The prompt was specifically to ask about a change from the current five-day, eight-hours-per-day work week to a four-day, ten-hours-per-day model. The texts did not specify who had sent out the mass communication – the United States Postal Service (USPS), the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), or perhaps some combination of the two? Some letter carriers said they were not sure if the communication was legitimate, fearing that it might be a scam message.

Then, at the beginning of June, the NALC held a special collective bargaining conference for Branch presidents in Washington, DC. The conference was meant to be a hush-hush affair, whereby sitting NALC President Brian Renfroe could discuss his approach to this round of negotiations coming off of one of the worst-bargained contracts in recent memory for city letter carriers, in 2025. It was during this year’s conference that Renfroe disclosed that the survey was his creation, and that the proposal had come directly from him.

Now, on the surface, such a change may seem harmless enough. One less day of work per week, while still accumulating the same number of hours, ultimately means more uninterrupted free time. Sounds excellent! But, when considering some of the further ramifications this change would entail, it becomes clear just how disastrous of a proposal this would be for most city carriers, and how it only further serves to highlight the disastrous management-oriented tenure of President Renfroe.

30,000 lost routes, unsustainable workloads and dangerous conditions

Let’s start with perhaps the most glaring issue: the loss of city letter carrier jobs (and, as a consequence, NALC members). Currently, city carrier routes are intended to be completable within a regular eight-hour workday. This means that each route that exists should be designed to incorporate an area of addresses and a volume of mail that approximately adds up to eight hours of work. For anyone who actually carries mail, they'll know this often isn't the case, especially after the most recent round of route adjustments nationally, but that is supposed to be the standard.

What the change from an eight-hour day to a ten-hour one would mean, then, is a total recalibration of all routes in every station across the country to bring them in line with the new standard. But mail and addresses can’t be pulled out of a hat; they instead would likely come from slashing existing routes and redistributing the work. This would mean a loss of assignments and, consequently, a loss of jobs and members. Some estimates from opponents of this concept predict that more than 30,000 routes across the country would be eliminated. As is the case across most jobs and industries, it would be the lowest seniority carriers whose jobs would be cut first, an ironic reality given that the pool of carriers surveyed about the change overwhelmingly fit into this category.

Further, those carriers who work at stations gutted by the national route adjustments in the last year know that management’s system is not based in reality. They often add much more work to the remaining routes than can actually be achieved in eight hours, with some already taking ten or more hours. Any rational person should be able to conclude, then, that a change to a ten-hour standard would mean many routes with actual workloads reaching or exceeding 12 hours.

USPS management repeatedly demonstrates a lack of care for the safety and wellbeing of its letter carriers, and this situation would be further exacerbated by a ten-hour workday.

Letter carriers are constantly harassed by management, both on the workroom floor and out on delivery, about make-believe office leave times and so-called “stationary events” (i.e. when the USPS-provided scanner with GPS tracking capabilities indicates a carrier has been immobile for an extended period of time). When working in extreme weather such as blistering heat or sub-zero temperatures, management’s pestering and threats lead to carriers putting themselves in danger. Several carriers have died recently as a result of heat-related issues, including Dallas-area carrier Jacob Taylor in June 2025. This occurs now, with routes and workdays as they exist. Adding more work and more hours on the street will increase the frequency of these occurrences.

Fewer carriers means further delays in service

The mainstream media loves to report on postal customer complaints regarding delayed mail or other associated issues with the Postal Service. What they almost never include in their coverage is the real reason why those delays and issues exist. The simple answer is mismanagement, which in turn has led to route eliminations, fewer carriers, longer routes, and, finally, undelivered and/or delayed mail.

As mentioned, the predicted elimination of tens of thousands of routes would, out of necessity, result in the laying off or termination of a roughly equivalent number of city carriers. Far from improving service, this move to a new workweek structure would undoubtedly create yet more issues which management would expand through their misleadership, creating yet more frustration from the customers. President Renfroe will do anything to save the Post Office, including selling out his members and the customers that they serve!

Loss of pay and reduction in benefits

Some other impacts of this change would be the ability to earn overtime pay and paid time off (PTO), two things which are currently highlights of working as a letter carrier. The contract for city letter carriers ensures that all work in a day over eight hours, but not exceeding ten ,is to be paid out at 1.5 times the standard rate, and all daily working hours exceeding ten paid out at double time. With the change to a ten-hour workday standard, this could change the overtime payouts, resulting in a circumstance where carriers are effectively taking home less pay for the same amount of work.

Earned PTO – whether annual leave or sick leave – would run out more quickly than it does at the moment with the longer workday. This in practice devalues the accrued leave.

Benefits such as overtime pay and leave accrual are vital to the city letter carrier craft. These changes, however, are clearly a benefit to USPS and a detriment to NALC members, an unfortunate hallmark of Renfroe’s tenure as union president.

