Our Association

A Union That Delivers

Over a century of delivering for letter carriers and America

The National Association of Letter Carriers is the union of city delivery letter carriers working for the United States Postal Service.

In 1889, the Milwaukee Letter Carriers, knowing many of their fellow carriers would be attending the Grand Army of the Republic encampment in their city that summer, issued an official Call to meet during the reunion to form a national association and act on other matters of importance to letter carriers and their families.

Heeding the Call, 60 letter carriers from 18 states gathered in the meeting room above Schaefer's Saloon. On August 29, 1889 they unanimously adopted a resolution to form a National Association of Letter Carriers. The next day, the convention elected officers and adopted a number of resolutions.

The fledgling organization espoused four objectives:

fraternity
fidelity
benevolence
unity

NALC: Part of the global labor movement

   FOUNDED 1889
   CHARTERED MEMBER OF AFL-CIO 1917
   AFFILIATED WITH INTERNATIONAL LABOR SINCE 1950

NALC and the labor movement

Throughout the late 19th century, even before the letter carriers organized into a national union, they were struggling side by side with other American workers in the fight to establish an eight-hour work day.

The struggle for an eight-hour day is a landmark in letter carrier history, but it was also an intense nationwide movement, one involving an enormous number of workers in addition to letter carriers. At the time carriers were working 10 to 12 hours a day, seven days a week, so the passage of the Eight Hour Law in 1888 was a cause for celebration and a tribute to the labor movement's maxim, “strength through” unity. In solidarity with their fellow workers and flushed with labor's victory, letter carriers were ready to form their own national union, the National Association of Letter Carriers.

In 1889: letter carriers, fresh from the Eight Hour Law battles, established a national union;

In 1917: NALC affiliated with other American workers in the American Federation of Labor, which later became the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO);

In 1950: NALC joined the Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International (PTTI), which

In 2000: Reformed as Union Network International (UNI).

With these historical roots, NALC firmly established itself as part of the global labor movement with long-standing ties to their working brothers and sisters in America and around the world.

NALC’s TIES TO ORGANIZED LABOR

President Rolando on AFL-CIO Executive Committee:
NALC President serves on the committee that oversees the labor federation's day-to-day activities.

President Rolando Elected AFL-CIO Vice President:
NALC President elected as an AFL-CIO vice president and member of the Executive Council in July 2009.

NALC—Part of the American Labor Movement:
NALC's ties to the American labor movement; affiliation with the AFL-CIO

NALC—Part of the International Labor Movement:
NALC's connection to workers around the world and the International labor movement through membership in the Union Network International (UNI)

NALC—Part of a worldwide labor network:
Useful links to U.S. postal and communications unions; links to international postal unions