Gene Goodwin has spent more than a quarter century focusing on contract issues, so it’s not surprising his top priority has been and remains “to enforce our National Agreement to its fullest.”

Goodwin, who was re-elected by acclamation at the 2006 Las Vegas Convention to a third term as National Business Agent for Region 10, has worked with branch leaders and USPS to reduce the backlog of grievances so more attention can be focused on resolving current issues affecting letter carriers.

“The Dispute Resolution Process has reduced the number of grievances appealed to arbitration,” Goodwin said. “Eliminating the backlog helps get the major issues heard and decided in a more timely manner. And that puts us in a better position to hold accountable those postal managers who repeatedly violate the contract.”

A member of Houston, Texas Branch 283, Goodwin says his activism comes from his mother, “a union organizer at her company back in the ’60s. I saw how she was mistreated because she wanted to form a union.”

When Goodwin joined the post office in Houston in 1971, his mother’s example led him to join the NALC. By 1975, he was chief shop steward for the 4,500-member Branch 283, a post he held until 1991. In that year, he became a local business agent, and in 1995, he was named a Regional Administrative Assistant. He also held offices in the Texas State Association, including a term as vice president/director of education and two years as president.

An Army veteran of Vietnam, Goodwin served in the 101st Airborne as a long-range reconnaissance patrol leader and was awarded the Purple Heart. He has earned an associate’s degree in postal technology at North Harris County College and a BA in business from the University of Houston.

Goodwin and his wife, Elisabeth, have an adult son, Matthew, and two grandchildren, John and Alyssa.