Hi all...
Sorry for such short notice (just got confirmation on this)...
But if you can-- please join us today (Thursday April 5th) at 10:30 am for a press conference/rally
with Deb Szeredy, President of Mid-Hudson American Postal Workers Union #3722, and Diana Cline,
APWU #3722 Director of Organizing and Legislative Representative-- on how ridiculous
it is that the U.S. Postal Service is still forced to pay for its employees'
pensions 75 years ahead of time; Chris Gibson refuses to save the U.S.P.S., refuses
to save our post offices, refuses to save U.S.P.S. jobs or our postal centers!...
Unlike Maurice Hinchey and Paul Tonko, Chris Gibson refuses to join 230 members of the House of
Representatives co-sponsoring the bipartisan United States Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and
Restoration Act of 2011...
[see: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR01351:@@@P ]
Unlike Maurice Hinchey and Paul Tonko, Chris Gibson also refuses to join 221 members of the House
of Representatives signed on to H.Res.137-- "Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that
the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its 6-day
mail delivery service"...
[see: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HE00137:@@@P ]
Unlike Maurice Hinchey, Chris Gibson also refused to sign on to the bipartisan Mar. 27th letter to
Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi "to maintain robust mail service, including 6 day delivery and rural post offices, and develop a transformational 21ST Century business model for the USPS"...see:
http://www.savethepostoffice.com/connolly-and-young-call-congress-develop-21st-century-usps-business-model;
http://www.savethepostoffice.com/sites/default/files/Reps%20Connolly%20Young%20et%20al%20letter%20to%20House%20Leadership%20March%2027%202012.pdf...
[our campaign for Congress has also been endorsed by Troy Area Labor Council President Mike Keenan,
Pete Seeger, Josh Fox, Cornel West, Medea Benjamin, Dutchess County Democratic
Elections Commissioner Fran Knapp, and 260 more @ http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Joel .]
Recall blog post from yours truly on all this last Sept. 26th (big HVALF rally in solidarity with postal workers):
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2011/09/rally-to-save-our-post-officepostal.html .
No wonder this gem below from Jim Hightower originally posted Mar. 28th is still
the most popular article at CommonDreams.org:
"The Truth About the U.S. Postal Service"
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/28
Hope to see you all there today!...
Joel
845-444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
JoelforCongress.org
www.PetitionOnline.com/Joel
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From http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/28 ...
Published on Wednesday, March 28, 2012 by Creators.com
The Truth About the US Postal Service
by Jim Hightower
What does 50 cents buy these days? Not a cuppa joe, a pack of gum or a newspaper. But you can get a steal of deal for a 50-cent piece: a first-class stamp. Plus a nickel in change.
Each day, six days a week, letter carriers traverse 4 million miles toting an average of 563 million pieces of mail, reaching the very doorsteps of our individual homes and workplaces in every single community in America. From the gated enclaves and penthouses of the uber-wealthy to the inner-city ghettos and rural colonias of America's poorest families, the U.S. Postal Service literally delivers. All for 45 cents. The USPS is an unmatched bargain, a civic treasure, a genuine public good that links all people and communities into one nation.
So, naturally, it must be destroyed.
For the past several months, the laissez-fairyland blogosphere, assorted corporate front groups, a howling pack of congressional right-wingers and a bunch of lazy mass media sources have been pounding out a steadily rising drumbeat to warn that our postal service faces impending doom. It's "broke," they exclaim; USPS "nears collapse"; it's "a full-blown financial crisis!"
These gloomsayers claim the national mail agency is bogged down with too many overpaid workers and costly brick-and-mortar facilities, so it can't keep up with the instant messaging of Internet services and such nimble corporate competitors as FedEx. Thus, say these contrivers of their own conventional wisdom, the Postal Service is unprofitable and is costing taxpayers billions of dollars a year in losses. Wrong.
Since 1971, the postal service has not taken a dime from taxpayers. All of its operations — including the remarkable convenience of 32,000 local post offices — are paid for by peddling stamps and other products.
The privatizers squawk that USPS has gone some $13 billion in the hole during the past four years — a private corporation would go broke with that record! (Actually, private corporations tend to go to Washington rather than go broke, getting taxpayer bailouts to cover their losses.) The Postal Service is NOT broke. Indeed, in those four years of loudly deplored "losses," the service actually produced a $700 million operational profit (despite the worst economy since the Great Depression).
What's going on here? Right-wing sabotage of USPS financing, that's what.
