President Fredric V. Rolando

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PRESIDENT FREDRIC V. ROLANDO 2012 — 2014 BIENNIAL REPORT NALC 125 YEARS OF SERVICE, SOLIDARITY AND This report is hereby submitted to the offi cers and delegates to the 69th Biennial Convention of the National Association of PROGRESS Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO, Philadelphia, PA, July 21-25, 2014, pursuant to Article 9, Sec- tion 1(k) of the Constitution of the National Association of Letter Carriers. Detailed information pertaining to many of the National Association of Letter Carriers’ most important activities can be found in NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS the following pages and in the reports of my fellow offi cers. I am grateful for their efforts in fulfi lling their responsibilities with dili- gence and competence. My role has been to coordinate and supervise their activities, set an overall direction for this great union and, in a number of key areas, provide direct, active and assertive leadership in the best interests of the members of the NALC and, where appropriate, the U.S. Postal Ser- vice as well.

July 2014 | The Postal Record 9 EW PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS Unemployment stood at 9.5 percent Public-sector workers across the coun- get to celebrate their quas- (50 percent higher than today), and the try were under assault by similarly anti- quicentennial—their 125th USPS had recorded the biggest losses labor politicians, who targeted public anniversary. That is especially in its history—and not just because of employee pay, benefi ts and bargaining true of labor unions. The world the pre-funding mandate that we’ve rights to close budget defi cits caused ofF work changes so dramatically from been battling since 2006. Mail volume by the Great Recession. generation to generation, and the had declined by an astounding 25 At the same time, the NALC was em- country has changed so fundamentally percent between 2007 and 2012 as broiled in an extended round of collective since the National Association of Letter the recession and technology battered bargaining in which the Postal Service Carriers was founded in Milwaukee 125 the Postal Service and its customers. sought massive concessions and radical years ago. Indeed, when our union was The very future of the USPS seemed in changes in our National Agreement in created in 1889, the light bulb had just doubt. In fact, the NALC had taken the reaction to the nation’s economic crisis. been invented and the fi rst automo- extraordinary step of hiring an invest- The union and the USPS were headed biles were being developed. About half ment bank to sort through restructuring for interest arbitration after months of of the country’s population lived on options and business model changes, failed talks and mediation. farms (today they employ less than 1 as a right-wing, Tea Party–fueled In my report to that 68th Biennial percent of American workers), and just Congress openly talked about disman- Convention, I highlighted the immense 38 states comprised the United States. tling the USPS and an uncertain White challenges that complicated our efforts So it is quite a remarkable achievement House caved to Republican demands to defend letter carriers at the bargain- that the NALC is still a strong and vital to support service and job cuts in the ing table and in the halls of Congress. organization in 2014—we’re 125 years Postal Service. These challenges included the de- old and counting. pressedpress economy, the utter dysfunc- Our union has endured and thriveded tion of the legislative branch of through decades of change—throughgh the U.S. government, the deeply 22 American presidencies and 39 misguided managerial leadership postmasters general; through a Greateat ofo the Postal Service itself and Depression and, recently, a Great thet unmerciful march of informa- Recession, along with a dozen or soo ttion technology that was eroding other economic downturns; throughh oour core letter mail product. It is two world wars and a handful ddiscouraging to report that many of of confl icts fueled by the Cold ththese same obstacles remain with War, threats to global oil supplies us in July 2014: and terrorism; and through both • Although the nation’s unem- an industrial revolution and an ployment rate has fallen to 6.3 information technology revolution. percent and the economy has Generation after generation of begun to recover, the recovery letter carriers have seen it all and remains very weak by historical have built a union to help them standards. The decline in the job-

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS navigate every twist and turn less rate has been driven less by faced by their employer, fi rst the job creation and more by workers Post Offi ce Department and then leaving the labor force—in effect, the United States Postal Service. giving up hope of returning to It is a proud history of service, work. Wages remain stagnant solidarity and progress—a and the quality of new jobs has history that we will celebrate deteriorated—millions of high- this week at the 69th Biennial paid manufacturing and technical Convention of the National Associationtion jobs have been replaced by part- of Letter Carriers. WeWl also were just jt months th time, temporary or independent away from an unpredictable election contractor jobs. These trends, A LOOK BACK TO that threatened to bring into offi ce a combined with a brutal winter MINNEAPOLIS Republican president who had a long that disrupted the recovery in history of buying companies, then huge swaths of the country, have Two years ago, we met in Min- laying off their workers and stripping translated into tepid economic neapolis at a very diffi cult time in the their assets, all to line the pockets of growth that weakens the demand history of our union. The United States private-equity investors. That candi- for postal services. was only beginning to slowly come date professed open hostility toward • The dysfunctional 112th Con-

out of the worst recession in 80 years. the USPS and its unionized workers. gress (2011-2012) set records

10 The Postal Record | July 2014 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS 11 ts would ghting back The Postal Record

