August 5-9, 2024 Boston Convention and Exhibition Center
argued at the bargaining table for higher starting wages and modifications to our workforce. • We helped to uphold American democracy in the 2022 mid- term election, working to en- sure that American voters could safely and confidently cast their ballots at home during a time of intense polarization and heightened congressional scru- tiny. During the pandemic and its aftermath, voting by mail skyrocketed, and letter carriers and NALC were proud to play a crucial role in getting tens of millions of ballots delivered se- curely and on time. • We continued to develop the new Technology Integrated Al- ternate Route Evaluation and Adjustment Process (TIAREAP), a joint route adjustment pro- cess administered by both NALC and USPS. • We set a goal to grow the Letter Carrier Political Fund (LCPF) by increasing the number of letter carriers who give. Currently, only 12 percent of members give, but in a union of 94 percent volun- tary membership, we know we can do better. A stronger LCPF will be better able to protect and advance the interests of letter carriers by supporting federal candidates who stand up for those interests, regardless of their political party. • We monitored implementation of the Postal Service Health Ben- efits program within the Federal Employees Health Benefits pro- gram along with Medicare inte- gration, as called for by the Post- al Service Reform Act of 2022. NALC worked closely with USPS, the Office of Personnel Manage- ment and the NALC Health Ben- efit Plan to ensure all members, both active and retired, under- stand the changes and get the coverage they need. • And, we remained engaged on Capitol Hill to gain support for
our priorities. We have focused on policy that would protect let- ter carriers on the job, guarantee our retirement security, stabilize the Postal Service’s finances, and support the agency’s univer- sal network. This week, we intend to look back on this hard work. But even more importantly, we will consider the future of our great union. Over the next two years, we must ensure that letter carriers are protected on the job, both from violent at- tacks and excessive heat, remain involved in the implementation of the DFA plan, amplify our voice on Capitol Hill through growing LCPF and staying focused on our legisla- tive priorities, and defend democ- racy by steadfastly delivering bal- lots and committing ourselves to vote this fall. Collective bargaining In February 2023, NALC kicked off contract talks with the Postal Ser- vice. For the 16th time since 1970, we sat across the table from a post- master general and a USPS bargain- ing team to hash out the terms of a new national agreement governing our wages, benefits and working conditions. We faced a tough environment when entering into collective bar- gaining in 2023, and certainly a very different environment than we faced during the last round in 2019 and 2020. Despite a robust econo- my, Postal Service finances lagged. Still, we felt confident in the case we could make to earn letter carri- ers a contract worthy of the dedi- cation and hard work of our active membership. As the 2019 contract expired, let- ter carriers had just made it through the pandemic, putting their lives on the line while seamlessly keep- ing the economy and our commu- nities running by delivering essen- tial goods and medications, school supplies, stimulus checks and at- home COVID-19 tests. We had also
20 The Postal Record August 2024
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