In 2006, the Bush White House and Congress whacked the post office with the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to PRE-PAY the health care benefits not only of current employees, but also of all employees who'll retire during the next 75 years. Yes, that includes employees who're not yet born!
No other agency and no corporation has to do this. Worse, this ridiculous law demands that USPS fully fund this seven-decade burden by 2016. Imagine the shrieks of outrage if Congress tried to slap FedEx or other private firms with such an onerous requirement.
This politically motivated mandate is costing the Postal Service $5.5 billion a year — money taken right out of postage revenue that could be going to services. That's the real source of the "financial crisis" squeezing America's post offices.
In addition, due to a 40-year-old accounting error, the federal Office of Personnel Management has overcharged the post office by as much as $80 billion for payments into the Civil Service Retirement System. This means that USPS has had billions of its sales dollars erroneously diverted into the treasury. Restore the agency's access to its own postage money, and the impending "collapse" goes away.
The post office is more than a bunch of buildings — it's a community center and, for many towns, an essential part of the local identity, as well as a tangible link to the rest of the nation. As former Sen. Jennings Randolph poignantly observed, "When the local post office is closed, the flag comes down." The corporatizer crowd doesn't grasp that going after this particular government program is messing with the human connection and genuine affection that it engenders.
America's postal service is a true public service, a grassroots people's asset that has even more potential than we're presently tapping to serve the democratic ideal of the common good. Why the hell would we let an elite of small-minded profiteers, ranting ideologues and their political hirelings drop-kick this jewel through the goal posts of corporate greed? This is not a fight merely to save 32,000 post offices and the middle-class jobs they provide — but to advance the BIG IDEA of America itself, the bold, historic notion that "yes, we can" create a society in which we're all in it together.
© 2012 Creators Syndicate
National radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the book, Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow, Jim Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
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From http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2011/09/rally-to-save-our-post-officepostal.html ...
[blog post here from yours truly last Sept. 26th]
Rally to save our post office/postal service from Gibson/Hayworth/GOP!...
Come out if you can to join us tomorrow (Tues. Sept. 27th) 4-6 pm for the Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation's Save America's Postal Service Rally-- in Newburgh at 17K/Route & 300 at corner w/TGIF!....
[see SavethePostOffice.com-- there will literally be hundreds of rallies like this all across the U.S. tomorrow on this-- organized by American Postal Workers Union, National Association of Letter Carriers, National Postal Mail Handlers Union, National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, MoveOn, RebuildtheDream.com, many more]
Fact: "If the Postal Service were a private company, it would not have to file for bankruptcy because it would not be subject to a USPS-specific congressional mandate to pre-fund future retiree health benefits. As it is, it is the only federal agency required to do so: It must pre-fund these benefits some 75 years into the future on a massively accelerated schedule. This postal-only mandate, which costs the USPS $5.5 billion per year, accounts for 100 percent of the Postal Service’s $20 billion in losses over the past four years. It also accounts for 100 percent of the rise in the Postal Service’s debt in recent years. Without the mandate, the USPS would have been profitable over the past four years and it would have significant borrowing authority to ride out the bad economy. It would not have had to file for bankruptcy."
[from "The Big Lie About 'Postal Bankruptcy'":
http://postalemployeenetwork.com/news/2011/08/the-big-lie-about-postal-bankruptcy/]
Recall-- "The U.S. Postal Service is considering cutting as many as 120,000 jobs...The post office has cut 110,000 jobs over the last four years and is currently engaged in eliminating 7,500 administrative staff...In addition the post office recently said it is considering closing 3,653 post offices, stations and other facilities...]
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/us-postal-service-jobs-benefits-layoffs_n_924927.html]
Sign the petition here: http://www.saveamericaspostalservice.org/petition.html .
Call Congress-- (866) 338-1015!...
[pass it on]
Joel
845-444-0599
joeltyner@earthlink.net
JoelforCongress.org
DutchessDemocracy.blogspot.com
PetitionOnline.com/Joel (200+ on board!)
p.s. Dutchess County residents-- see just a bit below-- letter I just sent to my 24 colleagues in our County Legislature here looking for solidarity/action on this-- feel free to follow up with your own to them on this-- email countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us (fwd!)...
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From: "Brian Pugh, HVALF"
Subject: Tuesday: Save 120,000 Jobs
Date: Sep 26, 2011 12:00 PM
Phone: (845) 567-7760 Fax: (845) 567-7742
Email: esoto@hvalf.org Website: www.hvalf.org
Postal workers in NY and across the nation are under attack and desperately need our help.
