APWU Urges House:
Address Postal Reform Now, Start With Senate Bill

As the May 15 expiration of a moratorium on the closure of post offices and mail processing facilities approaches, the American Postal Workers Union is urging the House of Representatives to address postal reform immediately, and to use the Senate bill as a starting point.

The attention of lawmakers, postal workers and customers shifted to the House after the Senate passed a bi-partisan postal bill (S. 1789) on April 25, but, so far, House leaders have displayed no sense of urgency in addressing the issue. The USPS’ May 9 announcement about keeping rural offices open isn’t binding and won’t solve the USPS financial crisis, so we must keep fighting, the union says.

“We cannot allow legislative inaction to force the USPS to implement drastic cuts that will destroy the nation’s mail system, damage service, and jeopardize tens of thousands of jobs,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey.

“The Senate bill is flawed,” Guffey said, “but it is much better than an earlier version — and it is infinitely better than the bill that was approved by a House Committee last year.

“The improvements to the Senate bill are the result of the efforts of postal workers, customers, and legislators who recognize the importance of the USPS to American life — and have fought to protect it,” he said. “We now must apply the same determination to the House.”

The APWU is seeking several improvements to the Senate bill, including:

• Strengthen the language that addresses congressional mandates that are bankrupting the USPS;

• Improve the protections of service standards, which are essential to preserving the Postal Service and postal jobs, and

• Eliminate provisions that 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).

“Despite the weaknesses of the Senate bill, it would provide the USPS with short-term financial relief, and it would allow more community input in the decision-making processing for closing or consolidating post offices and postal facilities,” Guffey said. It also would give the Postal Regulatory Commission authority to reverse USPS decisions on closures and consolidations.

H.R. 2309, the bill that was approved by the House Committee on oversight and Government Reform, would “destroy the Postal Service as we know it,” the union president said. “It should not serve as the starting point for discussion in the House.”

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