Commentary: Strife for Letter Carriers at the US Postal Service as union president toes management line

Milwaukee, WI – On April 9, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced that it would be “temporarily” suspending matching contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) in an effort to cut costs for the federal institution.

The measure comes in the wake of comments from Postmaster General David Steiner in March suggesting that the USPS could “run out of cash” by October of this year in the worst case scenario or by February 2027 if certain payments are deferred. He further threatened that if something wasn’t done, USPS may need to cut delivery days or close whole stations, painting a picture of desperation for the oldest continuous federal service in the United States.

This is just the most recent example in a long list of government officials and politicians sounding the alarm on the perpetually dying USPS, an entity that has posted billion-dollar “losses” since 2007. Of course, postal delivery is a service provided at an expense, not a business which earns a profit, but that’s never included in these forecasts. What isn’t mentioned in any of the reports on the move to suspend USPS contributions to the FERS, and the others covering Steiner’s comments about the impending demise of the Postal Service, is that Steiner is an acting board member with private sector competitor FedEx, a role he has held since 2009. Steiner was hand-selected by President Donald Trump in May 2025 to take on the role of Postmaster General.

To compound the issue, at least for letter carriers at USPS, Brian Renfroe – the current national president of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), the union which represents city carriers – released a statement the same day, aligning himself and the union he leads with management’s perspective that this decision is a necessary cost-saving effort, calling on Congress to take action. While there is certainly a kernel of truth to the idea of congressional action, what is even more true is that USPS hemorrhages money in other ways that are easily identifiable – and correctable – that weren’t so much as hinted at in Renfroe’s statement but which rank-and-file members of NALC across the country are keenly aware of themselves.

For starters, USPS currently maintains a management-to-carrier ratio of around 1:7, meaning for every seven carriers in a station, there is a supervisor or manager in that office. In the 1990s, by comparison, that ratio was 1:20 or greater. To further put this into perspective, the starting annual salary for a supervisory role with the Post Office is north of $70,000, compared to the average starting pay of a regular city carrier, which clocks in at around $33,000. To take this a step further, in 2025 alone, those same over-paid supervisors and managers so thoroughly violated the contract between USPS and the NALC that it resulted in billions of dollars in grievance settlement payouts (to say nothing about the costs of arbitration and other things associated with following grievance procedure). There are other management-related cost issues, to be sure, but these are just two of the most obvious examples.

For Postmaster General David Steiner, sitting board member of FedEx, to not mention these things in his comments makes perfect sense, given his position. However, for NALC President Brian Renfroe to essentially be in line with the management perspective on the suspension of USPS contributions to the FERS is shameful. Unfortunately, this most recent example of failing to support his members and instead represent the interests of management is par for the course for his tenure as president.

Just two weeks before, on March 27, Renfroe was a gleeful participant on a podcast episode for the National Association of Postal Supervisors, a “union” for supervisors who work at USPS, where he commented in so many words that unity between carriers and management was essential at this time. This on its own is enough of a slap in the face to letter carriers who deal with the daily abuse of these supervisors and their bosses, but Renfroe’s list of betrayals and failures is much longer and includes many more severe examples.

The most glaring demonstration of Renfroe’s total failure as a leader may be the handling of the most recent national negotiations and the contract, which was eventually forced through, a process which extended far beyond an acceptable period, finally wrapping up in April 2025 when the contract had expired in mid-2022. The primary issue is not with the length of the negotiations – which was partially a result of President Renfroe effectively being AWOL for large periods of negotiations, for which he faced charges from the membership at the NALC National Convention in 2024 that he narrowly escaped through bureaucratic manipulation – but instead with the agreement itself and the manner in which it was passed.

In an historic vote, more than 70% of the voting membership said “No!” to Renfroe’s sellout deal, which offered a tiny wage increase with no changes to the three-tier workforce, the steps it takes to get to top pay, or anything else that members cared about. At the same time, the contract members were presented with contained numerous concessions.

Reminiscent of the decision by ex-Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. in 2018 with the national UPS contract, Renfroe essentially folded during the arbitration process and the contract was forced on the NALC rank and file. One silver lining resulting from Renfroe’s dereliction of duty during negotiations is that negotiations for the next contract have already begun, so the opportunity to rectify the mistakes in relatively short order exists. However, Renfroe is already biting hard on the bait that USPS upper management is putting out and trying to line carriers up with the management position, indicating the potential for an expedited negotiation with more sell-out concessions.

Also looming on the horizon is the 2026 NALC National Convention this summer, which will then shortly be followed by elections for national leadership in the fall. Inexplicably, Renfroe is running again on a platform of maintaining the status quo, though it should be noted here that Renfroe hasn’t officially declared his candidacy while he travels across the country attempting to whip up the vote. This matters because once he announces his candidacy, all that travel now must come out of his pocket rather than the union coffers. Membership across the country, again mirroring what occurred with the UPS Teamsters following the implementation of the last horrible contract under Hoffa, Jr., is resoundingly opposed to another Renfroe term.

The primary opposition slate, called the Concerned Letter Carriers (CLC), has a groundswell of support on the basis of their progressive platform, which aims to address rank-and-file concerns about union democracy and transparency, an all-career workforce, and the return of a general fighting spirit to the union. Members across the country are linking up and discussing strategies to ensure victory for CLC leaders James Henry and Corey Walton.

With some hard work and good organizing, the rank-and-file can take back control of the NALC from the Renfroe regime, who can then share the fate of Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. as he is swept out of office after betraying the members he had sworn to serve.

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