MOLINE, Ill. — Chants and honks rang throughout the area near the Moline post office on Monday morning.
Letter carriers from across the Quad Cities rallied to demand better pay and a new contract, with the slogan "First Class Mail Service, First Class Pay" printed on multiple signs at the rally.
It was organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers Local Branch 318. One union leader told News 8 they have been working without a contract for over 500 days.
"We're stuck at the same pay scale that we were 512 days ago," Local 318 Vice President Justin Lott said.
He said the workers want adjustments made for today's inflation — comparing current wages to the Wildcat Postal Strike of the 1970s.
"If you adjust everything for today, we are actually below the pay it would have been in 1970," Lott said.
Another concern raised during Monday's rally was letter carrier safety. The group said that two months ago, a postal worker was attacked in the Quad Cities while delivering packages.
"We are the faces they see, we are the post office," Winnide Jaggernauth, a local letter carrier, said. "During the most important time of the year, we can't keep carriers because of low pay, low wages and just unsafe conditions."
Back in June, postal workers rallied together asking lawmakers to pass the Protect of Letter Carriers Act of 2024.
“Letter carriers have been shot and held at gunpoint for their arrow keys that open up the blue boxes," Lott said.
News 8 has reached out to USPS for comment on Monday's rally and the proposed negotiations but has yet to hear back.