Union administration
Director of Life Insurance
Jim Yates was elected director of life insurance by mail balloting of NALC members in 2018 and again in 2022.
A Long Island, NY, native whose parents were both postal employees and union members, Yates began his letter carrier career in 1994 carrying mail as a part-time flexible (PTF) in Glen Head, NY, and joined Long Island Merged Branch 6000.
“I grew up in a postal household where my father and sister were letter carriers and my mother a clerk. It was not only a postal household, but a union household—an NALC household,” Yates said. “Because of this, I was drawn to become active in my branch as soon as I was hired as a letter carrier.”
Yates began his union activism as branch food drive coordinator and steward, then took on more than a dozen branch and regional roles, including trustee, arbitration advocate, health benefit representative and route adjustment team member. President Fredric Rolando named him a national field administrative assistant in 2013, a job that brought him to NALC Headquarters. Rolando appointed Yates assistant to the president for city delivery the next year.
In 2017, President Rolando named Yates assistant to the president for collective bargaining, communication and research, a job whose responsibilities included support for negotiation of the 2016-2019 National Agreement between NALC and the Postal Service, ratified by the members in August 2017.
Yates graduated from the NALC Leadership Academy in 2006. Before joining the Postal Service, he earned a degree in automotive engineering; in 2004, Yates graduated from the National Labor College with a B.A. in labor studies.
“Growing up, I heard about letter carrier and postal issues daily,” Yates said. “I was ready to hit the ground running. All these years later, I am still focused on fighting for letter carriers.”
Additional information on the NALC's Mutual Benefit Association insurance policies available to NALC members and policies available to NALC members' spouses, children and grandchildren can be found by connecting to the U.S. Letter Carriers Mutual Benefit Association homepage.