Although post offices are closed Monday for Indigenous Peoples’ and Columbus Day across the country, a group of postal workers is picketing in Minneapolis.

The National Association of Letter Carriers says its union workers have been working for more than 16 months without a contract. The union says it is asking for a pay increase, claiming wages are not keeping up with inflation. In addition, it says USPS is required by law to pay its employees at rates comparable to private sector wages.

The union says the highest pay is at least 20% lower than that.

This event is the second rally by postal workers in the area held recently — two weeks ago, members of the American Postal Workers Union gathered in Eagan to express concerns over staffing levels and unnecessary delivery delays.

“We have a vast network that is capable of delivering the mail on time. It’s there, we did it. Its policies of the delivering for a miracle plan that has degraded the service that us, the public, sees these days,” said Dave Cook, president of the American Postal Workers Union Local.

Monday’s rally began at 12 p.m. in downtown Minneapolis.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reached out to the USPS for a response to the rally and received the following statement:

“We respect our employees’ rights to express their opinions and participate in informational picketing while off the clock. Through our Delivering for America investments, we have built capacity into our processing, logistics, and delivery infrastructure to meet customers’ evolving mail and package needs. We are executing on strategies to pull together the people, technology, transportation, equipment, and facilities into a well-integrated and streamlined mail and package network. We have worked hard in past 3 years to stabilize our workforce. We have converted more than 191,000 pre-career employes to career status since January 2021.”