The Editor's Desk

Food For Thought

The U.S. is the wealthiest nation in the world and yet…

And yet, according to a 2014 survey by Feeding America, there are 48 million Americans living in food insecure households—33 million adults and 15 million children.

And among our 50 states, North Carolina ranks 9th in food insecurity.

Twenty-four years ago this May our union, the NALC, began what is today the largest single-day food drive in the nation, collecting millions of pounds of food each year on the second Saturday in May.

As letter carriers in NALC’s Region 9 we are fortunate to have as our regional Food Drive coordinator, Al Friedman. Brother Friedman, a member of Branch 2008 Clearwater, Florida and president of the Florida State Association of Letter Carriers, has been actively involved in this endeavor for nearly two decades. And each year his branch and state collect millions of pounds of food. In 2015 alone, Branch 2008 collected 1,275,289 pounds of food.

In this quarter’s cover story brother Friedman discusses with us one of the reasons they have been so successful over the years. It was something simple: delivering bags with the Food Drive postcards prior to Food Drive day. He credits that idea with nearly doubling the amount of food collected.

Here, I would like to share with you some additional ideas that have been implemented in Florida with great success. If your branch isn’t currently implementing one or more of these, you might want to give them a try.

Public Schools

Says Friedman of one particular school in which the kids collect food: “In their school they have a post office and a small general store. They have a postmaster, a fifth-grader. He wanted to do a food drive in his school. We went and gave out 2,000 bags. Our biggest concern was plastic bags and kids don’t always mix. Attention was given to this. You’re to put food in these.

“Our second concern was the amount of families in that school who were on assisted lunches. Their families wouldn’t be able to give food. The teachers gave those kids food to bring in so it wouldn’t be a burden on the family.

“We went up there one day and invited a TV station to come in. They wanted to interview us. I said, ‘Do me a favor and interview the kids.’ I’ll never forget the fifth grade postmaster who said he and the other kids had to do this food drive because there was a kid starving right down the block. And that’s how they approached it: this was helping other kids that lived in the neighborhood. They brought in over 3,000 pounds of food.

“We brought in a one ton truck. We had all those kids bring out the boxes and load up the postal truck. This was filmed and played on the nightly news. It was tremendous.”

Radio and TV

Says Friedman of their publicizing the annual Food Drive through television and radio: “Four years ago we mailed packets to every TV station. The packet contains a bag, a postcard, the history of the Food Drive and the results of the previous year. And we ask, ‘Could you possibly hold up a Food Drive bag either on the morning news, evening news, during the daytime, during the week of the Food Drive and tell viewers to expect this bag in your mailbox?’

“We send the same packets to the radio stations. This has been a tremendous help. It’s surprising how many will call and ask for someone to interview.”

Letters to the Editor

“I ask the best writers in each branch,” says Friedman, “to write an editorial for their local newspaper. Entitle it: ‘It’s in the Bag.’ And say in the editorial, ‘Two cans can help hungry families.’

“I ask them to put in there the latest figures from Feeding America. Tell them how many kids go to bed hungry every night and that the figure has been increasing every year since we’ve been doing the Food Drive.”

Newspaper Sleeves

Says Friedman of this idea: “Three years ago I noticed newspapers are placed in plastic bags when they’re thrown into driveways. I thought, ‘Why can’t we put the Food Drive logo on a plastic sleeve that papers are delivered in?’

“I had the Saint Petersburg Times buy into this idea. I came out one Wednesday and there in my driveway is the newspaper and it said ‘Letter Carriers’ Food Drive’ on it.

“That Saturday, I’m driving around helping with the Food Drive and I see a newspaper plastic bag hanging by the mailbox. There were cans in the sleeve of the newspaper bag. This is just another way of the newspaper helping.”

Subdivision Newsletters

“I tell carriers to look for subdivisions that have newsletters,” says Friedman. “Usually the subdivisons that are large and have newsletters are printed by one or two printers. We have one in Pasco County that prints 17 different newsletters. So they have agreed to put one full-page ad in those newsletters.

Billboards

“In Orlando, Florida Lynne Pendleton came up with the idea to look for billboards along the highway and use them as advertising for the Food Drive.

She went to billboard companies and got them to buy into this. If someone will buy one, they will give two free. So all up and down I-4 through Orlando she was able to get 18 billboards from donations. She had them run the ads for six days leading up to the Food Drive.

“There were so many responses that the billboard companies extended our use of them for an extra day so we could say ‘Thank You’ to all those who had left food out on Saturday.

“Sunday’s ‘Thank You’ generated even more food on Monday. We had never seen that much food on a Monday after a Food Drive.”

In Closing

As we approach this year’s NALC Food Drive, Friedman reminds carriers of this: “When those bags and/or postcards come into the office, you cannot let management set them at the door, set them at a desk and ask carriers to pick them up on the way out the door. It doesn’t happen.

“It’s the one day of the year when we get to feed kids, we get to keep families together, we provide nutrition to the elderly, and it helps the entire community. When we say we’re the eyes and ears of that community, we actually are. And we give back to that community. It’s neighbor helping neighbor.”

We Knew It All Along

It’s hard to believe that the purpose behind the 2006 legislation requiring the Postal Service to pre-fund its health benefits for its retirees 75 years into the future was anything other than a veiled attempt at driving nails into the agency’s coffin and then resurrecting the decomposing corpse into a private, profit-making corporation. Why else would Congress require the USPS to pay $5.6 billion into such a fund over a 10 year period? It certainly wasn’t intended to benefit the agency’s retirees.

Politicians, especially those of the past 20 years or so, have had little regard for federal workers and federal retirees.

Many of our politicians see federal workers—that is you—as unnecessary and a drag on the economy. After all, as a letter carrier and a union member, you make more than the minimum wage, you have decent benefits—like health insurance—and a pension when you retire. Shameful!

No, the intent of the 2006 Republican-led lame duck Congress was clear: suck the life-blood out of the Postal Service. Use the pre-funding money to shore up the U.S. Treasury while at the same time insisting that the Postal Service is irreparably broken and the only way to save it is to privatize it.

We understand that many politicians act at the behest of lobbyists who, in turn, act at the behest of large corporations with deep pockets. For decades the Postal Service has been a cash cow for the U.S. government. There are those in the private sector who would like for that cow to be theirs.

What’s so alarming is the fact that it’s not just politicians and other money-hungry individuals who are working hard to transform a service-oriented agency into a money-making corporation. Not only has there been a concentrated attack on the Postal Service from without, but also—incredibly—from within.

Just as it’s hard to believe that the 2006 lame duck Congress had the best interest of the Postal Service and the American public at heart when it passed the crippling pre-funding mandate, it’s equally hard to believe that upper level postal management, and past postmasters general, are concerned about preserving this valuable American institution. After all, they have been fighting tooth and nail to have it dismantled one post office and one mail processing plant at a time. It has become a prolonged ‘Going Out of Business” sale.

It’s been nearly a decade now since the pre-funding debacle and the USPS, no thanks to Congress or postal management, is still afloat. And you wouldn’t know it from much of the media or postal management, but the Postal Service is actually making a profit. Last year it made a $1.4 billion operating profit. And this year it has already eclipsed that figure.

Refusing to acknowledge that the agency is recovering from the earlier recession and is making an operating profit, the Postal Service continues to pursue plans to reduce its effectiveness. To that end, back in 2012, under the leadership of then postmaster general Patrick Donahoe, the Postal Service began Phase 1 of its “network rationalization” plan to “streamline” and make the USPS more efficient.

The streamlining plan involved cutting the hours of 13,000 small post offices, closing hundreds of other post offices and consolidating 150 mail processing plants.

Anyone who had made a passing grade in business school knew this wasn’t going to work. Even people who hadn’t gone to business school knew it wasn’t going to work! There’s no way you can improve service by cutting it, the people said. The network rationalization plan is not rational, they said. It flies in the face of common sense. Don’t do it!

