APWU: Although the Postal Reform Bill is Flawed -It’s better than the Original
APWU News Bulletin 12-2012, April 27, 2012
|
The Senate passed an amended version of the 21st Century Postal Service Act (S. 1789) on April 25, and legislative action on postal reform will now move to the House of Representatives.
“Although the bill is flawed, the amended version is far better than the original,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey. “That is a result of the tremendous effort of APWU members, postal customers, and elected officials who appreciate the importance of the Postal Service to American life. Thank you for your hard work,” he said.
“With the moratorium on the closure of mail processing plants and post offices set to expire on May 15, we must now turn our attention to the House. We expect to face very tough challenges there,” Guffey said. “But we will do everything we can to get a good bill. We call on our members, small businesses, individual customers, and lawmakers to re-double our efforts to Save America’s Postal Service.”
“House leaders have not yet given any indication of how they plan to proceed,” said Myke Reid, APWU Legislative and Political director.
The House could consider H.R. 2309, a bill sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL), which would destroy the Postal Service. More than half of the members of the House are co-sponsors of another bill, H.R. 1351, which postal unions support, but Rep. Issa, the chairman of the House committee with jurisdiction over the Postal Service, has refused to allow it to come up for a vote. The House also could consider the Senate bill.
A Mixed Bag
“The Senate bill is a mixed bag,” Guffey said. It would provide the USPS, which is facing imminent collapse, with short-term financial relief, by returning $11 billion in USPS overpayments to federal pension funds to the Postal Service. “Keep in mind,” Guffey said, “this is money paid by postal customers, workers and the Postal Service – not taxpayers.”
The legislation also would restructure USPS payments to pre-fund healthcare benefits for future retirees, spreading the payments over 40 years – instead of the current 10 – and reducing the funding mandate from 100 percent to 80 percent. No other government agency or private company is required to make such payments.
“These are positive steps,” Guffey said, “but they do not go far enough. As a result, the USPS will not have access to the capital it needs to meet the challenges of the future,” he said.
Closings, Consolidations
Another improvement, Guffey said, is that the 21st Century Postal Service Act would allow more community input in the decision-making process for closing or consolidating post offices and postal facilities. It also would give the Postal Regulatory Commission authority to reverse USPS decisions on these issues.
In addition, the bill would provide limited protection for service standards for a minimum of three years. “Although we sought stronger, longer safeguards, this is an improvement over the original bill, which did nothing to preserve service,” Guffey said. “Protecting service is essential to preserving the Postal Service – and postal jobs.”
But the legislation also would have devastating consequences for the thousands of postal and federal employees who were injured on the job and who receive compensation from the Office of Workers Compensation Program (OWCP), Guffey noted.
Among other provisions, the bill would authorize the Postal Service to offer retirement incentives. It also would allow the USPS to negotiate with postal unions to create a health plan separate from the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program.
The legislation also would require arbitrators to consider the financial condition of the Postal Service, along with other relevant factors.
For the latest news, visit www.apwu.org.
NAPS President Issues Statement on Passage of Postal Reform Bill
NAPS President Louis Atkins has released a statement commending the efforts of the United States Senate in passing a bi-partisan Postal Reform bill.
We believe that there are important and valuable provisions contained in the postal reform legislation
approved by the Senate. The legislative process is never perfect, but a bill that largely sustains postal service for all Americans and still makes postal operations more efficient is a win-win for the American people and for the Postal Service.
The Senate-passed bill will save the Postal Service billions of dollars while still ensuring adequate funds for future postal retirees’ health benefits. Retirement funds overpaid by the Postal Service will satisfy the costs of retirement incentives to draw down the postal workforce. Overnight local delivery will be preserved and sensible downsizing of postal facilities will proceed. Many challenges remain yet before us, but the Senate’s
I want to thank the thousands of our members who have contacted their lawmakers to urge responsible
Senate action. I also salute the champions of S. 1789, Senators Joe Lieberman, Susan Collins, Tom Carper and Scott Brown, for their bipartisan leadership in working together to achieve a measure marked by consensus. For the past two weeks they exemplified what the Senate is capable of achieving in the nation’s best interests. I also want to extend our thanks to Senator Akaka for his amendment clarifying management consultation rights and and Senator Sanders for his leadership in awakening the Senate to the urgent need for the Postal Service to preserve service and embrace innovation.
We urge the House of Representatives to move swiftly to carefully consider the Senate-approved measure. We also urge the Postmaster General to take into account the Senate’s responsible actions and extend the moratorium on the closure of post offices and processing plants until the Congress has completed final action on a postal reform measure.
