NALC: Congresswoman Virginia Foxx’s Tasteless And Demeaning Comments About Postal Workers
Filed under: Congress, GOP, NALC, postal, postal news, usps
During a November 18 House debate, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-5th) engaged in an anti-union screed that lasted several minutes.
After attacking the pay and benefits of federal workers, she said that they also have too much job security. “Short of shooting up a post office,” Foxx said, “government workers rarely get fired or laid off.”
“Foxx’s statements about unions are factually wrong and her reference to workplace shootings in post offices was tasteless and demeaning to hard-working postal employees,” National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredric V. Rolando said. “Her comments were morbidly disrespectful to those postal employees and their families who have been the victims of shootings.
“Also, it is a myth that poorly performing federal workers—much less those that commit crimes—never get fired,” he added. “But workers facing dismissal or discipline have every right to union representation. The unions that represent federal workers make no apologies for providing this representation and ensuring fairness in the workplace.
“I have written Representative Foxx and demanded an apology, and the NALC will engage the media in her congressional district to expose her outrageous comments,” Rolando said.
The president also encourages members who live in Rep. Foxx’s district to write and/or call her district office to express your concerns over the negative and inaccurate image of federal workers that she tried to project.
The Honorable Virginia Foxx, 6000 Meadowbrook Mall, Suite 3, Clemmons, NC 27012, Phone toll-free (866) 677-8968
source: National Association of Letter Carriers
Federal pay and benefits could change with new Congress
In recent months, there’s been a lot of talk about proposed hiring and pay freezes and mandatory furloughs in the federal government. But those ideas could become reality if Republicans on Tuesday win the necessary 39 seats to gain control of the House. House Republicans unveiled their Pledge to America in September, promising to reduce the size of government and freeze hiring for all nonsecurity-related federal positions. Lawmakers in both chambers also have pushed several measures that would affect federal jobs and benefits.
full story: Govexec.com
NALC: Key GOP lawmakers playing “Russian roulette” with USPS
USPS pays another $5.5 billion for future retiree health
On Sept. 29, Congress adopted a “continuing resolution” (CR) that will fund the federal government through early December. Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) worked tirelessly along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to include an NALC-backed provision in the Senate version of the bill that would have deferred $4 billion of the $5.5 billion payment, due at midnight Sept. 30, to pre-fund future retiree health benefits. Unfortunately, Senate Republicans voted unanimously to block the postal measure, even though the U.S. Postal Service warned that making such a huge payment — which no other agency or private company is required to make — would seriously imperil its liquidity.
“It is very disappointing that GOP members of the Senate who have oversight responsibilities with regard to the Postal Service would take a party-line stance in this irresponsible action,” National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredric V. Rolando said.
Republican appropriators in the House took a similar partisan and irresponsible approach to both the CR and the Postal Service’s financial problems, blocking the inclusion of a deferral provision proposed by Reps. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) and Ed Towns (D-NY).
Rolando blamed the poisonous politics of the 2010 mid-term elections for scuttling the postal amendment.
“Too many politicians who know better have tried to deceive the public with claims that slowing the pre-funding payments represents a taxpayer bailout,” Rolando said. “No company has funded its post-retirement obligations as well as the Postal Service — our pensions are massively over-funded and we have put more away for future retiree health than any company in America.
“It simply makes no sense to force the USPS to use its limited borrowing authority and spend its limited cash reserves on liabilities that won’t come due for decades,” he added.
The Postal Service complied with the law and made the $5.5 billion payment as scheduled on Sept. 30, raising the balance in its Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund to more than $41 billion, more than any company in the country and enough to cover retiree health care costs for decades to come. But the action reduces its end-of-the year cash position to just $2 billion and exposes the USPS to unnecessary financial risk.
Postmaster General Jack Potter observed: “The Postal Service sought a deferral of this $5.5 billion payment to minimize the risk of defaulting on our financial obligations in Fiscal Year 2011. Unfortunately, no legislative action has been taken at this time. The financial risk remains. We will carefully manage every dollar we spend in the upcoming fiscal year. Our current forecast shows that we will not have sufficient cash to make the $5.5 billion payment due on Sept. 30, 2011, and any major disruption, whether in volume loss or unforeseen circumstances, could cause us to default on financial obligations earlier in FY11.”
Pre-funding retiree health benefits is voluntary in the private sector. According to a survey by Towers Watson, only about one-third of all Fortune 1000 companies pre-fund at all. Those that do have put away far less than has the USPS to cover future costs (28 percent versus 46 percent).
No private company would voluntarily choose to make the kind of enormous pre-funding payment that the USPS did yesterday in current economic circumstances. “The legislators who blocked the pre-funding deferral are playing ‘Russian roulette’ with the Postal Service, a vital institution in the American economy,” Rolando said.
NALC: GOP hostility kills prefunding legislation, aided and abetted by misguided USPS priorities
Filed under: GOP, NALC, politics, postal, postal news, press releases, usps
September 29, 2010 — On Tuesday, Senate Republicans unanimously blocked a proposal from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to provide a $4 billion reduction in the $5.5 billion retiree health payment due September 30 under the grossly unfair prefunding provision mandated by Congress in 2006. Reid’s proposal would have deferred the $4 billion payment to allow Congress time to reform the flawed prefunding provisions of the law and stabilized the Postal Service’s recession-battered finances. A similar deferral was adopted in 2009.
