On Sunday, March 23, NALC branches are encouraged to host local rallies to say “Hell no!” to dismantling the Postal Service.

With branches holding events nationwide on the same day, we will send a clear, unified message: Hands off USPS!

If your branch is interested in hosting an event on March 23, please contact your national business agent’s (NBA) office.

NALC Headquarters will work with NBA offices to ensure that each event has materials and resources to be successful. To guarantee the delivery of supplies, all event requests must be submitted to NBA offices by Thursday, March 6.

“These local rallies nationwide will bring together NALC members and the public to show their support for letter carriers, all postal employees, and the Postal Service,” NALC President Brian L. Renfroe said. “At a crucial time, this is an opportunity to educate our customers about everything at stake if the Postal Service is privatized or restructured.

“Our jobs, our service, and the entire Postal Service are on the line. We need everyone’s help in our fight like hell against these attacks. I encourage every NALC branch to mobilize and host a local rally on March 23.”

Beneficiaries who are owed retroactive benefits will receive a one-time retroactive payment. This payment will date back to January 2024, the month when WEP and GPO no longer applied.

Social Security benefits are paid one month behind, so most affected beneficiaries will begin receiving their new monthly benefit amount in April 2025 (for their March 2025 benefit).

The agency has expedited payments through automation but cautioned that complex cases cannot be processed automatically and will require additional time.

Affected beneficiaries are urged to wait until April to inquire about the status of their retroactive payment since these payments will be processed incrementally throughout March.

For more information, please visit SSA’s Social Security Fairness Act web page.

While the White House has yet to release an executive order regarding the Postal Service, the threat is looming.

On Monday, hundreds of NALC members, union leaders, and other union members rallied in Washington, DC, against these potential efforts. Together, we must continue sending a loud and clear message: Hands off the Postal Service!

Join us for NALC’s Wednesday, Feb. 26 Day of Action as we tell the White House “hell no!” to dismantling the Postal Service.

Click here to contact the White House.

Questions? Follow these steps.

1. Click here.
2. Complete the form.
3. Add a brief message or copy and paste the sample language below into the comment box (4,000 characters max).
4. Click “Submit.”

Sample language

I am a proud letter carrier employed by the United States Postal Service. Any effort to dismantle or privatize USPS is a threat to my job, the jobs of all 640,000 postal employees (73,000 of whom are veterans), the 51.5 million rural addresses who rely on our service, and our nation’s Constitution. USPS isn’t funded by taxpayer dollars, and for the sake of every American who depends on the Postal Service, it should remain a self-sufficient independent agency. Hands off USPS!

Over 65 percent of current letter carriers began their USPS careers as casuals, transitional employees (TEs) or city carrier assistants (CCAs), all of which are non-career positions. More than 132,000 letter carriers who started in non-career positions, in most cases doing the exact same work as career employees, have time currently not credible towards their retirement.  H.R. 1522 would allow these affected letter carriers the opportunity to purchase retirement credit for the time they spent in these non-career positions, providing greater retirement security.

The bill was introduced with 24 bipartisan co-sponsors and is identical to the version introduced last Congress, which had 131 bipartisan co-sponsors.

“NALC appreciates Chairman Connolly, Rep. Budzinski, Rep. Valadao, and Rep Bacon’s leadership on this bill that would benefit so many of our members,” NALC President Brian L. Renfroe said. “This bill is about fairness for public servants. Letter carriers put in the hours and the hard work, and it’s only fair that their time spent in non-career positions count towards their well-deserved retirements. NALC urges the House to pass this bill.”

Take action

Click here to ask your members of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 1522.

Click here for our fact sheet.

Today, NALC held an event on Capitol grounds to send a clear message to the White House: Hell no to dismantling the Postal Service!

Hundreds of NALC members from across the country, labor leaders, and union members attended.

"I want to be very clear. This is a direct attack on 640,000 Postal Service employees, the universal service we provide, and every citizen who relies on the Postal Service," NALC President Brian L. Renfroe told the crowd.