Join us this Tuesday, Sept. 27, for a national day of action to protect the United States Postal Service (USPS) and save 120,000 jobs.
Rallies are happening in all 50 states—most take place from 4–5:30 p.m. local time.
Save America’s Postal Service Rally
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time: 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location: 17K/Route & 300
Corner w/TGIF Newburgh, NY
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From: Joel Tyner
To: countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us
Subject: Colleagues-- let's pull together to send strong message-- save the U.S. Postal Service!...
Date: Sep 26, 2011 10:19 AM
Hi all...
As no doubt many of you are aware, unfortunately the U.S. Postal Service has come under pressure lately to cut as many as 120,000 jobs, even though the post office has cut 110,000 jobs over the last four years and is currently engaged in eliminating 7,500 administrative staff. In addition, the post office recently said it is also considering closing 3,653 post offices, stations and other facilities-- not good for our communities-- and not good for our economy.
It doesn't have to be this way.
As the American Postal Workers Union, National Association of Letter Carriers, National Postal Mail Handlers Union, National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, MoveOn, RootsAction.org, RebuildtheDream.com, The Nation's Allison Kilkenny, and many others have pointed out there are alternatives-- see SavethePostOffice.com, SaveAmericasPostalService.org, and these three facts below:
Fact: "If the Postal Service were a private company, it would not have to file for bankruptcy because it would not be subject to a USPS-specific congressional mandate to pre-fund future retiree health benefits."
Fact: "As it is, it is the only federal agency required to do so: It must pre-fund these benefits some 75 years into the future on a massively accelerated schedule. This postal-only mandate, which costs the USPS $5.5 billion per year, accounts for 100 percent of the Postal Service’s $20 billion in losses over the past four years."
Fact: "This also accounts for 100 percent of the rise in the Postal Service’s debt in recent years. Without the mandate, the USPS would have been profitable over the past four years and it would have significant borrowing authority to ride out the bad economy. It would not have had to file for bankruptcy."
[above three are from "The Big Lie About 'Postal Bankruptcy'":
http://postalemployeenetwork.com/news/2011/08/the-big-lie-about-postal-bankruptcy/]
Also see:
"Postmasters Calls on Congress to Stop Closing Post Offices and to Let USPS Pension Overpayments Prefund Retiree Health Benefits"
http://postalemployeenetwork.com/news/2011/09/postmasters-calls-on-congress-to-stop-closing-post-offices-and-to-let-usps-pension-overpayments-prefund-retiree-health-benefits/ .
So-- please let me know as soon as possible if you'd like to co-sponsor a resolution or letter to Congress and the President on this, k?
[time's runnin' out!]
Joel
444-0599
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"The Big Lie About 'Postal Bankruptcy'"
http://postalemployeenetwork.com/news/2011/08/the-big-lie-about-postal-bankruptcy/
Posted by postal on Aug 12th, 2011
Yesterday, in a mandatory stand-up talk, Postal Service management all across the country told letter carriers:
“If we were a private company, we would have already filed for bankruptcy and gone through restructuring—much like major automakers did two years ago.”
The Service repeated this claim in a press release distributed to the nation’s news media as well.
Of course, it’s not true. But the USPS seems to think that if it repeats this “Big Lie” often enough, most people—and especially members of Congress—will think it’s true.
So, let’s set the record straight: If the Postal Service were a private company, it would not have to file for bankruptcy because it would not be subject to a USPS-specific congressional mandate to pre-fund future retiree health benefits. As it is, it is the only federal agency required to do so: It must pre-fund these benefits some 75 years into the future on a massively accelerated schedule.
This postal-only mandate, which costs the USPS $5.5 billion per year, accounts for 100 percent of the Postal Service’s $20 billion in losses over the past four years. It also accounts for 100 percent of the rise in the Postal Service’s debt in recent years. Without the mandate, the USPS would have been profitable over the past four years and it would have significant borrowing authority to ride out the bad economy. It would not have had to file for bankruptcy.
In fact, no private company in America is required to pre-fund future retiree health benefits, either by law or private-sector accounting standards. The $47 billion the Postal Service has deposited into its retiree health fund over the past four years would have been available for operating costs. And those companies that voluntarily do pre-fund would never have adopted a crushing schedule to pre-fund 80 percent of future retiree health costs in just 10 years. Nor would they mindlessly stick to such an onerous schedule in the middle of the worst recession in 80 years.