Former postmaster general Patrick Donahoe was the perfect voice and face of the Postal Service. He was an extremely arrogant and hard-headed man. And the Postal Service was like that long before he became its leader. It is a culture of arrogance.

Ignoring the voices of reason on every side, the Postal Service began closing post offices and consolidating its mail processing plants.

The result? Chaos.

The most recent report from the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General reports what we knew would happen, the mail is being delayed all over the country. No state, no city, no town, no one is exempt. The OIG reports that mail arriving late to its intended destination has increased by 50 percent since 2014. And 2014 was a bad year as well.

Mail has been delayed at such an alarming rate that the OIG issued an urgent alert to the USPS last month recommending that it stop closing its plants until service stabilizes. Says the OIG: “The impact on customer service and employees have been considerable.”

There are some things that are so obvious that even postal management can’t ignore them. At some point in their ingenious streamlining plan they began to realize that, yes, closing mail processing plants was having a negative effect on mail delivery, it was being delayed.

In light of this startling reality, what does management do? Can you guess?

If you thought they went back to their drawing board and reevaluated their plan, you would be wrong. That’s not how they operate up there in D.C.

No, instead, they decided to lower their delivery standards! And so it was that in January of this year they eliminated overnight delivery for local first-class letters. It will now take an extra day to get there. And mail traveling longer distances will take an additional day, or two, or three, or…

But as the Washington Post reported in August, the USPS is now struggling to even meet its own lower standards! What will they do now, lower their delivery standards even further?

But there is hope. Even though management has turned a blind eye and deaf ear toward its employees and the American public, members of Congress—to their credit—have not. They are listening to you, their constituents.

Last year Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) started a campaign called “Fix My Mail” after hundreds of her constituents wrote or called her complaining of late deliveries, non-existent deliveries, mistakes with mail forwarding and shortened hours at their local post offices. Three other senators have joined her in introducing legislation called the Rural Postal Act. The main requirement of the legislation would be that the Postal Service restore its service standards so mail reaches its destination in a timely manner.

At least one presidential candidate has weighed in on the issue. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) says that the Postal Service has caused “a disaster that is negatively impacting Americans all over the country.”

In a letter to PMG Megan Brennan he wrote: “I have heard from people all over the country who have reported serious delays in receiving life-saving prescription drugs, and the bills they need to pay to keep the lights and electricity on in their homes.

This delay means that some of the most vulnerable people in the country are going without the medications they need, or they are being forced to travel long distances because they cannot rely on the timely delivery of mail.”

Unlike in 2006, today’s representatives in Washington are listening to their constituents. Call and write and make your voice heard. And ask your customers to do the same.

Key Issues That Are Vital to Our Future

By Kenneth Gibbs, Jr., National Business Agent

I am honored to be the Atlanta Region 9 National Business Agent and present this, my first report to you, as such. I would like to begin by expressing my sincere gratitude for the support you have given me and the Region 9 team. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, the letter carriers of the North Carolina State Association, for the outstanding job you are doing assisting in carrying out the mission of the NALC.

I also want to recognize the Region 9 Regional Administrative Assistants, Jeff Siciunas, Paul Barner and introduce our newest RAA, Lynne Pendleton. Lynne is a member of Central Florida, Branch 1091 and former Vice-President of the Florida State Association. Lynne also served as the NALC Step B representative for the Gulf Atlantic and Suncoast Districts.

The NALC is currently focused on several key issues which are vital to our future, as well as the future of the Postal Service. The CCA category of employees is less organized percentage-wise nationwide than the career category of city letter carriers. If this organizing trend continues, the impact could result in far less bargaining power and weaken the organization overall. Our strength lies in our UNITY and cohesiveness. Not only do we need to sign up the CCA’s, we also need to get those career non-members organized. We must renew our efforts and make organizing a top priority.

In addition to organizing, we need to focus our attention on legislation. As letter carriers, we must stay involved and ready to react to legislative threats. We must continue to address our representatives, informing them of the importance of a quality and responsive Postal Service in order to maintain and grow the business. Our customers deserve the best service we can provide. Today, letter carriers will face the danger of Congress slashing 6-day delivery of first class mail. Such a cut in delivery service would be very detrimental to the viability of the Postal Service. We also need to inform our representatives, the Postal Service requires legislative reform to relieve the pre-funding burden of future retiree health benefits.

I ask you to place more emphasis on increasing your branch’s COLCPE contributions. COLCPE is among other things, the vehicle used to contribute to candidates who are supportive of letter carrier issues.

We currently have a Route Adjustment Agreement in place. This joint Route Adjustment Process (CDRAAP) will ensure that letter carriers have eight hour assignments. Carrier input is vital to the adjustment of your assignments, so make certain you participate in this important process.

The Sunday delivery of Amazon parcels is a huge success. Continue to keep up the good work with both delivery and scanning of these products! In addition, the Postal Service is currently testing new vehicles. Letter carrier input will be a vital component used in the final approval process.

The District Safety Teams are conducting safety observations both on the street and in postal facilities to identify issues in an effort to reduce accidents. Please continue to support your District Safety Team members in their efforts to ensure a safer working environment.

New city letter carrier uniforms are also being tested to provide enhanced safety/visibility and comfort. Finally, the District EAP Advisory Committees are working tirelessly to promote the EAP program and its benefits to our members.

In closing, thank you again for electing me by acclamation as your National Business Agent at the 69th Biennial Convention in Philadelphia. If we continue to work together, I am sure we can have a positive impact on the future of the NALC.

Delivering America’s Mail: A Sacred Trust

When I was hired by the Postal Service back in the 80s, I swore that I would protect the sanctity of the mail. I was neither the first or the last to take that solemn vow.

Sanctity is a rather small word but it carries a lot of weight. According to Dictionary.com it means to be treated as a sacred thing; holy. This same English word, taken from the Latin, is used to describe the Bible, marriage and human life.

Imagine, mail—be it letters, bills, advertisements, magazines, newspapers or magazines—once it has postage affixed to it and enters the mail stream, automatically becomes sanctified, set apart as something sacred.

The processing and the delivery of mail is not something that is to be treated lightly. When we as letter carriers take our vow to protect the mail, that vow is in effect, sanctified.

The high regard America has for its mail and those who deliver it is reflected in the Postal Service’s unofficial motto, penned by the Greek historian Herodotus describing Persia’s mail couriers of 500 B.C.: Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

Dating back to 1775 when the first letter was delivered in the American colonies, up to today, mail has been seen as a sacred trust, whether it cost “two bits” to mail, $2.00 or $2,000, it was all to be treated the same.

For over 200 years letter carriers and other postal employees have taken the sanctity of the mail seriously, in all kinds of weather, whether it be several feet of snow or the pouring rain and high winds of an approaching hurricane.

After areas of our country have been devastated by the likes of Hurricane Katrina or Sandy, among the first to enter the scene are our nation’s letter carriers, many of whom had suffered damage to their own homes.

Why do you do it, even under the most extreme conditions of heat and cold? Because you realize that you, as the carrier, have been sanctified, set apart by the U.S. Postal Service and the American people, to deliver the mail to its destination. The American people depend on you to get the job done.

As the result of your efforts, the American public has cited the Postal Service each year to be the most trusted agency within the U.S. government. That’s quite an honor.

Interestingly enough, there’s another word that is derived from the same Latin root as sanctity, but it has the opposite meaning. It, like sanctity, is taken from the Latin word, sanctimonia. The word is sanctimonious. It’s defined as “making a hypocritical show of religious devotion, piety, righteousness, etc.”

In other words, those who act sanctimoniously are those who put on a show, who pretend to be one thing while actually being something totally different.