"This isn't about politics. Regardless of how they voted last year, I can guarantee they did not vote for destroying one of our nation's oldest and most beloved institutions – the United States Postal Service.

“Here today, with all our supporters and friends, when they try to dismantle the Postal Service, what do we say?” The crowd responded with a resounding, “Hell no!”

Speakers included: Ranking Member Gerry Connolly (D-VA), AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond, APWU President Mark Dimondstein, TTD President Greg Regan, CWA President Claude Cummings, Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-IL), Union Veterans Council Executive Director Will Attig, Letters to a Pre-Scientist CEO Lucy Madden, AGMA Soloist Vice President Andrew Stenson, AFA President Sara Nelson, AFGE Vice President Ottis Johnson, ATU President John Costa, Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-IL), and Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI).

NALC organized this event after reports last week that President Trump was planning to issue an executive order that would fire the Postal Board of Governors and place the agency under the control of the Commerce Department, changing USPS from the independent self-sufficient agency it has been for 55 years.

NALC completely opposes any efforts to privatize the Postal Service, cut service, or fundamentally restructure the agency.

Earlier this month, NALC launched its “Fight Like Hell” campaign with an event at NALC Headquarters. Today was the next event in this series to bring public awareness to the threats to our jobs and the entire Postal Service.

Stay tuned for more information about upcoming events and actions near you.

NALC President Brian L. Renfroe released the following statement regarding reports from The Washington Post that President Donald Trump plans to issue an executive order firing the members of the Postal Board of Governors and placing the agency under the control of the Commerce Department:

The 295,000 active and retired members of the National Association of Letter Carriers have a message to deliver to the White House: Hands off the Postal Service.

Every day, 200,000 active city letter carriers uphold the Postal Service’s constitutionally mandated universal service obligation, delivering 376 million pieces of mail and packages to nearly 169 million delivery points nationwide. USPS is central to a $1.92 trillion mailing industry. U.S. letter carriers deliver 44 percent of the world’s mail. 

No private shipper guarantees or offers this unmatched universal service. Without our work, 51.5 million households and businesses in rural communities would have no guaranteed deliveries of medications, checks, ballots, and other essential mail and packages. 

The reported executive order jeopardizes the jobs of 640,000 postal employees, more than 73,000 of whom are veterans, and would affect the 7.9 million people employed in the mailing industry. While the potential consequences are deeply alarming, these proposals are also unconstitutional and illegal. 

The Postal Service is older than our country and is enshrined in the Constitution. It is a service for the public good funded by postage and stamp sales, not taxpayer dollars. 

The Constitution, carefully crafted by our nation’s founders, gives Congress, not the president, a key role in setting postal policy. In fact, the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 removed the Post Office Department from the president’s Cabinet and created USPS as the independent agency that exists today. 

Americans should see this reported executive order for what it is: a direct attack on USPS employees, our universal service, and every citizen who relies on the Postal Service. 

The public consistently ranks the Postal Service as one of the most trusted government agencies. That’s because Americans can count on their letter carrier in every community nationwide. 

We are fighting like hell against any privatization efforts or reorganizational mandates. We will do everything in our power to ensure we continue upholding our universal service obligation that Americans depend on through a strong and public Postal Service. 

Branch presidents may begin registering branch officers for the training through the branch president’s Members Only portal. The registration directions are below.

This session covers completing the annual LM-2, a lengthy report that is required to be filed by branches with total annual receipts of more than $250,000.

The class will begin at noon Eastern time and will be four and a half hours long.

__________________________________________________________________________________

NALC has developed the ability to create a registration and training gateway through the Members Only portal on the NALC website.

Registration

Once a meeting has been scheduled through the Members Only portal, branch presidents will need to register their members in order for them to attend. To access the registration option, branch presidents can go to the NALC website at nalc.org and log in to the Members Only portal. Once logged in to the Members Only portal, click the “Meetings Registration” button, which will display a list of upcoming meetings. From there, presidents can register a member(s) by entering their last name in the “Search” box and selecting the correct member from the drop-down list. A member can also be removed from the “Registry” list by checking the box under the “delete” column next to the corresponding member. Branch presidents will not be able to register more than the maximum number of attendees per branch or exceed the maximum number of attendees for that session. The maximum number of registrants per branch and for the session, as well as the registered-to-date counts, are displayed on the registration screen.

