NALC report On Obama Proposals
On Sept. 19, President Obama sent a $3 trillion deficit reduction package to the special joint committee of Congress established by the debt limit law to find ways to reduce the federal budget deficit. The package included a number of reforms to address the financial crisis at USPS.
Although we are somewhat encouraged by the proposed short-term cash relief provided to the Postal Service in the president’s package, NALC is bitterly disappointed that that the Obama administration has given in to postal management’s relentless two-year campaign in favor of five-day delivery. The administration has proposed giving the USPS the authority to eliminate Saturday mail delivery service, although it called for a delay in its implementation until January 2013. In doing so, the administration has embraced the downsizing strategy demanded by the majority on the USPS Board of Governors who were appointed by President George W. Bush. We will fight this proposal in Congress and renew our demands that the administration fill the two vacancies on the Board with people who believe in the mission of the Postal Service and who will seek to balance a sensible cost-cutting agenda with a revenue-growth strategy.
It is a real shame that the NALC and APWLU have spent so much time and energy looking to prevent the loss of the union dues of those postal workers being laid off with the new five week delivery. I have yet to find a single article where these “caring” unions offer advice or tips to these carriers as to how they should prepare for the financial impact this change will have on household budgets. How unemployment works, how they go about collecting what is rightfully theirs, how to collect their accrued savings with the difference pensions they had with the USPS, how to get grants to finish their studies now that they have all the time in the world, how to fight and make sure they are on the first hired list post layoffs. The NALC has failed to inform their membership as to the low down and just crude methods postal management is resorting to in order to sabotage or lead carriers to purposeful failure on the job. The next time your union says No! to 5 day delivery remember it’s the dues not you that will be missed. Less dues equals more of them that have to go back to doing actual work to earn their salary and less exciting yearly conventions. Management has failed you miserably in every sence of the word, but so have your unions. I am pro union and would boycott any mail service without it. I hope postal employees focus on doing what’s best for the USPS and take the needs of the company that provides their families income in days to come.
The union needs to get it’s head out of managements ass who has their head up the unions ass . DO SOMETHING ! Oh you’ve had 40 years to do something . There is no backbone to the worthless piece of paper called a contract . It’s broken every second of the day . The only thing the union has fought for the last 30 years is overtime . Maybe the 1/6 th of the carriers who won’t have a job come january 2013 will finally stop paying worthless dues .