| NALC President William H. Young announced April 14 the union’s endorsement of S. 662 (the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act) co-authored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Tom Carper (D-DE) and George Voinovich (R-OH) as postal reform legislation advanced in both chambers of the Congress.
The action came as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Collins, began hearings on the legislation. The Senate panel is expected to begin drafting final language for its bill (called the ‘markup’ of the bill) on April 20.
Young said he was endorsing S. 662 “with the understanding of Senator Collins that NALC will continue to have a seat at the table as the bill proceeds and that our final position on the legislation will depend on the nature of any amendments adopted.”
On the previous day, the House Government Reform Committee voted unanimously, 39-0, to approve H.R. 22 and send it on its way to the House floor. No date has been set for floor debate to begin in the House.
e-Activists on Alert
Young informed the union’s army of registered e-Activists of the latest developments on April 14 and urged them to be ready to act if need be when the bill is marked up in the Senate shortly and later when the full House and Senate debates the bills. [VIEW MESSAGE}
“I will rely on you to help protect our collective bargaining interests and the future viability of the USPS when the legislation is debated in both chambers,” Young said. “Thank you for remaining ready and alert as this process moves forward.” [JOIN THE E-ACTIVIST NETWORK]
The House version of the legislation, authored by Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA), and co-sponsored by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA), John McHugh (R-NY), and Danny Davis (D-IL), received bi-partisan support. One amendment was approved during the committee markup. It removed from the bill a provision that would have allowed the USPS to use foreign airlines to transport international mail.
The NALC and other postal unions, acting in solidarity with airlines’ workers unions which advocated a “Buy American” policy, did not oppose the amendment.
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Toth Appointed RAA
in Region 11
NALC President William H. Young has appointed Dan Toth, president of Lorain, Ohio Branch 583, as a full-time Regional Administrative Assistant to NBA William Cooke in Region 11, effective May 23. The region includes Ohio and Upstate New York.
Toth, 47, succeeds Doug Gulley, who is retiring. Prior to serving as full-time RAA, Gulley was president of Columbus, Ohio Branch 78.
“Doug Gulley has served letter carriers well during his lengthy involvement with the NALC, both as a branch president and as a key aide to the National Business Agent,” Young said. “He especially distinguished himself in numerous interventions across the region protecting the rights of carriers.” |
PMG Potter Testifies
In the Senate committee hearing April 14, Postmaster General John E. Potter picked up the mantle of USPS Board of Governors Chairman James Miller and told the panel that postal reform should include two major provisions strongly opposed by the NALC -- one requiring postal unions to negotiate for health care and retirement benefits currently contained in federal law, and the other tilting the rules governing binding arbitration of postal labor contracts in favor of postal management.
There did not appear to be any interest in these proposals by members of the committee at the hearing, but NALC will continue to be vigilant to oppose any efforts to adopt them.
The Collins-Carper-Voinovich bill resembles the version adopted unanimously by the Committee last year, though there were some changes in the areas of postage rate indexing and financial transparency.
Among the bill’s highlights, it would protect postal employees’ rights to collective bargaining while streamlining the impasse resolution process with mandatory mediation instead of the little-used fact finding procedure; provide the Postal Service with greater flexibility to adjust the rates of competitive services; repeal the escrow account provisions of the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) pension funding reform law; and return to the Treasury Department the liability for military pension benefits earned by former soldiers who now work for the USPS. |