Which brings me to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

Back in 1975, when he was hired by the Postal Service to be a clerk at a Pittsburgh post office, he took the same vow you and I did regarding the sanctity of the mail. He undoubtedly took that vow seriously early on or otherwise he would have been fired.

But along the way something happened, a transformation took place. As he rose steadily through the ranks of postal leadership, he began to take the oath less seriously, as did a number of his coworkers. And due to a paradigm shift within the Postal Service that no longer valued service to the American public as a priority, Donahoe climbed the ladder of leadership.

Several years before Donahoe began his rise within the USPS, Laurence J. Peter co-authored a bestseller entitled: The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong. The book, in a nutshell, is this: People within any organization, whether it be small or large, will be promoted within that organization until they reach their level of incompetence. Once they become ineffective, they remain at that level.

Since incompetence within postal management doesn’t have any limits, Donahoe finally rose to the top, becoming the Postal Service’s Chief Executive Officer in 2010. He became, in every sense imaginable, the crème de la creme of incompetence. And because those within headquarters were nearly as incompetent as he was, this was generally regarded as a virtue, not a defect.

I don’t know of anyone in recent history—or in ancient history for that matter—who has done more harm to America’s postal service than this one individual. When you think about it, it’s incredible what the man has been able to do in just four years.

Even Darryl Issa (R-CA), outgoing chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee who has made it his mission in life to dismantle the Postal Service, pales in comparison.

One area in which Donahoe has excelled has been his ability to increase the amount of time it takes a piece of first-class mail to go from point A to point B in America, and almost single-handedly lower USPS’s service standards. What used to take, say, two days, now takes anywhere from three to five days to be delivered.

He has been able to achieve this primarily by consolidating 141 mail processing plants over a two year period. While on one hand proclaiming himself to be the champion of the Postal Service, he has proven, through his actions, to be the champion of postal privatization.

Most people probably would have stopped there. But not Donahoe. He would like to slow down mail delivery even more. To that end, he has scheduled 82 more mail processing plants to be consolidate in 2015, including at least two in North Carolina.

Donahoe will retire on February 1, leaving in his wake a swathe of destruction that will affect the lives of millions of Americans for years to come. I, for one, will be curious to see where he goes after retirement.

But don’t be too hasty in celebrating his departure. Just as a snake sheds its skin, leaving it behind, so too will Donahoe leave behind his template for postal dismemberment. Others, like his successor as postmaster general, will take up where he leaves off.

Active and retired letter carriers, you and me, must see to it that the mail stays out of the hands of greedy privatizers and in the strong, capable hands of those who still see it as a sacred trust.

If At First You Don’t Succeed, Or the Second Time, Or the Third…

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is trying his darndest to privatize the Postal Service. In July of last year he introduced H.R. 2748, The Postal Reform Act of 2013. That bill called for, among other things, the elimination of Saturday mail delivery and the end of door-to-door delivery. The bill was so bad that only two of his colleagues co-sponsored it. Today, somewhere in the cob-webbed catacombs of Congress, that bill still languishes and in all likelihood will never see the light of day.

This past spring, Issa saw another opportunity at passing legislation that would destroy the Postal Service and he jumped on it like a hungry cat on a canary. The occasion which prompted this response was the White House’s FY2015 budget proposal which called for the elimination of Saturday delivery and other recommendations based on the Postal Service’s recommendations. He called it The Administration’s Postal Proposal Act of 2015.

No doubt, when The Ice Man saw the president’s proposal his snake-like eyes lit up and flashed like a New York City billboard in Time’s Square. Claiming an “attempt to reach bipartisan consensus on a postal reform package,” he moved quickly (at least by Congress’s standards) to have the bill marked up and sent to the House. It was done so quickly, in fact, that they didn’t even have time to affix a number to it.

My congressman’s office: What’s the number of the bill?

Me: I checked. It doesn’t have a number. It’s called The Administration’s Postal Proposal Act of 2015.

My congressman’s office (in a condescending tone): No, it should have a number. I’ll check. (The sound of fingers tapping on a computer keyboard. Silence.) Hmmm. It looks like you’re right. It doesn’t have a number.

That particular bill, in addition to ending Saturday delivery and converting millions of home and business deliveries to cluster boxes, would require the Postal Service to pay half of the pre-funding costs required in 2015 and 2016 rather than eliminating them entirely.

As it turned out, not only did that Issa bill not have a number, the committee meeting didn’t have any attendees. Realizing that the bill had no support from either Democrats or Republicans, Issa called off the meeting hours before it was to convene.

There was good reason it had no support. Having gotten wind of the content of the bill, the Postal Service’s four unions, other postal groups and their members and the general public, told their congressional representatives to oppose the bill.

Yes, dear friend, those phone calls, visits, and emails really can make a difference.

Said NALC President Fredric Rolando of Issa’s failure: “This latest failed attempt at postal reform was nothing more than a bad stunt aimed at driving a divide among Democrats, Republicans and the administration. Letter carriers, customers and the country deserve more. With the Postal Service now operationally profitable, any bill that diminishes service to the public and to businesses will stop the postal turnaround in its tracks by driving mail and revenue out of the system.”

So, it was back to the ole drawing board for The Ice Man. Having failed at a so-called compromise bill to dismantle the Postal Service, he came up with a compromise to his compromise bill which, just like the previous one, wasn’t really a compromise bill at all.

That bill is called Secure Delivery for America Act. The only observable improvement to his latest bill is that it, unlike the one before it, has a number. It is H.R. 4670 and it was marked up on May 21.

Although the bill is supposed to be a compromise to the earlier compromise bill, it’s obvious from what I’ve read about it that Mr. Issa doesn’t have a firm grasp on the definition of “compromise.”

If you’ve never called your congressman’s office, it’s very simple. It’s so simple, in fact, that even I can do it, and I don’t like telephones.

If you don’t know your congressman’s telephone number, you can find it by going to either house.gov or senate.gov and looking it up. You simply call the number and tell the person who answers to either support or oppose a particular bill. Generally, you’ll be safe if you tell them to oppose anything Darrell Issa comes up with. Don’t worry, they won’t ask you why you want the rep to oppose your support the bill. They won’t try to talk you out of it. Just tell them the name of the bill or its number (if it has one). It’s always helpful when you call to know one or the other.

They will ask you a few easy questions: the correct spelling of your name, your mailing address, telephone number and email address. And that’s it. Now wasn't that easy?

In addition to his May 21 committee meeting for the bill’s mark up, Issa’s committee also met for a hearing on May 22. The topic: Postal innovation.

Not surprisingly, none of the postal unions were invited to testify.

PMG Donahoe’s Plan for USPS: Death By A Thousand Cuts

For those of us keeping up with the news about the Postal Service, it can be very disheartening some days. It can become depressing at times. It seems apparent that postal management has as its major objective — come hell or high water — to privatize America’s postal service.

In response to recent allegations from proponents of “real” postal reform in Congress that this seems to be the agency’s goal, David Partenheimer, head of USPS’s corporate communications department shot back: “Privatize? Nonsense. The Postal Service has no intention to seek privatization. What we are doing is continuing to adapt to the changing demands of our customers...The Postal Service ended its last fiscal year with a net loss of five billion dollars—the 7th consecutive year for net losses.”

Actually, the Postal Service has been making a profit since last year once you factor in the billions of dollars the agency has been forced to contribute to its retiree health fund. But putting that misleading statement aside for the moment, is it true that the Postal Service is pursuing a course that would ensure its long-term viability and success as a trusted carrier of the nation’s mail?

One doesn’t have to look very far to see that Partenheimer’s claims are blatantly false.

For starters, let’s take a look at Congress. Rather than adopt and move forward on bills that would encourage genuine postal reform, such as S. 316, HR 630 and HR 961, lawmakers in Washington continue to pursue courses of action supported by USPS management.

