“Tea Party” groups are building public and congressional support for H.R. 2309, legislation sponsored in the U.S. House of Representative by Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Dennis Ross (R-FL) that APWU President Cliff Guffey has called “a reckless assault on postal workers and the Postal Service.”

“With misguided zeal, Tea Party and conservative groups are supporting legislation that would undermine a vital public service —

the world’s largest, most trusted, most efficient, and least expensive postal system. We must ensure they don’t succeed.”

— APWU Legislative and Political Director Myke Reid

One group, The Tea Party.net, claims to have generated more than 100,000 letters and email messages to lawmakers demanding passage of Issa’s bill. The group’s Web site provides scant information about the reasons for USPS financial problems or how the Ross-Issa bill would address them. Instead, it provides a link to a House Web page controlled by Issa that claims postal workers are overpaid and that the legislation would forestall a taxpayer “bailout” of the USPS.

Another conservative activist group, Citizens Against Government Waste, is also blaming “unmanageable labor costs” as well as “excess infrastructure” for USPS deficits. The organization has put members of Congress on notice that votes on H.R. 2309 “will be among those considered in CCAGW’s 2011 Congressional Ratings,” a legislative scorecard used to determine which members of Congress the organization deems worthy of re-election.

Neither group, however, informs visitors about the principal reason for USPS deficits: a congressional mandate imposed by Congress in the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) that requires the USPS to “pre-fund” healthcare benefits for future retirees at a cost of more than $5 billion per year for 10 years. This is a burden no other business or government agency is forced to bear. (The PAEA also prevents the Postal Service from raising postage costs to pay for this mandate.) Absent the pre-funding requirement, the Postal Service would have experienced a cumulative surplus of $611 over the last four years, despite the worst recession in many decades.

Nor do they mention that the federal government is holding billions of dollars of excess postal payments to FERS and CSRS. (The USPS has a surplus of $6.9 billion in its Federal Employee Retirement System account, and, according to two independent actuarial studies, has overpaid the Civil Service Retirement System account by $50 billion to $75 billion.)

Making Workers Pay

“The Ross-Issa bill would do nothing to correct USPS overpayments to its pension accounts or loosen the financial chokehold cause by the prefunding requirement,” Guffey said.

Instead, it holds USPS workers accountable for USPS financial problems.

H.R. 2309 would create a “solvency authority” with the power to unilaterally modify collective bargaining agreements any time the USPS defaults on “any obligation to the federal government for more than 30 days. “The solvency board would be empowered to cut wages, abolish benefits, and end our protection against layoffs,” the union president said.

In addition, he noted, the bill would increase employees’ costs for healthcare coverage and life insurance, and effectively eliminate the right to bargain over these benefits.

The Issa-Ross bill also would harm citizens and businesses by forcing up to $2 billion in postal office and facility closures.

Tell Congress: Support H.R. 1351

Contact Your Legislators

H.R. 1351 Co-sponsors

(updated 07/26/11)

A Far Better Bill

Meanwhile, postal unions and the postal business community are urging legislators to support H.R. 1351, a bill introduced by Rep. Steve Lynch (D-MA) that would allow the USPS to use the pension account overpayments to meet the retiree healthcare prefunding demand.

[Open Letter to Congress - PDF]

“It is a disservice to America that these groups are mobilizing their members to support H.R. 2309 without giving them a full account of the facts about the USPS financial crisis,” said APWU Legislative and Political Director Myke Reid.

“With misguided zeal, they are supporting legislation that would undermine a vital public service – the world’s largest, most trusted, most efficient, and least expensive postal system. We must ensure they don’t succeed.”

via Tea Party Building Support for Issa Bill.

The APWU has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) protesting the Postal Service’s refusal to provide the union with information regarding Area Mail Processing (AMP) feasibility studies. The union contends that management’s failure to provide the information constitutes a breach of its obligation to bargain in good faith.

