Milwaukee, WI – On Sunday, March 23, over 300 people took it to the streets to demand an end to Trump and the billionaire class’s constant threats of dismantling the United States Postal Service (USPS). The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Pioneer Branch 2 hosted the rally with support from the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Local 3 and the Wisconsin Rural Letter Carriers Association. The event was part of a larger national day of action which saw hundreds of other cities across the country participate.

The attack comes while the NALC and APWU are in contract negotiations with the USPS. For the first time since 1978, the membership of the NALC recently voted down a proposed contract, with 71% voting no.

The Postal Service continues to poorly manage the company and claim it is broke, yet it continues to spend record amounts on wages for abusive managers and in the installation of surveillance technology that further micromanages and represses its employees.

The Postal Reform Act of 2022 repealed the requirement to pre-fund retiree benefits and will go into effect this year, taking a $5.6 billion burden off the books.

At Milwaukee’s rally, Travis Albert, vice president of NALC Branch 2, said, “Hell no to the attacks on the Postal Service! Politicians are attempting to take away our right to paid grievance time. This would impact our only avenue for peaceful negotiations with management. You take that away and what will we be left with? And we here in Milwaukee we are building a mean, mean union!”

NALC Branch 2 Sergeant at Arms William Schroeder called employees to action, stating, “We need to take this energy back to the shop floor every single day – if all of us used this energy at union meetings, in the grievance procedure, and when management harasses us it would stop right now.”

The Postal Service is a trillion dollar company that provides an affordable service to every house in the country, and any attempt to dismantle or privatize it is an attack on all Americans. If there was no public Postal Service, the private sector would run rampant with high costs and less coverage to rural areas. Today however, the various Postal unions made it loud and clear that the U.S. mail is not for sale.

The turnover rate in the postal service is higher than ever before due to the poor working conditions and low wages, but that has not deterred postal workers from all over the country. Instead, these conditions have ignited a new wave of militant action against Postal Service management and anyone else who tries to dismantle the company.

A national reform movement is rapidly growing within the NALC as members across the country have become angry with working conditions and the incompetency of union national President Brian Renfroe. This has resulted in the rise of the Concerned Letter Carriers (CLC) and Build a Fighting NALC (BFN), which both demand an end to concessionary leadership. Thousands of members have participated in national organizing calls to replace the weak NALC leadership and in demanding a strong contract.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #Labor #NALC #APWU #CLC #FBN

St. Paul, MN – More than 500 postal workers and community members rallied at the State Capitol Building, March 23, to push back against Trump’s possible privatization of the postal service. The protest was organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 9. Demonstrations have been taking place across the U.S. in response to the Trump administrations attacks on federal workers.

#StPaulMN #MN #Labor #NALC

St. Petersburg, FL – On March 23, 300 postal workers and community members came out with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) union to stand against the privatization of the post office. With recent talk of President Trump transferring USPS to the department of commerce and privatizing it, union members are ready to stand up for the future of the public service.

Attendees held signs and stood at all corners of a busy intersection to bring awareness to the current uncertainty. The privatization of the post office could mean an estimated cut of 10,000 jobs, an increase in shipping costs, and an end to rural service.

All eyes are on Trump as he has continued to gut public services, including the Department of Education, national parks and library services. This action was one of hundreds around the country and the American Postal Workers Union and NALC will both continue to be holding actions to defend the postal service.

#StPetersburgFL #FL #Labor #Postal #NALC #APWU

The focus of the action was primarily the national contract for the letter carrier craft. The NALC and USPS have been negotiating for nearly two years. Rank-and-file members of NALC have been frustrated with the lack of transparency and updates on negotiations from national leaders like NALC president Brian Renfroe. These frustrations came to a head at the union's recent national convention, where Renfroe would have been removed from office on counts of neglect of duty and conduct unbecoming of an officer, but political savvy and manipulation of procedure allowed him to escape that fate. A reform movement is brewing.