July 2014 | July And think about what would have hap- Many of our victories have been Think of the state employees in Ohio, state employees Think of the have been cut, their pensions frozen, have been cut, their pensions frozen, their jobs eliminated. pened to us over the past six years without our union. If not for the NALC and the other postal unions, management and could have done Party Congress the Tea damage to the Postal Serviceirreparable and to the families of postal employees. and plans to end Saturday The PMG’s door delivery would have destroyed to force 100,000 jobs. His proposals postal employees out of the Federal Em- t (FEHB) Program ployees Health Benefi solid Federal Employeesand to replace System (FERS) pensionsRetirement 401(k) accountswith risky and unreliable would have sailed through. the bad defensive in nature—stopping But let us not happening. from stuff for granted that they or take forget victories nonetheless—victories are made possible by our union. Moreover, despite the daunting challenges of the past two years, we can point to a number of victories as well. unions, their pay and benefi courts, hundreds of thousands more of thousands more courts, hundreds have been lost. jobs would right then won back their who lost and fi collectively by to bargain Without their their unions. through turn, stubbornly but he remains in place. • information technol- The no signs shows ogy revolution and First Class Mail of abating, to decline, volume continues pace. In albeit at a far slower Mail fact, in April, First Class over slightly volume increased previous the same month in the rst time that has year—the fi 10 years. happened in almost migration But we know that the mail to of physical-transactions the Internet (such as invoices, bill payments and correspon- dence) is all but irreversible. below, as we will see However, technological change may be is cause there where one area for cautious optimism. Mail because Standard That’s volume appears to be holding up as the economy recovers that and as advertisers realize effec- it is fundamentally more tive than e-mail marketing. And because the Internet, even it’s as it displaces business for the new Postal Service, also creates business—witness the explosion package deliver- in e-commerce rst half of the ies. Indeed, in the fi while letter mail revenue year, by $300 million, the dropped shipping rev- Postal Service’s by $500 million. enues increased the weak economy Unfortunately, for is holding back a full recovery the country and the USPS, and fragile at nances remain postal fi years after the best nearly three ended. recession In the face of such daunting challenges, we should remind ourselves lenges, we should remind to have each how fortunate we are other and to have a union. The Great Recession was devastating for all American workers, but those in a union—and with the power to resist— much better than workers not in fared a union. Think of the auto workers in powerful politicians were 2009; there to sim- and sitting federal judges ready ply liquidate the U.S. auto industry after auto sales plummeted to 1950-levels crash caused by nancial due to the fi banks. Without the Street Wall reckless ght for them to fi United Auto Workers and the in the White House, Congress cant ts. awed business strategy, one that our Lazard Co. one that our Lazard strategy, consultants termed the “shrink to That strategy, survive” strategy. told us, was Ron Bloom of Lazard doomed to fail. No enterprise can by slashing the quality of prosper service and dismantling its core strategic assets—in our case, the invaluable six-days-a-week last- mile delivery network. • part to a dysfunc- Thanks in to that refuses tional Congress and to the enact sensible reform on the nine-seat ve vacancies fi of Governors, has Board there in the man- been no improvement agement of the Postal Service. The postmaster general remains fanatically committed to his plan delivery and to to end Saturday the quality systematically reduce He has no of service offered. strategy and he is openly growth new providing hostile toward services, such as postal banking. have stopped him at every We for failure. It failed to address to address It failed for failure. in any signifi the jobs crisis things it actually made and way, causing the bond- worse—by the to downgrade rating agencies bonds, U.S. Treasury quality of after rst time in history, for the fi na- to default on the threatening Congress current debt. The tion’s a new low— (113th) has sunk to action to again by failing to take or to spark help the unemployed by but also economic growth, in the foot shooting the economy a mindless 16-day by provoking govern-shutdown of the federal The cur- ment in October 2013. like its predeces- Congress, rent x the principal has failed to fi sor, nancial crisis at cause of the fi the USPS—a law imposed by in 2006 that the 109th Congress the USPS to incur mas- requires future sive expenses to pre-fund health benefi retiree • In Minneapolis, delegates of called for not just the removal top managers the Postal Service’s but also for a fundamental over- haul of the governance structure concluded that of the USPS. We the postmaster general and the of GovernorsUSPS Board had adopted a fatally fl Save the Date NALC is making arrangements to honor the fi rst A FEW BIG WINS— anniversary of President Emeritus Vincent R. Sombrotto’s death with an event to be held in York on January 11, 2014. New AND ONE BIG LOSS If you think you would SINCE THE 68TH like to attend or you would like more information, please return this card with your contact informa- BIENNIAL CONVENTION tion and we will inform you of the details as they are fi nalized. (Th e number of tickets will be limited.) In this opening section of my report, I will discuss in some detail the major Name:______activities of the national union. But Branch number or state association:______

before doing so, let us note two major Address:______achievements of the past two years City:______State:______Zip:______while acknowledging one huge loss. The achievements—the work we did with the Email address:______rest of the labor movement during the 2012 general election to halt the surge of anti-labor political forces in America, and the contract we secured through TheTh otherth greatt achievementhi t off ttheh a leader like no other. The outpouring of the interest arbitration process—were past two years was the conclusion of the sadness and admiration that followed his signifi cant ones. The loss, the passing of 2011 round of collective bargaining, which death was incredible. Although dozens of President Emeritus Vincent R. Sombrot- did not actually fi nish until January 2013. carriers from all over the country attended to, was an especially searing one. Bargaining with an employer that had When we met in 2012, the outlook for Vince’s funeral, we knew his passing de- reported losses of more than $40 billion manded a formal union event. So on the workers in the 2012 elections was grim. in recent years (no matter how infl ated Even as we struggled to overcome our one year anniversary of Vince’s death, we and misunderstood those losses were) organized a memorial service in New York disappointments with President Barack and negotiating after the American Postal Obama to endorse his re-election, we City on January, 11 2014. Workers Union (APWU) reached a contract In addition to the ecumenical service knew that his re-election was not at we could not accept—both of these things all guaranteed. The political scientists at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Man- made for an exceptionally diffi cult round of hattan, where hundreds of letter carriers looked at a 9.5 percent unemployment bargaining. But we did it over 17 grueling rate as an anvil around the neck of the from around the country could pay their months, beginning in August 2011 and respects and remember Vince with his incumbent president. ending with the issuance of the Das inter- Meanwhile, there were few signs that family and fellow Branch 36 members, est arbitration award on Jan. 10, 2013. the political momentum of the radical Tea we sponsored a dinner-celebration at As I will describe below, the results Party Congress elected in 2010 could be Manhattan Center, where Vince helped were not uniformly favorable—a risk stopped. The Supreme Court, with its Citi- launch the Great Postal Strike of 1970. that goes hand-in-hand with binding zens United ruling, had unleashed a tidal The evening’s program featured strikers arbitration—but we did achieve our wave of “dark money” (so called because from Branch 36, Vince’s children, former most important strategic goals. We won its donors can remain anonymous), allow- Postmaster General Jack Potter and pay increases, kept our cost-of-living ing the corporate opponents of workers’ many others, including yours truly. It was adjustment (COLA) clause, maintained rights and of progressive politics to spend a night of laughter and tears that I wish without limit on U.S. elections. the ban on the subcontracting out of every member of the union could have But the NALC and the other unions letter carrier work, and developed a attended. We have prepared a video to