Complications for carriers with families or medical restrictions

Many city letter carriers have families – spouses, children, other dependents – that rely on their fixed eight-hour workdays. Daycares often have restrictions on the number of hours children can spend at their facilities, or they charge fees after a certain number of hours in a day are passed. Single parents or households where both parents are working will be unduly impacted by this change. Similarly, there are many city carriers who have medical conditions that necessitate firm eight-hour work restrictions. The change in the workday standard raises questions about how these carriers would be affected.

Some speculation suggests that carriers who need to maintain the eight-hour workday, either due to family needs or medical restrictions, would be forced to utilize their PTO benefits to compensate for the hours they don’t work, or otherwise accumulate what's known as Leave Without Pay (LWOP) for the hours that they now can’t work. The problem with LWOP is two-fold: 1) the loss in pay, and 2) excessive LWOP accrual has ramifications for retirement. Neither of these potential resolutions for the scheduling problems created by the workday change serve any benefit to the city carrier. Instead, they are actively negative outcomes.

New leadership is the path forward

While the above list is an incomplete accounting of the many pitfalls of the proposed change to the workday and week of the city letter carrier, the examples laid out her demonstrate the severe step backward that it would represent. As mentioned already, this is nothing new for the NALC under President Renfroe and his leadership clique. City letter carriers are being devalued with every passing year that Renfroe maintains his hold on power, with paltry wage increases that fall way behind even keeping up with the cost of living, the continued maintenance of a two-tiered pay structure, a workforce which continues to be divided between career and non-career workers, and serious concessions at the bargaining table.

However, all is not lost for the rank-and-file city letter carrier. In August, the NALC is hosting its national convention in Los Angeles. At this convention, nominations for national offices will be made official ahead of the national elections this fall. In preparation for this election cycle, fighters and leaders came together two years ago to create a reform slate known as the Concerned Letter Carriers (CLC). This slate of leaders stands in total opposition to this Renfroe-led initiative to further degrade the city letter carrier.

The CLC slate is headed by the indomitable James Henry, a staunch advocate for the city letter carrier, with an arbitration record without equal, and Corey Walton, a bulldog of a man who has a proven record of a no-nonsense approach to dealing with management on the shop floor. The slate represents the best and only chance for a total overhaul of the NALC national leadership. The CLC calls for an end to the two-tiered pay structure, and major reforms in the functioning of the union at the national level to encourage democracy and transparency, re-instill a membership-first approach (particularly in contract negotiations), and re-establish the fighting spirit of the union through extensive trainings and commitment to fighting management’s abuses in the workplace.

This fall, city carriers have a choice between two futures: one where letter carriers continue to be devalued and defanged by a leadership that is, at best, disinterested and, at worst, in the pocket of management; and another where the rank and file reasserts control of their union and their workplace through a leadership that has their backs. The CLC is the path forward for the city carrier that seeks the latter.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #Opinion #Commentary #Labor #USPS #NALC

Billings, MT – On June 19, more than a dozen United States Postal Service (USPS) workers and community members rallied outside the post office in downtown Billings to protest changes to mail-in voting.

The changes, coming from a Trump executive order entitled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” would force postal workers across the country to check that each mail-in ballot recipient is a U.S. citizen based on a list of citizens provided by the federal government.

Mindy Nielsen, a retired postal worker and member of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Local 132 organized Friday’s rally to raise awareness of this issue and encourage her fellow union members to fight back. Nielsen retired from her job at USPS in 2018 but has remained an active and vocal union member.

Regarding the executive order, Nielsen stated, “According to Trump, the right to vote is based on a list given by the Department of Homeland Security to the post office, to determine who gets a mail-in ballot. Elections are a state issue; it’s in the Constitution. I don’t think Trump has read the Constitution. He is wielding things to benefit his billionaire and trillionaire friends.”

USPS workers report facing retaliation for speaking out on these issues, up to and including firings. Because of these conditions, president of APWU Local 132, Chris Foos, stated, “Postal customers need to be more involved in what is happening with the postal service. Otherwise, mailing standards will continue to dwindle. Without public outcry, there is only so much the workers can do.”

In spite of intimidation, Nielsen said that she will continue to hold protests with APWU to fight back against Trump’s attacks on the U.S. Postal Service.

#BillingsMT #MT #Labor #USPS #APWU

Los Angeles, CA – On Saturday, April 5, over 10,000 people gathered in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, joining the nationwide in the “Hands Off!” protests which have been the largest demonstrations to date against Donald Trump and his administration.

The march started at 4 p.m. with a kickoff in Pershing Square, followed by a march to City Hall. Energized protestors flooded the streets outraged by the Trump administration's attacks on immigrants and transgender people, mass federal worker firings and government downsizing of vital social services.

The demonstration was a colorfully diverse and family friendly. That being said, the anger from attendees was palpable as many are fed up with the broad attacks on the working class. Johnathan Ortega, a USPS worker said, “I’m out here today because the Trump administration is looking to cut our wages, cut our benefits, cut our workforce and essentially privatize the Postal Service”.

