Learn, Lead, Fight: APWU 28th Biennial Convention Begins

President Smith’s State of the Union Address

APWU’s 28th Biennial National Convention opened Monday, Aug. 17, at the Los Angeles Convention Center under the theme “Honoring Our Past, Fighting for Our Future.” More than 1,800 delegates from across the country gathered for the first day of business, which featured President Jonathan Smith’s first State of the Union address, a return of the union’s original March of the States, tributes to the leaders who built the APWU, and the first afternoon of debate on convention resolutions.

On Monday, APWU National President Jonathan Smith delivered his State of the Union address, reflecting on the union’s history, honoring the generations of postal workers who built it, and laying out a vision for a stronger and more united APWU.

Smith shared the story of his grandfather, who left the tobacco fields in Georgia to build a better life through postal employment and union membership. He highlighted the courage and sacrifice of generations of postal workers and pointed to the 1970 Great Postal Strike as a defining example of what workers can accomplish when they stand together for dignity, fairness, better wages, and safe working conditions.

Smith recognized APWU retirees for building the foundation for today’s union and thanked them for continuing to support the labor movement. He emphasized the importance of bringing generations together, with experienced members, young workers, and new activists each playing an essential role in strengthening our union.

“The state of the American Postal Workers Union is strong,” Smith declared — strong, he said, because of the union’s members, locals, stewards, and officers, and because of every clerk, maintenance, motor vehicle service, and support services employee who proudly wears the APWU emblem.

On the future of the Postal Service, Smith reaffirmed the APWU’s commitment to protecting the USPS as a public institution. He emphasized the importance of universal postal service for veterans, seniors, rural communities, small businesses, and millions of Americans who depend on the Postal Service. He also highlighted the importance of protecting Vote-by-Mail as a way to ensure Americans can participate in our democracy.

Smith outlined the serious challenges facing postal workers and the Postal Service, including declining mail volume, technological changes, staffing shortages, facility consolidations, outsourcing, privatization efforts, workplace safety concerns, and attacks on collective bargaining rights.

“But the biggest issues — the biggest fights we have in front of us — to save our union, to save the Postal Service, and carry our proud APWU tradition forward for generations to come, will not be won or lost at the bargaining table. They will not be won or lost in a grievance hearing,” Smith said.

“They will require a movement, a movement that our union must lead, to build the public Postal Service that we all deserve.”

Smith also called for unity among delegates and members, emphasizing that disagreement is a natural part of a democratic union but should never outweigh the shared commitment to the APWU. Delegates, he said, would return home wearing the same union emblem and must leave the convention united around the work ahead.

As a call to action, Smith challenged members to “Learn, lead, and fight.” He encouraged members to learn the union’s history, lead with integrity, and fight for postal workers, working families, communities, and future generations.

In closing, Smith called for an APWU that is stronger, more united, and prepared for the challenges ahead. He urged delegates to honor the struggles of those who came before them by strengthening the union today and building a future worthy of the generations of postal workers who fought to make the APWU what it is. In this way, the APWU will live up to the convention’s theme of “honoring our past, fighting for our future.”

Former Executive Vice President, Dave Johnson, addressed the convention delegates and gave a sweeping account of the APWU’s history from our roots in the Great Postal Strike to the current leadership today. He shared what conditions were like as a postal worker before the strike, the difference having a union made, and how women formed the Post Office Women for Equal Rights (POWER) and had to fight to win leadership roles.

Johnson recalled making $1.68 an hour when he started work in 1961 and learned that change only came through collective action. He also described how the APWU Auxiliary helped strengthen early union activism. Postal workers’ families would monitor legislation and report back in the union meetings.

Former Executive Vice President, Dave Johnson, addressed the convention delegates and gave a sweeping account of the APWU’s history from our roots in the Great Postal Strike to the current leadership today. He shared what conditions were like as a postal worker before the strike, the difference having a union made, and how women formed the Post Office Women for Equal Rights (POWER) and had to fight to win leadership roles.

Johnson recalled making $1.68 an hour when he started work in 1961 and learned that change only came through collective action. He also described how the APWU Auxiliary helped strengthen early union activism. Postal workers’ families would monitor legislation and report back in the union meetings.

He shared how the role of women in the union has evolved thanks to their tenacity and refusal to back down; he said he remembered the 1976 APWU Biennial Convention vividly, when POWER was formed, and women took over the delegate microphones demanding to be recognized.

Johnson closed by encouraging members, especially young members, to get involved in the union’s work. He expressed his excitement about President Smith’s leadership and called on members to keep carrying the union forward.

AFGE Vice President Dr. Kendrick Roberson addressed delegates on opening day of the convention, speaking on the current anti-worker administration, the attacks on federal workers, and the misinformation of our workforce. “This administration continues to spread lies on America’s workforce, and now they are actively using this level of lies to roll back our civil rights.

Project 2025 and DOGE were programs implemented to harm federal workers and strip union funding. Relating the attacks on federal workers to the privatization attempts of the postal service, he commented, “every time they tried, they could not triumph over APWU. You have always held the line.” He called on everyone to practice their constitutional rights and collectively organize to protect our freedoms.

Dr. Roberson resonated with the plight of young workers today, who grew up just in time to see an economy collapse, housing costs rise, education skyrocket and healthcare become astronomical while minimum wage remains stagnant. As one of labor’s youngest national officers himself, he encouraged young workers to not give up and remain educated on the rights labor has won while promoting activism in the face of government threats.

