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NALC President William Young gestures as he tells
New England legislative activists September 30 that
President Bush has blocked further action in Congress
on postal reform legislation.
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President George W. Bush drove a spike
through the heart of postal reform legislation this week,
ordering Republican leaders in the House and Senate to stop
floor action on the H.R. 4341 and S. 2468 so the bills will
die when the 108th Congress adjourns for the year. In so
doing, Bush virtually ensured that the Postal Service will
be forced to seek a 6 cent postage increase.
NALC President William H. Young said Bush
has now clearly communicated that he is against postal reform.
"This
guy (Bush) has signaled in every way he can that he doesn't
give a damn about the American worker," Young told
New England legislative activists at a Rap Session September
30 in Washington.
Young explained that he tried to meet
with the President to stress to him how important postal
reform was, but his request was denied.
"I want to make it
clear to everyone that this is not partisan politics,"
Young emphasized. "You all know I courted this guy.
I tried to get his help. I did everything I could to get
him to stand out of the way so we could get meaningful
postal reform passed. Until now it was a mystery as to
what he was going to do, but there is no more mystery."
"This is all about
jobs. This is not about partisan politics," Young
added. "I asked President Bush to give me his position
on postal reform. He refused to even answer the question."
Young said he had also asked all of the
other presidential candidates, including Democratic nominee
John Kerry, who responded that he is supportive of all of
NALC's positions on postal reform.
Lethal Injection
"Here's the reality,"
Young said. "We are looking at a 6 cent increase
in postage if we can't get postal reform passed. That
6 cent increase in postage could signal the death of the
United States Postal Service."
Young said he was setting into motion
the union's e-Activist network by asking those 115,000 letter
carriers and family members to contact their senators and
representatives and even President Bush, "telling him
that it is wrong that he has put a stop to postal reform
and we want this legislation moved."
"I'm going to test
this network," Young told the New England carriers.
"I hope they are flooded across the street (Capitol
Hill) with e-mails, phone calls and letters – angry
letter carriers – saying this is not right."
"Let them know
you're unhappy. Let them know you are upset. Let them
know this is unfair. Let them know that with a weak economy,
this is one of the dumbest moves they could be making
because 9 percent of the Gross National Product comes
from the post office and postal-related employment. To
put a stamp tax of 6 cents on top of what we've already
got is insane, unnecessary," Young said.
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Message
Available For All Members |
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Members who do not have
e-mail access should contact an e-Activist member
in their unit to obtain a copy of the draft message
that can be used in preparing a letter or phone
call to members of Congress and President Bush about
postal reform.
It is critical that
all NALC members are involved in this urgent
action.
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Young said the administration's main objection
deals with language that would switch back to the federal
Treasury the $27 billion liability toward postal pensions
for the time retirees were in military service. Legislation
signed by President Bush shifted that liability to the Postal
Service.
In addition to the e-Activist activity,
Young announced that he has mailed out over 100,000 letters
to active and retired carriers in election battleground
states asking that they support the Kerry-Edwards ticket.
He said within two weeks, another letter will go out from
National Business Agents to those carriers, and in the last
week in October letters will be mailed by branch presidents
to them.
"It is my job and
it is the job of every leader of this union to educate
our members as to which candidates would be better for
their jobs," Young said. "If they make decisions
for other reasons, so be it. That's what America's about
– freedom of choice."
"We understand that
our livelihoods, our futures, our family security, are
on the line in this election," he added.
Praises Davis, Collins
At the New England event, Young praised
the two Republican leaders of the key House and Senate committees
who led the fight for postal reform – House Government
Reform Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) and Senate Governmental
Affairs Chair Susan Collins (R-ME).
"They have courage.
They deserve our support. They are always going to have
our support as long as I am the president of this union
because both of them stood up to their own President and
said ‘It's not right'," Young said. "I
admire and respect both of them deeply for what they've
done."
Young explained that the two postal reform
bills will die if they don't go through this Congress and
said because of Bush's opposition, he does not expect them
to be passed this year, despite a consensus on language
in the legislation among the unions, members of Congress,
the mailers, and management associations.
"We've had the leadership
of the House approving our agenda up until the time (House
Republican Leader) Tom DeLay was told by George Bush that
you're not going to schedule this bill for postal reform
(for a floor vote)," Young said.
"The only remaining
obstacle is the White House. If the White House wasn't
in the way, this would be law this year," Young said.
"I believe it is possible that we can get postal
reform in the spring of next year if John Kerry is President
of the United States."
And accomplishing that, he said,
"is going to come down to who does the grunt work,
who walks the precincts, who mans the phone banks, who gets
the voters out on election day," Young said. "That's
good old fashioned hard work."
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