Protesters young and old proudly marched through downtown streets chanting “Hey hey, Ho ho, Trump and Musk have got to go!” People carried signs that read “Hands off Social Security!” and “No human is illegal on stolen land!”

The protest was organized by a broad coalition of organizations that included Indivisible, Move On and the 50501 movement. Many other organizations joined the effort too such as unions, civil rights organizations and other grassroots groups.

#LosAngelesCA #CA #PeoplesStruggles #ImmigrantRights #Trump #HandsOff #Indivisible #USPS

San Francisco, CA – On Sunday, March 23, the National Association of Letter Carriers rallied in San Francisco to protest Trump’s push to privatize essential public services – particularly the U.S. Postal Service.

Hundreds of workers gathered at Embarcadero Plaza, sending a clear message: support the postal service, not billionaires. Signs reading “Hands off our public postal service,” “Hell no to privatization,” and “Fight like hell!” underscored their determination.

A member of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) said, “The Postal Service is one of the nation’s most trusted institutions, serving the public for over 200 years. Millions of seniors depend on it. Privatization would mean cuts, layoffs and higher costs for working families – and we won’t allow that.”

Attendees vowed to resist Trump and his billionaire allies’ efforts to dismantle public institutions, destroy jobs, and workers' rights. Many emphasized that this fight goes beyond mail delivery – it’s about protecting union jobs, preserving a vital service, and challenging corporate agendas that undermine labor power.

This rally was part of a growing nationwide movement. Just days earlier, on March 20, the APWU held a similar protest at San Francisco’s Fox Plaza. These actions highlight the working class’s fierce resistance to Trump’s attacks on unions and public services – and their readiness to “fight like hell.”

#SanFransiscoCA #CA #Labor #USPS

Tampa, FL – On March 20, over 60 workers with the American Postal Worker Union (APWU) held a public demonstration in Tampa, Florida to bring awareness to attacks on the postal service. The Tampa APWU action was one of over 250 held across the country.

“The post office is not for sale, and it never will be!” chanted workers as they marched up and down the road handing out informational flyers to passing cars to raise awareness about the issue.

The right to a federal mail service is protected in the constitution, which means that its privatization would be illegal. Despite this, President Trump has been considering transferring U.S. Postal Service to the Department of Commerce and privatizing it, which would have the effect of cutting jobs and raising shipping costs. Privatizing the post office is only one of many attempts the president has made on public services, including his attacks on the Department of Education.

Postal workers with the National Association of Letter Carriers will be holding a similar national day of action to fight against privatization this Sunday, March 23.

#TampaFL #FL #Labor #APWU #USPS #Postal

The focus of the action was primarily the national contract for the letter carrier craft. The NALC and USPS have been negotiating for nearly two years. Rank-and-file members of NALC have been frustrated with the lack of transparency and updates on negotiations from national leaders like NALC president Brian Renfroe. These frustrations came to a head at the union's recent national convention, where Renfroe would have been removed from office on counts of neglect of duty and conduct unbecoming of an officer, but political savvy and manipulation of procedure allowed him to escape that fate. A reform movement is brewing.

Other points of emphasis were more local in scope, addressing issues of widespread and rampant wage theft of carriers across the broader Milwaukee area, as well as major issues of harassment and lack of respect for carriers from management.

Will Shroeder, a steward out of the North Milwaukee Station, served as emcee for the event, leading the crowd with a rousing speech and chanting.

“We’re out here today to demand a contract. We shouldn’t have to be out here fighting for ourselves as we’ve recently passed a resolution that would force national to put on public contract campaigns as well as an open bargaining resolution, but national has continued to leave us in the dark and give us empty promises. It’s been 500-plus days since our contract has expired and that's 500 days too many – especially when our membership has no clue as to what Renfroe and the USPS are up to behind closed doors,” Shroeder said.

He continued, “We’ve had record inflation over the last two years and our union has been incapable of providing for us and our families and we need to let them and the USPS that enough is enough and that we want a contract now!”

The rally featured speakers from Teamsters Local 344, AFSCME Local 526, and the American Federation of Teachers Local 212. Members of the Amalgamated Transportation Union Local 998 and the International Association of Machinists were scattered throughout the crowd, demonstrating working class solidarity.

After the speeches, the assembled crowd picketed outside the downtown office, chanting for an end to wage theft and for a new contract and greater respect.

Mere days after the National Day of Action, a tentative agreement between NALC and USPS was announced. The agreement, lauded by the sellout Renfroe as an historic achievement, has come under intense fire from rank-and-file members for its concessions and paltry wage increases. The next step in this process is a national vote on the contract. A vote no campaign coordinated by the reform oriented Build a Fighting NALC (BFN) is anticipated.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #Labor #NALC #USPS