S. 1486, a bill recently passed by the Coburn-Carper committee on so-called postal reform, would, among other things, eliminate Saturday mail delivery, eliminate door-to-door delivery, and in so doing would eliminate at least 80,000 full-and part-time jobs. And rather than rescind the potentially destructive 2006 law requiring the Postal Service to pre-fund its retiree health benefits 75 years into the future over a 10 year period, has put forward a plan that could actually result in the USPS paying even more. The bill, if passed, would also add an additional $1 billion burden by making it necessary to pre-fund workers’ comp.

In responding to the committee-passed bill President Fredric Rolando said, “The Postal Service is now running an operating profit—$623 million last year and $1.1 billion projected by USPS for this year—and so it makes no sense to degrade the networks and employees responsible for this profit...Paving the way for eliminating six-day delivery and door-to-door service would hurt millions of residents and small businesses as well as the Postal Service itself, because it would slow service, drive mail out of the system and reduce earned revenue that funds USPS.”

Although PMG Donahoe is pushing Congress to pass a law that would ultimately be detrimental to the Postal Service, he is cunning enough not to put all of his eggs in one basket.

While pursuing the end to Saturday delivery and door-to-door delivery, he is actively engaged in other policies that are effectively dismantling the Postal Service.

In 2012 , Donahoe began consolidating mail processing facilities all over the country under the auspices of making the postal service leaner and more efficient. However, what it has accomplished is to impair mail service to the agency’s customers, not improve it.

One doesn’t have to look far on the internet to find story after story of customers from the frozen tundra of Alaska to the sunny state of Florida complaining about late mail delivery. This growing problem has been facilitated by two issues propagated by upper level management: the consolidation of nearly 140 mail processing plants and forcing fewer and fewer carriers to do more and more work.

Although it has temporarily postponed plans to pursue additional consolidations under Phase 2 of its dismantling program, it’s only temporary. As soon as it can, it will continue to consolidate plants even though Phase 1 of its plan continues to wreak havoc on service to its customers.

At the same time that it is degrading service and putting carriers in harm’s way, the USPS is either closing post offices, reducing their hours or selling them off.

Alarmed by the number of historic post offices that have been sold recently, the House Appropriations Committee recently voiced concerns that the agency may be violating the law. The OIG is currently investigating this. Based on past practices by upper level management, one is inclined to believe that they probably are.

While citizens and postal unions protest the closing and sale of offices, the postal juggernaut grinds its way forward on other fronts.

A recent article in The Daily Iowan brought to light a problem that many communities are now experiencing all over America: cluster boxes.

“Individual mailboxes may become a thing of the past,” reports the paper, “because the US Postal Service is moving toward clustering mailboxes in every neighborhood in order to reduce debt.”

The writer points out that this could be a problem for a number of reasons, one of which will be who’s responsible for the maintenance of the cluster boxes, the customers or the Postal Service? And there’s no telling how far customers may have to drive to get to their mailbox.

Then there’s the recent Staples debacle. The Postal Service, under the banner of “expanded access,” has entered into an agreement that outsources postal clerk jobs to Staples. It has been implemented in 80 stores so far with plans to expand to more stores in 2014.

The deal between USPS and the giant retailer offers postal services at these stores using low-paid Staples employees. Whereas postal clerks are well-paid and have benefits, such as health insurance, Staples’ policies limit part-time workers to less than 25 work hours per week so that they don’t qualify for the company-funded health plan. It’s a win-win for Staples and the USPS, but a lose-lose for Postal Service employees and, ultimately, the American public.

The Postal Service disingenuously claims that it has entered into the deal with Staples because its customers want the added convenience of “expanded access.” However, based on some of the policies management is currently pursuing, “expanded access” to the nation’s customers is not really part of their overall goal for the Postal Service.

But even if it were the intended goal, is this what the American public wants?

According to a recent OIG report, “What America Wants From the Postal Service,” survey results indicate that “while Americans appreciated various avenues of alternative access, they did not consider them a replacement for the traditional post office.”

The APWU, among others, has not taken this lying down. Ahead of a number of protests at Staples’ stores throughout the country in February, the union sent a letter to corporate headquarters. It read in part, “Hundreds of Post Offices from the small offices to large Mail Processing Plants are at risk. The risk equates to thousands of good well-earned jobs. By staffing your stores with non-trained employees, the security and sanctity of the US mail is being exposed and jeopardizes the ‘most trusted agency’ status of the USPS!”

Business Week reports that turning over government services to private contractors doesn’t really improve service and in many cases actually causes just as many problems, if not more, than the government agency it replaces.

But let’s not be fooled by postal rhetoric. The real purpose behind USPS’s various downsizing initiatives has nothing to do with improving efficiency and service. Not at all.

One can easily see from what postal management has proposed and actions it is currently carrying out, that it has absolutely nothing to do with improving service and saving the Postal Service from financial ruin. If anything, the policies being carried out by postal management will lead to the ruination of America’s postal service. One cannot cut, cut, cut and then cut some more and hope to improve service.

Retired North Carolina postmaster Mark Jamison said it quite well when he wrote recently, “If one looks not at stated intentions but at actions and consequences, it’s clear that Mr. Donahoe, with the support of the Board of Governors and many in Congress, is less interested in providing an essential public service, fulfilling the universal service obligation, and preserving a valuable national infrastructure than he is in treating the Postal Service as if it were a corporation in the delivery business.”

If Congress fails to act in a responsible way this year, in a way that puts USPS back on sound financial footing and ensures its survival as the world’s most affordable, most reliable and most trusted postal service, PMG Donahoe may have accomplished what he and his corporate backers have been working for for so long: putting the US Postal Service on an irreversible course toward privatization.

We cannot allow this to happen.

Letter Carrier Safety Deserves More Attention

It happened in an instant. On that summer day in 2006 the life of New Jersey letter carrier Maureen DePrince was irrevocably changed forever.

It had been up until that earth-shattering moment a typical day for the 38-year-old letter carrier. Prepping some of her mail for delivery on her route, she was standing at the back of her vehicle when an impaired driver slammed into her, pinning her between the two vehicles, instantly severing one of her legs. Had it not been for a passing volunteer firefighter who rushed to her aid, she probably would have died at the scene.

But for DePrince and her family, the long nightmare had just begun. After arriving at a hospital, doctors determined that her other leg was so badly maimed that it had to be amputated. In addition, the trauma had been so severe that she lost her eyesight, normal brain function, an unborn child and, eventually, her marriage.

Three years later, before the man who had so drastically altered her life was sentenced to prison, a member of the prosecutor’s office read a statement from DePrince :

“I will never be able to see my loved ones again, never feel the sand on my feet as I walk along the beach, hand in hand with my husband, watching our dog frolic in the water, chasing his stick. My memories are all I have left, but sometimes they appear cloudy due to the brain trauma I suffered. How do you go on with your life? I have been robbed of everything I held dear.”

She concluded her statement with these haunting words: “I hope you never have to feel the pain and suffering I have to endure each day of my life.”

According to the November issue of The Postal Record, a total of 11 carriers had suffered similar accidents since 1996 with varying results ranging from shattered legs to four fatalities. Of those, some have been able to return to work while others never will.

Since that article was published, at least two other carriers have been seriously injured in hit-and-run accidents, one in California and the other here in North Carolina.

On October 19, a driver crashed his car into the back of Compton, CA, letter carrier Lydia Ray’s postal vehicle. Although she wasn’t standing behind the vehicle, the impact of the collision threw her out of the vehicle and under another one. The accident left the 20-year postal veteran with two broken legs, cuts to her arms and internal injuries.

Later that month, on October 31 in Winston-Salem, NC, a hit-and-run driver sideswiped letter carrier Renee Cameron, 36, as she was gathering mail to carry from door-to-door. The speeding vehicle knocked her to the ground, shattering one of her legs. The driver then sped off and as of this writing is still being sought.