“We must move like we are in the fight for our collective futures.” He warned delegates of the administration’s attempts to roll back civil rights and urged the delegation to demand more from our country. Take action, fight for young workers, women in the workplace, civil and workers’ rights.

At the conclusion of his speech, Dr. Roberson asked, “What do we do when our freedoms are under attack?” The delegates shouted in unison, “Stand up, fight back!”

Helping to open the day, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass gave a warm welcome to delegates and thanked postal workers for their contributions to our communities. Bass shared a personal connection to the union: her father was a postal worker who was able to buy a house, send his children to college, and retire with good health insurance thanks to good union wages. She highlighted the importance of Vote-by-Mail, voiced her opposition to postal privatization, and praised postal workers’ dedication to our work, pledging to keep fighting for and protecting the public Postal Service and to stand with postal workers in any future fight we may have.

Greater Los Angeles Area Local President Dominic Davis welcomed the convention on behalf of the host local, noting that the same spirit of unity that built the APWU over 55 years makes Los Angeles “a perfect place to gather as we continue honoring our past and fighting for our future.”

Delegates also recognized the officers of the Auxiliary to the APWU, led by President Trisa Mannion, before the roll call of national officers.

Serving as emcee, Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth “Liz” Powell noted a significant change in how the APWU is doing business at this convention: nearly every committee, and the mic monitors on the floor, include members age 35 and under.

“The only way to get the future of this union involved was to actually get them involved,” she said. Later in the day, she asked all delegates age 35 and under — close to 300 — to stand, and the hall rose to recognize them.

Powell reminded delegates that financial stewardship is about more than balancing the books, and that every dollar members contribute must support what matters most: contract enforcement, organizing, education, legislative advocacy, health and safety, and developing future leaders. As the APWU celebrates its 55th anniversary, she said, “that is what bridging generations is all about — not replacing one generation with another, but building a partnership where each learns from the other, and where every member has a role in shaping our future.”

Powell then led the convention in recognizing distinguished retired national officers — the “APWU Trailblazers” — including several who took part in the 1970 strike and the merger that created the APWU in 1971. Some joined by video and others were welcomed in the hall, among them former Industrial Relations Director and Executive Vice President Greg Bell, Research & Education Director Joyce B. Robinson, and Legislative & Political Director Judy Beard, who was the union’s first elected Retirees Director.

APWU National Legislative and Political Director Judy Beard delivered a powerful message to members, celebrating a decade of legislative victories while warning that the public Postal Service and its workforce face renewed attacks.

Director Beard highlighted key victories secured through the activism and advocacy of APWU members, including the Postal Service Reform Act that ended retiree pre-funding, and the Social Security Fairness Act. She emphasized that these achievements were made possible by members’ grassroots advocacy, community outreach, and strong bipartisan relationships on Capitol Hill.

At the same time, she warned that proposals being advanced as solutions to the Postal Service’s financial challenges could have serious consequences for postal workers and the communities we serve. Eliminating six-day delivery, changing workers’ compensation, outsourcing postal operations, and reducing retirement and health benefits are not solutions, she said—”they are attacks on the public Postal Service.”

Director Beard instead called for common sense reforms that wouldn’t harm service, including increasing USPS’s borrowing authority, correcting pension liability allocations, identifying new revenue sources, and strengthening the Service’s role as a vital institution in communities across the country.

She urged APWU members to continue building relationships with lawmakers from both parties and expanding alliances with other unions and community allies.

Director Beard thanked members who contribute to our political fund, COPA, and shared a video explaining what COPA does to help postal workers secure legislative victories on Capitol Hill. She surprised delegates with a special guest appearance of one of the stars of the video, New York Metro Local’s Organization Director Diane Erlanger.

Beard’s message was clear: APWU members must remain united, engaged, and ready to fight for a strong public Postal Service, good union jobs, and the rights of postal workers and retirees.

On the opening day of the convention, delegates were eager to dig into work. After the role call of national officers, the credentials committee gave their first report of the week. The rules committee gave their report, read through the rules of the convention, and the body voted to adopt them.

The Finance Committee chaired by Tanya Jackson gave their report on the APWU’s finances for the last 2 years. Then, Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth “Liz” Powell introduced the Young Members Committee. Angela McDonald and Eric Chornoby gave a report on the work of the committee for the last two years. Early in the afternoon, delegates began to work through resolutions presented by the Labor-Management Committee, co-chaired by Jamila Bush and Julia Weare. These resolutions impact all crafts and give the negotiating team additional direction in contract negotiations.

Research and Education Director Joyce Robinson hosted the Post Office Women for Equal Rights (POWER) Caucus. President Smith thanked POWER for their work and shared inspiring stories about women who shaped him into who he is today. The COPA Committee awarded Robinson for organizing POWER to be the largest single donor to the Committee on Political Action (COPA). APWU Vice-President Debby Szeredy said that POWER remains essential because harassment and inequality persist still today.

APWU National Business Agent and Coalition of Labor Union Women Executive Vice-President Rachel Walthall shared the importance of the AFL-CIO internal constituency group. The Northeast Region donated the most at the 2025 POWER Convention and won the Culver Award.