e-Team Report, April 12, 2013

President Guffey Calls on USPS to Halt Consolidations Until Congress Acts

In an APWU News Bulletin, APWU President Cliff Guffey denounced Congress’ failure to adopt postal reforms that would save the institution from the brink of disaster. 

Since 2012, USPS has closed a third of its mail processing facilities and another 71 plants have been slated for accelerated consolidation this year.  “Congress is killing the Postal Service,” said Guffey.  Dismantling the network of the world’s largest and most efficient postal system will only further diminish USPS’s ability to preserve mail standards, hurt consumers and hurt workers. 

President Guffey has called on the Postal Service to postpone consolidations until Congress acts to prevent irreversible erosion of USPS’s mail processing network.  Guffey has also called on Congress to “act now to pass meaningful postal reform – reform that restores financial stability to the postal service without destroying service of harming postal workers.”

APWU members are also urged to contact members of Congress and ask their elected representatives to stand up for our jobs and oppose the destruction of the Postal Service.

For more on President Guffey’s call for consolidation postponement, please click here. 

To contact members of Congress by phone, call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.  To contact your members of Congress by mail, write to: [Name], U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 or [Name], U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510.  To contact members of Congress by E-mail, please click here.

Postal Service Protection Act Gains Co-Sponsors in the House and Senate

Congress was back in session this week and new co-sponsors have signed on to H.R. 630 and S. 316, the Postal Service Protection Act.  The legislation now has 19 co-sponsors in the Senate and 108 co-sponsors in the House.  APWU members and others concerned about the future of the Postal Service have continued to contact their legislators demanding postal reform that addresses the heart of USPS’s financial crisis rather than cutting service and jobs.

To view the list of co-sponsors for the Postal Service Protection Act, please click here.

Congressional Leaders Begin Work on Postal Reform

Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) says that next week House and Senate leaders will begin work on drafting a new bipartisan postal reform bill.  Sen. Carper, chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Reform Committee, and the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), will work on the new bill with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings (R-MD).

Echoing optimism he has expressed before, Sen. Carper told Bloomberg News that his push to pass a bipartisan postal reform bill is “eminently doable.” He also stated that last year’s bipartisan reform bill S.1789 would serve as a framework for their forthcoming negotiations.

House Committee to Hold Postal Hearing Next Week 

Next Wednesday, April 17th, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing on the state of the Postal Service and explore possible legislative reforms.  The hearing comes as Democratic and Republican leaders of both the House and Senate committees with postal oversight prepare legislation to address the Postal Service’s tenuous financial condition.

Postmaster General Donahoe and members of the USPS Board of Governors are among those invited to testify next week before the full committee. 

The hearing begins at 9am EST on Wednesday, April 17th and can be watched online here.

Show Support for Retired Public Employees & Call for an End to WEP

The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) prohibits social security beneficiaries from collecting full benefit payments if he/she also receives pension benefits from an employer not covered by Social Security.  Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) is calling for an end to WEP, which costs some beneficiaries, such as postal retirees, an average of a whopping $400 a month in benefits.  The losses are a surprise to many seniors or disabled workers who were public employees and expected to receive the full Social Security benefits they counted on.  Tell Congress what you think about that!

To sign Sen. Begich’s petition to end the WEP, please click here.