The proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register and will call for public comments. The DOL also anticipates a public hearing after the close of the written comment period.  

“The health and safety of letter carriers always comes first,” NALC President Brian L. Renfroe said. “NALC has fought for more than a decade in several avenues to achieve protections for our members from the dangers we face working outdoors in excessive heat. While progress has been made, a national rule that requires employers to provide comprehensive prevention is the ultimate solution. We appreciate Acting Secretary Julie Su for her engagement with our union and for prioritizing this important issue. NALC fully supports implementation of this proposed rule.”

For many years, NALC and USPS bargaining representatives have “locked down” in a hotel to engage in intensive, around-the-clock talks, including in the current round of collective bargaining. To build on recent progress in negotiations, NALC and USPS representatives have agreed to spend an additional week in early July in a hotel to work toward reaching agreement on the few economic and non-economic issues that remain unresolved.

NALC President Brian L. Renfroe said:

“We are pleased with the recent progress and potential opportunity to reach a fair agreement that rewards all letter carriers and compensates us for our value and the critical role we play in the Postal Service’s success.

Our goals in collective bargaining remain steadfast. While our interest arbitration case is strong and we will not hesitate to utilize that process fully if necessary to achieve our goals, we remain committed to exhausting every possibility to achieve a tentative agreement that meets our goals for our members to consider for ratification.

As we continue the negotiations process, I appreciate the hard work and diligence of NALC’s officers, staff, branch leadership, and the rank-and-file members of our union for their activism, input, and support that shapes NALC’s bargaining priorities.

From resolutions that start at the branch level and become our official bargaining positions to the thousands of letter carriers that communicate current issues and their priorities, this activism is the foundation of what we have historically achieved in this process and will achieve in this round of collective bargaining.” 

Today, NALC joins all Americans in honoring and celebrating Juneteenth, a meaningful national holiday that celebrates freedom and commemorates the final emancipation of enslaved Black Americans.

On this day in 1865, federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to finally enforce President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – more than two years after it was issued. This monumental and historic day of liberation has long been celebrated by Black Americans on June 19 each year. Thankfully, Juneteenth is now celebrated by all Americans after it became a federal holiday in 2021.

While this day marking abolition and freedom is a time for celebration, reflection and reconciliation, we must also recognize and confront our nation’s painful legacy. This includes acknowledging the pain Black Americans and other people of color have experienced in our nation’s past, and the ways this has shaped our present. As we honor the Black community’s contributions to this country and celebrate freedom on this day, NALC reaffirms our commitment to continuing our work toward true racial equality in our workplace, our union and in America. We stand in solidarity with the ongoing fight to realize our nation’s promise of freedom, liberty and opportunity for all.

On behalf of NALC, I wish everyone a happy Juneteenth.

Brother Farris entered the Postal Service in 1963 and served as president of Huntington Beach, CA Branch 2135. In 1973, he played a key role in the merger of 26 branches into Garden Grove Branch 1100, now the largest branch in NALC. He served as Vice President and President of Branch 1100 until 1979, when he was elected Region 1 National Business Agent. He was elected Director of City Delivery in 1986 and served in that position until November 1993.

“On behalf of NALC, I send my deepest sympathies to Brother Farris' family, friends and colleagues,” NALC President Brian L. Renfroe shared. “In addition to his time as our union’s Directory of City Delivery, I am grateful for his years of dedicated service to Branch 1100 and Region 1, where I know he will be greatly missed. We mourn his loss.”

Following these votes, the Council has authorized the release of the investigator’s report and the committee’s report through the Members Only portal on nalc.org.

NALC members can log in here and access both reports.

These vehicles, which are the culmination of more than a decade of planning, designing, building and testing of the NGDV, were deployed to the Athens, GA, Sorting and Delivery Center and will be used to replace the current fleet of right-hand drive Long Life Vehicles. The final design of the NGDV was influenced by the feedback of NALC representatives and city letter carriers from around the country who reviewed the initial design of the vehicle in Oshkosh, WI, in July 2021. The initial production of NGDVs are gas-powered variants, with the battery-electric models scheduled for deployment in August 2024.

As more NGDVs are produced and deployed, NALC will update the membership through website posts and articles in The Postal Record.

The bipartisan legislation, which mirrors H.R. 7629, would provide $7 billion in funding for the Postal Service to secure its infrastructure, including the installation of high-security collection boxes and the replacement of items carried by letter carriers with more secure electronic versions. The funding would be appropriated over five years, $1.4 billion annually in fiscal years 2025-2029. When key infrastructure is devalued and more secure, letter carriers will be safer on their routes.

Additionally, the legislation would increase prosecution rates for these crimes by requiring the Attorney General to appoint an assistant U.S. attorney in each judicial district to prioritize any case involving an assault or crime against a letter carrier. Their principal responsibility in the district would be to coordinate and supervise the investigation and prosecution of these crimes.

The bill would also strengthen sentencing guidelines for these crimes, ensuring that they are treated in the same manner as assaults on federal law enforcement officers.

Since 2020, there have been more than 2,000 crimes committed against letter carriers on the job. Many of these attacks involve a gun or another weapon. Letter carrier robberies climbed to 643 last year, an increase of nearly 30 percent, and the number of robberies resulting in injuries doubled, according to the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).

“NALC appreciates Sen. Gillibrand and Sen. Hawley's leadership in introducing the Protect Our Letter Carriers Act. Every employee has the right to be safe and protected on the job. Our hope is that this legislation will deter these violent crimes and keep letter carriers safe on the job,” NALC President Brian L. Renfroe said. “I urge Congress to pass this bill that would protect the nation’s letter carriers who dutifully deliver medications, checks, ballots, packages, and other essential mail that all Americans depend on.”

“Amid a concerning uptick in postal crime, I’m proud to be introducing this critical bipartisan legislation to protect our mail and those who deliver it,” Sen. Gillibrand said. “This bill will make long-overdue upgrades to mailboxes around the country to safeguard against the theft of Americans’ sensitive information. It will also strengthen penalties for assaulting a postal worker, helping ensure that the hard-working men and women who deliver our mail are not put in harm’s way because of their jobs. I look forward to getting this bill passed.” 

“Postal carriers work day in and day out to fulfill critical needs, like package deliveries, that Americans often take for granted,” Sen. Hawley said. “The recent uptick in violent assaults against these men and women is unacceptable and inexcusable. Congress should protect our postal workers on the job, and that starts by increasing enforcement of the law for crimes committed against them.”

TAKE ACTION

Click here to ask your members of Congress to cosponsor the Protect Our Letter Carriers Act.

Click here for the fact sheet.