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Today, NALC participated in the House Congressional Postal Service Caucus’s second stakeholder roundtable, which served as a follow-up to the first labor-focused roundtable in March that the union also took part in. NALC Chief of Staff Kori Blalock participated, bringing strategic guidance on the ways Congress can take action to support the nation’s letter carriers, who are central to a strong, financially independent Postal Service network now and into the future.

The Postal Caucus chairs, Reps. Nikki Budzinski (D-IL) and Jack Bergman (R-MI), were joined by fellow caucus members Reps. Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) and Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), who asked panelists to discuss the role of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), the Delivering for America plan, and most importantly, the Postal Service’s long-term outlook.

While the first roundtable was focused on labor priorities, this second roundtable comprised other stakeholders such as those from the PRC, Easypost, Envelope Manufacturers, PostCom, C21 Postal Coalition and Postal Supervisors to discuss their views.

During the panel, Blalock emphasized the shared goal of all stakeholders in working to ensure a strong service-oriented postal network that serves 170 million delivery points six—and sometime seven—days a week. NALC strongly emphasized the direct correlation between service and financial stability, highlighting that protecting service begins with investing in the Postal Service’s infrastructure—namely letter carriers and postal employees, vehicles and technology. NALC’s central focus was for stakeholders to work together on viable, bipartisan reforms, including a better investment strategy for USPS retiree health and pension funds, increasing the agency’s borrowing authority and fairly recalculating USPS’s Civil Service Retirement System pension obligations.

“If you want service to get better, we must collectively focus on legislation to address these core issues,” Blalock said.

Blalock emphasized that NALC appreciates every opportunity to engage in these important conversations and is committed to continue leading the fight to pass meaningful, bipartisan financial reforms and will work with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the best path forward.