“Tea Party” groups are building public and congressional support for H.R. 2309, legislation sponsored in the U.S. House of Representative by Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Dennis Ross (R-FL) that APWU President Cliff Guffey has called “a reckless assault on postal workers and the Postal Service.”
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One group, The Tea Party.net, claims to have generated more than 100,000 letters and email messages to lawmakers demanding passage of Issa’s bill. The group’s Web site provides scant information about the reasons for USPS financial problems or how the Ross-Issa bill would address them. Instead, it provides a link to a House Web page controlled by Issa that claims postal workers are overpaid and that the legislation would forestall a taxpayer “bailout” of the USPS.
Another conservative activist group, Citizens Against Government Waste, is also blaming “unmanageable labor costs” as well as “excess infrastructure” for USPS deficits. The organization has put members of Congress on notice that votes on H.R. 2309 “will be among those considered in CCAGW’s 2011 Congressional Ratings,” a legislative scorecard used to determine which members of Congress the organization deems worthy of re-election.
Neither group, however, informs visitors about the principal reason for USPS deficits: a congressional mandate imposed by Congress in the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) that requires the USPS to “pre-fund” healthcare benefits for future retirees at a cost of more than $5 billion per year for 10 years. This is a burden no other business or government agency is forced to bear. (The PAEA also prevents the Postal Service from raising postage costs to pay for this mandate.) Absent the pre-funding requirement, the Postal Service would have experienced a cumulative surplus of $611 over the last four years, despite the worst recession in many decades.
Nor do they mention that the federal government is holding billions of dollars of excess postal payments to FERS and CSRS. (The USPS has a surplus of $6.9 billion in its Federal Employee Retirement System account, and, according to two independent actuarial studies, has overpaid the Civil Service Retirement System account by $50 billion to $75 billion.)
Making Workers Pay
“The Ross-Issa bill would do nothing to correct USPS overpayments to its pension accounts or loosen the financial chokehold cause by the prefunding requirement,” Guffey said.
Instead, it holds USPS workers accountable for USPS financial problems.
H.R. 2309 would create a “solvency authority” with the power to unilaterally modify collective bargaining agreements any time the USPS defaults on “any obligation to the federal government for more than 30 days. “The solvency board would be empowered to cut wages, abolish benefits, and end our protection against layoffs,” the union president said.
In addition, he noted, the bill would increase employees’ costs for healthcare coverage and life insurance, and effectively eliminate the right to bargain over these benefits.
The Issa-Ross bill also would harm citizens and businesses by forcing up to $2 billion in postal office and facility closures.
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A Far Better Bill
Meanwhile, postal unions and the postal business community are urging legislators to support H.R. 1351, a bill introduced by Rep. Steve Lynch (D-MA) that would allow the USPS to use the pension account overpayments to meet the retiree healthcare prefunding demand.
[Open Letter to Congress – PDF]
“It is a disservice to America that these groups are mobilizing their members to support H.R. 2309 without giving them a full account of the facts about the USPS financial crisis,” said APWU Legislative and Political Director Myke Reid.
“With misguided zeal, they are supporting legislation that would undermine a vital public service – the world’s largest, most trusted, most efficient, and least expensive postal system. We must ensure they don’t succeed.”
Ever notice how a tea party rally resembles the scenes in horror movies filled with Zombies?
More whining from the welfare state chill’wren. Go ahead and vent. Whatever you may be told to say on this thread will never change anything , but it’s cheaper than paying a shrink.
I like that idea kcndc…all the unions/members/employees should draft letters and send them…not e-mails, real old fashioned letters with stamps on them….flood them….that “might” make more of an impression than e-mails and faxes or whatever….
This is the same tea party who have the USA downgraded. The Tea Party is the party for the rich, they should do like issa and ross, go away and die.
Why don’t we close offices in the districts of Tea Party members of Congress? Since they will surely not fight the Postal Service on the closures, it will be a quick way to save a few billion bucks!
The USPS and USA are a sinking ship. GET OUT..Retire if can NOW before they
change all the benifits and rules… Its all part of the NEW WORLD ORDER…even though we are successfull …. 3rd world economies go up, USA goes down. Then we all in the same sad boat!! No pot to piss in, up the creek without a paddle etc etc etc
OH and the rich get richer,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Ain’t no dumb like Fake News dumb.
These are the same tea pooper twisted sisters that wanted to let the U.S. default on bill we owe. Note they can’t deal with facts but instead make up things to suit their own twisted ideas. Yes, we need to mobilize and call our congressional representatives to let our voices be heard. America is starting to recognize these tea poopers for what they are HYPOCRITS!!! They escoriate the thought of government but then take advantage of every government program while maligning the general public as leaches. Michelle Bachmann villifies medicare but then her husband’s clinic receives $164,000 in medicare payments, farm subsidies, house finance by Freddie and Fannie May and the list goes on. Issa is chair of the congressional oversight committee but refuses to accept the investigative arm (Office of Inspector-OIG) findings regarding over payment because the facts do not support to his twisted malevolent intent for the postal service. He has yet to identify probative evidence contrary to the OIG findings. Further how can you place someone over waste, fraud and abuse when a cloud of suspicion continue to hang over that person’s head regarding three (3) suspicious fires to his businesses for which he profited? Yes, the tea poopers had their run in the last election (remember that was a midterm) but they are in for a rude awakening in the upcoming election. America is seeing these twisted sisters (20% approval in the latest poll) for the hypocritical and deranged people they are.
