Branch History

While the history of the individual Branches that comprise CT Merged Branch 20 go back to 1890, the history of CT Merged Branch 20 begins on January 1, 1985. On September 25, 1984 representatives of NALC Branch 227 Meriden, Branch 168 Waterbury and Branch 175 Middletown met in Meriden to discuss merger.

This was a time when Postal management was consolidating their operations in such a manner that most decisions that affected Letter Carriers were no longer to be made by local managers. They would now be made by Sectional Center, Divisional and currently District managers. Small branches had little or no chance of effectively representing their members under these conditions.

The presidents and officers of Branch 227, 168, 175, and subsequently more than two dozen other branches that now make up Branch 20 recognized the need for a full-time officer, trained stewards, office space, a newsletter and the clout only a large branch has to truly represent their members in this rapidly changing postal environment.

It was not an easy task to effect these mergers. Many carriers had their own private agendas which had nothing to do with the welfare of the NALC or the carriers as a whole. It took many meetings, hundreds of miles of travel by President Daniels and VP Chiaverini, on their own time and their own dime, to meld together one of the most effective branches in the NALC today, CT Merged Branch 20.

With the exception of a few smaller branches, the merger process took approximately four years from the first merger on January 1, 1985 between Meriden, Waterbury and Middletown until the merger with New Milford in Oct. 1988.

The carriers involved in effecting these mergers can hold their heads high. They deserve the thanks of the membership. They worked hard to convince their brothers and sisters that merger was the right course, in most cases against the popular theme at the time of, “We don’t want to lose our identity.”

We have all benefited enormously from these mergers. As the second largest branch in CT with 663 active carriers and 404 retired members as of November 9, 2022 we are able to do things we could not have even dreamed of as small independent branches.

The display of front page covers from our newsletter, the Union Courier, documents the history of CT Merged Branch 20 over the past thirty-one years. If you are interested in reading beyond the cover of any edition copies of all posted newsletter covers are available at the Union Office.