The NALC has 2,500 local branches representing letter carriers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam.

[2] On August 29, 1889, delegates moved quickly, unanimously adopting a resolution to form a National Association of Letter Carriers.

On the next day, August 30, 1889, they elected William Wood of Detroit as the first president and appointed an executive board to coordinate all legislative efforts.

[3] In the early 1940s, Mario Biaggi, a future highly decorated policeman and US Congressman, became active in New York's Branch 36.

[5] The history of the National Association of Letter Carriers is documented through archival collections at the Walter P. Reuther Library in Detroit, Michigan.

A growing sense of militancy developed as carriers and their families in big cities neared the poverty level.

In New York City's Branch 36, a storm of protest erupted when President Richard Nixon provided only a 4.1 percent pay raise in 1969, a figure the NALC deemed unacceptable.

At 12:01 a.m. on March 18, picket lines created by Branch 36 went up at post offices throughout Manhattan and the Bronx in New York City as letter carriers went on strike.

[7] The strike ended after eight days when local NALC leaders assured strikers that an agreement had been reached, even though their word was premature.

Like all federal agencies under the Taft–Hartley Act, the Postal Service is an "open shop," and no one can be compelled to join the NALC or any other union as a condition of gaining or continuing employment with the government.

A pilot drive was held in 10 cities in October 1991, and it proved so successful that work began immediately on making it a nationwide effort.

Working to elect members of Congress who support NALC priorities is a primary objective of the union's political affairs operation.

Contributing to the PAC is strictly voluntary, as federal law forbids unions from using dues money for political purposes.

[17] The primary sentiment behind the law was to protect federal employees from being strong-armed and intimidated into helping their bosses run for reelection.