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS across the country rallied our members pathway to career jobs for non-career remember President Sombrotto to show to ﬁ ght back and to help turn back the bargaining-unit letter carriers. We did at the Philadelphia convention, and we tide. Our union endorsed more than 290 not win on every issue we fought for, hope every delegate will enjoy it. God pro-letter carrier candidates and used but we avoided a permanent two-tier bless the memory of Vince Sombrotto. its Committee on Letter Carrier Political workforce and achieved our objective to Of course, nobody knew better Education (COLCPE) funds to support position the Postal Service to become a than Vince that NALC conventions are them and to release more than 150 full- major player in package delivery again. always about the future. So while we time activists to get out the vote. Not only Those achievements were satisfying, can and should celebrate our long and did President Obama win re-election, but if not joy-inspiring, given that we still face wonderful history this week, we should pro-worker forces also achieved modest the daunting challenges we discussed also seek to draw on its lessons for in- gains in both houses of Congress. in Minneapolis, with postal management spiration for the battles ahead. And we As we meet in Philadelphia, let us be and the politicians in Washington. But that must remember that a relentless focus inspired by that success, but let us not satisfaction was tempered by the death on the future has always been the key forget that workers lose when we don’t of the animating spirit of our union over to our vitality and longevity. Brothers get every union member involved in the the past 40 years, Vincent R. Sombrotto. and sisters, bearing that focus in mind, political process. The ghost of 2010 still Vince died on Jan. 10, 2013—the same it is my pleasure to welcome you to the haunts us—too many workers and too day we received the Das award. To say great city of Philadelphia for the 69th many unions sat out that mid-term elec- that Vince was a giant in the history of the Biennial Convention of the National As-

tion, and we are still paying for it today. NALC is a gross understatement. He was sociation of Letter Carriers!

12 The Postal Record | July 2014 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS 13 nd ation, mas- The Postal Record

July 2014 | July ts. NALC joined a broad coalition of coalition NALC joined a broad Other federal employees have fared Other federal employees have fared premiums at the rate of infl at the rate premiums to employees), the sively shifting costs to raise was a proposal biggest threat for FERS and employee contributions (CSRS) System Civil Service Retirement points. ts by 5.5 percentage benefi slash to a proposal This was, in effect, by 5.5 percent federal employee wages pay cut—contribu- a massive annually, not pension tions would go up, but benefi the federal and postal unions to resist Ryan budget and its pension proposal. the battle to exempt exist- won We in any increase ing employees from pension contributions, but we were disappointed that we could extremely employees an increase future not spare budget bills, in such contributions. Two one passed in 2012 and one passed FERS contribution in 2013, increased 0.8 rates for new letter carriers, from before pay for carriers hired of percent of pay for employ- 2012 to 2.3 percent in 2013 and to 3.6 percent ees hired in 2014 or of pay for employees hired system of contri- This three-tiered later. butions is fundamentally unfair—workers doing the same job and earning being ts are the same pension benefi to fi hope rates. We different charged ways to reverse these unjust budget ways to reverse decisions. Nevertheless, our willing- the 170,000 ght back spared ness to fi 2013 any before letter carriers hired in pension contributions. It increase also stopped the Ryan budget proposal that would have cut carrier pay by 5.5 annually—between $2,300 and percent $3,000 per year. much worse in the budget battles since our 2012 convention. Thanks to a radical faction in the Republican Party of the Affordable that demanded repeal as the price for Act (Obamacare) Care on the Fiscal Year agreement reaching 2014 budget, the federal government shut down for 16 days in October 2013. than 800,000 federal employees More the furloughs these Given laid off. were in 2012 as part of employees endured by a 2011 the “sequestration” required the shutdown added insult budget law, - cit cit ts cit ts of ts from cit soared cit-reduction cit-reduction laws. One of the great disappointments of disappointments One of the great Unfortunately, as a result of this shift, as a result Unfortunately, We face the same challenge today. the same challenge today. face We Then, the focus shifted. In 2011 and PROTECTING THE INTERESTS THE INTERESTS PROTECTING AND RETIRED OF ACTIVE LETTER CARRIERS rst term was the fi Obama’s President shift in focus that occurred premature elections. after the 2010 mid-term on address- Rather than concentrate putting people ing the jobs crisis and and the White back to work, Congress attention to reduc- House shifted their ing the huge federal budget defi instead. It was as if the budget defi had caused the economic crisis instead had caused the economic crisis instead of the other way around. the pensions and health benefi over the years. When the increased 1980s under in the early cit soared defi Ronald Reagan, we had to President through than a decade ght for more fi pension ben- the mid-1990s to protect ts, COLAs and health benefi efi letter carriers, postal workers and other letter carriers, postal workers and other for federal employees became targets budget-cutters. This was nothing new. had to defend our benefi have We every time the budget defi cuts from enacted a series of cuts as Congress defi When the Obama administration took ce, it inherited a federal budget defi offi than $1 trillion annually—tax cit of more had plummeted when the receipts economy crashed. The defi even higher with the major economic stimulus bill enacted in 2009. 2012, the new Republican majority in under the House of Representatives, the leadership of Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (who would be running mate af- named Mitt Romney’s ter our Minneapolis convention), called for massive spending cuts, including major hits on our health and retirement Ryan supported ts. Although benefi radical plans to privatize Medicare (turning voucher it into an underfunded for private insurance) and to program ts (by capping the slash FEHBP benefi in governmentincrease contributions to ne the ned—including OST OF THIS PUBLICATION WILL PUBLICATION OST OF THIS from be composed of reports regional various national and

