Join the Fight to Save America’s Postal Service
The nation’s postal unions and allies are fighting back against proposals to close post offices and mail processing centers, and change USPS regulations to eliminate overnight delivery of first class mail, and change two-day delivery to three days. You can join by signing a petition to your senators and representatives to preserve the nation’s mail service. Click here or here to sign the petition.
The petition is part of the Save America’s Postal Service campaign, a joint effort of the Postal Workers (APWU), Letter Carriers (NALC), Mail Handlers, an affiliate of the Laborers (LIUNA), and the Rural Letter Carriers.
Over the next several weeks, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the “super committee,” is supposed to produce a plan to reduce the federal deficit. It may include a Read the rest of this entry »
Join the Fight to Keep Six-Day Mail Delivery
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The nation’s postal unions and allies are fighting back against proposals to eliminate Saturday mail deliveries—and you can join by signing a petition to your senators and representatives to preserve six-day mail service. Click here to sign the petition.
The Save America’s Postal service campaign is a joint effort of the Letter Carriers (NALC), Postal Workers (APWU), Mail Handlers, an affiliate of the Laborers (LIUNA), and the Rural Letter Carriers.
Over the next several weeks, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the “super committee,” will produce a plan to reduce the federal deficit. It may include a package of proposals to fix the financial difficulties facing the USPS that could include an end to Saturday deliveries. Read the rest of this entry »
Support Postal Workers: Join Sept. 27 Rallies to Save 120,000 Jobs
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In every state across the country, members of the postal unions and community supporters will rally tomorrow, Sept. 27, in a national day of action to protect the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and save 120,000 jobs. Most rallies will take place from 4–5:30 p.m. local time.
Click here to find the Sept. 27 rallies near you.
Under the guise of a “budgetary crisis,” some in Congress are going after the USPS, proposing massive cuts and layoffs—including laying off 120,000 workers, closing thousands of post offices, eliminating Saturday mail service and closing mail processing facilities.
APWU: Crushing Workers Will Not Solve Postal Service’s Financial Woes
Crushing postal workers and slashing service will not solve the U.S. Postal Service’s financial crisis, Postal Workers (APWU) President Cliff Guffey said in response to the announcement today that the Postal Service will seek congressional support to cut 120,000 jobs, break its labor contract signed earlier this year and withdraw from the federal health and retirement plans.
“Congress created this mess and Congress can fix it,” Guffey said.
The USPS economic crisis is the result of a provision of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 that requires the Postal Service to pre-fund the health care benefits of future retirees — a burden no other government agency or private company bears.
The legislation requires the USPS to fund a 75-year liability over a 10-year period, and that requirement costs the USPS more than $5.5 billion per year.
Guffey also pointed out that “the federal government is holding billions of dollars in postal overpayments to its pension accounts.” Read the rest of this entry »
Postal Workers Ratify New Contract
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By a margin of more than three-to-one, members of the Postal Workers (APWU) ratified a new four-and-one-half-year contract with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) that calls for increasing wages by 3.5 percent over term, creates new positions and provides job security.
APWU President Cliff Guffey said that as a result of the new contract, the Postal Service will begin hiring again for the first time in many years. In addition, he said, the union was “able to retain protection against layoffs, bring back thousands of jobs in each craft, and limit excessing.”
Postal Workers, USPS Prove Public Employee Bargaining Works
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While governors and state lawmakers across the country are attacking the right of public employees to bargain, the Postal Workers (APWU) and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) today showed that public employees and government can work together to solve financial problems and provide good service. The two sides have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, which APWU President Cliff Guffey says is “a win-win proposition” for both parties.
In a video to members, Guffey said:
When workers across the country are fighting to protect their right to collective bargaining, our tentative agreement is a testament to a great American freedom: The right of workers to have a voice at work and to negotiate for a better life.
NALC Says 5-Day Delivery Is the Wrong Way To Go
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The U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS’s) plan to end Saturday mail delivery would do more harm than good and it distracts from the real solution, which is eliminating the “crushing burden of a deeply flawed health benefits pre-funding policy,” according to the Letter Carriers (NALC).
The real key to saving the Postal Service, says NALC President Fredric Rolando, is to overhaul the health care funding system, which could save the agency at least $8 billion a year—far more than the speculative $3 billion annual savings the USPS claims it can get from reducing service. He adds:
The arrogance of the Postal Service in this campaign to lobby the public to embrace five-day delivery as the answer to the Postal Service’s problem is astounding. Given that Congress has shown very little interest in eliminating Saturday service and must approve any change, the Postal Service should focus its energies on real solutions, not risky and counterproductive service cuts.
Letter Carriers Refute Health Care Opponents’ Smear Campaign
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Here’s the latest example of how far opponents of health care reform will go to stop the real changes the nation needs.
An “issue brief” released by the House Republican Caucus this week attacks the United States Postal Service (USPS) and its 700,000 employees nationwide in what the Letter Carriers (NALC) union calls a “transparently partisan attack on the health insurance reform legislation now being considered by Congress.”
Workers across the country are fighting back against the lie-filled campaigns by extremist groups—some funded by corporate donations and backed by extremist Republican leaders who are vowing to kill health care reform.
The NALC is setting the record straight about the misinformation campaign being waged by the Republicans against health care reform. In a public memo, the union issued a point-by-point response to the House Republicans.
NALC President Fredric Rolando says:
This smear cannot go unanswered. This attack on America’s most-trusted agency is deliberately misleading and unjustifiably undermines public support for the Postal Service.
Take Action Today to Save Bargaining Rights for Postal Workers
An amendment to a short-term financial assistance bill for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) would destroy collective bargaining between the USPS and its unions. The Postal Workers (APWU) and the Letter Carriers (NALC) are mobilizing to defeat the amended bill (S. 1507) when it comes to a vote before the full Senate later this week.
APWU President William Burrus warns that if the bill passes as written,
it will destroy collective bargaining for postal workers.
Click here to visit APWU’s website and to send a message to your senators.
Postal Unions Slam Saturday Mail Cut Plan
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Six days a week, 144 million U.S. homes and businesses count on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to deliver the mail. Now, in a cost-cutting move, the USPS wants to slash Saturday mail delivery and the nation’s two largest postal unions say it is a disastrous proposal.
Letter Carriers (NALC) President Bill Young says stopping six-day delivery would have a profound impact on the Postal Service, its costumers and Letter Carriers across the country:
The NALC’s position on this issue should be crystal clear: We oppose the elimination of six-day delivery. Downsizing the Postal Service to meet the needs of a severely depressed economy is short-sighted and self-defeating—it will cost us tens of thousands of jobs and open the way to competitors to provide service on the sixth day.
The USPS is conducting a study of dropping Saturday delivery as part of an overall move to cut costs and is seeking comments from various stakeholders. Postal Workers (APWU) President William Burrus says his advice is simple: “Don’t do it!”
