NALC statement on USPS financial losses
Filed under: NALC, postal, postal finances, postal news, press releases
Nov. 15, 2011 — For the first time since the recession began in 2007, this year’s Postal Service loss was largely driven by the continued impact of the worst recession in 80 years and the effect of Internet technology—above and beyond the crushing and unique burden of the congressional mandate to pre-fund future retiree health benefits.
This mandate accounted for 100 percent of the losses over the previous four years.
That does not change what has to be done.
Congress must alleviate the pre-funding burden and the Postal Service and its stakeholders must work relentlessly to reinvent the Post Office for the 21st century.
Today we are working with the Postal Service at the bargaining table on doing just that.
source: Latest News | NALC statement on Postal Service losses.
NALC President Rolando’s seven-point proposal to the ‘super-committee’
Filed under: NALC, politics, postal, postal news, postal reform, press releases, usps
President Rolando has written a letter to the members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, better known as the “super committee.” He outlines seven proposals the NALC urges the committee to consider. “Americans are begging you to act in a bipartisan manner to address the nation’s problems,” he wrote. “Bolstering the Postal Service, a service mandated by the Constitution, is a good place to start.
Oct. 15, 2011 — NALC President Fredric V. Rolando has written a letter to the members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, better known as the “super committee.” He outlines seven proposals the NALC would like the committee to consider. Read more
Not a Done Deal: NALC vows to oppose 5-day delivery in Obama plan
Statement from NALC President Fred Rolando on President Obama’s deficit plan
Return of FERS surplus, other short-term relief a good start—but not enough
Monday, Sept. 19 — President Obama sent a deficit-reduction package Sept. 19 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.
We are both encouraged and disappointed.
We are encouraged that President Obama is attempting to creatively address the USPS cash crisis through the deficit reduction process and welcome his proposal to return the $6.9 billion postal pension surplus in FERS to the Postal Service as proposed in Rep. Stephen Lynch’s H.R. 1351.
But we are very disappointed that the administration opted for a deferral of the next two pre-funding payments ($5.5 billion each) instead of embracing a permanent reform based on the Lynch bill’s recovery of the even larger CSRS surplus. And we deeply regret that the administration has given into pressure from the postmaster general and has proposed to eliminate Saturday mail delivery.
The NALC is carefully examining the various elements of the White House plan. It is important to remember that these are just proposals; they cannot become law unless Congress adopts them. We want to assure our members and all those who are interested in preserving the U.S. Postal Service that we will work with everyone involved, including members of the joint congressional committee, to build a strong Postal Service that will continue to provide exceptional service to the public six days a week.
A full report on President Obama’s proposals as they relate to federal and postal employees will be posted on Tuesday.
From NALC e-Activist:
Dear Supporter,
Chairman Darrell Issa of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee has called a subcommittee mark-up of his bill, H.R. 2309, for Wednesday, September 21, at 1:30 p.m. I am writing to ask that you call your member of Congress on the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and Labor Policy (contact information below). Ask him or her to SHOW UP at the mark-up to fight for the survival of the U.S. Postal Service and its customers and employees, and urge him or her to vote NO on the adoption of H.R. 2309, a radical proposal that does nothing to address the immediate financial concerns of the Postal Service. Instead, it seeks to dismantle the USPS, piece by piece.
Drastically downsizing the Postal Service is not the answer, especially when the real cost will be passed on to postal customers throughout the country. H.R. 2309 has only one co-sponsor, while H.R. 1351, a bill with 206 co-sponsors from both parties, goes right to the heart of the problem and offers real solutions for the Postal Service’s financial future without the use of taxpayer money.
H.R. 2309 fails to address the real cause of the postal financial crisis: a congressional mandate that requires the Postal Service to pre-fund future retiree health benefits at a grossly accelerated rate of $5.5 billion a year. No other agency or company faces such a burden. The bill also fails to return tens of billions of dollars in overpayments to the Postal Service’s portion of the CSRS Pension Fund. Instead, Chairman Issa is asking for:
a shift to five-day mail delivery service at a cost of 80,000 jobs — many of them held by veterans of the armed forces;
a new, unelected board to order massive post office and processing facility closures;
a new, unelected control authority to micro-manage the USPS, with the power to override labor contracts;
and provisions to intervene in postal collective bargaining and to tilt the process of binding arbitration in favor of management.
In addition to these radical proposals, we are told that new amendments will be considered at the markup this Wednesday that would further slash postal employment and attack workers’ pay and benefits:
a phase-out of door-to-door delivery and a phase-in of cluster box delivery nationwide, including to the elderly and disabled; and damaging and grossly unfair cuts to OWCP benefits.
Congress cannot save the Postal Service by slowly killing it, piece by piece, and by attacking middle-class workers who live and work in all 50 states, red states and blue states alike. Please call your representative and urge him or her to stand up for America’s Postal Service and to vote against the passage of H.R. 2309. Americans deserve a real solution that saves the Postal Service — not one that simply destroys it.