Training materials

Training materials and other pertinent information may be supplied for each session in the form of PDFs. These documents will be available to registrants in their Members Only portal. The documents can be printed, copied and/or saved.

Accessing meeting information and/or joining the meeting

When a registered member wants to access training materials, view topics or join a meeting, they can go to the NALC website at nalc.org and log on to the Members Only portal. Once logged in to the portal, the member will press the “Meetings” button, which will display a list of those meetings the member is registered to attend. For each meeting, there will be three buttons: the “Documents” button will give the member access to the training materials; the “Topics” button will give the member access to a list of topics (if any); and the “Join” button. The “Join” button will appear 10 minutes prior to the start time on the day of the meeting. If you log into the Members Only portal sooner than 10 minutes prior to the start of the meeting, you will need to exit to the home page and re-enter to access the “Join” button. Once you select the “Join” button, you will be taken to a Webex pop-up titled “Starting your meeting…” Scroll down to select “Join from your browser.” When joining, the member will be prompted to enter their name and email address in order to attend the meeting. Proceed by selecting the “next” button followed by the “Join Meeting” button.  

The parties’ ongoing dispute over terms of a new agreement will now be decided in the interest arbitration process. The parties have selected Arbitrator Dennis R. Nolan to serve as the chair of the three-person arbitration panel. Information on hearing dates for interest arbitration will be shared as soon as the schedule is confirmed.

“While there was some movement on the issues that matter to letter carriers during this 15-day period of good faith bargaining, it was not enough to produce a fair contract for the active members of NALC. We have been preparing our case for interest arbitration since before we officially opened this round of contract negotiations,” NALC President Brian L. Renfroe said. “We have built a strong case, and we will fight like hell in interest arbitration to achieve the best collective bargaining agreement for letter carriers that the process can produce.”

During his tenure, NALC has worked in good faith with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on behalf of the nation’s 200,000 active letter carriers. We remain committed to these efforts in his remaining time as head of the agency.

Notably, we are still fighting for a better contract. Whether our next collective-bargaining agreement is reached through a negotiated agreement and ratification process or in interest arbitration, we are committed to achieving the best results for our members under Postmaster General DeJoy or his successor.

In his statement, DeJoy praised USPS’s 640,000 employees and acknowledged our perseverance and adaptability. In his remaining time as postmaster general, we call on DeJoy to bring this to the negotiation table and come to terms on an agreement that gives the nation’s letter carriers what we have earned and deserve.

In its search for the next USPS leader, NALC urges the Board of Governors to seek out an individual with the necessary experience and expertise to lead the agency at this critical time. We need someone who values the workforce and is committed to preserving and improving universal service.

The Postal Service is older than our country and is mandated in the Constitution. The next postmaster general must guarantee that letter carriers can continue safely performing their constitutionally mandated service in every community nationwide.

As we always have, NALC will ensure that letter carriers’ priorities are known regardless of who leads the Postal Service.

Today, NALC held its “Fight Like Hell” kick-off event at NALC Headquarters in Washington, DC.

NALC members, labor leaders, and other union members gathered to demonstrate our strength and commitment to securing what letter carriers have earned and deserve.

“Our union has a 135-year history of fighting for our members,” NALC President Brian L. Renfroe told the crowd. “Today, we are here to kick off and rally around our next chapter of fights!

“There are a lot of people trying to knock us down. Whether it’s Postal Service management, ill-intentioned lawmakers on Capitol Hill, criminals targeting us on the streets or at our stations, or anyone else who tries to attack us and what we’ve earned, we are ready to fight!”