cers, but in this ﬁ rst chapter, I wish rst chapter, cers, but in this ﬁ

Because the Postal Service is a But it doesn’t stop there. Congress Congress stop there. But it doesn’t has meant This overriding reality

CARRIERS AND THE POSTAL SERVICE POSTAL AND THE CARRIERS M II. LEGISLATIVE FOCUS: PROTECTING LETTER LETTER PROTECTING FOCUS: II. LEGISLATIVE offi offi work of the to highlight the excellent departments national Headquarters’ a more rst provide I will fi and staff. of my own activi- detailed discussion on protecting ties, which have focused of the interests the Postal Service and legislative process, letter carriers in the work collective-bargaining the union’s our union to strengthen and our efforts for the future. federal institution subject to the control and oversight of the United States virtually every aspect of its Congress, operations, including its labor rela- tions, is determined by the legislative How the Postal Service is process. how it sets its pricing, how regulated, universal service is defi the frequency and mode of delivery—all the frequency Its decisions on depend on Congress. these matters have huge implications for letter carriers and our job security. also has a say on some of the most important matters to letter carriers and their families: the kind of pension coverage we have, the quality and cost of our health insurance, our rights to What collectively. and bargain organize can take gives us, Congress Congress away. that the NALC has had to be deeply involved in the political and legisla- for all of its 125 years. We tive process have needed to focus not just on the of our members as employees interests of the federal government, also on but and viability of our em- the strength have ce/USPS. We the Post Offi ployer, then: as historically taken on two roles letter of active and retired protector carriers and as defender of a Postal high- Service capable of providing and universal postal affordable quality, helps defi rst role services. The fi quality of our jobs; the second helps determine whether we have jobs at all. Over the past two years, letter carriers have been quite active on both fronts. to injury. The off-budget Postal Service and newspapers are more likely to be chairman of the Oversight and Govern- and its employees were thankfully ex- read if delivered on the weekend, direct ment Reform Committee in the House empt from these blows, but we shared mailers who want coupons and ads to of Representatives. Fortunately, thanks the disgust the country felt toward arrive on Saturdays when people do to NALC activists there are many more those who caused the crisis. most of their shopping, and prescrip- members of Congress who oppose A two-year budget deal was reached tion drug distributors who can’t have slashing the quality of service by elimi- to fund the government through the medicines sitting around in warehouses nating six-day delivery. 2014 election, and the sequestration over long weekends while seniors wait In both the 112th and 113th Con- cuts were reduced, but the dysfunc- for them. If we don’t provide Saturday gresses, NALC, along with the Na- tional Congress remains in place and delivery, these mailers will go else- tional Rural Letter Carriers’ Association letter carriers are not out of the woods. where. New competitors will arise and (NRLCA), helped build in the House Throughout this period, congressional demand the right to deliver on Sat- of Representatives bipartisan major- opponents of the Postal Service and its urdays as well as the right to deposit ity coalitions against cutting back to employees have attempted to use the items in the household mailboxes. fi ve-day service. In the months after we budget and appropriations process to By abandoning Saturday delivery, the adjourned in Minneapolis, the pro-six- downsize the USPS by authorizing the Postal Service might cut costs, but it day “sense of the House” resolution postmaster general’s plan to eliminate also would lose business. (H. Res. 137) authored by Rep. Sam Saturday mail delivery. The NALC has A study done by the Opinion Re- Graves (R-MO) gained 222 co-spon- been forced to rise to the occasion time search Corporation for the Postal sors. (This helped derail Issa’s disas- after time to stop that disastrous plan. Service in 2012 found that the USPS trous postal bill, H.R. 2309.) plan would cut costs by $3 billion but Once the new Congress came into THE BATTLE TO SAVE reduce revenue by even more—$5 bil- offi ce in January 2013, Graves reintro- SATURDAY DELIVERY… lion annually. Worse, the USPS would duced his resolution, now known as effectively create competitors for itself. H. Res 30, and over months of hard AND THE POSTAL SERVICE And those competitors would not be work, grassroots activists in the two Philadelphia will mark the third content to deliver only on Saturdays. delivery unions recruited 222 co-spon- convention in a row in which the NALC They would demand the right to deliver sors for it (at this writing)—a majority will be battling the Postal Service over every day of the week eventually. They of the House of Representatives that the issue of Saturday delivery. For the would demand deregulation that would included at least 40 House Republicans green-eyeshaded bureaucrats and cost destroy our universal service system, at this writing. This strong support for accountants at L’Enfant Plaza, Satur- as we have seen in other countries that six-day delivery has been crucial to our day delivery is a cost, plain and simple: have deregulated. And even if we could efforts to successfully fi ght off repeated “There’s less mail, so let’s cut service.” keep our publicly regulated monopoly, attempts in Congress to cut 80,000 full- For us, Saturday delivery is the Postal new competitors would demand ac- time and part-time postal jobs (mostly Service’s competitive advantage over cess to Americans’ mailboxes. Losing city and rural carriers) by eliminating private competitors and a key asset the Mailbox Statute would doom the Saturday service: in the country’s economic infrastruc- Postal Service’s ability to enforce the • In September 2012, Issa failed ture—our universal, last-mile delivery public service monopoly that makes af- to remove the six-day mandate from network. Its value will only grow as fordable universal mail service possible. the continuing resolution (CR) that e-commerce grows exponentially in the Former Postmaster General Jack funded the government through decades ahead. And while the Board of Potter fi rst fl oated the idea of eliminat- March 2013. He went to the House