According to a September 9 Federal Times article, of all the U.S. federal jobs, “postal work is by far the most dangerous.” And, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2012 54 federal employees were killed on the job. Of those, 18 were postal workers.

Jeffrey Williamson, chief human resources officer and executive vice president at the USPS is quoted by the Federal Timesas saying that “the safety and well-being of postal employees is the top priority at the agency” and that it “strives to ensure employees have the tools and training to perform their duties safely.”

Anyone who has worked for the Postal Service for any length of time will recognize that that statement is blatantly untrue.

Jim Stanley, a former deputy assistant secretary for the Labor Department, says that the problem is widespread and that those who should know better, are not doing enough to address it. “The way the federal government handles the safety of their employees leaves a lot to be desired,” says Stanley.

The figures would seem to bear this out, especially where the Postal Service is concerned. If safety is their top priority, as Williamson argues, why is it that the cost of workers’ compensation for the Postal Service for fiscal 2012 was $3.7 billion? That represents a 68 percent increase from 2009’s $2.2 billion.

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the USPS sustained 32,213 injuries during 2012 alone. That’s just within the Postal Service. From 2009 through 2012, the GAO reports there were, on average, 34,000 postal workforce injuries in each of those years. Of those injuries, 13,000 were attributed to mail delivery — city and rural carriers.

The USPS argues that its injury rates have declined over the past decade because of its emphasis on safety. But even if that is true, the number is still exceedingly high.

The Congressional Research Service reports that USPS employees are injured at much higher rates than the rest of the federal government. According to its report, despite the fact that Postal Service employees make up 22 percent of the federal workforce, it’s responsible for nearly 40 percent of the injuries, illnesses and fatalities recorded in 2012.

Last year, in fairly quick succession within a few weeks of one another, Columbus, OH, letter carrier Doug Poole and Los Angeles, CA, letter carrier Anthony Dunn were struck as they stood at the back of their vehicles. Poole was seriously injured in his accident and Dunn died as the result of his.

In the aftermath of these two accidents, and in light of previous similar accidents, the NALC exerted pressure on postal leadership to address these kinds of accidents with safety talks in every station. The response was less than enthusiastic.

“Postal management did finally agree to jointly develop a safety presentation with the NALC on parking point safety,” said NALC Director of Safety and Health Manuel Peralta, Jr. in the November issue of The Postal Record. “But the follow-through has been abysmal. Most stations still haven’t heard the talk or covered this issue.”

If that safety talk had been held in Seattle, WA, letter carrier Keith Wagner’s station last year, per the USPS/NALC agreement, he might still be delivering mail rather than recovering from a leg that was broken in eight places after being pinned between his vehicle and a car due to an impaired driver.

“When Anthony (Dunn) was killed,” Wagner told The Postal Record, “things should have changed. It’s a crying shame. I hope and pray every day that nobody else joins this club.”

So, what’s the solution? Unfortunately, there is no one size fits all approach that can adequately address this issue. There are many factors that come into play during the course of a carrier’s work day that can contribute to an accident. Among these are more hours on the street as the result of automation, additional hours on the street because less carriers are being required to do more of the work, preparing mail at the back of one’s vehicle for park and loop delivery, adverse weather conditions, pressure exerted on carriers to deliver their routes faster, a seeming increase in drivers who don’t obey the rules of the road, people driving while either talking or texting on their phones, and drivers who are driving while impaired, just to name a few.

Yes, management has a responsibility to provide safety talks for their employees, but you and I know that many of them don’t take it as seriously as they should.

Just because postal management is content to only give lip-service to safety doesn’t mean you should. You’re the one who’s out there on the street every day, not them.

NALC’s Peralta encourages letter carriers to be proactive. “Think about your own route and your park points,” he says. “Are they safe? Ask your managers for a review of your park points to find a safer place if you have concerns, and fill out a Form 1767 if needed. Don’t hesitate to take this issue to your union steward, branch officers or national business agent.”

Darrell Issa, Angered at USPS’ BOG Decision Concerning Saturday Mail Delivery, Promptly Schedules a Committee Meeting

Last Wednesday the Postal Service’s Board of Governors announced what most sane observers of the situation had already concluded, that the Postal Service had to abide by the language of Congress’s March passage of its Continuing Resolution preserving Saturday mail delivery, at least through the summer.

As you may recall, back in February PMG Patrick Donahoe indicated in his ill-advised press conference that USPS attorneys had found a loophole of some kind that would allow them to defy Congress and the law and end Saturday delivery in early August.

The announcement irritated a lot of people, including a number of congressmen and congresswomen who supported the five-day delivery plan. Congress may be able to tolerate its own arrogance, but it can’t tolerate it in others. Donahoe’s actions may very well have hurt his chances at ending Saturday delivery by the summer.

In its press release last Wednesday, the Board of Governors said, “Although disappointed with this Congressional action, the Board will follow the law…the Board has directed management to seek a reopening of negotiations with the postal unions and consultations with management associations to lower total workforce costs and to take administrative actions necessary to reduce costs.”

In effect the BOG said it would honor one law while advocating the breaking of another: collective bargaining rights. But they can forget the renegotiations request. That dog ain’t gonna hunt.

Of course Representative Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a long-time advocate for the dismantling of the Postal Service for private gain, was incensed by the announcement. He thought—-erroneously as it turned out—-that the five-day delivery deal was signed, sealed and delivered.

In responding to the BOG’s decision to follow the law, Issa wrote: “I am disappointed that the Postal Service has backed away from plans to implement a modified Saturday delivery schedule…this reversal significantly undercuts the credibility of postal officials who have told Congress that they were prepared to defy political pressure and make difficult but necessary cuts…”

Actually, PMG Donahoe didn’t “back away” from the cuts, he was pushed away, at least temporarily, by the BOG. If the arrogant Donahoe had his way, Saturday would be stopped in August. But he has no choice now since Congress and the BOG have ordered him not to. Although he may act like a dictator, the PMG is still controlled by others.

One of those others who are evidently in control of him is Rep. Issa. But even Issa wasn’t able to exert his influence enough to prevent the BOG from reversing the PMG’s earlier decision. But Issa, despite the temporary setback, is determined to privatize the Postal Service, no matter what.

D.L. McKenzie, writing on the Politicus USA blog said of Issa, and correctly so: “Issa’s plan is to NOT let the Postal Service fix itself. Issa’s plan is to set up two new agencies—one to smash the Postal Service into a wall and one to sell off the pieces. One to loan them money and one to slap their hands for taking it. One to force them into bankruptcy and one to ‘renegotiate’ salaries and collective bargaining agreements afterwards.”

Issa was so incensed by the BOG’s decision that the very next day he shot off an announcement that there would be a “full” committee hearing this Wednesday to “examine the future of the USPS.”

Explaining the hearing, Issa wrote: “The hearing will explore a range of options to avoid a multi-billion dollar taxpayer funded bailout.” Connecting the Postal Service to imaginary taxpayer funded bailouts is one of Issa’s favorite pieces of misinformation, misinformation that the BOG has also adopted since it was mentioned in last week’s statement along with its decision. The hearing, which convenes at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, has been labeled “Options to Bring the Postal Service Back from Insolvency.” It can be viewed here. Look for Issa to avoid the pre-funding mandate, which is one of the major reasons for the agency’s financial problems.

For those who would really like to solve the Postal Service’s financial woes, ask your representatives and senators to co-sponsor S 316 and HR 630. So far S 316 is co-sponsored by 19 senators and HR 630 has the support of 108 representatives. The NALC has a Fact Sheet on both these bills and what they would accomplish if passed.

There is also HR 961 which has 53 co-sponsors, which calls for a refund of the USPS surplus in FERS.

It is unlikely that Issa or Republican members of his committee will invoke these pending bills at Wednesday’s meeting, although Democratic members undoubtedly will.

