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NALC Joins ‘National Week of Action’
For Enactment of Health Care Reform
All active and retired letter carriers are urged to go to their telephones as soon as possible and make an urgent call that could directly affect the health care you and your family receive in coming years — andhow much it costs you.
“Healthcare reform is the number one priority in Congress for the first time in years,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said in a message to members, urging them to join in the AFL-CIO’s “National Week of Action” November 5-13 to encourage members of Congress to swiftly enact health care reforms.
“Insurance companies are spending millions to derail reform, and special interests are trying to pay for changes by raising your costs through a new tax on benefits,” Rolando added.
Rolando asked all members to take a moment (off the clock) when it is convenient, and call 1-877-3AFL-CIO (1-877-323-5246), press ‘1’, and you will be prompted to your U.S. senator. Please urge him/her to support meaningful healthcare reform that doesn’t tax existing healthcare plans and includes universal coverage with a strong public insurance option and an employer mandate. Also encourage them to protect the FEHBP as the House legislation does. FEHBP should not be restructured to cover non-federal employees. Then, hang-up and call 1-877-3-AFL-CIO (1-877-323-5246) again and press ‘2’ to urge your U.S. representative to do the same. NALC activists are working wihth the AFL-CIO in several states to mobilize voters to push for progressive reform, organizing phone banks and setting up state office visits with members of Congress.
“Healthcare reform is not a separate issue from securing the future of the Postal Service and we cannot afford to let others decide for us,” Rolando said. “Every NALC member should understand that the stakes are high for both the Postal Service and letter carriers.”
He cited three reasons why health care reform is an NALC priority:
● First, skyrocketing healthcare costs are damaging our standard of living. Our FEHBP premiums have doubled since 2000. Meanwhile, our wages have NOT doubled, which means healthcare costs are eating into our take-home salaries.
●œ Second, without real reform, our nation’s economy and the fiscal stability of our national andstate governments will be severely damaged. A weak economy is bad news for the Postal Service, and rising federal deficits driven by soaring Medicare and Medicaid costs expose letter carriers’ pension and health care benefits to the relentless pressure of budget cuts.
●œ Third, the soaring cost of health care poses a major financial threat to the Postal Service and, therefore, to the security of our jobs. Unless we fix our dysfunctional healthcare system, it will be difficult to get the kind of long-term relief from the pre-funding of retiree health benefits burden that the Postal Service needs to prosper.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the effort will be the largest mobilization to generate phone
calls to members of Congress the labor movement has ever undertaken.
“We are closer than ever to achieving national health care reform and providing relief for working
families, and we are committed to driving it across the finish line,” Trumka said.
NALC members are asked to urge their representatives to vote for H.R. 3962 — the Affordable Health
Care for America Act — that includes a public health
Mark-up of S. 1507 adds 'poison pill' amendment
In a contentious mark-up session of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 29, several senators offered amendments to S. 1507, a bill that will provide short-term financial relief to the Postal Service by restructuring its payments for future retiree health benefits. Thanks to the rapid response of e-Activists in 12 states to a message sent July 28, most of the 11 amendments offered were rejected, including one mandating the Postal Service go to five-day delivery. Unfortunately, one of the four amendments adopted was one NALC strongly opposes.
That amendment, which was supported by the Committee's Republican members as well as Sens.Tom Carper (D-DE) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) was sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK). If adopted into law, it would tamper with the long-established process of interest arbitration by requiring arbitration panels to "consider the financial condition of the Postal Service in making any decision."
The amendment is not necessary since arbitration boards already take postal finances into account. Worse, by not listing other factors that should be considered by boards, the new language has the effect of giving short-term financial conditions preeminence over other relevant factors.
"NALC cannot support S. 1507 with the arbitration amendment," President Fred Rolando said. "It is very disappointing that Committee members would interfere with postal collective bargaining and seek to put a thumb on the scale in favor of postal management in the next round of bargaining," he added.
NALC will seek to strike the amendment from the final bill and is committed to resisting its inclusion in any legislation that emerges from Congress.
Postal relief bill goes to Senate mark up
after White House meeting
Less than a week after President Fred Rolando and three other union presidents met with representatives of the Obama administration, including OMB officials and Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, action on financial relief legislation designed to help the Postal Service overcome the deep economic recession is moving in Congress.
NALC is aggressively working to support passage of S. 1507, a bill introduced by Sen. Tom Carper earlier this week, that will provide short-term relief to the Postal Service by restructuring its payments for future retiree health benefits. The legislation was developed by the Obama administration’s Office of Management and Budget and is designed to achieve virtually the same level of relief provided by H.R. 22, a bill that has advanced to the floor of the House of Representatives. In addition to reducing pre-funding payments by some $6.4 billion over the next five years, the bill also makes it easier for the Postal Service to borrow money during the current economic crisis.
