There's Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice, and Equality

SIX: Interesting Convergences in the Early Sixties Post Office (1960–1963)

CHAPTER SIX interesting convergences in the early sixties post office (1960–1963) ‘‘We have no more separate Charter Branches.’’ That simple yet dramatic statement, greeted by applause, was announced at the nalc’s 1962 national convention in Denver by its retiring president, William Doherty. Doherty’s tenure had begun in 1941—the same year that the nalc voted to allow separate (or ‘‘dual’’) black and white branches throughout the South, over the objections of pro-black nalc activists. Now, the two black and two white members of the Committee on Separate Charters who had been appointed October 1, 1960, at the previous nalc convention were about to read their report on the abolition of segregation in the nalc. Included on that original committee was an African American letter carrier from New York City’s Branch 36, Oscar Durant, who had also been an active member of the New York–Bronx branch of the National Alliance. One other African American had served on that committee—Walter Samples from Mobile, Alabama—in addition to three white members: its chair, Lloyd D. Nowak from Oakland, California; Frank Wetschka from St. Paul, Minnesota; and Loy S. Bell from the all-white Atlanta Branch 3837. As Doherty introduced each one to applause from the audience of fellow letter carriers, he joked that they had ‘‘worked so successfully that they worked themselves out of business.’’∞ While the nalc had voted in 1954 to ban any new segregated branches, it allowed existing ones to decide whether to combine or remain separate in any given city. Why the sudden change now, in 1962? lobbying for pro-equality labor legislation Postal unions dropped all remaining Jim Crow branches and locals not long after President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 10988 on January 17, 1962, providing limited collective bargaining rights for federal employee unions that did not practice racial discrimination. In the space of just a few years, black postal workers and their allies had won important gains in the fight interesting convergences | 149 President John F. Kennedy signs Executive Order 10988 on January 17, 1962, granting partial collective bargaining rights to government employee unions that do not discriminate or segregate. Fourth from the left is nalc president William Doherty. On the far right is National Alliance president Ashby Smith. Courtesy of Postal Record, National Association of Letter Carriers, afl-cio. for equality in the post o≈ce and its unions. That included the integration of unions, the breaking down of race and gender barriers to all postal crafts and management positions, and the monitoring and enforcement of executive orders and laws relating to equal employment opportunity. The abolition of Jim Crow union branches and locals set the tone for a decade of struggle parallel to that outside the post o≈ce. In the early 1960s, while postal union merger talk was in the air, postal unions were still largely divided along craft lines. But shifts and divisions were already occurring. That shifting became more pronounced with Kennedy’s labor and civil rights executive orders that provided limited collective bargaining rights for federal unions as well as disallowed racial discrimination by federal agencies, contractors, or unions. Black postal workers and their allies continued to make the best of their limited representation by litigating, lobbying , agitating, and taking advantage of concerns by organized labor and the 150 | interesting convergences The night they drove old Jim Crow down in the nalc. The nalc Separate Charter Committee delivers its report on integrating the remaining segregated nalc branches at the nalc national convention in Denver, September 6, 1962. Members include, from left to right, Oscar Durant from New York (also an nape member); Frank Wetschka from St. Paul, Minnesota; Walter Samples from Mobile, Alabama; and Lloyd Nowak from Oakland, California. Courtesy of Postal Record, National Association of Letter Carriers, afl-cio. Kennedy administration that civil rights protests and white supremacist resistance were damaging America’s image abroad in the Cold War.≤ The lobbying power of the postal unions had become considerable by the early 1960s. The nalc probably had the most clout of any postal union.≥ But there were a number of others of varying size and influence also trying to put pressure on senators and representatives on behalf of their respective constituencies , because no federal employees’ union enjoyed collective bargaining powers then. Yet those lobbying for both civil and labor rights numbered exactly two: the nape and npu. Of...