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS Governors can’t seem to think past the ing six-day delivery during the early Rules Committee to try to prohibit next ﬁ nancial quarter, we are thinking crisis months of the Great Recession, the mandate as a violation of House years ahead. This is a matter of busi- when mail volume was plummeting by rules, since it has been included in ness strategy and political economy. double digits. That panicked reaction appropriation bills not approved by The reason the Postal Service may to the crisis earned Potter a vote of no the Postal Service’s oversight com- be best placed to capture the majority conﬁ dence from the delegates at the mittee since 1983. Working with Rep. of e-commerce deliveries to American 2010 Anaheim Convention. Then his JoAnne Emerson (R-MO), a leader on households is that it visits every house successor, Patrick Donahoe, took up the House Appropriations Committee, every day to deliver letters, advertise- the cause with zeal and stubbornness we were able to block the attack. ments and magazines. That shared that defy logic. He crafted a recovery • In March 2013, Congress en- network makes it possible to be the plan—the “shrink to survive” strategy acted another CR to fund the gov- low-cost provider of package delivery. mentioned above—with elimination of ernment through Sept. 30, 2013, the Giving up that advantage makes no Saturday delivery at its heart. He has end of Fiscal Year 2013, and NALC business sense. spent the past four years doing all he used its e-Activist Network to help Meanwhile, according to the Postal can to implement it, by any means defeat an attempt by Sens. Tom Service’s own market research, nearly necessary, legal or illegal. Coburn (R-OK) and John McCain 40 percent of its customers want and And Donahoe has had a few powerful (R-AZ) to strip the six-day require- value Saturday delivery—especially allies in Congress to support him, most ment from the legislation.

publishers who know that magazines importantly, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), • After the federal government’s

14 The Postal Record | July 2014 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS 15 ghts lay Our allies in Con- the Delivering for America website. joined also gress and the protests, dozens of politicians issued statements denounc- ing the Donahoe scheme to go Congress. around Rep. Gerry Con- called nolly (D-VA) on the Govern- ment Accountabil- ce (GAO) to ity Ofﬁ The Postal Record

