This time, they were looking to deliver a message well beyond the confines of a mail receptacle.
Around 8 a.m. Monday, roughly a dozen postal workers took to the sidewalk outside the downtown Fredericksburg post office on Princess Anne Street for an informational picket in opposition to the tentative agreement reached last week between the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and the United States Postal Service.
As a speaker boomed defiant anthems from the likes of Eminem and Taylor Swift, they held up signs bearing phrases like “1st class mail, 1st class service, 1st class pay” (in a much larger font) and “Vote no to 1.3%,” a reference to the annual pay raise included as part of the tentative agreement.
All who assembled wore coats and jackets — partly because of the morning chill but also due to a federal law that prohibits USPS employees from protesting in uniform.
Shaun Armstrong, who will assume duties as president of NALC Chapter 685 in January, said the announced tentative contract pales in comparison to recent gains achieved by the United Auto Workers and International Longshoreman Association.