A leadership change looks likely in the Letter Carriers (NALC) this fall. Members are mad about low pay and forced overtime, dangerous heat and robberies, the rejected contract imposed last year, the backlog of tens of thousands of grievances, and the president’s secretive approach to bargaining.

There’s not just one group pushing for change, but a whole ecosystem of reform groups, slates, and podcasters among the 5,000-plus delegates coming to Los Angeles for the union convention August 3-7. They’ll rub elbows and hopefully build unity at a “ Reformers Rum Party ” on Sunday night, the eve of the convention.

Days before the August 5 nominations, it looks like a three-way race for president. The 200,000 members will get the chance to vote this fall—by mail ballot, of course—for 10 officers, three trustees, and 15 regional business agents.

Two reform tickets have been campaigning for two years. One is the Concerned Letter Carriers (CLC) slate, headlined by current Vice President James Henry and including a number of branch (local) presidents. The other is Mike Caref , business agent for Illinois, running solo for president.

Despite months of speculation about whether President Brian Renfroe would run again, he still hasn’t made any announcment. But a third slate announced July 17 includes many other incumbents, led by Eddie Davidson, current business agent for Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK

The backdrop is ongoing existential threats to USPS. Since Trump returned to office, the postal doomsday clock has been minutes from midnight .

Though Trump hasn’t acted on his threat to move the Postal Service under the Department of Commerce, his new batch of nominees for the Board of Governors aren’t even from private sector logistics, but from finance—so maybe less interested in rationalizing the service than in selling it for parts.

Postmaster General David Steiner, who somehow makes his predecessor Louis DeJoy look good, is going along with Trump’s extreme attacks on vote by mail. He says USPS won’t deliver ballots in states that won’t hand over voter lists to the government.

Steiner has also been claiming USPS could run out of money within the year, and threatening to close post offices and cut delivery days if its finances aren’t fixed.

The next-biggest union, the Postal Workers (APWU), organized rallies July 28 for three reforms that would help in the short term—raise the debt limit, modify the investment strategy for retiree benefit funds (they’re all in treasury bonds), and change how the retirement obligation is calculated.

Longer-term, USPS needs to adapt to fewer letters and more packages. Management’s approach has been to cut costs by degrading service. The unions argue it should instead expand revenue by adding services like banking, Internet access, hunting licenses, electric vehicle charging, and checking in on seniors.

In addition, retired letter carrier and longtime activist Jamie Partridge argues, the government should subsidize rural delivery, as many other countries do.

OVERLAPPING GROUPS

A vote-no movement on the 2024 contract was organized by a coalition of forces including Caref, the CLC, the Build a Fighting NALC (BFN) caucus, and influential podcaster Corey Walton, number two on the CLC ticket.

Podcasts are big with letter carriers—you can listen while you slog through the workday. One called “Next Generation Carriers” has interviewed activists from all the vying groups and even Renfroe himself ( Labor Notes staffers have also been guests). Co-host Margo O’Neill, a steward of Branch 352 in Des Moines, is also the treasurer for BFN. Her main goals at the convention, she said, are to grow the reach of the reform movement and to build unity across the various existing groups.

The Next Gen hosts have been agitating for a contract demand of “30 for 30”: a starting wage of $30 and no more than one manager per 30 carriers, to save money and alleviate micromanagement. New carriers start at about $21 , in an entry-level job called “city carrier assistant” where they’re often made to work Sundays delivering Amazon packages. It can take two years to convert to a career position, and even then, everyone hired since 2013 is on second-tier Table 2 pay.

In the Massachusetts chapter of BFN, “we’ve been really pushing to get people more active, talking to CCAs about their rights on the job,” said Chris Persampieri, legislative and political director of Branch 18. “A lot of people had …