Witnesses that have been “invited” to the hearing include the PMG and members of the BOG. Look for Issa to rake them over the coals.

More information on this and other news can be found by going to NALC.org and NorthCarolinaLetterCarrier.com.

Postal Regulatory Commission to Postal Service: Numbers Don’t Add Up, Try Again

Apparently presidential candidate Mitt Romney isn’t the only one who has trouble with math. For well over a year now the bean-counters at Postal Service headquarters in Washington, DC have tried to sell Americans a bill of goods–that the only way to save the Postal Service is by cutting service. The National Association of Letter Carriers and many others have argued that the numbers don’t add up and that closing rural post offices and mail processing plants, and eliminating Saturday delivery is not the route to take.

This past week the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) issued an advisory opinion supporting the arguments against those projected mass closings. According to the PRC, “The vast majority of mail processing savings…can be captured without significantly changing service.”

According to the report, the USPS’s plan for consolidation and the elimination of proposed services to the American public might save as little as $46 million and up to around $2 billion in annual savings IF all of the postal service’s “assumptions” prove to be correct.

Since postal management has a less than sterling record when it comes to assumptions, that’s a mighty big if.

The PRC has long questioned the agency’s push to save money by dismantling itself piece by piece. This latest study gives credence to those arguments against such a dismantling.

The PRC says in its advisory opinion that closing half of its mail facilities, closing thousands of post offices and doing away with Saturday delivery will not only result in delayed deliveries but it will also drive away advertisers and other mailers. This would result in a death spiral from which the postal service as we know it, would not survive. In other words, it would lead to privatization.

Lisa Bowes, writing for intelisent.com observes on her blog: “The USPS has a track record of manipulating and presenting biased data that supports whatever they are trying to push through, discarding and/or discounting data that does not support or further their agenda. I am not surprised in the least that the Commission net savings estimate are lower than those projected by the Postal Service, and I am of the opinion myself that they are far more grounded and in line with reality and fairness than the information provided by the USPS.”

Ron Bloom of Lazard, who currently serves as financial adviser to the National Association of Letter Carriers, writes in The Huffington Post concerning the 2006 congressional mandate that has caused much of the postal service’s financial woes: “The tragedy here is that this congressionally mandated ‘crisis’ is being used to support, not a thoughtful restructuring, but a dismantling of the Postal Service’s network–the very thing around which the Postal Service could be rebuilt. The Postal Service’s shrink to survive strategy–eliminating routes, closing post offices, stopping Saturday service and slowing mail delivery–will not work. It will only reduce mail use and mail volumes.”

Postal management says it is reviewing the PRC’s recommendations.

Although it would be an uncharacteristic move by management, we hope they will listen to the PRC’s voice of reason in this matter.

We should know soon.

H.R. 2309 Will Privatize, Not Revitalize, the Postal Service

First, the good news. Last month the American Customer Satisfaction Index reported that the public’s satisfaction with the Postal Service is at 75 percent (just one percent less than Congress’s disapproval rating), and its satisfaction with its express delivery stands at 81 percent. Both are all-time highs. Plus, the Ponemon Institute recently ranked it, once again, as our nation’s most trusted federal agency.

Now, the bad news. Congress and postal leadership are working hard to change that. Later this month the House is scheduled to vote on H.R. 2309, the Postal Reform Act of 2011. Operating under the guise of saving the Postal Service, the bill would actually dismantle it, brick by brick.

Among other things, H.R. 2309 would do away with Saturday delivery, compelling customers to use private delivery services and raising costs. By eliminating Saturday service, closing thousands of community post offices and hundreds of mail processing facilities (four in North Carolina), it will delay the mail an additional two or three days. It would also eliminate door delivery of mail for 90 percent of America’s households, forcing customers to retrieve their mail from centralized locations.

And in a time when unemployment is rampant, this bill would put tens of thousands of people out of work and would have an adverse effect on those private sector companies that rely on the Postal Service.

Since the bill totally ignores the major reason for the Postal Service’s financial problems—the congressional mandate requiring it to pre-fund decades of future retiree health benefits decades in advance—one must assume that the goal of the bill is to privatize, not revitalize, the Postal Service. That might be good news for Wall Street, but it would be bad news for the American public.

Vote Scheduled on Postal Reform Act of 2011 Later This Month

You would think that with unemployment being so high and confidence in Congress being so low, that members of Congress would be as busy as little beavers trying to improve both.

But, alas, that is not the case.

Take for example the Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Last year, under the auspices of lending a helping hand to the Postal Service during its financial crisis, committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) sponsored H.R. 2309, the Postal Reform Act of 2011.

To say this bill would help the Postal Service is like saying throwing a drowning man an anvil will keep him afloat.

The bill has a multitude of flaws, not the least of which is its completely ignoring one of the Postal Service's biggest reasons for its financial woes: the congressionally mandated law requiring it to pre-fund its retirees' health benefits to the tune of $5.5 billion a year.

In addition to not addressing the Postal Service's current financial problems, the bill would cause a lot of additional problems, contributing to the nation's unemployment numbers and making our overall economic situation even more dire. The bill would eliminate tens of thousands of good-paying, middle-class jobs and would cut service, ultimately leading to the destruction of the Postal Service as we now know it.

Ironically, the folks who adamantly espouse the Constitution and less government interference, are aggressively promoting a bill that would alter the Constitution and would add--not subtract--more bureaucracy to the Postal Service.

This added bureaucracy would include a commission that would have the authority to nullify all collective bargaining agreements and to "reject, modify or terminate" any clause of a labor agreement under the guise of saving the Postal Service money.

Other provisions in the bill would cut the pay and benefits of postal employees.

The bill, which has been in limbo for the last little bit, is due to resurface later this month, possibly as soon as July 12, this from Rep. Dennis Ross (who interestingly enough is the sole co-sponsor of the bill), chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and Labor Policy.

In an effort to get the required 218 votes for passage, Rep. Issa is expected to make amendments that would protect rural post offices and remove language reducing discounts for non-profit mailers.

Committee Democrats, on the other hand, are poised to make an amendment that would replace all of the bill's language with that of H.R. 1262 or S. 1789. All of this should make for lively debate.

The NALC and other postal unions are opposed to H.R. 2309 and are supporting a much better bill, H.R. 1351 ( and it has 228 more cosponsors than H.R. 2309). Although H.R. 1351 fails to address the pre-funding issue of retirees' health benefits, it would fix over-funding the Postal Service's CSRS and FERS accounts.

(Photo source: crooksandliars.com)

Wisconsin Experiences Labor Pain, Births Rosemary's Baby

If you have ever wondered who had the most clout in the electoral process-- millionaires or labor--wonder no more. Tuesday's recall election results are in and the millionaires won. Labor came in a distant second.

Years ago some rich guy famously crowed, "The one with the most toys wins."

That's not necessarily true, generally speaking, but when it comes to elections many times those with the most money (and can afford the most toys) do indeed win. This past Tuesday is a case in point.

Reports Talking Points Memo: "Walker raised over $30 million for the election--aided by the fact that he was able to take in unlimited donations during the 60-day window when petitions were collected--compared to just under $4 million for (Tom) Barrett. Combined with interest group spending, the total GOP advantage over the Democrats was $47 million to $19 million."

(Other sources say there was an even greater disparity between the two.)

The more money one has, the more misleading ads they can run on TV and have placed in your mail box. I know that the Walker camp doesn't have a monopoly on lying, but they certainly own a big chunk of it and the more money you have the more misinformation you can pour onto the public. As Fox News has proven time and time again, the public's thirst for misinformation is seemingly unquenchable. Obviously the folks in Wisconsin soaked it up like one enormous Badger-shaped sponge.

Democrat Tom Barrett received a slap from one of his supporters following a concession speech he gave while folks were still voting, but that was nothing compared to the slap in the face the labor movement has received from this.

