Lew Drass was elected the National Association of Letter Carriers’ director of city delivery in July 2010 by the 67th Biennial Convention in Anaheim, the latest milestone in a steady history of union service.

Drass began his postal career in Riverdale, Maryland, where he served as an NALC shop steward from 1983 to 1989. He transferred to Huntsville, Alabama, in 1989, and soon made his presence known, becoming assistant newsletter editor and Muscular Dystrophy Association coordinator for Huntsville Branch 462 in 1990, serving in both posts until 1993.

In 1993, Drass was elected president of the 280-member branch, a job he held at the time of his first election as Memphis Region 8 national business agent at the 2002 National Convention in Philadelphia. Along the way, he also served as an Employee Involvement facilitator and, starting in 1997, as a local business agent. He was re-elected NBA by acclamation at the 2006 Las Vegas Convention.

Drass served as director of education for the Alabama State Association of Letter Carriers from 1995 to 1997, its vice president from 1997 to 2001, and president from 2001 to 2002.

Drass explained he became so active in the union because “I never have liked bullies. I still don’t. I just couldn’t sit by and watch management pick on other letter carriers who couldn’t—or wouldn’t —defend themselves.”

That accounts for his primary goal—“to ensure that letter carriers receive the best representation possible,” which he encouraged as Region 8 NBA by “providing a quality training program and developing a communications network to produce effective results for all the letter carriers in Region 8.” Another of his goals has been “to convince every letter carrier to become actively involved in the legislative process,” he said.

Drass now serves the NALC in Washington with the goal to “help ensure that letter carriers across the nation receive the best representation possible.”