The National Association of Letter Carriers has reached a tentative new labor agreement with the U.S. Postal Service covering 213,000 active city letter carriers nationwide.

The union negotiated pay increases, no increases in health care costs and narrowed the pay gaps between city carrier assistants (CCAs) and career letter carriers.

NALC President Fredric V. Rolando says the union's executive council is recommending that letter carriers ratify the tentative agreement.

Rolando says the new agreement preserves "the core achievements of our bargaining history, including regular general wage increases and cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), protections against outsourcing and layoffs, as well as other contractual elements that define our standard of living."

Letter carriers will now vote on whether or not to ratify the new tentative labor agreement.