Here's an example. Writing in today's Politico, Robin Bravender gloats, "Big labor went all in on the Wisconsin recall--putting millions of dollars, months of organizing and its reputation as a political superpower on the line to defeat GOP Gov. Scott Walker.

"Then they got trounced on Election Day.

"Walker's decisive victory over Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Tuesday has demonstrated the vulnerability of a long-formidable movement whose ranks are thinning across the country. The failed recall attempt has energized organized labor's foes and emboldened lawmakers to pick fights with unions in other states. And it has underscored the fact that unions--a potent source of political power and dollars for Democrats--aren't going to be the left's counter to conservative groups' outside cash in November."

Another noteworthy quote from the column: "I don't think we can get pushed around anymore by Big Labor," said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus."

Notice their references to labor as being Big. Well, I've got news for 'em, just like the old gray mare, labor ain't what it used to be.

But it wasn't just the labor movement that got "trounced" on Tuesday. So did the middle-class. So did every day working Americans. So did everyone who dreams the American dream of making a decent living and having a decent retirement. We got trounced too. Not only did we get trounced yesterday, but as a result of Walker's victory, there's a good likelihood we'll get trounced tomorrow as well. And the day after that, and the day after...

If you have a masochistic itch that needs scratching, read the entire Politico column. If you're on blood pressure medicine, I would suggest you take a double dose before imbibing.

There are many things I don't understand about the failure to unseat Walker. I will leave this up to the pundits, political historians and anthropologists to decipher. I have enough headaches of my own. But this is what I really don't understand. Why did so many union members and their families vote against their own interests? If someone is out to destroy you, why do you vote for them? Isn't that a little crazy?

I remember first entertaining that thought back when George W. Bush was re-elected. Going into that election I thought, OK, the majority voted for him the first go round because they got fooled, they thought they were getting one thing and wound up getting something else all together. They were deceived. It happens. They'll know better this time.

Then we re-elected him for a second term.

What????

Evidently that wasn't a fluke. The people of Wisconsin elected Walker believing he was going to be a good governor. Many of these were union members--firefighters and police officers. Then shortly after gaining office he attacked the unions' right to collectively bargain with their employers. He stripped away their bargaining rights. So what's their response? They support him in the recall election.

Reports the Huffington Post: "Walker won 36 percent of the vote among members of union households... Those numbers are nearly identical to 2010, when Walker won among 37 percent of union household members in his race against Tom Barrett for governor."

Go figure. I believe in turning the other cheek (does Tom Barrett?), but this is ridiculous.

Prior to Tuesday's elections, Rep. David Obey (D-Wisc.) said that if the number of union households voting for Walker in 2010 didn't shrink this time around "then congratulations, they will have formed their own suicide squad."

Well, yesterday's election would seem to indicate that we're becoming a nation of suicide squads.

Or a nation of widwives. Tuesday the good people of Wisconsin helped birth Rosemary's baby.

Congratulations, numerous brothers and sisters will soon follow.

A Common Thread

There’s a common thread that runs through this edition of your North Carolina Letter Carrier— it is the letter carrier as letter care-rier.

Seeing that the nation’s mail is delivered, and delivered properly, six days a week is a priority for America’s men and women in blue, but it’s only one aspect of your jobs.

To be a truly successful carrier one must also be a care-rier, someone who not only cares about doing the job right, but who also cares about their customers, their community, and the future of the U.S. Postal Service.

In this quarter’s newsletter you will read about some of your fellow carriers who are also care-riers.

Director of Education and Fayetteville letter carrier Frank Vega makes no bones about it, he’s proud to wear the letter carrier uniform, or as he calls it, his “blue business suit.”

You can’t help but notice the pride in Jacksonville letter carrier and Area Three representative Bob Wahoff’s article, “Who Are We?.” Writes Wahoff: “We are the men and women who wear the blue. We are the veterans and civilians who have chosen to serve our great country.”

To be a true letter care-rier, you have to do more than deliver the mail. Raleigh letter carrier Ron Naspinski was such a person. In “Remembering Ron” one of his customers, Virginia Neustadt, writes of her former carrier, “He was a very important person to many lives in our neighborhood. Ron was much more than our dependable, trusted mail carrier….”

A letter care-rier must be educated as well. In addition to the Postal Service’s manuals, such as the M-39 and M-41, they need to know their contract. And for those brave souls who become shop stewards and branch presidents, there is even more to know. New Bern letter carrier and Area One representative Bill Heidt addresses that in this quarter's article.

Letter care-riers also serve their communities. High Point letter carrier Jerome Goode recently received Scouting’s highest honor for his work in helping to shape the character and destinies of young boys in his neighborhood.

The letter care-riers of Branch 461 Winston-Salem recently received the Governor’s Award for their outstanding volunteer work in their city. And Jacksonville letter care-riers who have been collecting bottle caps for children afflicted with cancer, have helped four children receive free chemo treatments (two of whom are now in remission).

And as I write this column, thousands of city and rural carriers are collecting food in the nation’s largest food drive.

There are also hundreds of MDA branch chairmen who plan annual projects to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

But there’s more.

Today’s letter carriers also have to be politically involved as well because there are those who would like to destroy America’s postal service. President Cliff Davidson discusses the Senate’s recent passage of S.1789 which, if passed by Congress, would end 6-day delivery and the Postal Service as we know it.

Retired letter carrier and Director of Retirees Wayne White also addresses that important issue in his column, “Dismantling the Postal Service,” as does Area Four representative Richard Koritz in “Solidarity: Key to Recent Greensboro Success.”

True letter care-riers know the importance of contacting their congressional representatives and writing letters to their local papers, educating them as to the real reasons for the Postal Service’s financial problems, as does retired Charlotte letter carrier Phillip Kridel in his recent letter to The Charlotte Observer.

They also know the importance of participating in educational rallies like those carriers pictured here on our website.

True letter care-riers also know why it’s important for them to contribute to COLCPE, to be e-Activists and to be members of Carrier Corps.

Although there are thousands of carriers who understand the importance of political activism, there are still thousands, unfortunately, who don’t. Vice President Craig Schadewald addresses that troubling issue in his column, “Are You Kidding Me?!”

Yes, America’s letter carriers have the responsibility of protecting and delivering the nation’s mail, but those who are care-riers do a great deal more, they are the ones who each day go above and beyond the call of duty.

This is the common thread that runs through this edition and every edition of The North Carolina Letter Carrier.

It is a thread that binds us and our nation together. We must not allow anyone to sever it.

USPS vs. NALC: Austerity vs. Prosperity

A Contrast in Leadership

On September 6, 2011, NALC President Fredric Rolando stood before a postal forum in Washington, DC that featured postal leaders from 40 countries. The forum, co-hosted by NALC and the Canadian Union Postal Workers (CUPW), was being held to discuss postal innovations with its participants sharing ideas on how the world’s global services could remain relevant in an increasingly technological environment.

The day-long event featured presentations on various innovations in core postal business, innovative new postal products and new financial services.

In his opening remarks at the forum President Rolando said, “We organized this forum in the belief that post offices and other postal operators cannot downsize themselves to health; they must also have a growth strategy aimed at boosting revenues.”

Meanwhile, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe was conspicuously absent from those proceedings. At the same time this forum was being conducted the PMG was testifying before a Senate committee offering his solutions to the Postal Service crisis. However, unlike the postal forum being held elsewhere in the capital, his testimony was free of any references to innovation or growth strategy.

No, the PMG’s solutions that day were diametrically opposed to those being offered at the postal forum. These were solutions that certain extremist members of that committee held in high regard, such as downsizing and the elimination of thousands of good paying jobs.

Donahoe’s formula for saving the Postal Service involved slashing 120,000 jobs and reducing, not expanding, service to its customers. Instead of “innovate” he wanted to “consolidate,” consolidate 250 of the country’s mail processing plants and sell off upwards to 3,700 of its post offices, many of which are the hub of our nation’s rural communities.

