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Rolando: After the midterms, letter carriers’ resolve remains strong

It’s the day after the midterm election, and before I address what the results mean for letter carriers, I want to take the opportunity to publicly thank the active and retired members who took action before and on Nov. 4.

Whether it was knocking on doors or making phone calls in the weeks leading up to Election Day, generously contributing to your political action committee, or simply exercising your right to vote, the efforts of letter carriers testify to the dedication and solidarity that make this union so strong.

As we reflect back on this election, it is important that all letter carriers—active and retired, full-time and part-time—understand how strong the NALC’s resolve is in protecting our brothers and sisters.

The issues that letter carriers hold dear and the ideologies we battle are not party-specific. Protecting six-day mail delivery, addressing the onerous pre-funding mandate, preserving existing service standards and continuing to innovate and grow by using the Postal Service’s valuable infrastructure and networks—none of these things are necessarily partisan-based. Nor should we be. We have faced threats to all of those things before, regardless of which party controlled Capitol Hill or the White House.

With yesterday’s election, voters have spoken clearly about the direction they want this country to take, a direction that has resulted in a shift of power in Washington, DC. Come January, Republicans will hold the majority in the Senate and will have an even stronger hold on the House of Representatives.

As always, letter carriers will roll with those changes. But what will not change is our resolve to continue engaging and educating Republicans and Democrats alike on issues of importance to letter carriers, just as we always have. We have a duty to continue building alliances with the men and women on both sides of the aisle and to use our unparalleled network of activists to proactively find champions for our causes.

Ensuring the Postal Service’s viability and future hinges on the hard work letter carriers do to educate all members of Congress about the invaluable services we provide and about our importance to every community in America.

We have not lost the opportunity to shape policy in a unified manner, and we will continue to do so devoid of political bias. Stay in touch with your representatives, grow the e-Activist Network and contribute to COLCPE. These remain the best ways for all of us to protect our employer, our jobs and our standard of living, as proud members of the NALC.

In Solidarity,

Fredric V. Rolando, President
National Association of Letter Carriers