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.”