“I fear that if we do not act soon, even the far-reaching goals envisioned in H.R. 22 will not be enough to put the Postal Service on a stable foundation,” Sombrotto said, noting the advent of Internet and other advanced electronic communication and intense global competition within the delivery service marketplace.

“If we are to continue to provide the high level of service the American public has come to expect from us, then we must take action and we must take it soon,” he said.

Sombrotto said the Postal Service needs a statutory framework that will enable it to find new ways of generating revenue, including negotiated service agreements and creating joint ventures with private companies.

He dismissed recent public overtures by the Postal Service for consideration of an end to six-day delivery saying it would only make the Postal Service less attractive to customers.

Instead, he said, the Postal Service needs to have more timely delivery as well as innovative services and products that meet customers’ changing needs, and for businesses, flexible and market-driven pricing, plus accurate and timely information about the progress of their mailings and perhaps new logistical and inventory control services.

Sombrotto cautioned the panel that any reform legislation must not undermine the collective bargaining rights of postal employees, saying the current right to third-party binding arbitration when contract negotiations reach an impasse is essential to future labor-management relations.

He added that suggestions that third-party arbitration be exchanged for the right to strike “are a non-starter for us.”

Sombrotto said models cited by proponents of such a trade, such as the Railway Labor Act, “would drastically undermine the rights of all postal employees.”

“Binding arbitration enables our members to do their job and, when management is not willing to achieve a negotiated settlement, provides letter carriers with a fair way to get a fair contract for their work,” Sombrotto said.

He said the NALC “will not support any postal reform bill that includes erosion of collective bargaining rights and, specifically, third-party arbitration.” Without binding arbitration, he said, there would be no pressure on management to negotiate fairly and constructively.