The USPS now projects a $7 billion loss in 2010—nearly 80 percent of which is caused by a massive prefunding payment for future retiree health benefits that no other company or agency in America is required to make. USPS will needlessly waste its limited borrowing authority to make a prefunding payment that is unnecessary—the USPS already has already set aside more than $35 billion in its future retiree health fund, enough to fund retiree benefits for decades.
“Sadly, postal management must share the blame for this financial fiasco,” NALC President Fredric V. Rolando said. “The Postmaster General and his top executives wasted the entire year seeking unpopular measures to eliminate Saturday delivery and stack the deck against employees in collective bargaining rather than focusing on the prefunding reform backed by mailers and the entire postal community.” Indeed, the Postal Service waited until mid-September to prepare a request for a deferral. Senate staffers told the NALC that postal management informed Senate leaders that the USPS could make the prefunding payment if relief was not provided. But making the full payment will leave the USPS with a dangerously low cash position.
The $4 billion deferral was stripped out of a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government through early December, which Congress was expected to adopt today. Not a single Republican senator would agree to a vote on the CR unless a group of provisions, including the prefunding deferral, was dropped from consideration. Under Senate rules, it takes 60 votes to bring a spending bill to the floor for debate. The GOP’s leadership in the House of Representatives took a similar position—adding the postal prefunding issue to a list of items they opposed in any CR passed by the Senate.
The Postal Service has maintained all year that making the full $5.5 billion prefunding payment for retiree health would jeopardize its financial position. But its efforts to eliminate Saturday delivery and tilt the interest arbitration process in management’s favor were given priority over financial reforms.
“Letter carriers should know that we are in the fight of our lives—fixing the Postal Service must begin with the passage of the Lynch bill (H.R. 5746) and a fair allocation of pension costs,” Rolando said. “The next Congress should allow the USPS to use its massive $50-$75 billion pension surplus to prefund future retiree health benefits and then let postal employees and postal management do the hard work of creating a 21st century Postal Service.”
“Few workers have more riding on the mid-term elections than we do,” he said.
Congressman’s Call for Concessions Should Drive Postal Workers to the Polls
Burrus Update:
A recent guest editorial in the Washington Times by a California congressman demonstrates just how important the November elections are for postal workers. In an article about the Postal Service and contract negotiations, Rep. Darrell Issa declares: “No union has or ever will lobby for a layoff, so it’s up to USPS management and Congress to demand concessions.”
Demand concessions?
Yes, Rep. Issa wants Congress to demand layoffs and other concessions from postal workers.
Well, consider this: If the Republican Party takes control of the House of Representatives in the fall election, Rep. Issa will become chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which oversees the Postal Service. As chairman, he would have tremendous influence over legislation affecting postal employees and other federal workers — deciding which bills are considered and how they are handled.
Filled With Inaccuracies
In his Sept. 20 column, Rep. Issa suggests that concessions by postal workers would be in the interest of taxpayers and postal customers — although as the top-ranking Republican on the House committee he certainly should know that the Postal Service does not rely on taxes for funding.
Rep. Issa also asserts that the American people could soon be asked for a postal bailout. Nothing could be further from the truth. As I pointed out in a Sept. 22 letter to the congressman [PDF], the Postal Service does not need a bailout, and no one has requested one — not the USPS, not its customers, not its unions, and not Democratic lawmakers.
In fact, two independent and respected auditors have concluded that the Postal Service has overfunded its retirement fund by $50 billion to $75 billion. If the USPS were permitted to apply the overpayments to the Postal Service’s future retiree healthcare obligations, the agency’s financial crisis would be resolved. That is the goal of a bill (H.R. 5746) that was introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) on July 15. The bill to fix postal finances has 103 co-sponsors, but Rep. Issa isn’t one of them.
As we have pointed out many times, the requirement to pre-fund future retiree healthcare liabilities was a politically-motivated feature of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. No other federal agency or private company is required to make such payments, which cost the USPS more than $5 billion annually for 10 years.
Rep. Issa’s article is filled with other inaccuracies, which he uses to support the premise that postal workers should pay for Congress’ poor judgment in implementing the pre-funding mandate. His clear bias against postal workers is troubling.
Forty years ago, following the near collapse of the post office and a wildcat strike, Congress concluded that the American people would be best served by a mail system that took politics out of the equation. The Postal Reform Act of 1970 established the United States Postal Service as an independent agency of the federal government and decreed that the Postal Service and unionized employees would be permitted to engage in collective bargaining, with disputes settled through binding arbitration. Apparently, Rep. Issa is dissatisfied with the results of free collective bargaining, and wants to return to the politicization of the Postal Service.
For APWU members, the stakes couldn’t be higher. It is imperative that union members vote on Nov. 2 and give serious consideration to what their votes will mean for the future of the Postal Service — and their jobs. Watch your mailbox for information about union-endorsed candidates.
William Burrus
President
Read President Burrus’ letter to the editor of the Washington Times [PDF], which responds to Rep. Issa’s article.
Letter Carriers President Responds to Florida Republican’s “Stealing Votes” Claims
NALC responds to Florida Republican’s “stealing votes” claims
NALC President Bill Young sent a letter to the Republican Party of Broward County, Florida, angered over groundless claims made by party officials that Republican ballots aren’t safe being mailed through the Postal Service. One official was quoted by The Sun-Sentinel newspaper: “It is a shame that we cannot trust the postal people,” and that, “These people are stealing votes from us.” Upon investigating, NALC determined these comments came from the claims of a single voter who said that an unidentified postal clerk mishandled his absentee ballot. Young’s response: “You owe every postal employee in South Florida – some 20,000 workers in all – an apology. Sun-Sentinel article | President Young’s letter