Congress, aided and abetted by the Office of Personnel Management and the General Accountability Office, mandated the destructive pre-funding policy in 2006. The common-sense solution is obvious: Let the Postal Service use the massive surpluses in its pension plans, found by two independent audits, to cover the cost of pre-funding. Indeed, 181 members of the House—from both parties—have co-sponsored legislation to adopt this solution (H.R. 1351). But thanks to the dysfunctional nature of Congress, the bureaucratic blindness of OPM and the Office of Management and Budget, and the single-minded stubbornness of the Congressional Budget Office, which “scores” any change in the pre-funding provisions as increasing the deficit even though no taxpayer funds are involved, the Postal Service now faces a financial crisis in September when the next $5.5 billion payment is due.
Don’t believe the “Big Lie.” The Postal Service is not going bankrupt. Rather, Washington politics is killing it.
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From http://www.SaveAmericasPostalService.org ...
On Tuesday, September 27, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (local time), members of the four employee unions of the United States Postal Service—
• American Postal Workers Union
• National Association of Letter Carriers
• National Postal Mail Handlers Union
• National Rural Letter Carriers' Association
—will join forces with members of our communities to send a message to the nation and its Congress.
We are proud to announce the participation of the National Association of Postal Supervisors (NAPS) in the effort to Save America's Postal Service. Click here to read their entire statement.
During these informational rallies, we will visit the home office of each member of the House of Representatives.
We will thank those members who have signed on as co-sponsors of H.R. 1351, a bill that addresses the financial crisis facing the Postal Service.
And we will encourage those who have not signed as co-sponsors of H.R. 1351 to do so.
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http://www.rootsaction.org/featured-actions/251-save-the-post-office-from-gop-sabotage
From: "Jeff Cohen, RootsAction"
Subject: Save the Post Office from GOP Sabotage
Date: Sep 26, 2011 9:16 AM
A decent society requires a postal system that serves everyone, everywhere, at a low price.
In my youth, I was a proud postal worker. Today, hundreds of thousands of Americans are postal workers – the largest unionized workforce we have left.
The U.S. Postal Service is our most trusted government agency. It provides universal service to all Americans – rich or poor, urban or rural. It receives not a penny in taxpayer subsidy.
And it faces destruction – thanks to Republicans in Congress, acting for huge corporations through a manufactured “Shock Doctrine” crisis.
This is an attack on unionized public workers like the attacks on teachers and state workers in Wisconsin and elsewhere.
Help save the post office by forcing a vote on HR 1351, a bill cosponsored by 211 Congress members -- almost half the House of Representatives.
Click to contact Congress and to find out where there's a "Save America’s Postal Service" rally near you tomorrow (Tuesday-- see above).
The postal service would be operating in surplus if not for a bill rammed through the Republican Congress in a voice vote in December 2006, and signed by President Bush. The bill required $5 billion annual PRE-payments toward retiree health benefits for 75 years into the future – “something no other government or private corporation is required to do,” asserts Ralph Nader.
HR 1351, drafted by Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch, would end this sabotage and save the post office -- without a single penny of taxpayer funding.
Tell your Representative to sign a discharge petition to force HR 1351 to the floor of the full House despite the obstruction of GOP Committee Chair Darrell Issa.
And please forward this email to your friends.
A decent society requires a postal system that serves everyone, everywhere, at a low price.
If corporate forces take over, imagine no more mail delivery or pick up one day.
Imagine all hardcopy communications, including with your elected representatives, subject to the tender mercies of corporate delivery. (Emails to Congress are already handled by Lockheed Martin.)
As the great Joni Mitchell told us: “You don't know what you've got till it's gone.”
Take action now.
Sincerely,
Jeff Cohen
and the RootsAction team
P.S. Our small staff is supported by contributions from people like you; your donations are greatly appreciated.
Resources:
“The Great Postal Heist” video
Statement from National Association of Letter Carriers local leader
Ralph Nader letter
Column by American Postal Workers Union local leader
Congress' Lockheed Martin Internet
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From http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=121672 ...
September Recess Action
Congressman Tonko's Office,,Albany, 61 Columbia St
Albany, NY 12210
Tuesday, September 27th, 4:00 PM
Let's keep the momentum going! Please sign up for this gathering right away!
Message from your host, Susan Weber: "Right wingnuts propose to CUT middle-class postal service jobs in the middle of an economic crisis. How will that help grow our economy? We need JOBS, not CUTS!!!
Let's help publicize this travesty with our coalition union partners. The postal service is NOT broke. Congress is requiring them to up front fund 75 years of retirement costs. WHAT?
