Letter carriers rally across Illinois over contract negotiations, safety, mail-in ballots

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Through wind, rain, sleet, and snow, generations of United States Postal Service (USPS) mail carriers have trudged through U.S. neighborhoods on foot.

“Now, we don’t do bullets, y’all,” said Elise Foster. “We can’t do bullets.”

Foster is president of Branch 11 Chicago, the largest National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) union, which serves the city and some suburbs. With more than 30 years of service, Foster is an active mail carrier in Pilsen. She was among many mail carriers who rallied across Illinois on Monday to demand increased wages, better treatment and safety protections.

The rally came amid an increasing number of letter carriers have been beaten, robbed at gunpoint and even killed, with only about 10% of the more than 2,000 attacks on letter carriers nationwide since 2020 having been prosecuted.

“We want to go about our … rounds safely and come home to our families,” Foster said. “The postal service owes us that in our working conditions, and something needs to be done.”

There is currently a proposed resolution in the U.S. Congress to help deter postal crimes. The Protect Our Letter Carriers Act, if passed, would add funding for more postal inspectors and resources to prosecute crimes against postal workers and would create a new system using fobs instead of keys.

“We are forced to go out there every day with no protection,” Foster said. “Just go out there and get the mail delivered.”

Outside of the Chicago Loop Post Office, those who gathered chanted: “First class service, first class wages.”

The unionized USPS letter carriers said their concerns — as they surpass 500 days in contract negotiations with the postal service — are the same that could lead to delays in mail delivery and processing, which could ultimately affect mail-in ballots for the Nov. 5, 2024, general election.

Mike Caref is a national business agent for the NALC.

“People used to line up down the street to work for the U.S. Postal Service,” Caref said. “That job is not there no more. They harass us every day. The pay is not what it used to be, and we’re getting assaulted out there in the neighborhood just for doing our jobs, having guns pulled out there while delivering the mail.”

Mail carriers on Monday claimed that the USPS has yet to introduce a plan to ensure a timely collection for ballots.

“Nobody thought, ‘We’ve got to have employees and workers to actually do the work, to actually get out there and deliver the mail,’” Caref said.

The USPS and the Chicago Board of Elections have both not yet responded to requests from WBBM Newsradio for comment on letter carrier claims that there may be issues or delays affecting mail-in ballot processing for the upcoming election.

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