Ignore at Your Own Expense

The party has come to an end. President Trump had no real interest in the USPS until his fascination/Hatred with Jeff Bezos and Amazon came to a boiling point. Now we are at the front and center of this circus. No matter how many times we discuss the political issues regarding your job, it seems like most of you just put it on the pay no mind list. The committee appointed by President Trump to go over the USPS’s entire organization is not friendly to either the USPS or labor in general. The following was taken straight from the NALC website.

President issues executive order to evaluate USPS finances

President Trump issued an executive order to form a task force charged with evaluating the finances of the U.S. Postal Service including pricing, policies and workforce costs.

The task force has been instructed to regularly consult with the postmaster general and chair of the Postal Regulatory Commission, and will be comprised of department and agency heads or their designees, including chair of the task force Steven Mnuchin (Secretary of the Treasury), Mick Mulvaney (Director of the Office of Management and Budget), Jeff Pon (Director of the Office of Personnel Management) and any other department and agency head the chair may designate.

In a report due no later than Aug. 10, 2018, the task force will provide a “thorough evaluation of the operations and finance of the USPS, including:

·        the expansion and pricing of the package delivery market and the USPS's role in competitive markets;

·        the decline in mail volume and its implications for USPS self-financing and the USPS monopoly over letter delivery and mailboxes;

·        the definition of the "universal service obligation" in light of changes in technology, e-commerce, marketing practices, and customer needs;

·        the USPS role in the U.S. economy and in rural areas, communities, and small towns; and

·        The state of the USPS business model, workforce, operations, costs, and pricing.”

Once the evaluation is completed, the task force will develop recommendations on administrative and legislative reforms to USPS. According to the executive order, recommendations will consider the views of the USPS workforce and industry.

“NALC is hopeful that the inclusion of the Postal Service workforce in this evaluation and report will provide NALC the opportunity to provide input throughout the process,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said.

“We know that 90 percent of the Postal Service’s losses are not due to improper pricing, but are the direct result of the 2006 congressional mandate to pre-fund retiree health benefits 75 years in advance – an onerous burden that no other private or public entity in America is required to carry. NALC looks forward to working with the administration and Congress to address this issue and to restore financial stability to the agency while protecting the employees and the universal network that is so critical to Americans and their businesses, large and small.”

While the NALC on the National level has taken a wait and see approach in what seems like an effort not to agitate the situation, I’m stating that nothing good for the workers in the USPS can come from this forthcoming report. Each and every benefit we have fought for over the years comes into play. Your retirement, health care, salaries and numerous working conditions are open to attack. This will be another attack on the service and its entire workforce. The existence of the USPS as we know it is also in play. A volatile President along with an anti-labor Congress could be very bad for all of us. That includes retirees as well as active employees. For those of you who have ignored the repeated calls to donate to the Letter Carrier Political Fund now is the time. As I have written numerous times over my career, the only things we have going for us is: the public loves their mailman and we have many friends on both sides of the aisle in Congress. The public is losing faith in the USPS due to managerial incompetence and a lack of good service because of it. The issue with Congress is that without our donations we are just an afterthought.  Whether you like it or not, money makes the political arena go around. Without money and donations our friends cannot get elected to office. It is hard to fathom that less than 9% of active and retired letter carriers donate to protect their jobs and benefits. You may want to jump on now before we lose much of what has been gained. Once we lose it, it will be near impossible to get it back. If you can live without the many benefits we get from our job, then just ignore this article. If you need your pay and benefits to take care of your family for things like food, housing, clothes, school supplies, retirement, etc., take a proactive approach. Donate today to your political fund. Go right to the NALC.org website and follow the directions. Give whatever amount you think is necessary. $1.00 per pay will cost you only $26.00 a year. If you can’t invest $26.00 per year to protect your livelihood, I don’t know what else to say.

Just remember this, with one signature on a legislative bill; any or all of your benefits could be wiped out. That is reality and not just a scare tactic. We have been successful in playing keep away with our defense over the years. Our luck may be running out. Anti labor forces/politicians are emboldened by this new administration and are coming at us hard and fast.