July 2014 | July On March 21, 2013, the GAO issued On March was being Indeed, as this report investigate the Postal Service’s bogus investigate the Postal Service’s law- NALC’s legal claims of authority. to court had to go prepared yers were Donahoe gone forward. that totally dismantled the a report legal claims and concluded PMG’s that the USPS could not unilaterally delivery if Congress eliminate Saturday enacted a CR similar to CRs adopted the PMG to in the past. Issa urged nding, but after dithering the fi ignore bosses for several weeks, Donahoe’s of Governorsat the Board announced It was a that USPS would obey the law. big victory for NALC and its allies. But as discussed above, that was just the ghts on this—all of beginning of our fi fi the budget and appropriation ahead of us. to new threats we faced prepared, delivery—a stand-alone bill Saturday in May 2014 Issa was introduced from to implement the postal proposals ght Dona- As luck would have it, we had a na- to do with the pending appropriations legislation and its included six-day mandate. Invoking a novel and falla- cious legal theory, Donahoe effectively claimed that the USPS was not bound by congressional continuing resolu- tions. With Issa’s backing, the PMG basically claimed, that he outrageously, I have never been was above the law. of the way our union re- proud more vowed to mobilize in the sponded. We and, if need be, in Congress in streets, exactly the federal courts. And that’s what we did. tional rap session scheduled for Feb. 9 days after Dona- in Las Vegas—three Club announcement—to Press hoe’s talk about our new contract with the used the meeting to Postal Service. We set into action a plan to fi organized illegal power grab. We hoe’s the of sites across at hundreds protests attracting local and national country, media coverage. In many parts of the Northeast and Midwest, hundreds of carriers and friends braved winter weather to educate the public about plan. They were reckless the PMG’s joined by thousands of private citi- zens, small-business owners, veterans and others who joined our campaign the Postal Service at to strengthen cit. The • In December 2013 and January rst re-opened the government, andrst re-opened shutdown in October 2013, we hadin October 2013, we shutdown ght to keep Saturday fi to once again CRs: one thattwo more delivery in fi funded the governmenta second that During the Sept. 30, 2014. through nd an alternative to negotiations to fi sequestration the 2011 Budget Act’s foughtfor 2014, House Republicans days mail delivery to make reduced package. We a part of the legislative postal three worked with the other alternative postalunions to offer six-day savings that preserved reform with Senateservice, and we worked PattyBudget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s to reject Murray (D-WA) the Postallatest attempt to downsize the defi Service to reduce Dec. 10 Murray-Ryan budget deal se- delivery for FY 2014. Saturday cured support forOur activists, the strong in the Housethe Graves resolution and the fact that the Postal Service no taxpayer money (and receives does not contribute to the therefore cit) helped make the difference. defi 2014, both Issa and House Major- tried ity Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) H.R. time. Issa introduced one more enacted recently 3801 to restore cost-of-living cuts for military retirees a restora- age 62, before who retire tion paid for by the elimination of Cantor tried to delivery. Saturday use the same “pay for” in a cynically fund a temporary ex- attempt ironic unemployment tension of emergency amazingly, ts. Yes, insurance benefi to “help” veterans by they proposed slashing jobs at USPS, the nation’s of vets, and then employers largest suggested we temporarily help the long-term unemployed by eliminating helped beat 80,000 postal jobs. We thanks in part back both proposals, to the excellent work of our legislative and political staff. The current postmaster general is The current nothing if not determined. In early 2013, was likely to seeing that Congress the mandate for six-day service renew (as it has for 30 years) Donahoe spoke Club in Washing- at the National Press ton on Feb. 6, launching his attack with almost no warning—he me only called He announced his inten- hours before. delivery in August tion to end Saturday decided 2013 no matter what Congress USPS Cash Cash Postition Position Has Has Improved Improved $ billions contained in President Obama’s 2014 Borrowing Capacity budget. Most of the administration’s $5.0 Cash $4.4 $4.5 proposals—to restructure the retiree $3.7 health pre-funding mandate, to make $4.0 permanent the 2014 exigent rate in- $3.5 $3.0 crease of 4.3 percent (approved by the $2.3 $2.5 $3.0 $2.0 $2.1 PRC in 2013), and to allow the USPS $2.0 to end Saturday delivery—had been $1.5 ignored for three years as the budget $1.0 $1.5 process collapsed into gridlock. $0.5 $1.2 Back in 2011, during the “grand $- bargain” budget talks between Can- FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 2Q 2014 FY 2014 tor and Vice President Joe Biden, Forecast the Obama administration had given into demands from the PMG and the 112th, H.R. 2748 in the 113th) that words, just as they were two years ago from House Republicans for the cut would effectively dismantle the Postal in Minnesota. in Saturday delivery. Going forward, Service, destroy 100,000 jobs (with To those not following the process despite our staunch opposition, the the elimination of Saturday and door closely, it may look as if we are not White House has included the cut in delivery) and attack our collective bar- making any progress. In fact, we have every budget since 2012. With his gaining rights, while leaving in place the made important progress toward our own bill stalled, Issa has threatened crushing and unaffordable mandate to ultimate goal of strengthening the to mark up selected portions of the pre-fund future retiree health benefi ts. Postal Service for the 21st century. postal proposals in the Obama budget In both cases, Issa’s bills were jammed First, we have changed the conver- for 2014—most notably, the proposal through his Oversight and Government sation about the future of the Postal to end six-day delivery. (Issa later Reform Committee on party-line votes Service by educating Congress on the changed his mind and introduced H.R. and then stalled due to a lack of sup- fi nancial recovery of recent years. Sec- 4670, a stand-alone bill to end door port in the full House. ond, we have built unity among the four delivery instead.) Similarly, on the Senate side of the postal unions by creating an alliance to Capitol, over the past two Congresses, The silver lining surrounding Issa’s fi ght for progressive reform and quality Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) has struggled. latest threats against Saturday delivery service. Third, we have built a consen- Seeking a fi libuster-proof bill with GOP is that the Obama administration has sus among the employee groups and support, he produced deeply fl awed agreed to discuss alternative propos- the largest mailers’ organizations and postal reform bills (S. 1789 in the 112th als for postal reform in next year’s trade associations on a package of Congress, and S. 1486 in the current budget. The 2013-2014 fi nancial reforms that would return the Postal 113th) that propose service cuts (to turnaround at the Postal Service and Service to long-term viability. Each area door delivery and, after a grace period a change of personnel at the Offi ce of of progress is worth considering as we of varying lengths, Saturday delivery), Management and Budget give us hope go forward. Federal Employees’ Compensation that we can turn the administration in Act (FECA) benefi t reductions, and CHANGING THE CONVERSATION our favor. unwelcome interference with our Two years ago, the conventional Of course, the fi ght to save Saturday collective-bargaining process. S. 1486 wisdom in Washington was still mostly delivery will continue until we resolve is an improved bill in some aspects that the Postal Service was “doomed.” the underlying crisis the Postal Service NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS (e.g., retiree health pre-funding), but it People knew that the Internet was faces, by enacting the right kind of retains unacceptable service cuts and killing the Postal Service, period—end comprehensive postal reform, a topic attacks on postal employees, and it of story. We have worked to battle this to which I turn next. adds a new unfair pre-funding mandate conventional wisdom in our media and (for workers’ compensation), plus and lobbying activities. In 2012, we could PROGRESS IN THE LONG an amendment from Sen. Rand Paul prove that pre-funding had accounted STRUGGLE FOR POSTAL (R-KY) to allow guns on postal prop- for 75 percent to 80 percent of the REFORM erty, an amendment that had effectively fi nancial losses reported by the USPS. stalled the bill for months at the time of Today, we can show that the Postal Casual observers would be forgiven this writing. Service would be profi table but for the for concluding that the period after So today, as in 2012, we have no pre-funding mandate (see the chart on the Minneapolis convention looks clear path forward on postal reform opposite page). Indeed, not only would remarkably like the two years before as we meet in Philadelphia. Neither the Postal Service have been profi table that convention. After all, the current the NALC nor the rest of the mail- in 2013 (with a surplus of $600 million), 113th Congress (2013-2014), like the ing industry can support the bills that but it had also racked up a surplus (be- 112th Congress (2011-2012), has failed have emerged from our committees in fore pre-funding) of more than $1 billion to produce workable postal reform. Congress, where they await fl oor action in the fi rst half of 2014. In both Congresses, Issa introduced in both houses. Today stalemate and We have also been able to show that

