Postal Service's "Action Plan"

I’m writing to share my views as a Letter Carrier and as an NALC member regarding the Postal Service's “action plan” ("Ensuring a Viable Postal Service for America”.) One of the key parts of the plan is the elimination of Saturday delivery.

I’m asking you to oppose the elimination of Saturday delivery. It would adversely affect small businesses, senior citizens and people who rely on prescription drugs delivered through the mail and it would unnecessarily eliminate tens of thousands of good jobs. I urge you to oppose the elimination of Saturday delivery or to refrain from taking a position on it until Congress and the Postal Regulatory Commission have had sufficient time to carefully study the issue.

Letter Carriers support many of the other suggestions in the USPS “action plan.” For example, the NALC fully supports Congressional action to fix the onerous and unfair retiree health benefit pre-funding schedule. The payment schedule was based on flawed OPM methods and is the biggest financial challenge facing the Postal Service -- costing $5.5 billion per year. Greater product and pricing flexibility is also important.

Additionally, I agree with the Postal Service regarding the overfunded CSRS pension fund. A recent OIG study concluded that the Postal Service CSRS pension fund remains overfunded by $75 billion. A transfer of these funds to the retiree health benefit fund would fully fund that liability and place the Postal Service on firm footing going forward.

The Postal Service's plan also calls for greater "workforce flexibility." NALC is committed to seeking win-win solutions on all workforce issues in the appropriate venue, which is at the bargaining table. The NALC and the USPS have effectively responded to the economic crisis over the past 18 months in a flexible way within our existing labor contract and will continue to do so when the contract is renegotiated in 2011. (For example, we negotiated MIARAP -- an "expedited process to align routes with mail volume levels.")

Congress should not interfere with postal collective bargaining, and should not make any hasty or unbalanced changes to the interest arbitration process provided for by law.

I hope you will consider the views of postal employees and customers before taking any position on the “action plan.” Congress and the Postal Regulatory Commission should be given ample time to study these issues before making any hasty decisions that will strike at the core of the United States Postal Service and its mission. Thank you very much for your consideration.