National Association of Letter Carriers - Membership and Politics

Membership and Politics

Like most other unions in the United States, the NALC, and most of its rank and file, is involved politically and has largely supported the Democratic Party, although has been critical of Democrats on occasion, such as President Lyndon B. Johnson when he vetoed a postal pay raise in the mid-1960s. The union has also supported a few individual Republican candidates.

Prior to the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, the United States Postal Service was an federal executive department under the name Post Office Department, and the Postmaster General was member of the Cabinet. The rate of postal pay was set by the Congress by federal law, meaning that the Postal Service and its employees were deeply affected by Congress. The NALC strongly supported the Postal Reorganization Act.

NALC's expertise has traditionally been in lobbying than in traditional labor-management relations and collective bargaining. Like all federal agencies under the Taft–Hartley Act, the Postal Service is an "open shop," and no one can be compelled to join the NALC or any other union as a condition of gaining or continuing employment with the government. Other federal laws prohibit letter carriers, like other public employees, from striking. Nonetheless, over 93 percent of all working letter carriers are members of the NALC and the union is now recognized as the collective bargaining agent for all city carriers.

The NALC distinguishes itself from other unions in several ways. For example, membership is completely voluntary; NALC states that its membership includes 300,058 active and retired members, including 214,084 are active city delivery letter carriers employed by the U.S. Postal Service. NALC also refers to its chapters as "branches" rather than "locals."

NALC developed its own retirement community for its members in Nalcrest, Florida. It also operates a mutual benefit association which sells life insurance to members, has its own health benefit plan - the NALC Health Benefit Plan, which predates the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan, in which NALC also participates.