Text of Postal Reform Bill S. 1789 As Amended
Filed under: politics, postal, postal news, postal reform, usps
The text of S.1789, 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012, as passed by the Senate
Text of Postal Reform Bill S 1789 AS Amended
Editorial: GOP House Postal Reform Bill Includes Provisions Negative to Postal Employees
Filed under: politics, postal, postal news, postal reform, usps
Round One
The Senate passes S1789 to reform the Postal Service on a vote of 62 to 37, meeting the 60 vote requirement by Senate rule. Debate now commences on HR 2309. The House Committee and Subcommittee chairmen are Republicans and have expressed strong opposition to the union’s objectives. The Senate Bill includes the following:
- Refunds the retirement overpayment
- Restructures Health Benefit payment
- Requires arbitrators to consider USPS’ financial health
- Delays 5 day delivery
- Retirement incentives
- Delays change to Delivery Standards
- Establishes a process for the closing of facilities
- Changes FICA
- Medicare coordination
- Time limit on service changes
- Reduces compensation of top executives
In that 51 Senators are Democrats, to achieve the 62 vote total, 11 Republicans voted yes to approve. Senators McCain, Coburn and Paul offered negative amendments to:
- End mailbox monopoly
- Pilot privatization
- Prohibit collective bargaining
- Establish Postal Commission
- Require retirement eligible(s) to retire
- End monopoly
- Prohibit unions from using dues in political arena
HR 2309 will now be debated in the House which is Republican controlled and it has included provisions more negative to postal employees. After the House completes deliberations, members of the House and Senate will be appointed as conferees to resolve the differences between the House and Senate Bills. In that the Democrats have a majority in the Senate it is expected that the best opportunity at achieving the union’s objectives was in the Senate Bill that will not be improved in the House or the final Bill.
Bill Burrus
Senate Passes Postal Bill – Rural Post Offices Get Support, New Restrictions on Closing Added
From the National League Of Postmasters
Today, the United States Senate passed S. 1789, the 21st Century Postal Act of 2012, in a bi-partisan fashion 62 to 37. The bill gives rural post offices more support and adds on a number of restrictions to the Postal Service’s ability to close them. Clearly, the Senate was not at all pleased with the behavior of the Postal Service in attempting to close thousands of small post offices over the last year or two. The bill contained a moratorium on closing small post offices in rural areas for one year, as well a moratorium of going to five-day delivery for two years.
From a broader perspective, the bill returns some $11 billion of overpaid FERS money back to the Postal Service, allowing some to be used for buyouts, and the remainder to be used to pay down its debt and to cover other employee benefits, such as workers’ compensation, pensions and health care. Further, the bill also begins a 40-year amortized payment schedule for the Postal Service to fund the rest of its retirees’ health benefits and would calculate those payments using the same discount rate that is used for the major federal government retirement funds.
The bill would also begin paying current postal retirees’ health care premiums out of the funds accumulated from earlier payment, thus reducing the size of USPS current payments for the prefunding. Together, these measures would save the Postal Service billions of dollars annually while still ensuring adequate funds for future postal retirees’ health benefits.
Although, as noted below, the Postal Service received substantial financial relief, it generally was not a good day for the Postal Service, and a significant vote of “no confidence” in the way it has been handling matters such as small post offices, small business issues, and overall service reductions. The bill restricts, to some degree, the Postal Service’s attempts to cut delivery standards, go immediately to five-day delivery, and close mail facilities. The bill allows the Postal Service to offer new products and new services, subject to PRC approval, so long as it follows all federal laws and regulations required to be followed by private sector companies. Read more
NALC disappointed, but determined, as Senate passes S. 1789
“Keep your chin up; this fight is far from over,” Rolando says
Amendment to save door-to-door passes
April 25, 2012 — The United States Senate adopted a deeply flawed postal reform bill on Wednesday, voting for S. 1789, the 21st Century Postal Service Act, by a vote of 62 to 37.
The legislation embraces a downsizing strategy and fails to fully lift the onerous burden to fund decades of future retiree health benefits decades in advance. If it were to become law, it would be almost impossible to save Saturday mail delivery for the American people and their businesses.
The bill gives the postmaster general the authority to propose a switch to five-day delivery in two years—at a cost of 80,000 jobs—if he believes such a change is necessary to preserve the “solvency” of the Postal Service, subject to review by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Although the bill reduced the level of required pre-funding, the cost of the mandate is still too heavy to allow the USPS to regain a sound financial footing.
“We’re disappointed, but we are determined to fight on,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said after the vote. He reminded letter carriers that the legislative process is far from over. “It may take months to get a bill through the House of Representatives,” he said, “but we will not rest in this struggle to defend a strong and viable Postal Service.”
Despite the truly regressive nature of the House Republican bill, H.R. 2309, the NALC’s top priorities—preserving six-day delivery and fixing the pension and health care funding provisions of the law—have a lot of bi-partisan support in the House. Indeed, a majority of representatives support both H. Res. 137 (regarding six-day service) and H.R. 1351 (regarding pension equity). President Rolando vowed a spirited campaign in the House. Once that body acts, the process will not be over. A conference committee would have to reconcile the competing bills, and President Obama would be able to weigh in on the legislation—since a final bill that passed both houses would not become law unless he signed it.