President Renfroe detailed some of the major battles NALC is fighting, including:

• For a better contract with a higher general wage increase
• Defending the retirement and health care benefits letter carriers have earned
• Against any efforts to privatize the Postal Service
• For safety and protection on the job, including an end to the violent assaults against our members on the job and protection from extreme weather
• For fair retirement for all letter carriers, including those who spent time in a non-career position, by passing the Federal Retirement Fairness Act

“Everyone who is against us doesn’t know who they’re dealing with, but they’re about to find out. Because one thing is clear here today—we’re fighting like hell!” Renfroe added.

Several other national labor leaders spoke at the kick-off event, including AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, APWU President Mark Dimondstein, AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson, IFPTE President Matt Biggs and NMPHU President Paul Hogrogian.

NALC’s next Fight Like Hell event, hosted by New York City Branch 36, is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 16, at noon at the Manhattanville Post Office, 365 W. 125th St., Harlem. All letter carriers in the New York City area are encouraged to attend.

Stay tuned for information about a Fight Like Hell event near you.

Just over one month into 2025, it is clear that our 280,000 members have a fight on our hands this year. From the founding of our union 135 years ago until now, NALC members have fought like hell for everything we have achieved and against every attack that has come our way. This year will be no different. We are ready to fight like hell.

Our most pressing fight is our ongoing fight for a fair contract. We are the backbone and the heartbeat of the Postal Service. The American public depends on the Postal Service, and without our dedicated workforce, there would be no Postal Service. We continue to prove our strength and adaptability with our jobs’ ever-changing, challenging and physical nature.

You can’t put a price on the service letter carriers provide—delivering paychecks, ballots, medications, and other essential mail and packages, all while keeping an eye out for the communities we serve—but it’s more than what the Postal Service put on the table. We’re demanding more because we’ve earned and deserved more. We won’t settle for anything less.

While we continue the fight for a fair contract, we’re also fighting to defend the health care and retirement benefits we’ve earned. These aren’t a gift or a handout. We’ve seen draft budget proposals that suggest increasing the amount letter carriers and other federal employees contribute to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) without increasing the benefits, altering their FERS retirement calculation, or even eliminating FERS altogether. Lawmakers should be warned that we see this for what it is—a pay cut and an attack on us. They can’t use us or our hard-earned benefits to balance the budget. And if they try, we’ll fight the whole way.

We’re still fighting against the heinous crimes and assaults we see committed against letter carriers nearly every day. An injury to one is an injury to all. We won’t stand idly by and let these attacks persist. Criminals are attacking our fellow members, leaving them traumatized and scared to go to work. More often than not, the perpetrators aren’t prosecuted or sentenced. Tragically, five letter carriers have been murdered on the job since 2022. We need protection and prosecution now. The Protect Our Letter Carriers Act was reintroduced this week, and we will fight like hell to get Congress to prioritize what’s important and pass this bill.

The fight for safety doesn’t stop at ending the crimes and assaults against our members. Whether on the workroom floor, driving our postal vehicles, or braving the elements daily, we deserve to be safe and protected in all conditions. A critical part of this fight is for a national heat safety standard. Every year on record is hotter than the year before. We continue working in hotter conditions for longer stretches of the year, which comes with serious health risks. We need a national heat safety standard to protect us, and all workers, who are exposed to extreme heat. We will fight like hell until the Department of Labor’s proposed rule is passed.

We’re also ready to stand against any efforts to privatize the Postal Service. Any such ideas are severely misguided and directly attack letter carriers, the universal service we provide, and a safe and reliable USPS. Our work connects our communities and is paid through revenue from stamps and services, not taxpayer dollars. The Postal Service is older than our country and is established in the U.S. Constitution. We’ll be in the fight against privatization until every member of Congress co-sponsors H.Res. 70.

Last month, decades of fighting paid off when the Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law. With the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, all Civil Service Retirement System letter carriers will receive the full Social Security benefits they earned. But the fight for fair retirement for all letter carriers isn’t over. Nearly 70 percent of our members started their work at the Postal Service in non-career positions. Currently, this time isn’t credible under FERS. It’s the same work as when they became career, and it’s completely unfair that it doesn’t count. The Federal Retirement Fairness Act, which would allow eligible letter carriers to buy back this time, will be reintroduced soon. We will fight like hell to get this bill passed so we can achieve retirement fairness for all letter carriers.

