H Res 173 Momentum Grows - USPS Still Pushing Flawed Plan
NALC supported legislation, H Res 173, a bill expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its 6-day mail delivery service, has building momentum due to our lobbying efforts from just 4 cosponsors to 49 in just three short weeks. Eight of these members are from our state.
While this is a great start we need to continue to push this legislation so that we have every House member in California signed on.
PMG Potter has not let up in pushing his ill advised plan to reduce delivery in the near future. He has been giving interviews to the press and even has gone so far as to get approval from the USPS Board of Governors to move to a five-day home delivery schedule. Recently the USPS launched a propaganda website that explains to consumers and businesses the prospective shift to five-day delivery.While all this can be intimidating to our membership it is important to remember that none of this can be done without action by Congress. With H Res 173 we can enlist support from the same Members of Congress Potter needs to enact his plans.
The following 30 members of the House of Representatives are current cosponsors of H Res 173 (as of June 25, 2010):
Joe Baca CD 43
Howard Berman CD 28
Ken Calvert CD 44
Lois Capps CD 23
Dennis Cardoza CD 18
Judy Chu CD 32
Jim Costa CD 20
Susan Davis CD 53
Anna Eshoo CD 14
Sam Farr CD 17
Bob Filner CD 51
John Garamendi CD 10
Jane Harman CD 36
Mike Honda CD 15
Barbara Lee CD 9
Zoe Lofgren CD 16
Jerry McNerney CD 11
Grace Napolitano CD 38
Laura Richardson CD 37
Lucille Roybal-Allard CD 34
Linda Sanchez CD 39
Loretta Sanchez CD 47
Adam Schiff CD 29
Brad Sherman CD 27
Jackie Speier CD 12
Fortney "Pete" Stark CD 13
Mike Thompson CD 1
Maxine Waters CD 35
Diane Watson CD 33
Lynn Woolsey CD 6
If your member is listed above please write them and thank them for their support of continuing six-day delivery and their co-sponsorship of H Res 173.
If your member is not listed above please use the sample letter below as a guide and write them a letter today and ask them co-sponsor H Res 173.
Thank you,
John Beaumont
President
California State Association of Letter Carriers
Sample Letter H Res 173
Honorable (Representatives Name)
United States House of Representatives
(Representatives Local District Office Address)
(Date)
Dear Congressman (or Congresswoman) ______________:
I live in (City) and I am a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch __________ and a constituent of your congressional district.
6-day mail delivery service is an essential service that the American people have relied on since 1912. Reducing mail delivery service to 5 days a week would inevitably cause not only delays in the delivery of mail, but higher postal costs, due to the many hours of additional overtime that the Postal Service would require in order to handle the resulting back-up of mail.
Also, our senior citizens rely heavily upon the steady delivery of mail service 6 days a week. Social Security is the primary or sole source of income for many senior citizens, and any delay in the delivery of their Social Security checks would make it difficult for them to purchase even essential items, such as food and medicine.
Taking into account these items and other serious consequences that would result from reducing mail delivery services I am asking you to please sign on as a cosponsor or H Res 173. This bill, sponsored by Representative Samuel Graves, expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its 6-day mail delivery service.
Thank you for your consideration of this request. A return response to this letter would be sincerely appreciated.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
(Members Name)
(Members Address)
Do Not Mail Resolution Now Stopped in Oakland Too!
After a week of negotiations between the NALC and Vice-Mayor and Oakland City Councilwoman Jean Quan, Rep. Quan decided to withdraw the Don Not Mail Registry Resolution in Oakland and not reintroduce the measure again in the future.
This achievement came on the heels of our recent victory convincing the Berkeley Council Members to withdraw their DNM resolution and not pursue any further in the City of Berkeley. This agreement came about due to the hard work that our branches put in soliciting volunteers from their membership that were willing and able to write letters and attend hearings and city council meetings, if needed.
Our National Business Agent, Manny Peralta, was instrumental working with the East Bay District Management to allow workroom floor standups conducted by the NALC and CSALC to help inform our membership on this resolution and gather volunteers to help protect our jobs and benefits.
While we have been successful stopping this initiative in our most recent battles, we still need to be vigilant in keeping this resolution from being introduced in other City Councils across the state.
The California State Association wishes to thank each and every member who got involved with this successful campaign in Oakland.
In unionism,
John Beaumont
President - California State Association of Letter Carriers
Do Not Mail Resolution Stopped in Berkeley!
After a special meeting between labor and businesses with the Berkeley Council Members who proposed the Don Not Mail Registry legislation, the council agreed to withdraw the DNM resolution and not pursue any further in the City of Berkeley.
This action was a direct result of a great deal of work done by a coalition of NALC members, businesses, and postal employees from all crafts. Through membership participation at two separate commission meetings, as well as an early letter writing campaign targeted to postpone the original council vote, we jointly stopped the Do Not Mail Registry initiative in Berkeley.
The California State Association wishes to thank each and every member who got involved with this campaign.
Now it's on to Oakland where the initiative is still alive in their City Council.