S. 1507 is being marked up in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 29. A few Republicans on the Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), have threatened to attach several negative amendments to the bill. In response, NALC mobilized its e-Activist network in 10 states to help fight off the amendments.
“NALC supports this legislation as a vital first step to securing the long-term viability of the Postal Service,” President Rolando said in the July 28th e-Activist message. “We are encouraged that we have allies in the Obama administration and in Congress who are committed to working with us to strengthen the Postal Service for decades to come,” he added.
2009 State Lobby Trip
Louisiana State Association partcipated in a lobbying trip in Washington, DC organized by California State President -John Beaumont, March 8-13, 2009. There were five Regions participating in the Lobbying trip.Regions 1,2,4,8, and first timers 10(Texas). We were trained on Monday, March 9, by the National Staff. We hit the ground running on Tuesday speaking to our Congressmans on the Bill H.R.22. Below are a few pictures from the congressional breakfast held on Thursday.
     
 
H.R.22 necessary to ease financial burden on USPS
The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006—better known to carriers as “postal reform”— requires the Postal Service to prefund 80 percent of its future retiree health benefit costs by the year 2016. This costs the USPS at least $5.5 billion a year—on top of the $2 billion to $3 billion it already pays annually for current retiree health benefits. The USPS built the cost into their rates in 2006, but that was before the economic meltdown hit and the volume of mail began to plummet. The punishing schedule for prefunding is simply no longer affordable and our employer needs relief, immediately. Otherwise, layoffs, service cuts and facility closings could become a reality.
In January, longtime friends of letter carriers Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) introduced H.R. 22, a bipartisan lifeline that would let USPS prefund its future health care obligations on a more realistic schedule by allowing the Service to pay its share of current retirees’ health insurance premiums out of the $32 billion it has already banked in the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund. This strategy would save USPS an average of $3.5 billion per year through 2016 while the Service continues to build up the retiree health fund on a much more reasonable and affordable schedule. Click here for a fact sheet on H.R. 22.
H.R. 22 does not require the allocation of any taxpayer funds—it is absolutely not a bailout. It also would in no way reduce current retiree health benefits or relieve the Postal Service of its future retiree health obligations. In fact, if Congress passes H.R. 22 and if President Obama signs it, the USPS would still be required to prefund its future retiree health costs at a far faster rate than any other American company.
The NALC fully supports funding future retiree health benefits—we are depending on those benefits when we retire. But given the current economic environment, prefunding on such an accelerated schedule is no longer feasible. H.R. 22 preserves the Postal Service’s obligation to prefund and protects our health benefits while helping to sustain the Postal Service through a very troubling time for our nation.
H.R. 22 won’t solve all the Postal Service’s problems—we all have a lot of work to do. But make no mistake about it: Without H.R. 22, the continued viability of the Postal Service is in serious trouble. So take a few minutes to make this important call—our jobs and our future depend on it.
- UPDATE: President Young sent out this message to the e-Activist Network on June 24: "The subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia marked up H.R. 22 today and passed it by a unanimous vote. This legislation will allow the United States Postal Service to pay its share of contributions for annuitants' health benefits out of the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund
- NALC FACT SHEET
H.R. 22 and the Need for Financial Relief
for the U.S. Postal Service
The U.S. Postal Service faces a crisis that threatens severe
damage to the 9 million Americans employed by the U.S. mailing
industry. Mail volume has plunged in the wake of the financial crisis
and the recession it unleashed. Making matters worse is a legal requirement
that the Postal Service prefund 80 percent of its future retiree health
benefit costs by the year 2016 at a cost of at least $5.5 billion annually on
top of the $2-3 billion per year it pays for current retiree health benefits.No
other enterprise in the country – public or private – is required to prefund
such costs at all, much less on such an onerous payment schedule.
H.R. 22, a bipartisan bill introduced by Reps. McHugh (R-NY) and Davis
(D-IL), would allow the USPS to prefund its future health care obligations
on a more realistic schedule. It would preserve the prefunding requirement
but allow USPS to immediately pay its share of current retirees’
health insurance premiums out of the existing Postal Service Retiree
Health Benefits Fund, which now holds $32 billion. Under current law,
the Fund is closed to use for current retiree premiums until 2016.
H.R. 22 would save the Postal Service an average of $3.5 billion per
year over the next eight years while building up its retiree health fund on
a more reasonable and affordable schedule. Under H.R. 22, as under
current law, any remaining unfunded liability in 2016 would be amortized
over a 40 years.
