(Psst Nads) Nixon No Match for Postal Workers (Great Postal Strike of 1970)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.aflcio.org/About/Our-History/Key-Events-in-Labor-History/Nixon-No-Match-for-Postal-Workers


"The strike that stunned the country," read the headline in Time magazine.

Maybe Time was stunned. But 200,000 postal workers had a different view. For them, the Great Postal Strike of 1970 was the moment they were "standing 10 feet tall instead of groveling in the dust," as a Manhattan letter carrier put it. They got fed up, joined together, and transformed both the Postal Service and their own lives forever.



Postal workers were part of eight separate craft unions, including the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC). But they (like all other federal employees) were denied the freedom to bargain collectively over wages. And like all federal employees, they were forbidden to even advocate for the right to strike.

By 1970, full-time employees started out at $6,176 ($34,641 in 2010 dollars). After 21 years of hard work, they averaged only $8,442 ($47,351 in 2010 dollars). It was a struggle just to survive on these wages, especially in big cities. Plenty of postal workers actually qualified for food stamps.

After years of debating but not acting on raising the pay of postal workers, Congress finally acted—sort of. In March, 1970, the Senate Post Office Committee reported a bill that would give postal workers a 5.4 percent pay increase, which was less than the rate of inflation. But then came word that Congress wouldn't even act on that bill for three or four weeks.

FULL story at link.

[mrmpa]

1. My Mom was one of those strikers..........

I remember my Dad (also a Union member, Railroad) sitting down at the dinner table with Mom & us 4 kids and saying that it was going to be tough, Mom may not have a job at the end of the strike, and he didn't know how long the strike would last.

The 4 of us had paper routes for both the morning & evening paper (remember those days), the earnings we usually split amongst ourselves, but during this time it all, but $4 went into the strike jar.

All 4 kids, all Union members today. Only one of us (me) has struck, and that was a teacher's strike. The other three belong to the Teamsters, Painters and a Postal worker's Unions.

Solidarity!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Oh Com'on bring it to the present

No strike clause, union under attack and groveling again.

Sorry Steve, but this is what needs to happen, a strie...you even hint at the S word...that's a firable offense.

And they are bleeding members like there is no tomorrow.

Elections were supposed to change the dysfunction. Over 90% of elected leaders were thrown on their asses...nope.

Sorry, I am as frustrated as they come.

[hay rick]

3. Great video.

Thanks for posting this. The first union person to speak was Vinnie Sombrotto of Branch 36, later to become NALC's much-loved and greatest president. He is generally credited with having engineered the strike.