALC has been through this before. The 2013–2016 contract (the “Das Award,” named for arbitrator Shyam Das) was arbitrated after the previous round of bargaining deadlocked. That contract established the two-tier pay structure that Table 2 carriers still live with today. Arbitration doesn’t mean a bad outcome — but it does mean the union loses direct control over what the contract says.
In arbitration, USPS’s ability to pay is a significant factor. The financial crisis is real: USPS reported a $2 billion net loss in Q2 FY2026, mail volumes continue falling, and the agency has told Congress it could run out of cash by early 2027 without relief. An arbitrator is going to hear all of that. It makes it harder — not impossible, but harder — to win the same kind of broad wage package the 2023–2026 contract delivered.
The Broader Context: Three Unions, One Crisis
NALC isn’t the only union in contract limbo right now. NPMHU and NRLCA contracts are also expiring this year, which means roughly three of the four major postal unions are bargaining simultaneously against the backdrop of the worst financial crisis in USPS history.
On May 1, the presidents of all four unions — APWU, NALC, NPMHU, and NRLCA — sent a joint letter to Congress calling for USPS’s $15 billion borrowing cap to be raised, pension funds to be allowed to invest in the stock market, and legacy retirement accounting to be restructured. The unified front is notable: the unions are essentially telling Congress that the path to fair contracts runs through legislative action on the financial crisis, not just the bargaining table.
If Congress raises the borrowing cap or provides other meaningful relief, it changes the financial picture that an arbitrator would weigh. It’s one more reason to watch legislative movement alongside contract news.
What’s at Stake for City Carriers
The issues that brought NALC and USPS to the table — and the ones most likely still unresolved heading into mediation — include:
Wages and general wage increases. The 2023–2026 contract delivered an average 19.5% total increase over 36 months. The union will push to maintain that trajectory; management will argue financial constraints require restraint. Full COLA protection is non-negotiable for NALC — it’s the single most important inflation hedge carriers have.
Table 1 vs. Table 2 pay gap. Carriers hired after 2013 top out significantly lower than pre-2013 hires for the same work. Every contract narrows it slightly, and NALC will push to close it further. This affects the majority of the current carrier workforce.
CCA-to-career conversion. Management has signaled interest in a larger pre-career workforce. NALC has consistently pushed for faster CCA conversion and stricter caps on non-career staffing ratios. If Steiner’s vision prevails, more carrier positions stay in CCA status longer — which affects job security and benefits access for thousands of workers.
Overtime and scheduling. Mandatory overtime remains one of the biggest quality-of-life issues in the craft. Stronger limits, more equitable distribution, and consecutive-day protections are perennial NALC priorities.
Five-day delivery. PMG Steiner has publicly put five-day delivery on the table as a cost-cutting measure. If it advances, it has major implications for route structures, headcount, and CCA workloads. Any contract signed now would need to account for the possibility.
Your current NALC pay rates — Table 1 and Table 2, with all 2026 COLAs applied — are in our calculator. See exactly what you’re taking home right now.
Calculate Your Take-Home Pay →What to Watch
The mediation window runs through roughly July 22, 2026. Here’s what matters most over the next two months:
Whether mediation closes a deal. NALC will post updates on its website and through branch communications. If a tentative agreement is reached, it goes to a ratification vote. If members reject it (as happened with the 2023 tentative agreement that was later ratified after renegotiation), bargaining reopens briefly before arbitration.
Congressional movement on USPS finances. A borrowing cap increase or other financial relief changes the arbitration calculus significantly. Watch for markup activity in the House Oversight and Senate Homeland Security committees, which have jurisdiction over USPS legislation.
The Alvarez & Marsal recommendations. USPS hired restructuring consultants, and their recommendations are expected by end of FY2026 (September 30). If those recommendations target delivery operations or workforce structure, they feed directly into what management argues it needs at the bargaining table.
The NALC collective bargaining conference June 1–3. NALC branch presidents are meeting this coming weekend to hear directly from leadership on where things stand. Watch for any readout from that conference — it’s the union’s first major member-facing moment since the contract expired.
We’ll update this post as developments occur. For the full negotiating history and context on what the last contract delivered, see our NALC contract negotiations overview.
Sources: NALC official announcement (May 22, 2026), USPS Q2 FY2026 financial results (May 8, 2026), Federal News Network, World Socialist Web Site reporting on union joint letter (May 2026).