Region 15 Training and Letter Carrier Political Fund (LCPF)

On March 1-3,2026 Sean Killeen Financial Secretary, Gary DeGrijze OWCP/Area Representative, Patricia Mc Dermott Area Representative, Mike Spadifina Director of City Delivery/Safety, Ryan Curry Trustee #1/Sargeant at arms, Mike Castellano Trustee # 2 and Jackie LaRosa Trustee #4 and myself attended Region 15’s 2026 training in Atlantic City NJ.

The training consisted of OWCP, New Employee Experience, Retention and Mentoring Program (NEERMP) Joint Workplace Improvement Program (JWIP) Right WAY/ Wrong Way Offer for Modified Assignments,CA-17’s, Completing CA-7’s TAC’s Facts and Hacks, Vehicle Safety Recalls on Postal Vehicles, Letter Carrier Political Fund and Grievance – Arbitration Procedure. During the OWCP Section they spoke on how DOGE cut 100’s of claims examiners positions and the ratio examiners went from 1 examiner from 500 claims to 900. This has delayed claims from being approved from 3 months to 8 months. This is all being done to push employees to return to work or separating them from the Postal Service. No other administration has attempted to separate injured carriers.

On Tuesday morning President Renfroe addressed the delegation and spoke on many issues for two hours. He spoke about our current contract that will expire in May and this contract had the most changes than any other previous contracts. He then spoke about the opening remarks that were made on February 25,2026. He stated it was more ceremonial and that both had stated they would bargain in good faith to achieve a contract.

He also stated how the entire Executive Council was engaged in the collective bargaining process and are well prepared for negotiating a contract and if need be, for Arbitration. He then went into how the council was broken up into 6 groups for the upcoming contract and this will be the third time done this way. The committees were broken down into categories, reviewed resolutions from previous conventions, other contracts, experiences, and ideas along with rank and file of panel of 30 members to replicate negotiations. The President spoke about the open polling that was conducted for active carriers from October – November. Based on the response he went on to state that it will be available in the future.

The President then addressed the fact that the Postal Service lost 9 billion dollars last year and will not be able to make payroll in early 2027 if things do not change. He notes that parcel volume is down 4% while all the other shipping companies have increased their percentages.

He stated the Postal Service has a line of credit of 15 billion dollars of which they have used all of it. He stated the Postal Service has had this same line of credit since the 1980’s and congress has never given any increases to it. He emphasized that now we will need Congress’s help to get a higher line of credit. The problem is this administration is not good for organized labor.

We need Congress’ help to extend the line of credit. I’m saying this to make everyone aware of what is going on and that we must work together to protect our jobs and benefits. Some carriers don’t believe it will happen. The NALC has been successful in the past at this endeavor and we will need the support of both Republicans and Democrats.

Unfortunately, it takes money for us to be successful in this fight from big businesses. They would love the demise of the Postal Service and will take the products we provide for their benefits. We need everyone to contribute to the Letter Carrier Political Fund (LCPF) to fight the Political Action Committees (PAC’s) and Lobbyists. Currently only 12% of the NALC members donate to the fund and the majority comes from retirees. This branch is in the high 90 percentile of organized union members. However, we need everyone to contribute to protect all our jobs and the service. We have asked congress for our support on resolutions in the past to protect our interests and benefits and need them now.

Currently there are several House Resolutions that we need to get out of committee and vote on the floor. To name a few they are as follows:

• HR 70 To Oppose Privatization of the USPS. This speaks for itself; we oppose privatization of the USPS.

• HR 1522 1522 Federal Retirement Fairness Act this would enable Temporary Employee’s and CCA’s the ability to buy back their time as non-career employees to have that time count towards their retirement. When this Bill passes 132,000 letter carriers that worked as a CCA or TE would benefit from this.

• HR 1065 Protect Our Letter Carriers Act. This would require harsher sentencing for robbing and assaulting a letter carrier. As it stands now the laws throughout the country are not the same. In one state a carrier was robbed at gun point and the criminal was only sentenced to 30 days.

• HR 3170 Improving Access to Worker’s Compensation for Injured Federal Workers Act. This aims to improve medical care access for injured carriers.

• HR 491 Equal Cola Act. FERS employees when they retire do not get the full COLA as CSRS carriers. This legislation would eliminate the disparity and ensure fair treatment for all federal employees.

• HR 20 Protect the Right to Organize. The PRO Act would strengthen protections under the National Labor Relations Act, ensuring the right to organize and collective bargaining. We do not want to go back to collective begging.

• HR 3011 USPS Shipping Equity Act: Enables the USPS to ship wine, beer, and spirits directly from producers to consumers.

As you can see now elections have consequences and we need everyone to contribute to the Letter Carrier Political Fund (LCPF). This is the new version of the former Committee on Letter Carrier Political Education (COLCPE).

So, let me ask you, is it worth $5.00 a paycheck to protect all the benefits I have listed above that are in jeopardy? I know there may be a few people thinking COLCPE/LCPF has been around a long time and do not believe they are successful. That cannot be further from the truth. The NALC chief of staff is on the ball and has been crucial in the defense to preserve our benefits.

It is now easier than ever to contribute to LCPF, there are several methods to do it: Carriers can use Payroll deduction to Contribute Automatically, use Postal Ease to set up an allotment deduction from your USPS paycheck, use Direct Bank Withdrawal and finally you can authorize the fund to withdraw a monthly electronic contribution directly from your personal checking account. And finally, Retirees can deduct from their Annuity to give monthly via an automatic deduction. Choose which method works best for you. Go online to contribute or download the LCPF Form and mail it to NALC Headquarters: The Letter Carrier Political Fund 100 Indiana Ave NW Washington, DC 20001. You can call PostalEASE toll-free at 1-877-4PS-EASE (1-877-477-3273).