On May 10, 2011, the APWU wrote to the Postal Service requesting information about AMP feasibility studies. “Before undertaking a consolidation study, the USPS must consider the impact consolidation would have on the community, service standard changes, impact on customer service, impact on operations at gaining and losing facilities, equipment deployment, and the likelihood of potential savings and efficiencies,” wrote Executive Vice President Greg Bell in the union’s request for information. The union also requested a copy of available AMP feasibility studies prior to public input meetings and before a final decision is made. The union currently receives redacted copies of the AMP studies after the USPS makes its decision.

In a June 20 letter, the USPS denied the union’s request in its entirety. The data requested by the APWU was not relevant to bargaining, management asserted, and providing the information would slow the decision-making process.

The Postal Service also refused to provide un-redacted copies of AMP studies and Post Implementation Reviews (“PIR”) after decisions have been made and facilities have been relocated. The Postal Service maintained the information would aid competitors and rejected the idea of a confidentiality agreement, claiming such an agreement would be ineffective.

The union’s unfair labor practice charge asserted that the information is relevant to enforcing the Collective Bargaining Agreement and to providing input to the Postal Service about decisions that would directly affect bargaining unit employees.

Many APWU locals have expressed frustration with management’s refusal to provide the information, and their concerns have been echoed by community residents and local businesses. They ask, “How can we provide meaningful input, without access to information about the effect on the community, changes in service standards, and the impact on customer service?”

The Postal Service also has refused to provide un-redacted information to members of the House of Representatives and Senate whose constituents are affected by consolidations. At a time when the Postal Service is seeking support from members of Congress on major issues, it makes little sense to deny their requests for information concerning consolidation of postal operations in their area, Bell commented.

via Union Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Over USPS Refusal to Provide Information on Consolidations.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a former part-time postal employee has been convicted by a federal trial jury of delaying the delivery of mail after he was caught on surveillance video putting mail in his pockets, including the money from a young girl’s birthday card.

Leonard V. Jenkins, 44, of Kansas City, Mo., was found guilty of the charge contained in a Feb. 9, 2011, federal indictment.

Jenkins worked part-time at the U.S. Postal Service processing and distribution center in Kansas City, Mo. On Nov. 4, 2008, he was recorded on surveillance video placing mail in his pockets while working on a mail sorting line. Several greeting card envelopes had been ripped open and were found in Jenkins’ work area. Evidence during the trial indicated that a woman had sent a birthday card to her great-granddaughter and enclosed a $10 bill in the card. When investigators found the opened envelope in Jenkins’ work area, there was no money inside.

The investigation into Jenkins’ activities was launched after numerous post offices across the Kansas City metropolitan area received mail that had been opened and rifled through, all of which had been sorted on a machine operated by Jenkins.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City deliberated for about four hours before returning the guilty verdict to U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple, ending a trial that began Monday, Aug. 1, 2011.

Under federal statutes, Jenkins is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

August 2, 2011 — In response to an editorial published July 28 by the Washington Post entitled, “A Better Route for USPS," the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) comments: The editorial, “A Better Route for USPS,” supporting the postal legislation introduced by Representatives Issa and Ross, correctly highlights the financial situation facing the US Postal Service (USPS) is much worse than most Americans and legislators realize.

The editorial correctly states that USPS must downsize its network, employee complement, and cost structure to meet the reality of lower mail volume. Mailers cannot afford to fund excess capacity through their postage. Every potential solution must be on the table, including the provisions of the Issa-Ross bill and the $50+ billion pension overpayment mailers have paid as found by the Postal Regulatory Commission and USPS Inspector General.

The editorial did not mention the provision concerning mail sent by nonprofit organizations. The bill would decrease significantly the nonprofit preferred rate differential, which is not taxpayer supported. The result would be a dramatic and unsustainable postage increase for many nonprofits at a time when charities are being called upon to increase their efforts to provide a safety net throughout America and the world. Most of the donations that these charities receive come via the USPS. We hope that this provision is one of the bill’s imperfections and not one the Post endorses.

Bloomberg Businessweek repeated its attacks on the US Postal Service and its employees with an editorial today, repeating claims one of its “reporters” (a jazz critic, actually!) made in a largely inaccurate story published in May, and an even more amateurish effort last December.