“I want to thank the thousands of letter carriers who joined together to lobby the Senate this week,” Rolando said. “We flooded the Senate this week with tens of thousands of calls and other contacts. We did not prevail in striking the five-day delivery provision or the regressively unfair FECA cuts in S. 1789, but we did protect tens of thousands of letter carrier jobs by winning the adoption of the door-to-door delivery amendment sponsored by Senator Chuck Schumer [D-NY]. We also removed an anti-FEHBP health care proposal thanks to an amendment from Senator Jay Rockefeller [D-WV].
“We thank both of those senators as well as Senators Udall of New Mexico and Akaka of Hawaii for leading the fight on all our amendments. Thanks also go to Senator Bernie Sanders [D-VT] for his months of relentless work to support the Postal Service and its workers.
“Last, but not least, I want to thank the staff of our Legislative and Political Affairs Department who worked ’round the clock for the members. We are grateful for all their hard work.”
“Keep your chins up, brothers and sisters,” Rolando concluded. “This fight to save America’s Postal Service is far from over.”
Senate Approves Amended Postal Bill
Next Up: The House of Representatives
The Senate passed an amended version of the 21st Century Postal Service Act (S. 1789) on April 25 by a vote of 62-37. “Although the bill is flawed, the amended version is far better than the original,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey. “That is a result of the tremendous effort of APWU members, postal customers, and elected officials who appreciate the importance of the Postal Service to American life. Thank you for your hard work.”
The bill will provide the USPS, which is facing imminent collapse, with short-term financial relief, by returning $11 billion in USPS overpayments to federal pension funds to the Postal Service. “Keep in mind,” Guffey said, “this is money paid by postal customers, workers and the Postal Service – not taxpayers.”
The bill also will provide some protection for service standards for a minimum of three years. “Although we sought stronger, longer safeguards, this is an improvement over the original bill, which did nothing to preserve service,” Guffey said. “Protecting service is essential to preserving the Postal Service,” he said.
The bill fails to provide the Postal Service with the relief it needs to meet the challenges of the future, Guffey said. “Although the bill will provide the USPS with limited relief from the requirement to pre-fund healthcare benefits for future retirees, it does not provide sufficient relief. As a result, the USPS will not have access to the capital it needs to meet the challenges of the future,” he said.
The bill also will have devastating consequences for the thousands of postal and federal employees who were injured on the job and who receive compensation from the Office of Workers Compensation Program (OWCP), Guffey noted.
“We will now take our fight to the House of Representatives,” Guffey said, “where we hope to improve the bill.
“We call on our members, small businesses, individual customers, and lawmakers to re-double our efforts to Save America’s Postal Service.”
Senate Action on Amendments For Postal Reform Bill S 1789
Amendments 2038 & 2059 were withdrawn
Action taken Wednesday via PostCom.orgor Twitter @PostCom2
- Amendment 2032 (Tester): To limit postal executive compensation to that no greater than that which is paid to cabinet secretaries. (Approved)
- Amendment 2071 (Warner): To require the Postal Service to help facilitate the processing of postal employee requests for retirement and benefits. (Approved)
- Amendment 2050 (Schumer): To preserve door delivery of mail for those that already receive it. (Approved)
- Amendment 2074 (Rockefeller): (Approved) [Heaven knows what it was about.]
- Amendment 2073 (Rockefeller): Regarding accessibility of postal employees to Medicare. (Approved)
- Amendment 2036 (Pryor): To approve a sense of the Senate to direct the Postal Service NOT close any postal facilities pending passage of S. 1789. (Approved)
- Amendment 2030 (McCaskill): To extend the hardship exemption additional time for those who have difficulty making timely submission requests. (Approved)
- Amendment 2046 (DeMint): To require postal unions to obtain permission from their members before using dues for political purposes. (Defeated)
- Amendment 2072 (Landrieu): To require the Postal Service to take into account the impact of their decisions regarding postal facilities on small businesses. (Approved)
- Amendment 2042 (Casey): To maintain current service delivery standards for market-dominant products for at least four years. (Defeated)
- Amendment 2039 (Paul): To prohibit Postal Service employees from engag in in collective bargaining. (Defeated)
- Amendment 2066 (Carper): On executive compensation and the requirement for senior executives to pay a portion of their health insurance cost. (Appproved)
- Amendment 2029 (Paul): To add to the Postal Service’s long term fiscal viability plan a requirement to note whether Congress has been helpful or hurtful. (Approved)
- Amendment 2028 (Paul): To create a pilot program to test alternative methods of postal service deliveries.. (Defeated)
- Amendment 2027 (Paul): To close Capitol Hill post offices retaining only one in the House and one in the Senate. (Approved)
- Amendment 2076 (Bingaman): To require that state liaisons that don’t have district offices in them be appointed and domiciled in the state they represent. (Approved)
- Amendment 2079 (Manchin, Rockefeller, et al.): To prohibit the Postal Service from closing post offices for at least a period of two years. (Defeated)
NALC: Senate Voted To Begin Slow Dismantling of USPS and Attack Injured Workers
Filed under: NALC, politics, postal, postal news, postal reform, usps
Statement of NALC President Fred Rolando following today’s Senate vote on S. 1789
April 24, 2010 — The Senate voted Tuesday to begin the slow dismantling of the United States Postal Service and to attack injured postal workers by slashing their workers’ compensation benefits.
