e-Team Report, May 3, 2013
APWU encourages continued support for S. 316/ H.R. 630
The Postal Service Protection Act (S. 316/H.R. 630), currently has 20 co-sponsors in the Senate and 128 co-sponsors in the House. Introduced in February, the bills offer a comprehensive approach to remedying the Postal Service’s financial crisis by eliminating the healthcare benefits pre-funding mandate which continues to bludgeon USPS’s budget, returning USPS overpayments to the CSRS and FERS, and re-establishing delivery standards which keep mail processing facilities open.
If adopted, the legislation would “provide desperately needed financial relief for the USPS and make many of the planned cutbacks in service unnecessary,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey. Last month USPS announced the accelerated closures of 53 mailing processing facilities, a move denounced by APWU. “Additional closures will cripple service, further weaken this great American institution, make it less relevant, and make it less competitive,” said Guffey.
APWU Legislative and Political Director Myke Reid encourages members to contact their senators and representatives and express support for the bills. Such contact from members “will help convince lawmakers that Congress must act soon to pass a responsible bill that will improve service, protect postal workers, and strengthen the Postal Service in the digital age,” said Reid. Are your lawmakers co-sponsors of the Postal Service Protection Act?
Sign the ‘We The People’ petition for a White House response on saving the Postal Service
Last week Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) created a ‘We The People’ petition requesting the Obama Administration “Save the Postal Service-Save American Jobs,” and among other things, calls for the re-establishment of overnight delivery standards to prevent closure of processing facilities. The petition will prompt an official White House response if signed by 100,000 people by May 24. Currently, the petition has 15, 484 signatures.
To sign the petition in support of the Postal Service and postal jobs, please click here.
Federal retirees targeted by high interest pension-‘advance’ lenders
Consumer protection advocates, along with federal and state authorities have expressed concern over the increasing number of retired public pension beneficiaries being targeted by firms offering pension-based advances. Advocates contend these advances are actually disguised loans and a recent report found the loans can have “effective interest rates [ranging] from 27 percent to 106 percent.”
Pension-based lenders aggressively target federal and state pension holders with the lure of a quick cash loan, while often hiding the long-term costs for borrowing which can result in a downward spiral of debt for many retirees. The Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are said to be investigate the loans as these financial products currently have spotty regulation due to legal loopholes.
For more on public pensioners’ targeted by high interest loans, please click here.
If you are an APWU Retiree who has experienced any problems with a pension-advance loan, please contact APWU’s Legislative & Political Department at 202-842-4211.
USPS Board of Governors holds open session meeting next week
On Friday, May 10 the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors will meet and hold an open session meeting at USPS’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. to discuss USPS’s quarterly financial report. The meeting will be open to the public and be available through live audio broadcast here. Following the meeting, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and Chief Financial Officer Joe Corbett will discuss the financial report in greater detail in a telephone/web conference call that is also open to the public.
For more information on how to join or listen in on next week’s USPS Board of Governors meeting, please click here.