The editorial repeats the false claim that the USPS is already being “bailed out”:

The USPS lost $8 billion last year, and has been kept on life support with $15 billion from the Treasury.

Conveniently ignoring the fact that the USPS would have been profitable for years, and would have billions in cash on hand, if not for the PAEA trust fund mandate created in 2006.

The purpose of the editorial is to push the Issa/Ross postal “reform” bill, which claims to “streamline” the USPS, but would in reality, add two more levels of bureaucracy and $10 billion in additional debt. In reality, Issa’s bill would force the USPS into receivership, and invalidate its collective bargaining agreements.

All of which may sound familiar- it’s the same game plan the extremists who control the Republican Party have used for the federal government as a whole: slash revenue by giving massive tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, even as the US spends trillions for unnecessary wars overseas. Then, when the debt climbs, blame it on federal employees and so-called “entitlements”.

In the case of the USPS, the PAEA law, by creating a $5.5 billion annual “entitlement” for the Treasury, has forced the USPS into debt- not to support its operations, but to loan the money right back to the Treasury! This has allowed the GOP to promote the fiction that the USPS is bankrupt due to a “failed business model”.

Of course, the fact is that had the USPS been “run like a business”, it would not have racked up billions in debt to loan to the Treasury. It would have weathered the recession pretty well- continuing to make a profit through last year, supporting a trillion dollar mailing industry. But that narrative doesn’t fit the ideological goals of the right- so we have PAEA, and trust funds, and talk of receivership. and the news media appears to be swallowing it, hook, line and sinker.

via U.S. Postal Service Needs Fewer Workers to Keep Delivering: View – Businessweek.

NAPS Leg/Reg Update – August 1, 2011

Back to Code Blue

The dust is settling on what’s just happened in Washington.

History has been made. The Age of Austerity in the United Sates has begun.

What does the new debt reduction legislation, whose protracted birth over the past week portrayed Washington at its worst, mean for the United States Postal Service?

Good news and bad news. First the good news. Because the Postal Service is “off-budget,” (or not part of the federal budget), the Postal Service is immune from the punishing, arbitrary cuts imposed on the rest of the federal government by the debt legislation — the “Budget Control Act of 2011“. (The Postal Service went off-budget in 1989.)

The bad news is that the debt legislation doesn’t throw a lifeline to the Postal Service, given its dire financial straits. Although the White House attempted two weeks ago to include the Postal Service in its “grand bargain” proposal, those efforts failed.

All this means that the Postal Service is back to Code Blue. September 30 is approaching and the Postal Service is showing every sign of refraining from writing the $5.5B check for its retiree health benefit obligations that is due — in order to stave off insolvency.

Congress could yet throw a lifeline to the Postal Service sometime this fall, but with a price, potentially involving legislation introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), that would essentially throw the bankrupt Postal Service into receivership.

Finally, does the debt legislation affect postal employees? Here again, the answer is yes, but not directly. Dreaded cuts in civil service retirement and health insurance benefits themselves are not mandated by the debt legislation. However, benefit cuts eventually are likely and are still in the mix.

The second stage of budget cuts mandated by the debt law — coming in December out of the Joint Committee’s recommendations on $1.5 trillion in spending cuts — could include proposals that have been circulating for months. These could include increasing the employee contribution for retirement, reducing retirement benefits by changing the way those benefits are calculated, increasing employee contributions for health insurance, and making cost of living adjustments less generous for all retirees. There is a small glimmer of hope: a White House fact sheet on the debt legislation suggests that federal pensions could be exempt from the across-the-board cuts that would be triggered by the legislation if Congress fails to approve the Joint Committee’s recommendations.

Many in Washington are still deciphering the perilous path of pitfalls created by this new legislation. There are certain to be more brinksmanship moments over further spending cuts down the road, though those moments are unlikely to be as calamitous as a government default could have been.

Looking back on the past week, the Republic still endures, but with a black eye, and a waistline about to begin a take-no-prisoners diet.

