Almost Striking Again, Arbitration, and Automation, 1980s–1990s

Chapter Seven studies how antagonistic labor-management contract negotiations between the U.S. Postal Service and its two major unions, the National Association of Letter Carriers and the American Postal Workers Union, almost ended with a called strike by those unions in the first year of President Ronald Reagan’s administration (1981-1989). This strike was averted by an arbitration mechanism built into the PRA. Union solidarity was embodied in the Joint Bargaining Committee. This chapter also charts the effects of automation on the workforce from the 1970s through the early 2000s.

The U.S. Postal Service and the Postal Unions in the 1970s

Chapter Six shows how postal unions made use of increased collective bargaining rights to win higher pay and increased benefits. At the same time, there was constant conflict with postal management and within the unions on issues of democracy and militancy in the first decade of the new U.S. Postal Service. By 1971, the National Association of Letter Carriers and the new American Postal Workers Union had emerged as the two leading postal unions representing workers and instituting reforms. The U.S. Postal Service would also be bargaining with two smaller unions that had little or nothing to do with the strike—the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association.

The Strike Begins

Chapter Three chronicles the first five days of the 1970 nationwide postal wildcat strike. It spread from New York City as postal union branches and locals across the nation debated and voted. In the end, almost one-third of the workforce walked off the job. NALC Branch 36 and the Manhattan-Bronx Postal Union led the rank-and-file effort, with prominent roles played by Vincent Sombrotto (NALC) and Moe Biller (MBPU).

Introduction

This introductory chapter argues that this strike was a ground-breaking, successful rebellion against the federal government and postal union leadership. Both organized and spontaneous, it was a strike that also helps reveal rank-and-file militancy during that time as something rising, not falling--especially in the growing public sector. Postal labor was vital to the movement of mail, and postal workers were well positioned to wildcat by virtue of being so thoroughly unionized yet forbidden by law to strike. The stage had already been set for upsurge with the 1960s spike in the hiring of African Americans, women, veterans, and young people, and with a leading role played by New York City postal workers. This chapter draws connections between the strike and the resulting Postal Reorganization Act, which subsequently left the U.S. Postal Service vulnerable to subsequent laws and policy measures that harmed the agency’s financial viability.

Rising Expectations and Brewing Conflict

This chapter looks at the low pay and poor working conditions in the late 1960s and the upsurge of rank-and-file postal worker reform campaigns against what they called “collective begging” of Congress. Chronic postal deficits and a sudden service breakdown in Chicago in 1966 led to the 1967 Kappel Commission that first explored a postal corporation model. The chapter also charts the growing postal worker anger at Congress; presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon; and their own national union leaders for ignoring their pleas for living wages. Militant rank-and-file organizing in New York led up to the wildcat strike that began there on March 18, 1970.

Postal Workers and the Rise of Collective Bargaining

This chapterprovides some deep historical background for the strike. It examines labor in the early post office (that was all white by law). It follows the emergence of the first postal unions after the Civil War and their relationship with the federal government. From there it focuses on the early 1960s and partial collective bargaining rights granted to government workers under President John F. Kennedy’s Executive Order 10988, which led to rising expectations of more labor rights.

The Strike Ends

Chapter Four follows the last three days of the 1970 postal wildcat strike. It starts from President Richard M. Nixon’s dramatic intervention on March 23, 1970 when he sent thousands of unarmed federal troops and National Guard to New York City as part of Operation Graphic Hand to try to move the mail and break the strike. Strikers across the country ended the strike March 25 on their own terms, threatening to walk out again the following week.

Downsizing, Financial Crisis, and the Challenge for Postal Labor, 2000–2019

Chapter Eight discusses the damage done by the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) leading to the 2009 financial crisis of the USPS, and concludes by examining connections between that crisis and the 1970 strike. The chapter further argues that the financial crisis of 2009 that became chronic was politically manufactured by the PAEA. It also surveys the postal labor-consumer coalitions formed to rectify attacks on universal postal service, including cutbacks, downsizing, outsourcing, and privatization efforts.

Aftershocks and Postal Reorganization

Chapter Five analyses the reasons for the success of the strike and charts the rocky aftermath of the 1970 postal wildcat strike with threats of more strikes. This would be the beginning of arguments both within and among the unions over proposed union reforms. The chapter also examines the political debates over the making of the 1970 Postal Reorganization Act (PRA) as a labor-government compromise. The year 1970 also saw the beginnings of union realignment as two key militant unions—the National Postal Union and the historically-black National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees—were excluded from negotiations in the future USPS.