Saving 5-Day Mail Delivery Highlights Agenda

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 – Over 8,700 letter carriers are set to convene in Anaheim, California August 9 to 13 as elected delegates to the 67th Biennial National Convention of the National Association of Letter Carriers — the largest convention among AFL-CIO affiliated unions.

The week-long event at the Anaheim Convention Center (ACC) will bring together unionized mail carriers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam. The 295,000-member union, founded in 1889, represents active and retired city delivery letter carriers employed by the U.S. Postal Service.

NALC President Fredric V. Rolando will deliver the keynote address August 9 shortly after the convention convenes.

Delegates will discuss issues critical to the future of the Postal Service, including the union’s campaign to block a proposal by Postmaster General John E. Potter that would curtail mail service to the American public by eliminating delivery to homes and businesses on Saturdays. The proposal by postal management would require approval by Congress and has met a firestorm of protest from senators and representatives throughout the nation.

The convention delegates will also discuss the evaluation of postal delivery routes, resolutions and constitutional amendments submitted by delegates, contract negotiations set for 2011, and will nominate candidates for union offices, including 10 national resident officer positions, including national president; three national trustees’ posts, and national business agents for the union’s 15 regions.

Speakers scheduled to address the convention include: U.S. Reps. Loretta Sanchez, and Susan Davis, (both D-CA); AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka; United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts; American Postal Workers Union President William Burrus; National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association President Don Cantriel; Billy Hayes, general secretary, Communication Workers Union (CWU), United Kingdom; Odd Christian Overland, president, Norwegian Post and Communications Union (Postkom); Jeff Faux, founding president and distinguished fellow, Economic Policy Institute; Neil Anderson, head of Post and Logistics Sector, UNI Global Union; and Bob Forney, president and founder of the Global FoodBanking Network.

Registration will be August 7 and 8 at the Anaheim Convention Center. General Sessions will begin Monday, August 9 at 10 a.m. and continue daily through August 13. Daily workshops will be held at 7:30 a.m., prior to the General Sessions, and again in the afternoon following adjournment.

The NALC represents all city delivery letter carriers employed by the U.S. Postal Service throughout the 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions.

SOURCE National Association of Letter Carriers