totally unacceptable bills (H.R. 2309 in legislative dysfunction are the catch- the Internet creates as much business

16 The Postal Record | July 2014 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS 17 $3.0 $3.2 $1.0 $0.3 $(2.7) $(2.4) $(1.3) $(0.6) Expenses The Postal Record

Non-Operating Non-Operating

Income Excluding Income Excluding July 2014 | July We offered the plan to Senate lead- the offered We was a solution The key to the plan the four As we worked together, ts. In the end, we did not get our plan ts. In the end, we did down our debt, and increase postal postal debt, and increase down our and new pricing through revenues freedoms. product as to Carper and Coburn,ers as well (respec- ranking member the chair and Homeland Security tively) of the Senate and Governmental Committee. Affairs as an alterna-The plan was presented demands to cut Saturday tive to Ryan’s with Murray. delivery in his negotiations showed crisis. We to the pre-funding FEHBP reforms how adopting sensible of drug, hospital to take full advantage under Medicare and medical coverage could wipe out the for postal annuitants ben- health retiree unfunded liability for efi nal budget deal, but we were in the fi happy it helped thwart the proposed delivery cuts. unions decided to formalize our alliance by adopting a statement of principles 2014. The statement commits in March a the unions to work together toward that common vision of postal reform the Postal Service as a will preserve to serve public institution organized also vowed to We the public interest. ght service cuts and any proposals fi or privatize postal work to outsource the alliance, in America. Since creating the four unions have worked together budget legislation and on postal reform, have tried to draft other activities. We when feasible. joint letters to Congress $0.1 $0.3 $(2.4) $(2.4) $(1.1) $(2.4) $(0.2) $(0.4)

