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.