Bruce Moyer
Legislative Counsel to NAPS

From USPS News Link:

The Human Resources Shared Services Center (HRSSC) began processing Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requests for employees of 23 districts and headquarters July 11. FMLA processing for all other districts nationwide will transition to HRSSC Sept. 10.

Employees who need general information regarding the Family and Medical Leave Act can click here. HRSCC staff also will be available for case-specific questions, Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. ET.

Supervisors and managers may email requests for FMLA information to the Outlook email address designated for each Area. Click here for the list, which includes detailed contact information of districts that were affected by the move of FMLA to HRSSC last month.

Until the transition is completed, employees who hand deliver their certifications to work locations within a district where FMLA processing has been transferred to HRSSC should be allowed to fax the information or be given an envelope to mail their information to HRSSC.

via USPS News Link – August 2, 2011.

From the National Association of Letter Carriers:

The debt ceiling and letter carriers: On Monday night, the House of Representatives approved a deal brokered by congressional leaders with White House negotiators to keep America from defaulting on its credit obligations. The agreement authorizes a two-stage, $2.1 trillion raise to the nation’s debt ceiling that’s balanced with about $2.5 trillion in spending cuts spread over the next decade. Postal employees’ pensions and health benefits are fortunately off-limits in this first round of cuts in discretionary spending, though we will have to defend the continuation of six-day delivery during the appropriations process. But a second round of cuts could expose our fringe benefits to reductions, depending on the outcome of negotiations within a bipartisan, House-Senate select committee—the so-called "Super Congress." The Senate is expected to approve the legislation, and the president is expected to sign it today.

via NALC | The National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO.

The Postal Regulatory Commission has announced its schedule for considering the Postal Service’s request for an advisory opinion on its plans to close as many as 3,650 post offices in the near future. Interested parties need to notify the PRC of their intention to intervene in the case by August 19. The first hearing to consider the USPS’s direct evidence is scheduled for September 8.

All interested persons are hereby notified that notices of intervention in this proceeding shall be due on or before August 19, 2011. Responses to discovery shall be due within 7 days.The hearing to receive the Postal Service’s direct case shall begin September 8, 2011.

Intervenor evidence must be submitted by September 16, 2011.

The hearing to receive intervenor evidence shall begin October 3, 2011.

Unless the Postal Service elects to submit surrebuttal evidence, briefs shall be due October 14, 2011, and reply briefs shall be due October 21, 2011.

If the Postal Service elects to submit surrebuttal evidence, that evidence is due by October 11, 2011.

The hearing to receive the surrebuttal evidence shall be October 17, 2011.

If surrebuttal evidence is submitted, briefs shall be due October 26, 2011, and reply briefs shall be due November 2, 2011.

Order_No_778

Senator says official’s compensation ‘not transparent’

Thursday, July 28, 2011

(U.S. SENATE) – U.S. Senator Jon Tester is demanding to know why the head of the U.S. Postal Service made $800,000 in total compensation while eliminating local Montana positions as the organization is dealing with a multibillion-dollar shortfall.

Tester, during a Senate hearing on the nominations of Mark Acton and Robert Taub to the Postal Regulatory Commission, said that the salaries of top executives should be at the top of the list when cutting costs.

“Quite frankly, when times are tough, when you start cinching your belt down, that ought to be the first place we’re looking, not the last place,” Tester said.

Tester, a member of the Senate Committee that oversees the Postal Service, added that this week’s decision to consider the closure of 85 rural post offices in Montana would “raise heck in Rural America.”

Tester told Acton that the Postal Regulatory Commission must play a big role in rural America with its recommendations to the Postal Service.

“I also understand you guys give recommendations, and I appreciate that,” Tester said. “And I think they ought to be listened to a heck of a lot more than they’ve been listened to, quite honestly. You guys have important jobs–an important connection–and quite frankly, from my constituency’s base, you guys are a big deal. Because you can make a difference.”

The Postal Regulatory Commission is an independent agency that has oversight over the Postal Service.

Tester recently wrote a letter to the Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe calling on the U.S. Postal Service to keep mail service available in rural communities.