Minority
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC) 202-225-8050
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (VA-11) 202-225-1492
Rep. Danny K. Davis (IL-7) 202-225-5006
Majority
Rep. Dennis Ross, chairman (FL-12) 202-225-1252 (co-sponsor of H.R. 2309)
Rep. Justin Amash, vice chairman (MI-3) 202-225-3831
Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-4) 202-225-2676
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (UT-3) 202-225-7751
Rep. Connie Mack (FL-14) 202-225-2536
Rep. Tim Walberg (MI-7) 202-225-6276
Rep. Trey Gowdy (SC-4) 202-225-6030
In Solidarity,
Fredric V. Rolando, President
National Association of Letter Carriers
NALC President Rolando denounces PMG’s latest ‘radical’ legislative proposals
NALC President Fredric V. Rolando has issued a statement to denounce Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe’s latest “radical” legislative proposals:
Today, city letter carriers across the country received a mandatory stand-up talk from supervisors as part of a concerted campaign by top postal management to convince Congress to slash postal employees’ health and pension benefits and override lay-off protection provisions in the postal unions’ contracts. Read more
NALC Says Pawlenty Statement About Post Office ‘Demonstrated Profound Ignorance’
NALC President Fredric V. Rolando wrote in a letter to Republican presidential candidate Gov. Tim Pawlenty expressing “Deep disappointment” in his suggestion that the ” ‘post office’ was ‘built for a different time in our country.’ NALC said Pawlenty’s statement “demonstrated profound ignorance about what the U.S. Postal Service does today,” Below is text of the letter:
July 1, 2011
Governor Tim Pawlenty
Pawlenty 2012
P.O. Box 385340
Bloomington, MN 55438
Dear Govenor Pawlenty:
I write on behalf of the 280,000 members of the National Association of Letter
Carriers (NALC). Our members live and work in almost every city and town in
America, in blue states and red states, and we come from all backgrounds. Almost a
third of us are veterans and our political beliefs reflect the full range of American
opinion – we are Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike. However, I
believe I speak for all our members when I express our deep disappointment with
your shallow and uninformed treatment of the Postal Service in your economic
policy speech in June.
Your simplistic “Google test” – for determining what the role of the federal
government should be – was rightfully panned by most economic observers. But
your suggestion that the “post office” was “built for a different time in our country”
demonstrated profound ignorance about what the U.S. Postal Service does today.
And contrary to what you said in your speech, left to their own devices, private
companies would not provide universal mail delivery at affordable, uniform rates
(44 cents for a basic letter).
Indeed, both FedEx and UPS use the Postal Service to deliver millions of packages
every day in places where it is not profitable for them to serve. Ending the Postal
Service would cut affordable service to tens of millions of Americans in rural states
and inner city neighborhoods where private companies could not make a profit. I
understand that political candidates often pander to the prejudices of their “bases”
and rely on hyper-partisan rhetoric in their speeches. But as a former governor, I
would have expected better from your campaign.
So let me tell you a little bit about the Postal Service. As a function expressly
authorized by our Constitution, the post office is as old as the republic. Since it was
reorganized as a financially self-sufficient agency in 1970 it has enjoyed broad bipartisan
support. It has not received any taxpayer support since 1982 and has strong
public support – an 83% approval rating, as a matter of fact. It provides the most
affordable, high-quality postal services in the world. Six days a week, we deliver to
150 million American homes and businesses serving the postal needs of banks,
magazines, online merchants, advertisers and ordinary American citizens.
Although the impact of the internet is doubtlessly reducing mail volume and
changing the mix of mail (fewer letters, more packages), the Postal Service remains
a vital infrastructure service in the American economy. Not only does it employ
575,000 Americans and generate $65 billion in sales annually, it also serves as the
hub of a $1.3 trillion mailing industry that includes paper manufacturers, magazines,
shippers, financial service providers, direct marketers and merchants of all kinds.
Trillions of dollars of transactions flow efficiently through the mail each year. In
fact, more than half the bills received by American households are still paid through
the mail, making the USPS a vital part ofthe nation’s financial payments system.
The mailing industry that surrounds the Postal Service employs some 7.5 million
Americans and accounts for a significant share of the nation’s GDP. Yes, our
industry is changing and may become smaller, but we are certainly not the obsolete
institution you insultingly portrayed in your speech.
A lot of our members are Republicans. Like their fellow letter carriers who are
Democrats, they will be very active in next year’s primary campaigns. I urge you to
win their votes by treating them with the respect they deserve as hard-working
Americans who provide an important public service.
Sincerely,
Fredric V. Rolando
President
Video: Shifting future for U.S. Postal Service
Will less mail spell the end of the U.S. Postal Service or a chance to reinvent itself? The NALC president weighs in.