Those two meetings on the same day last September are illustrative of the chasm that exists between the leadership styles and the goals of the USPS and the NALC: the former advocating austerity and the latter promoting prosperity.

Two different leadership styles, one of which will ultimately prevail in the debate over the future of America’s postal service. The style and vision (or the lack thereof) will determine whether that postal service remains relevant for its 21st century customers, or becomes irrelevant.

Postal leadership believes that in order to save this ailing patient, it must amputate all of its limbs, decapitate it, and cut out its heart.

Its immediate goal is to close over 200 mail processing facilities, sell off nearly 4,000 post offices, end Saturday delivery (with another day set for later), drastically reduce its workforce, increase part-time help, do away with collective bargaining (too many restraints), override negotiated contracts and significantly reduce employees’ health and retirement benefits.

Said the PMG in January of this year, “The situation we have is unsustainable...200,000 jobs must go...Congress has asked us to put the brakes on for a few weeks. We’re going to start rolling with this in the beginning of April...push something through.”

Although most of the Postal Service’s financial problems could be resolved by passing one bill, HR 1351, Donahoe would have the public believe that the USPS is bankrupt and that the only viable solution is reduction in size and service.

“If we were a private company,” he said last August, “we would have already filed for bankruptcy and gone through restructuring.” That falsehood was repeated thousands of times in mandatory stand-up talks in post offices and mail facilities all over the country. It was also shared with the media, many of which mistook it for truth, like the New York Times which had as its headline on September 5, 2011: “Losing Billions, Postal Service Is Near Default.”

Because of the Postal Service’s history of self-destructive actions, Donahoe’s comments this past January were laughable: “It is imperative that the Postal Service continue its evolution as a forward-thinking, fast-acting company capable of providing quality products and services for customers.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of this great divide stands the NALC, the real forward-thinking, fast-acting organization with the goal of continuing to provide quality products and services, despite the efforts of the Postal Service to sabotage it.

Said President Rolando at last October’s rap session in Las Vegas: “We cannot downsize our way to health—reducing the quality of service and making it harder for Americans to use our services is not a winning strategy. We need a growth strategy and the vision to offer new services that meet unmet needs…NALC is determined to save the Postal Service from itself, and from the radical ideologues who want to destroy it.”

Since 2011, especially, the NALC has shifted its political activism into high gear with grassroots lobbying, letter writing campaigns to newspapers and congressional representatives correcting the plethora of misinformation in the media and on the Internet, organizing over 500 public rallies at congressional offices around the country, launched a petition drive that garnered one million signatures supporting Saturday mail delivery, participated in a telephone town hall meeting hosted by President Rolando, and unveiled an advertising campaign highlighting the contributions of America’s veterans to the success of the Postal Service, just to name some.

It’s unfortunate that so much time, energy and money must be spent in saving the Postal Service from itself and some of our more morally bankrupt politicians, but that’s reality. We must fight on.

In the end, one of these two sides will prevail, resulting in either the success or failure of America’s postal service.

We must do everything we can to ensure its success.

Health Care or Health Scare?

Postmaster General Pat Donahoe would like to have control over your health care. He says he can do a better job than the OPM-administered Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP).

This from the same man who is currently lobbying Congress in an effort to lay off 200,000 employees, shutter over 3,000 post offices, consolidate mail processing plants across the country, eliminate Saturday delivery (and later, another day), and limit employees collective bargaining rights.

He has your best interests at heart.

He agrees that the Congressional mandate forcing the USPS to pay $5.5 billion a year to pre-fund future retiree medical costs for the next 75 years is wrong. He also agrees that the government owes the Postal Service around $70 billion from its over-funded retirement plans. But despite this, and the fact that it would have actually made $600 million in profit over the last four years had it not been for this, it’s just not enough.

What he would like to do is remove all employees from the FEHBP and enroll them in one cobbled together by the Postal Service.

It, he says, will do a much better job than OPM and save the agency millions of dollars.

In a recent “State of the Business” video enjoyed by thousands of appreciative employees, Mr. Donahoe explained the plan this way:

“This (plan to take over your health coverage) ties into the larger picture of what we’ve been talking about over the last several months (the aforementioned service cuts, etc.) regarding legislative change. The whole idea and aim is to secure a strong financial future for the organization, the industry, and for you as an employee.”

That’s right, although Mr. Donahoe is committed to securing the financial future of the Postal Service and the mailing industry, he is also concerned about your welfare as well. He truly treasures you as a hard-working, loyal employee. As for the 200,000 workers he plans to lay off, not so much. But as for you, you he treasures.

But there’s more. Again, Mr. Donahoe: “While all of us have been taking great steps to reduce our costs, the health care cost is one we’re unable to address in its current model. We need to change this.”

You have been taking “great steps” to reduce costs haven’t you? In fact, you’ve been taking faster steps in an effort to carry your 10-hour route, plus part of another route, and be back in eight hours.

You’re a real trooper.

Finally, he says, “If we (that’s him and us together, a team) take over our own plan, cover 1 million people, employees and retirees (Wow, that’s everybody!), the experts tell us you can cut your costs by somewhere between 8 to 10 percent.”

Although Mr. Donahoe fails to name these “experts,” one of them definitely isn’t Walt Francis. Mr. Francis is an independent consultant and author who is the leading expert on the FEHBP. For over 30 years he has been the principal author of the annual Checkbook’s “Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees.”

Mr. Francis had this to say about the PMG’s health care plan: “(The Postal Service) will be less competent and less efficient than the Office of Personnel Management, by far, in trying to run their own insurance program. Anything they propose to do, if it will help them financially, will necessarily involve reducing benefits, reducing their share of premiums or playing some financial game like stripping reserves.”

But Mr. Francis didn’t stop there. “Anyone who is expert in health insurance will recognize that it is nonsensical propaganda, written by someone who didn’t even know what he or she was talking about. This proposal is not about better health insurance, it is about finding ways to get money from someone, whether that be the public, the Treasury or the employees.”

Ouch!

Someone else who thinks the PMG’s health plan is screwy is Ron Ashkenas, senior partner at Schaffer Consulting in New York. In short, his firm helps organizations achieve their potential. He says of the Postal Service, “If you were an investor wouldn’t you want to look at the track record of the management team asking for money? The Postal Service has been notoriously slow in developing alternative business models, has allowed competitors to capture lucrative parts of its market, and has generally relied on pricing increases and service cuts to survive.”

No, he’s definitely not a fan of the plan, or of postal management.

Don’t be deceived by the “larger picture,” as Donahoe describes it. Yes, the plan may have as its goal a stronger financial future for a postal service, but it won’t in any way resemble the one now in existence. It will be a privatized postal service, a postal service that will be mandated by its owners to make big profits; not a few paltry million dollars but billions. We’re talking Fortune 500.

Although the PMG may seem sincere in his video messages to the beleaguered troops down in the trenches, your financial wellbeing is not one of his priorities. His financial wellbeing, on the other hand, is.

The plan (the scheme) now being advocated by the PMG and the brass in Washington, DC, is the same one being implemented by anti-worker lawmakers in Congress and in various governorships around the country. The plan is relatively simple, and simple-minded. Their plan for growing the economy and creating jobs is to cut, cut, and then cut some more.

Patrick Donahoe’s plan is not only about cutting days of service, but it’s also about cutting full-time employees in favor of part-timers, it’s about cutting wages, cutting retirement benefits, cutting health care, cutting your right to collectively bargain, and cutting your union.

This is the “larger picture” that PMG Donahoe has in mind for you and me.

We must make sure that it’s a picture that never develops.

The North Carolina Letter Carrier

The Editor's Desk Richard Thayer

Postal Regulatory Commission to Postal Service: Numbers Don’t Add Up, Try Again