Other points of emphasis were more local in scope, addressing issues of widespread and rampant wage theft of carriers across the broader Milwaukee area, as well as major issues of harassment and lack of respect for carriers from management.

Will Shroeder, a steward out of the North Milwaukee Station, served as emcee for the event, leading the crowd with a rousing speech and chanting.

“We’re out here today to demand a contract. We shouldn’t have to be out here fighting for ourselves as we’ve recently passed a resolution that would force national to put on public contract campaigns as well as an open bargaining resolution, but national has continued to leave us in the dark and give us empty promises. It’s been 500-plus days since our contract has expired and that's 500 days too many – especially when our membership has no clue as to what Renfroe and the USPS are up to behind closed doors,” Shroeder said.

He continued, “We’ve had record inflation over the last two years and our union has been incapable of providing for us and our families and we need to let them and the USPS that enough is enough and that we want a contract now!”

The rally featured speakers from Teamsters Local 344, AFSCME Local 526, and the American Federation of Teachers Local 212. Members of the Amalgamated Transportation Union Local 998 and the International Association of Machinists were scattered throughout the crowd, demonstrating working class solidarity.

After the speeches, the assembled crowd picketed outside the downtown office, chanting for an end to wage theft and for a new contract and greater respect.

Mere days after the National Day of Action, a tentative agreement between NALC and USPS was announced. The agreement, lauded by the sellout Renfroe as an historic achievement, has come under intense fire from rank-and-file members for its concessions and paltry wage increases. The next step in this process is a national vote on the contract. A vote no campaign coordinated by the reform oriented Build a Fighting NALC (BFN) is anticipated.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #Labor #NALC #USPS

Brian Renfroe, the national president, has come under fire in 2024, receiving formal charges of Abandoned Position and Dereliction/Neglect of Duty, Impaired Driving After Hours in a NALC Owned Vehicle, and Circulating False or Misleading Statements about a NALC officer during the start of negotiations. The executive council investigation recently acquitted him of the charges but revoked his driving privileges. Renfroe himself declared that the charges would not be a subject of the convention.

What's become clear to the membership is that this leadership is incapable of bargaining with the company and have failed the rank and file for the last 15 months. The carriers are rising up and are taking action by forming an opposition slate against national leadership, going by the name Concerned Letter Carriers (CLC).

Immediately after the presidential address, three members of the CLC went to each of the various stations on the convention floor with the intent to bring a motion to the floor that would force the president to read out the charges against him. After some discussion this vote was successful, with a margin of approximately 2100 to 1500.

Build a Fighting NALC (BFN), the new reform movement within the NALC which took shape in the late spring and early summer months, had their first in-person meeting where they had a panel of speakers discussing the need for change by making clear demands such as a $30 per hour starting wage, an end to Sorting and Delivery Centers, and the right to strike. BFN will be forming chapters in different cities in an effort to bring about more rank-and-file support.

On August 8, the delegate body heard the appeals of President Renfroe and agreed to uphold the decisions of the executive council.

There were a few contentious resolutions brought to the floor, with the largest being the case for open bargaining. The members of NALC want top to bottom transparency from national during contract negotiations so that members receive contract updates. The resolution called for public rallies in support of the bargaining efforts that would lead to real rank-and-file participation and bolster their positions at the table. While the strongest of such resolutions was unsuccessful, one of the other open bargaining resolutions was passed and national union will now be forced to hold rallies across the United States during contract negotiations. The resolution which would have forced transparency with rank-and-file members was shot down after national business agents stormed the mics to denounce the most popular solution brought to the convention.

The other big resolution was to demand an end to Sorting and Delivery Centers after Branch 3 in Buffalo was successful in its public campaign to stop the one being created in their district. However, business agents abused their power, coercing members from voting in favor and the resolution lost.

