The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) has been in contract negotiations with the Postal Service for over a year now, but the leadership of the union has refused to keep the membership updated despite constant demands for transparency. At this point, their actions can only be seen as an attempt to deny the membership their voice, shunning the collective power of the labor movement in favor of leaving control to a handful of shadowy individuals. Unfortunately, a newly unfolding corruption scandal within the union's leadership has shown that these individuals cannot be trusted. 

Leaked documents from the impeachment charges filed against the union's president, Brian Renfroe, have shown that the national officers must have had ample knowledge of his long battle with alcohol addiction but pushed for him to be president in 2022 regardless. Their willingness to turn a blind eye allowed the situation to spiral out of control, resulting in Renfroe abandoning negotiations for months to go to rehab. The leaks have shown the officers’ complete disregard for the union in choosing to protect Renfroe rather than the membership:

From March 2020 to July 2022, it was “nearly impossible to keep track of what Brian was doing and how he was behaving” while working remotely during the pandemic. According to one staffer, it was “common knowledge that he drank a lot and had a problem maintaining control.” Former President Fred Rolando stated that “there were at least a dozen instances of drunkenness and inappropriate behavior toward a NALC staffer over the years.” But perhaps the clearest example of Renfroe's recklessness is the revelation that he received a DUI while driving a union vehicle, and continued to use said vehicle for a year despite having a suspended license. Instead of choosing to hold Renfroe accountable for his actions, the national officers voted to give him a slap on the wrist in the form of a one-year suspension of his driving privileges. Almost none of this information would be known publicly if it were not for these leaks. 

So, if we can't trust these individuals to police themselves, how can we expect them to be an effective adversary to postal management? Louis DeJoy was clearly installed to destroy the Postal Service, and given the current union leadership and their insistence on secrecy, it appears that there is no one standing in his way. Resolutions for open bargaining are gaining steam for the union's convention in August, though it's not a guaranteed win. But we the public have the ability to help. It is our service after all, so it's only fair that we take a vested interest in its survival. Not only will our support help ensure the passage of the open bargaining resolution in August, but will help to push for transparency today. There is no time to sit and watch as the Postal Service marches towards its grave. Last year's wins by the UAW and Teamsters show that open bargaining works. Let's join our letter carriers in demanding transparency. 

*In the spirit of transparency, I feel I should note that I am the son of David Noble, who ran against Brian Renfroe in 2022. Cleaning up the NALC has been a large part of my life since I was very young. That story is too long to go into here, but if you didn't find this petition through my video and have 6 minutes to spare, you can find more info there.

https://labornotes.org/blogs/2023/10/call-openness-letter-carriers-contract-negotiations​

https://labornotes.org/blogs/2024/04/momentum-open-bargaining-grows-letter-carriers

Link to leaked impeachment documents: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X4QvSnOMseY90NXC3oX-r8Y0x-zwPNF0/view?usp=drive_link

Photo by jdrichard on Freeimages.com