ISSA a mess ! ‘in around ! !
I will say it again to my fellow middle class brother and sister postal workers.
VOTE FOR THE DEMS NEXT YEAR,
Maybe there should bring a tea party member to work day or a bring your congress rep to work day. Before they state we are over paid they should walk a week in the winter and a week in the summer with us. They will change their tune quick. I can see paying a little more for my benefits but I EARN every penny I make. Here’s a thought, how about congress start paying for postage? HMMMMMM !
Start challenging the sheep mentality of the teabaggers. Ask them why is this a bailout? Get in their face & expose their ignorance on reasons the postal service is in the situation it is. I bet not one of them can dialogue about the over payment, how the postal service has been bailing out the federal govt.
I don’t disagree on everything with them to be honest. They do have some valid points about the waste & fraud. But they will follow each other off a cliff like the dodos did in IceAge rather than listen to those in the know. They are Issa & Ross worshippers. Sad really that they cannot investigate & think for themselves.
The Teabag sh*t was started by rich f**ks like the Koch brothers. And helped along by constant promotion by Fake News (fair and balanced). Then all the old white rednecks (Fake News audience) came out of the woodwork because someone said mexicans and liberals.
Sounds like the tea party has been taken over by the corporate goons. Citizens against government waste is a neo-con no brain think tank backed by—you guessed it neo-cons against the middle class. I have given my 2 cents so let the neo-cons and ultra-libs ranting start. Woo-hoo!
Someone sticks a piece of paper in front of a tea partier and says sign this, they will
sign it no knowing a damn thing about the subject…. In the history books it will be the Tea Party that destoried this country
Kudos Dave
Thirty years ago after getting out of the Navy I took the civil service exam for the Post Office and have been there since. I wasn’t chosen for the job I took the test along with everyone who wanted the job. I wonder if the people who whine and compain about us making so much money have ever applied for a job with the Post Office?
The current frenzy to revamp the Post Office is just that a “frenzy” with all the media focused on financial problems throuhgout the world and at home people get caught up and want to start slashing things up. I would bet the majority of the american public don’t realize that “their taxes” don’t pay our salaries and that the US gov’t owes the Post Office around 50 to 70 billion dollars since we’ve over paid the CSRS. Remember this is, if they give us back the money….it’s not a bail out since it is our money to begin with.
Today there was an extreme heat warning in our area, there was one yesterday and there is one tomorrow, the news media suggested no outside activity since it is so hot. I delivered my route the last two days and will tomorrow.
So before you bitch about how much I’m paid and what the gov’t should do to fix the Post Office, come walk in my shoes for 30 years, because you could have taken the civil service test just like i did.
flood san diego district with anti issa mail. INSURANCE FRAUD CAR THEFT , TIME FOR HIM TO GO
The robber barrons are on the march.
Maybe if the politicians paid postage for all the mailings they send out instead of a free ride along with the free matter for the blind, and allow us to charge a surcharge based on fuel prices like fed x and ups, we would not be in such bad shape.
So now irresponsible bureaucrats are advocating braking contracts? Typical of our national immorality. One day these insidious cheats will come for all the American people. How will it feel when Issa and his cronies say “Ok, now we have to change your mortgage terms…your interest will now be 21% because you have a house and are obviously overpaid “? Same thing. Except they never do it to themselves. Hypocrites. What we make and what we have been promised is called collective bargaining because we have to bargain for our CONTRACTS. Everyone, including the Gov should honor their contracts first. I wish someone would have the guts to call them out and publicly ask what are you making and what is your retirement and health care benefits?
When Issa obfuscates all the facts in order to favor his agenda, it is the same as lying also.
Working at the Post Office is hard work and is a fair day of work for a fair day of pay. I have seen many people quit and go back to teaching, preaching, and law enforcement because it was too demanding. I have carried a route with 120 miles and 500 mailboxes. just try it one time Issa. You never see congressmen quit. A few years ago friends told me I was a fool to work for the PO….that I should get out where the money was….in construction. I stayed while they made double my pay….and I didn’t begrudge them. Now, construction is down and they hate me because I am still working. Dont break your promises to us! I agree a lot with the Tea party when they talk about sure and gradual FUTURE changes, contracts, and cutbacks….but not when they go to extremes and do not consider the facts. They want to remove us from socialism by installing an evil dictatorship by oligarchy and rule, not by contracts but by whim and polling winds. /////////
The MORON that wrote the above comment under the name “guffeyfor…” obviously does not work here or “it” would be concerned about the Issa legislation.
Issa and his tea party “taliban” brethren want to screw workers back to the nineteenth century with no work rules, small wages and no benefits.
If the MORON who wrote that comment had a brain, he or “it” should be afraid….really afraid of where this country and it’s workers are headed.
this is not the post office that I envisioned 200 years ago
Boy, the welfare state CHILL’ WREN are starting to whine. Boo hoo hoo.
It’s time the Union gave us a letter to send to Congress,we should be able to get 250,000 letter without much trouble. Flood them with letters