From NALC:
NALC President Fredric V. Rolando appeared on CNN this weekend in the final segment of “State of the Union with Candy Crowley.” The two chatted about the future of the Postal Service in the Internet Age.
Obama and Letter Carriers President Rolando Meet At White House
President Barack Obama, NALC President Fredric V. Rolando meet:
NALC President Fredric V. Rolando, along with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and about a dozen labor leaders in all, met with President Barack Obama Friday in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. They had a productive discussion about jobs and how to address the difficult times facing American workers. President Rolando had the opportunity to raise the issue of U.S. Postal Service finances and how to address the challenges facing the Postal Service and letter carriers.
NALC Asks Congress For Inclusion Of CSRS Employees To Payroll Tax Holiday
No ‘holiday’ for CSRS employees? NALC President Fredric V. Rolando has written members of the House of Representatives, urging that a proposed 2 percent “payroll tax holiday” be extended to letter carriers and other federal employees still covered under the Civil Service Retirement System.
The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association is working with lawmakers to try to make sure Civil Service Retirement System employees don’t miss out on a payroll tax holiday.
Under the controversial tax cut plan the White House and congressional Republicans struck last week, the Making Work Pay tax credit would expire and be replaced by a 2 percent reduction in payroll taxes most workers pay into Social Security. But CSRS employees do not pay into, nor receive benefits from, Social Security, and would not benefit from such a reduction.
NALC Letter To Congress
NALC President Calls On Deficit Commission To Correct Statements About Bailout To USPS
Busting the ‘bailout’ myth (again): NALC President Fredric V. Rolando has written the head of the Commission of Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to correct some misstatements of fact relating to the Postal Service contained in recommendations for reducing the federal deficit.
Earlier today, the Commission of Fiscal Responsibility and Reform released its final George c. Mignosi report, The Moment of Truth, which outlines a comprehensive set of recommendations for reducing the federal deficit and controlling the growth in our Jane E.Broendel national debt. My union and its members appreciate your hard work on this Secretary-Treasurer thankless, but necessary task. 1write to draw your attention to some rather startling Nicole Rhine misstatements of fact contained in your Recommendation 4.10 regarding the United States Postal Service. The recommendation is based on two erroneous statements.
First, the recommendation suggests that the Postal Service “maintained an operating deficit 0[$8.5 billion, even after receiving a ;;$4 billion bailout” from Congress the previous year.” The Postal Service did not receive a “bailout” from Congress, which suggests that taxpayer funds were transferred to the USPS. Rather the Congress allowed the Postal Service to reduce a scheduled pre- funding payment for future retiree health benefits in 2009 from $5.4 billion to $1.4 billion. No taxpayer funds were involved in this relief, which was totally justified given economic conditions. Indeed, no other company in America – public, private or non-profit – is required to pre- fund such benefits and the reduction made sense during one of the deepest recessions in memory
In fact, the Postal Service’s operating deficit in 2010 was $3.0 billion (due mainly to a $2.5 billion discount rate adjustment affecting its estimated liability for future workers compensation costs). Its total loss amounted to $8.5 billion because the USPS was forced by law to make another $5.5 billion pre-funding payment in 2010, even though its Retiree Health Fund is best funded plan of its kind in America (it now holds $42 billion while two-thirds of Fortune 1000 finn have set aside nothing). Moreover, ALL the financial losses incurred by the Postal Service since 2007 arc the result of the crushing mandate 10 pre-fund – without the $21 billion cost of the mandate the USPS would have earned a profit of $611 million over the past four years, despite the worst recession in 80years.
read the rest of the letter here
Statement of NALC President On Retirement Of Postmaster General
Filed under: NALC, postal, postal news, press releases, usps
America’s letter carriers wish Jack Potter a long and healthy retirement. Although we have had profound strategic differences with Jack in recent years over the best approach for securing the long-term viability of the Postal Service, we had a good working relationship with him and his team. He was an honorable partner in collective bargaining and served his country well during a very difficult period in the history of the Postal Service.
NALC offers its congratulations to Pat Donahoe on his appointment to be the next postmaster general. We welcome the selection of a career postal employee who is committed to working with the postal unions to ensure that the Postal Service continues to provide high-quality and affordable service to America’s mailers and citizens.
In an interview last year, Donahoe said, “Our unions want to do the right thing. We have to resolve pay and labor issues internally and I think that it’s important that we do that, because if we do that, that makes for a stronger Postal Service.” I could not agree more with that statement. The 284,000 members of the NALC look forward to working with the new postmaster general to make this a reality in the months and years ahead.
Statement from NALC President Fredric V. Rolando
on the announced retirement of
USPS Postmaster General John E. “Jack” Potter
Fredric V. Rolando, President
National Association of Letter Carriers