This is only the beginning of the reform movement within NALC. These demands are popular and felt amongst a wide base of the rank and file. Those at national, most clearly highlighted by President Renfroe, have forgotten what’s it’s like to be down on the shop floor fighting with the bosses. Build a Fighting NALC (BFN) and the opposition leadership slate of the Concerned Letter Carriers (CLC) represent a potential shift in direction for the membership and its leaders.

Fight Back! will carry updates as the election plays out and the reform movement develops.

#BostonMA #NALC #NationalAssocaitionofLetterCarriers #union #BFN #CLC

Milwaukee, WI – On Sunday, November 5, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 2 hosted an energetic rally outside the United States Postal Service city headquarters in downtown Milwaukee. 150 NALC members and supporters joined the rally to raise public awareness about the poor working conditions at USPS.

NALC Branch 2 is demanding an end to wage theft, harassment and retaliation. NALC local leaders highlighted how little the USPS has done in the face of routine armed robberies of their employees, even after city carrier Aundre Cross was tragically murdered during a robbery while working his route last year.

Some of the highlights of the rally were speeches from various NALC 2 stewards about the need for carriers to unite and to no longer tolerate be intimidated into working at unsafe speeds.

“This union isn’t the president, it’s not the stewards, it's all of us! Management is organized against us and we need to be organized to protect ourselves!,” said NALC 2 Steward William Schroeder.

NALC 2 stewards exposed how the USPS has weaponized new technology and “performance statistics” against carriers to try to force a speed-up. NALC 2 stewards say the USPS has used scanner data to accuse employees of being “stationary” for more than 30 minutes during the course of a shift, which can be up to 12 hours, in order to unjustly withhold pay from those workers.

The union said the USPS has paid out over a million dollars in non-compliance grievance settlements in 2023 alone, and management is acting in bad faith by refusing to correct the root causes of the grievances. At the rally, NALC 2 stewards said management’s behavior is the reason why the union decided to take action and call for a protest to rally their members, supporters and the media.

Postal Workers in Milwaukee were eager to rally behind the union’s demands and were joined by many supporters, including Milwaukee Area Labor Council President Pam Fendt, Wisconsin State Representative Ryan Clancy, ATU Local 998 President Donnell Shorter, and the Young Workers Committee of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council.

#MilwaukeeWI #NALC #USPS #Feature

Carriers are hoping for a strong contract this time, as arbitrators forced a host of bad provisions in the current agreement. There needs to be more protections against harassment in the workplace. Also, the USPS needs to get rid of the City Carrier Assistant position that forces new employees to practically live at the post office. As well, the rate at which employees take to get to top pay needs to be reduced.

Many are hoping a new contract helps better protect carriers from excessive overtime that’s plagued the post office since the pandemic. The current agreement allows management to force their employees to work six days a week, 12 hours a day, with some employees exceeding the 60-hour weekly limits.

Management has resorted to harassment and intimidation to force their short-staffed offices to go above and beyond to get the mail out. This work culture has resulted in a more than 50% turnover rate and cannot continue indefinitely.

In this period of attack on the letter carrier craft the NALC needs leaders willing to stand up and fight back.

Will Schroeder, a letter carrier says, “National President Brian Renfroe has forgotten about his duties and is busy supporting white supremacists on Twitter, calling women NALC members disgusting and profane insults, and crashing company cars while driving drunk. The NALC has filed Article 10 charges for Neglect of Duty against President Renfroe, which is good as it’s important to stand up against racism and sexism within the organization and these charges make it known that the NALC will not tolerate this behavior from anyone regardless of rank.”

Shroeder continued, “Between the union president’s outrageous behavior and multiple heat-related deaths in recent weeks, membership is demanding answers. Through this struggle more militancy has been seen in many shops across the country. The letter carriers deserve a strong contract so all eyes will be on the bargaining team to see if they can succeed despite the setbacks, as well as the possible strike at UPS and the impacts it could have on the entire industry.”

#MilwaukeeWI #PeoplesStruggles #NALC