Dear Brothers and Sisters:

America’s letter carriers have had a long history delivering the nation’s mail for well over 200 years.  In 2015, our branch celebrated its 125th anniversary making us one of the country’s oldest unions. 

The first federal workers to organize were skilled craftsmen working in Navy shipyards and in US Government printing office.  But postal workers were the first federal employees to join unions in great numbers, and among postal workers, the letter carriers were the first craft to form their own union.

Letter carriers and their union (NALC), have from the very beginning coped with a special employer, the United States government.  Letter carriers have also been proud to serve the American people.  NALC President James C. Keller expressed this sentiment well in the early 1900’s: “We hold that the letter carrier is not a messenger boy, but that he is an intelligent part and parcel of the social and industrial organization of this land of ours”.