Again, we are being lied to. The USPS is not broke. No one needs to be laid off; Saturday delivery doesn't need to end; the postal service doesn't need to be privatized. Congress needs to pass HR 1351, to repeal the requirement that USPS pre-fund 75 yrs of retirement benefits!
Or-- go to Gibson's office, 136 Glen St, Glens Falls, 4 to 5:30 pm Tuesday and join the postal workers and AFL to protest there! Questions, call Susan at 518-462-3247 or 518-656-9558."
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"Postmasters Calls on Congress to Stop Closing Post Offices and to Let USPS Pension Overpayments Prefund Retiree Health Benefits"
http://postalemployeenetwork.com/news/2011/09/postmasters-calls-on-congress-to-stop-closing-post-offices-and-to-let-usps-pension-overpayments-prefund-retiree-health-benefits/
Posted by postal on Sep 6th, 2011
National League of Postmasters Calls on Congress to Stop Closing Post Offices and to Let USPS Pension Overpayments Prefund Retiree Health Benefits
USPS Pension and Retiree Health Benefits Payments Should be Realigned;
USPS Should Not Withdraw from the Federal Retiree Health Benefit Plan.
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA – “Enough is enough. Congress must act. The time to act is now and the action to take is to allow the Postal Service’s pension overpayments to be transferred to its retiree health benefit fund,” said LEAGUE President Mark Strong in a statement submitted today to the Senate hearing on the Postal Service crisis. “This would allow the Postal Service to stop closing rural post offices and stop devastating thousands of small rural communities,” he added.
Today’s hearing, chaired by Senator Joseph Lieberman (CT), was before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Entitled “U.S. Postal Service in Crisis: Proposals to Prevent a Postal Shutdown,” today’s hearing focused on the current conditions of the Postal Service and the fact that Congress will not let it use its pension overpayments to prefund its retiree health benefit obligations.
“Allowing the Postal Service to use those overpayments, calculated by actuaries to be as much as $75 billion, to prefund the retiree health benefit obligation would relieve the Postal Service’s current financial stress and allow it to calmly refocus on the future,” said Strong. “It would also help the economy and help prevent a double-dip recession,” added Strong. “Ideas such as withdrawing from the Federal Employee Health Plan are terrible ideas, should not be taken seriously, and simply reflect the frustration that top Postal Service management feels,” he concluded.
Because of the way the law is written, the Postal Service must make more than $8 billion per year in pension and retiree health benefit payments, despite pension overpayments of up to $75 billion. While the Postal Service has been losing billions of dollars each year since the recession started, if the overpayments were officially recognized and credited towards the retiree health benefit obligation, and current payments stopped, it would be running in the black,” said Robert Brinkmann, the LEAGUE’s Legislative Counsel. This “crisis” is a crisis that, while precipitated by the recession, has been created by Congress, and it is a crisis that only Congress can resolve.
The National League of Postmasters has been representing active and retired postmasters throughout the country since the later part of the 19th Century.
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Last Minute Preparations Underway for Rallies to Save America’s Postal Service
[http://www.postalnewsblog.com/2011/09/25/last-minute-preparations-underway-for-rallies-to-save-america%E2%80%99s-postal-service/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+postalnewsblog+%28Postalnews+blog%29]
APWU locals are gearing up for the nationwide day of action to Save America’s Postal Service on Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., at locations across the country.
Together, the APWU and the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association will rally in every congressional district in the country to tell the real story about the Postal Service’s financial crisis and to build support for legislation that would restore financial stability to the Postal Service.
At the rallies on Sept. 27, the unions will be asking legislators to co-sponsor to H.R. 1351, which was introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA). Where lawmakers have already signed on, the rallies will thank them for their support and ask them to pledge to do everything in their power to ensure its passage.
The rallies have already garnered press coverage in dozens of locations. In Sarasota, FL, for example, the Brandenton Herald reported that hundreds of local postal workers are expected to take part in the rally. Radio or newspaper interviews have also been conducted in Hattiesburg, MS; Monroe, LA; Fort Smith, AR; and Fort Myers, FL. Coverage is expected in many media markets on Tuesday.
Locals that haven’t already done so are being encouraged to notify the media about the rallies. Sample press releases [PDF] are available on the Save America’s Postal Service’s Web site, which the unions developed to provide information about the events.
To boost attendance at the rallies, locals are urged to reach out to community leaders, small business owners and other allies who rely on the Postal Service, as well as family members, friends, and neighbors.
APWU locals are also encouraged to keep the national union office informed of their participation in the rallies and to send high-resolution photos to sdavidow@apwu.org.
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