S. 1789 Does Not Ensure a Viable Postal Service for the Future

By Fred Rolando, President National Association of Letter Carriers

An amended version of S. 1789, the 21st Century Postal Service Act—which the NALC has not yet seen—is headed to the floor of the Senate this week. The expectation, based on what we know, is that the proposed amendments do not go far enough to address the major problems with this deeply flawed legislation.

Call your senators and tell them to oppose S. 1789.

Call your senators and tell them to oppose S. 1789.

Call this toll-free number—
1-888-863-6103
—to be connected automatically to your senators’ offices.

In addition to calling, you may also want to e-mail your senators. That information can be found here.

Please call both of your senators and deliver the following message:

• NALC continues to oppose S. 1789 as we have not seen a final draft of the amended version that the Senate will vote on next week. Based on what we know now, S. 1789 remains deeply flawed.

• S. 1789 would jeopardize Saturday delivery in two years’ time—eliminating USPS’s biggest competitive advantage as well as 80,000 jobs—and it would mandate the phasing-out of door-to-door delivery for 35 million households and businesses.

• If S. 1789 becomes law, jobs and quality service would be sacrificed to maintain a unique burden to pre-fund future retiree health benefits—even as the bill fails to return our CSRS pension surplus of $50 billion to $75 billion.

• And S. 1789 includes a punitive and regressive reform of the federal workers’ compensation program.

(Feel free to leave a message if you call after hours.)

We want the Senate to pass legislation that will resolve the financial crisis and strengthen the Postal Service, not gradually dismantle it.

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