Zoom Meeting Updates

By Daryl Sexton

On Friday, February 21, 2025, I was in attendance of a zoom meeting hosted by NALC president Brian Renfroe. He started by saying, “the Challenge of what is in front of us, none of us have experienced.”  He was referring to the news that President Trump stated that he would be firing the Postal Board of Governors and then moving the Postal Service to the be under the Secretary of Commerce through the use of executive orders. This would sidestep the congressional control of the Postal Service. 

The basic jest of the entire meeting was that this is potentially the most serious attack on the postal service that there has been. This is not a partisan comment. For those that voted for the president in the past election, most likely did not intend to dismantle the postal service. Even with al the negative press that the postal service, we are the most trusted agency within the government. 

The tactics that were discussed was that the Trump administration talks of getting rid of the Board of Governors, the postal regulatory commission, and put the agency under the control of Secretary of Commerce. This would then utilize private companies to give the profitable portions of service to these private companies. From here the possibilities are as broad as the imagination, including the possibility of taking our collective bargaining rights.   There will be a great deal of speculation of what will happen and how far things will go. 

I feel that the most important aspect that I took from the meeting is the need to have unity within the NALC. Emphasizing the strengths of the NALC is that we are as diverse politically as the nation, that we have bipartisan support and the activism of our membership. This must be put on display as we protect our jobs by protecting the Postal Service. We must have unity no matter the level we are. We face a fight that will take all of us to win. 

Another major point of the meeting was the action that is being taken regarding our contract negotiation. The process is now moving to interest arbitration. The executive council voted to push for an expedited arbitration process in an attempt to put into place a contract before action is taken to eliminate collective bargaining. There were many questions about this expedited arbitration process. There was a question about if the replacement for the PMG would not agree to  the bargaining and the answer was very decisive, we would take legal action to move the process. I took this to mean that there would be an expedited process but not an abbreviated process. They are not the same. 

There will be a “Fight Like Hell” political rally in Washington D.C. on Monday, February 24, 2025, to be near the NALC headquarters. The rally will include other unions, stakeholders, mailers and even potentially management groups for the purpose of making the public aware of the of the plight of the USPS. As I stated earlier, it is doubtful that the people voted for the destruction of the US Postal Service. They will be behind us and support us as we fight off attacks on the privatization of the service. We will see the traditional strategies and campaigns to make the public aware as well as more current methods of social media. 

This rally is only the beginning and they have pledged support for local or regional rallies. If there are those that are willing to take this aspect on locally, come to the branch leadership and we can make those efforts known and connect with those with the knowledge and ability. 

I am going to close with this thought, if there is no Postal Service we have no job. This is not about partisan politics. This is about us uniting to protect our jobs. The NALC has demonstrated the possibilities through our unity before. 

Daryl Sexton, President

NALC Branch 203