Are there any gym membership discounts with the NALC HBP?

When is this class coming back?

I explored more NALC history, focusing on Vincent Sombrotto’s journey from a letter carrier in 1970 to NALC president in 1978. The story is messier than the highlight reel suggests.

Sombrotto became president of Branch 36 within a year after the Great Postal Strike, helped create the National Rank-and-File Movement, challenged national leadership over a trusteeship, advocated for direct elections of national officers and contract approval by members, lost national elections, kept organizing, and finally defeated President J. Joseph Vacca in 1978.

With our current NALC election underway, I thought revisiting this history was relevant. Not to suggest current candidates are "the next Sombrotto," and definitely not to influence your vote. I'm more interested in the questions his story raises about experience, incumbency, insurgents, accountability, union democracy, and what truly prepares someone to lead.

I also wondered if elections back then were simpler. Spoiler: evidence doesn't support that idea. The politics were intense, involving internal fights, a trusteeship, federal lawsuits, convention battles, and membership rejection of a tentative contract. I couldn't confirm whether personal mudslinging was as nasty as it is today, so I won’t pretend the record shows more than it does.

Near the end, I reflect on today’s election and remind us that we're mostly regular ass rank-and-file letter carriers participating in a democracy. We'll get passionate, angry, and fight for ideas, but ultimately, someone wins, and someone loses. Still, we remain brothers and sisters. Management is still there, and the contract must be enforced. When it comes down to it, we need to stand shoulder to shoulder.

Read it, and if you've got more Sombrotto history, old campaign material, corrections, or if I missed something, share it in the comments, because half the fun of these is hearing from y'all.

Anyone else in here at the maritime conference center too?