Postal workers in New York City picket over wages, defying federal anti-strike laws, March 18, 1970. Photograph by Anthony Camerano, AP.
|
In 1970, workers of the U.S. Postal Department were frustrated by years of low pay for the physically demanding job of sorting and delivering the mail. Although their union leadership opposed a strike, since it was illegal for federal workers to walk off the job or even bargain over working conditions, a majority of the New York local branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers voted to strike anyway. This illegal “wildcat” strike quickly spread to include at least 30% of American postal workers, the largest ever walkout of federal employees. With the mail going undelivered, disrupting business and the Vietnam War draft, President Richard Nixon declared a national emergency, ordered the National Guard to deliver the mail, and began to promise workers better conditions. After eight days, postal workers went back on the job with an immediate pay hike with back pay. Later that year, Congress and President Nixon passed the Postal Reorganization Act in response, granting postal workers the right to collectively bargain and transforming the United States Postal Service into an independent agency that became known for quality pay and benefits in the following decades. Other federal workers soon followed, winning the right to negotiate for better pay and working conditions.
|
Sources to Get Started |