The 50,000-member National Postal Mail Handlers Union (Mail Handlers) returned to the AFL-CIO today and became the 54th affiliate union in the 10-million-member AFL-CIO. (pictured at left - Mail Handlers President John Hegarty, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney)

The union—an affiliate of the Laborers (LIUNA) which left the AFL-CIO in May—is the first union to take advantage of an August AFL-CIO Executive Council decision to allow the re-issue of charters to once-independent unions that were AFL-CIO affiliates before merging into one of the unions that disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO in 2005 and 2006.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney presented the charter to Mail Handlers President John Hegarty and other union officers this morning. Hegarty says he is:

 confident that nearly 50,000 Mail Handlers across the country will benefit from this continuing partnership between the [Mail Handlers] and the AFL-CIO. Mail Handlers have a long history with the Federation, with our first affiliation beginning nearly 70 years ago, and we certainly look forward to a long and productive relationship well into the future.

The union also will continue its affiliation with LIUNA. After the Mail Handlers expressed an interest in rejoining the AFL-CIO, Sweeney says he consulted with the union’s leaders, the nonaffiliated LIUNA leadership, other postal unions and the Executive Council. Says Sweeney:

The union movement will be strengthened by the Mail Handlers’ decision to rejoin the AFL-CIO, which will bring together all the major postal workers’ unions and benefit working families nationwide.

Along with its 47,000 regular members, the Mail Handlers include nearly 150,000 associate members.

The Mail Handlers first affiliated with the AFL-CIO in the 1930s. The union continued that affiliation through the Laborers, following their merger with LIUNA in 1968.

source: AFL-CIO

From NPMHU.org:

Mail Handlers Granted Direct AFL-CIO Affiliation

Click here to view a PDF copy of the NPMHU AFL-CIO Charter

Click here to read the AFL-CIO Press Release
Related link: National Mail Handlers Union Respond to Burrus Raid Letters