John Beaumont
President - California State Association of Letter Carriers
Major bill passes the House of Representatives allowing FERS carriers to apply unused sick leave toward retirement
HR 2647 (The 2010 Defense Department authorization measure) has just been approved by the House Conference committee by a 281-146 majority. This legislation would allow FERS federal and postal employees to receive retirement credit for their unused sick leave. The measure now moves on to the Senate where it may be voted on this week.
Our Legislative Program, led by our E-Activist network and COLCPE, has been working hard over the past couple of years to remedy the unfair treatment FERS employees currently experience by not getting the same sick leave credit as CSRS covered employees. We are hopeful this legislation will go forward however the bill still needs Senate approval where it might face possible budgetary objections before it can be sent to President Obama for his signature.
Under the conference report, sick leave credit for FERS-covered employees would be phased-in over a four year period, beginning with 50% credit for employees who retire after enactment of the measure, and ultimately 100% credit for employees retiring on or after January 1, 2014.
The Defense authorization measure also includes other civil service provisions:
- Making it easier for federal agencies to rehire federal retirees on a limited, part-time basis, without requiring them to take a cut in their retirement pension;
- Allowing FERS employees who left and returned to government service to redeposit savings in the retirement system and earn credit for years they already worked in government;
- A phase-in for federal and postal employees who live and work in Hawaii, Alaska Virgin Islands and U.S. Territories into a locality-based pay system, that will permit locality pay adjustments (unlike COLAs) to be credited in their retirement annuity calculations and count as part of salary for Thrift Savings Plan contributions.
We all need to be sure that we are ready for any E-Activist alerts that may call upon us to contact our representatives when this legislation is shortly debated in the United States Senate. The California State Association of Letter Carriers will continue to inform you of the status of this legislation as we continue to work diligently for its passage.
In Unionism,
John Beaumont
President
California State Association of Letter Carriers
Senate Approves Postal Relief!
President Obama Signs Legislation
On Tuesday the House and Senate reached a tentative agreement to include the provisions of the recently passed HR 22 as part of a continuing resolution included in the Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill, HR 2918. This bill, if passed, would enable the Postal Service to defer $4 billion in payments to a fund for its future retirees' health benefits, giving USPS some flexibility for dealing with the current recession.
Immediately after this agreement HR 2918 was then scheduled to go before the full Senate for a vote sometime late yesterday. To increase our chances of passage all of us worked yesterday to personally contact every member of the Senate, along with House Leadership, to make sure we garnered the necessary votes by the Senate just in case one or more Senators raise a point of order. Like we anticipated this turned out to be a fight down to the wire. Two Republican Senators, John McCain (AZ) and Judd Gregg (NH) each raised formal objections, which is done in the Senate by making a motion known as a Point of Order, against HR 2918 for violating Senate rules. These objections were raised by these Senators as an attempt to strip the postal relief provisions of HR 22 out of HR 2918. Procedurally the only way these Points of Order could be defeated would be to have the Senate vote to waive its rules and pass the bill. Such waivers require a super-majority vote by 60 Senators.
Throughout the day I was able to meet with both Senators Boxer and Feinstein and a dozen key members of the House including Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Becerra. All promised to do everything they could to help pass this legislation. Senator Boxer talked with Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) to ask his help in waiving any points or order brought forward and gathering enough voted to uphold our vote.
As evening fell the Senate took up the measure. Senator McCain raised the first point of order. He tried to argue that the inclusion of the Continuing Resolution into HR 2918, violated Senate Rules. Senator Inouye stood with us and countered that there was Senate precedent for adding new items to Conference Agreements. The Senate then voted 61-39 to waive Senator McCain's Point of Order.
Following Senator McCain, Senator Gregg (R-NH) brought up the second point of order arguing that including the provisions of HR 22 into HR 2918 would increase federal spending by $4 billion. Senator Inouye pointed out that the provision "would not" increase federal spending by taxpayers. Senator Gregg's point of order was then quickly defeated by 61-39.
Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, all key California Representatives who hold positions in House Leadership, and both Senator Boxer and Senator Feinstein were instrumental in defeating these objections. As a result late Wednesday night, the Senate approved final passage of HR 2918 by a vote of 62 to 38, then shortly before midnight, President Barack Obama signed the bill.
After the final vote was announced President Fred Rolando stated "Tonight we can celebrate, but tomorrow we must start all over to get a long-term solution."
This hard fought action and subsequent victory which took place yesterday on the Senate floor would not have been possible without the hard work and constant communications from thousands of NALC Activists in California and across the Nation along with our branch leaders who worked hard to get their membership engaged in the overall passage of HR 22 in the House. The California State Association of Letter Carriers sincerely thanks everyone who helped make this victory possible. Thank You!
In Unionism,
John Beaumont
President
California State Association of Letter Carriers
"The U.S. Postal Service in Crisis"
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security.
Click here for the Full Webcast Hearing.
Read NALC President Frederic Rolando's Written Testimony here (Link is to a PDF file. You will need a PDF viewer to read it.)
5- Day Delivery Update
The Postal Service cannot unilaterally end Saturday delivery. Such a change would require a change in the law and a 90-day review by the Postal Regulatory Commission. NALC will fight any attempt by the Postal Service to convince Congress to make this radical change. Please click on this following link to read a statement from NALC President Fred Rolando on the Postal Service's study to push 5-day delivery.