The NALC has argued for months that S. 1789 would fail to preserve the long-term viability of the Postal Service because it embraces the downsizing plans of Postmaster General Pat Donahoe. Today, by voting against an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) to preserve six-day delivery (by a vote of 56 to 43) and by voting to slash federal employee workers’ compensation benefits (by a vote of 53 to 46), the Senate has failed to improve a deeply flawed bill.
Senators ignored more than 25,000 phone calls from NALC members around the country Tuesday urging them to adopt these amendments. Now we have no choice now but to strongly oppose final passage of S. 1789, a vote on which is expected Wednesday in the Senate.
We cannot give up the fight for positive reform. So our first task must be to do everything we can defeat the 21st Century Postal Service Act when it comes up for a final vote tomorrow.
I urge you and every city letter carrier to call 1-888-863-6103 to be connected to your two senators’ offices. Tell your senators to vote “NO” on S. 1789. (If you have trouble getting through, call the Capitol Hill switchboard, 202-224-3121, and ask to be transferred to your senators.)
I know all of you share my deep disappointment with today’s action on the amendments. But we cannot let that disappointment diminish our energy or silence our voices. We must send a message to our representatives in the Senate that we cannot save the Postal Service by dismantling its greatest asset—the last-mile delivery network that our members make real every day. And no reform can justify the punitive workers’ compensation reforms shoe-horned into this bill.
We’ve been knocked down, but we have to get up right away and continue the fight.
Call 1-888-863-6103 and tell your senators to vote NO Wednesday on final passage of S. 1789.
Whatever happens tomorrow in the Senate, the fight to save America’s Postal service will go on. A bill doesn’t become law until both houses of Congress passes it and the president signs it.
We have a long battle ahead of us. If we stay together and mobilize all of our resources, we can prevail.
See below for how your senators voted.
NAPUS: Senate Begins Consideration of Postal Bill — Then Takes Intermission
Filed under: NAPUS, politics, postal, postal news, postal reform, usps
Today, the Senate cast votes on 15 of 40 amendments to S. 1789, the Lieberman-Collins-Carper-Brown postal relief bill. The legislative body will resume its voting tomorrow at 2:00 PM EDT. The proceedings may be viewed on CSPAN-2 or at www.senate.gov.
During the course of consideration, two amendments were withdrawn by their sponsors; most notably, Sen. John McCain elected not to offer SA 2001, his amendment that replicated H.R. 2309, the Issa-Ross postal bill. It is possible that McCain did not offer this amendment, since its defeat would “prejudice” consideration of the Issa-Ross bill in the House. However, McCain did offer an amendment to create a post office closing commission, SA 2033. Such a commission is included in H.R. 2309. The amendment was defeated by a whopping 30-69 vote, sending a clear message to House-advocates of such commission.
As anticipated, right out of the box, Senate Budget Committee Ranking Republican Jeff Sessions raised a budget point-of-order against the bill for violating last summer’s budget agreement. To waive this procedural roadblock required a 60-vote super-majority, which was achieved by a 62-37 vote. Senators Collins and Lieberman pointed out that the only reason that the bill “scored” was because unfair and arcane budget rules were applied to the postal bill. Had the 60 vote threshold not been attained, S. 1789 would been stillborn. Surviving the budget point of order could be a predictor of the outcome on final passage.
As series of post office protection amendments were adopted by voice votes, including NAPUS-promoted amendments SA 2031 (McCaskill-Merkley) and SA 2056 (Tester). SA 2031 includes a 1-year moratorium on post office closures.
Two amendments were proposed and defeated relating to delivery frequency. S. 1789, as drafted, would permit the USPS to move to 5-day delivery in 2 years. Sen. Tom Udall proposed an amendment (SA 2043) to maintain 6-day delivery; it was defeated on a 43-56 vote. And, Sen. Corker proposed an amendment (SA 2083) to implement 5-day delivery immediately; it was soundly defeated by a 29-70 vote.
Check in tomorrow evening/night for more updates, depending on when the Senate completes action.
via NAPUS