Background
Like most other companies, the USPS is in trouble. In FY 2008, it had a
deficit of $2.8 billion as mail volume fell by 9 billion pieces (4.5 percent),
the worst decline since the 1930s.However, it would have reported a
profit of $2.6 billion if not for the huge prefunding payment ($5.4 billion) it
made last year.
As the recession has worsened, the Postal Service has aggressively
pursued cost-cutting measures. Hiring freezes, voluntary early retirement
programs, expedited route adjustments done in cooperation with NALC
and massive work-hour reductions have slashed costs significantly. Still,
as economic activity and mail volume continue to decline, the USPS
faces a financial crisis unlike any since the Great Depression.
Risks: Lay-offs, Service Reductions, Extraordinary Rate Increases
As the economic crisis deepens, the Postal Service may be forced to
actively consider more extraordinary cost-saving measures – such as
facility closings and the elimination of one day of delivery each week.
Lay-offs of any size would be the first since the Great Depression and
service cuts or an “exigency” rate increase would decrease the value of
the mail and lead to further reductions in volume.
The Postal Service, with $75 billion annual revenues, is at the center of a
$900 billion mailing industry (including mail order merchants, printers, book
and magazine publishers, paper producers, etc.) which account for 9 million
jobs. Its financial health is vital to the recovery of the entire economy.
H.R. 22 is Essential for a Viable Postal Service
Even before the recession, the Postal Service faced the difficult
challenge of adapting to an Internet-based economy and the
requirements of a new postal law adopted in 2006, the Postal Accountability
and Enhancement Act (PAEA). Although the prefunding
requirement included in the PAEA appeared to be affordable then,
that is no longer the case now, given the financial condition of the
economy and the Postal Service. As the Federal Reserve recently
acknowledged, it is likely to be at least five or six years before the
economy recovers from this crisis. That makes the eight years of
financial relief provided by H.R. 22 essential to the long-term viability
of the Postal Service.
H.R. 22 cannot solve all the Postal Service’s problems – postal
management and the postal unions will have to do their part. But
without it, the continued viability of the Postal Service is in serious
jeopardy – a danger that threatens a key infrastructure industry that
is central to the economic recovery.
H.R. 22 is not a bailout. The bill does not require the allocation of
any taxpayer funds -- rather, the bill simply allows USPS to tap into
the existing postal retiree health fund, while increasing the balance
in the fund each and every year by an average of $2 billion. Nor
would H.R. 22 in any way reduce benefits or relieve the Postal
Service of its future retiree health obligations. Indeed, if H.R. 22
were enacted, USPS would still pre-fund its future retiree health
costs at a greater rate than any company in America and would still
amortize any remaining unfunded liability over 40 years, beginning
in 2016.
Employee Free Choice Act moves forward in Senate
The battle for the Employee Free Choice Act is heating up. The legislation to make it easier for workers to form unions was introduced March 10 in both the U.S. House and Senate. NALC believes the legislation is vital to pulling the nation out of the economic crisis and rebuilding the middle class. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other corporate special interests are spending millions on propaganda to defeat the bill. They are betting on a Republican-led Senate filibuster to block the act again. We need 60 Senate votes to win. When introduced, the bill had 40 Senate co-sponsors. Check the list below to see whether your senators are backing the bill. If not, contact them by phone or e-mail and urge them to give workers a free choice to form unions and bargain for better wages and benefits. For more information, see this fact sheet.
EFCA (S.560) Co-Sponsors (40):
- Sen Akaka, Daniel K. [HI] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Begich, Mark [AK] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Brown, Sherrod [OH] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Burris, Roland [IL] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Byrd, Robert C. [WV] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Cantwell, Maria [WA] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Carper, Thomas R. [DE] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Casey, Robert P., Jr. [PA] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Dodd, Christopher J. [CT] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Feingold, Russell D. [WI] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [NY] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Harkin, Tom [IA] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Inouye, Daniel K. [HI] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Johnson, Tim [SD] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Kaufman, Edward E. [DE] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Kennedy, Edward [MA] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Kerry, John F. [MA] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Klobuchar, Amy [MN] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. [NJ] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Leahy, Patrick J. [VT] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Levin, Carl [MI] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Lieberman, Joseph I. [CT] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Menendez, Robert [NJ] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Merkley, Jeff [OR] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Mikulski, Barbara A. [MD] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Murray, Patty [WA] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Nelson, Bill [FL] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Reed, Jack [RI] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Reid, Harry [NV] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Rockefeller, John D., IV [WV] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Sanders, Bernard [VT] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Shaheen, Jeanne [NH] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Stabenow, Debbie [MI] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Udall, Tom [NM] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI] - 3/10/2009
- Sen Wyden, Ron [OR] - 3/10/2009
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