There are more fights we’re engaged in. There are more to come. When we face attacks, it is often a reminder that being in the fight together is so important.

We’re fighting to continue delivering to the 169 million delivery points nationwide that depend on us. We’re fighting to keep being the respected eyes and ears of our communities, helping out when something is wrong. We’re fighting to keep giving back to our members who are in need, whether through NALC’s Disaster Relief Foundation or our Emergency Response Team. We’re fighting to expand training opportunities and availability so experienced advocates can represent all letter carriers. We’re fighting to continue giving back to important causes, like the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and hosting the largest one-day food drive in the country, the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

Whatever we’re fighting for, regardless of the stakes, one thing won’t change—NALC members will come together and fight like hell.

We invite you to join us at the Fight Like Hell! kickoff event in Washington, DC, at NALC Headquarters on Thursday, Feb. 13, at 2 p.m. This event will bring NALC members and allies together to demonstrate our strength and commitment to securing what we deserve. It’s a chance to unite, make our voices heard, and send a powerful message that we are ready to stand strong in this fight.

Click here for event flyer

The bills are identical to the House and Senate versions introduced last Congress and include three measures to deter the increasing crimes and assaults committed against letter carriers on the job:

• $7 billion in funding (appropriated over five years) to replace and modernize postal infrastructure that criminals often seek out.
• Designation for an assistant district attorney in each judicial district to prioritize cases involving an assault against a letter carrier in a timely manner.
• Standardizing sentencing guidelines for those who are found guilty of committing these crimes.

While the Postal Service has started to roll out modernized technology in certain areas and the prosecution rates for these crimes have increased some, crimes against letter carriers continue to persist at an alarming rate, and this bill is the next step to stop these crimes from happening.

Between 2019 and 2023 (the most recent data available), the number of serious crimes against postal employees nearly doubled. In 2023, postal inspectors opened 1,367 cases, 542 assaults, 628 robberies, and 197 burglaries, against postal employees in almost 500 metropolitan areas. Over two-thirds of these attacks involve a firearm or other weapon. Tragically, five letter carriers have been murdered while dutifully doing their jobs since 2022.

“NALC appreciates Rep. Fitzpatrick, Rep. Landsman, Sen. Gillibrand, and Sen Hawley’s continued leadership on this critical issue that is so important to letter carriers and every community we serve,” NALC President Brian L. Renfroe said.

“Enough is enough. Like all Americans, letter carriers have the right to go to work, do their jobs, and return home unharmed. It’s time for Congress to prioritize what’s important and pass this bill, and we are going to fight like hell to get it done.”

Take action

Click here to ask your members of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 1065/S. 463.

Click here for our fact sheet.

NALC President Brian L. Renfroe issued the following statement regarding the vote over the 2023-2026 National Agreement with the United States Postal Service (USPS).

“NALC has notified the Postal Service of the result of the ratification balloting and our intent to reopen negotiations within five (5) days in accordance with Article 16 of the NALC Constitution. Negotiations will not exceed a period of fifteen (15) calendar days from when they are reopened. The NALC Executive Council will meet to discuss whether to send a second ballot to each member for ratification or rejection of a potential new tentative agreement or to proceed to binding interest arbitration. Under the law, decisions of that arbitration board would be final and binding upon the parties.

“In a democratic vote, the will of NALC’s membership has been made clear - the tentative agreement that represented the best offer the Postal Service put on the table is not good enough for America’s city letter carriers. We have earned more and we deserve more.

"We will negotiate in good faith with the Postal Service at the bargaining table during the limited timeframe set forth in the NALC Constitution. We call on the Postal Service to do the same. As I made clear since the very beginning of this process, NALC is well prepared to fight like hell for a better contract in interest arbitration, and that is exactly what we will do if the Postal Service is unwilling to reach agreement on terms that fairly compensate and reward our members.”

Further updates will be posted on nalc.org as they are available.