Impact of Workers Impact of Workers Comp adjustments $0 Non-Operating Expenses Non-Operating $(1.4) $(5.5) $(5.6) $(8.4) $(2.8) $(5.6) $(11.1) Pre-funding Pre-funding (RHBPF) expense I and my counterparts at the APWU, I and my counterparts at the APWU, Retiree Healthcare Healthcare Retiree the four postal unions over legislative unions over legislative the four postal unions the two delivery strategy led other S. 1789 and the two to oppose That support its passage. unions to our capacity to division weakened bill and, to the demand improvements from to prevent our ability ultimately, the Senate a bill winning passage in service and job that called for massive anti-union our cuts. It also empowered a “get-out-of- opponents and gave to supporters who could card” jail-free by stance claim to take a pro-labor That unhappy supporting S. 1789. election of new experience, and the me drove leadership at the APWU, this year. approach to try a different I now place a much higher value on unity among the unions. I am pleased has that the new approach to report paid off. the NRLCA and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU) actually started working together in earnest in December 2013 when we met regularly to plot legislative strategy with respect to the Murray-Ryan budget talks his everlasting credit, (see above). To Guffey Cliff outgoing APWU President President-elect invited his successor, Mark Dimondstein, to take part in these consultations. The four unions plan that developed a postal reform problem, would solve the pre-funding surplus FERS funds to pay provide to build unity among the four postal among the four to build unity unions. In 2012, divisions between unions. In $(3.8) $(8.5) $(5.1) $(2.8) $(5.1) $(2.2) $(5.0) $(15.9) ogress is the the is ogress Income/ (Loss) USPS financial($billions) items non-operating by driven are results ea of pr AL ALLIANCE Challenging the conventional wisdom Challenging the conventional Another ar 2009 2010 2011 2012 2008 2007 1H 2014 2013 Year Net Reported work we have done since Minneapolis work we have done since Minneapolis (e-commerce deliveries) as it destroys as it destroys deliveries) (e-commerce etc.), and that Standard (bill payments, advertis- an excellent Mail remains Our message to Congress ing option. Postal is the same: The and the media and can be viable recovering Service is long as we do notfor the long-term, as rst- and last-mile fi weaken its invaluable networks. cannot Congress is important because the Postal Service x the problems fi rst understands those faces unless it fi dying, If the USPS is not problems. for should not be preparing Congress and pre- its funeral with downsizing to lower funding mandates designed of a hypotheti- the hypothetical cost taxpayer bailout. That is cal future with the bills now before the problem many politicians are Too Congress: legislating as if it is still 2009 and the in the face Postal Service is still reeling of technology and a housing collapse. The housing market and the economy and, thanks to an recovering slowly are boom, the USPS is recov- e-commerce nancial condition remains ering. Our fi in a fragile state, given the crushing is hope but there cost of pre-funding, positive future That more for the future. a different of quite reforms requires nature. BUILDING UNITY WITH A POST USPS pre-funding vs. of First Class Mail users in the banking S&P 500 companies’ savings for retiree health care obligations and services industries. We coalesced around our common opposition to H.R. USPS 51% 2748 and S. 1486 and focused on a more AT&T 25% targeted set of reforms that would put the USPS has already banked Deere & Co. 18% Postal Service on solid fi nancial ground Pfizer 15% $49 billion with the opportunity to grow in the future. for pre-funding Caterpillar 14% We adjusted our plan to reconcile it with United Parcel Service (UPS) 10% the differing views of the mailers on Verizon 10% postage rate-setting—providing for a short-term boost to rates, but essentially IBM 9% deferring the issue to the future when it General Electric 8% will be resolved at the Postal Regulatory Exxon Mobil 6% Commission in 2017, as required by cur- Johnson & Johnson 3% rent law. Most importantly, we set aside Boeing 1% all service cuts—no change to Saturday 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% delivery, no change to door delivery, and a halt to additional service standard In the private sector, pre-funding would be tracked as Other Post Employee Benefits (OPEB), which is what is compared here. Sources: USPS Financial Statements, Database of OPEB Liabilities for S&P 500 Index companies for year-end 2012, Milliman 2013 Pension Funding Study. changes. Our analysis of the plan shows that it This solidarity and unity have strength- brothers and sisters who face the threat can restore the Postal Service to con- ened all postal employees. of subcontracting. sistent profi tability, help pay down its On April 24, that strength was on Going forward, our alliance will work debt, make investments in new vehicles and products and avoid self-destructive display across the country as letter on advocating vote-by-mail and postal service cuts. The coalition is now work- carriers and mail handlers joined with banking among other services. We ing together to promote this alternative our brothers and sisters at the APWU believe that the USPS should innovate approach to reform. We are hopeful to fi ght Donahoe’s plan to outsource and grow to meet the evolving needs of that a labor-business coalition will help postal clerk jobs to low-wage, non- our society. Finding new ways to serve us build the kind of bipartisan support union workers at Staples, a major offi ce the country is a much better way to necessary to pass any legislation that products retailer. On that day, we joined plan for the future than planning for the affects such an important national insti- protests in dozens of cities across the agency’s funeral, which is the sour vi- tution like the Postal Service, even as country to send a message to the PMG sion offered by the postmaster general we understand that any such coalition and to Staples: No to privatization and and his supporters in Congress. is necessarily more fragile. no to weakening our existing post of- BUILDING A BROAD COALITION The outlook for reform remains murky fi ce network. FOR CONSENSUS REFORM at best. But the progress has been Although we do not oppose innova- real, thanks in part to the thousands of tion and believe in making it as easy The fi nal area of progress is the suc- letter carrier activists who have given to as possible for Americans to access cess we have had with building a broad COLCPE, responded to e-Activist mes- postal services, we cannot support coalition in the mailing industry for target- sages and engaged in the political pro- staffi ng USPS counters in retail shops ed postal reform. The plan we developed cess to protect their fellow letter carriers. with non-postal employees. We urged in December 2013 with the other unions In view of this progress and the Postal NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS the Postal Service to renegotiate the became the core of a consensus plan Service’s fragile recovery, I can confi - terms of its pilot project with Staples that we can offer Congress in the future. dently say that we are in a much stronger and to assign APWU members to do We took the lead over several months position today than we were in back in the work. Just as we welcomed the to have conversations with major seg- 2012. But it will take perseverance and support from our brothers and sisters ments of the mailing industry, including skill for us to bring the long struggle for in 2005 and 2006 to fi ght contract de- direct mailers, parcel shippers, magazine postal reform to a successful conclusion. livery service, NALC must support our publishers, printers and the whole range I’m betting on the NALC to win. III. BARGAINING FOR A CONTRACT WITH THE 21ST CENTURY POSTAL SERVICE Much of the story of the 2011 round history. The challenge we faced in the 2011 complicated the task of resisting of bargaining was discussed in Minne- 2011 round of bargaining was that the major demands for concessions from apolis. Just days after we adjourned in Postal Service reported record losses the USPS, particularly with respect to 2012, we entered into an interest arbi- due to the economic crash in 2008, and the size and terms of compensation

tration process for the sixth time in our the agreement reached by the APWU in for non-career workers. We tried really

18 The Postal Record | July 2014 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS 19 - ll va- exibles (PTFs) The Postal Record

July 2014 | July While the award provided a path provided While the award n r b business hours (including evenings (including evenings business hours h r n and Sundays). For NALC, the CCA For NALC, the and Sundays). a e rs d workforce is still a work in progress a work in progress is still workforce w m p that has dominated the collective- that has dominated union since work of the bargaining t b January 2013. Ja a to career employment, it did not employment, it did to career to n In August 2013, we entered into In August 2013, we entered specify the timeline and mechanismspecify the timeline and s We also agreed to two other MOUs agreed also We MOUs was set Each of these three date, implementation of the To for conversions to fi ll thousands ofll thousands for conversions to fi The NALC recognizes that our The NALC recognizes fo career vacancies and opportunities.career to fi ned process needed a defi We ca W cancies with part-time fl cancies with part-time c ea and CCAs converted to full-time careerand CCAs converted a status. We also recognized the need also recognized status. We stat or to open the door for transfers that hadto open the door for to o been pending in the eReassign systembeen pending in the bee for months—and, in some cases, evenfor months—and, in years. f y Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) ned the process M-01824, which defi in our craft. vacancies lling residual for fi This MOU allowed many transfers to fi and it has resulted nally be processed, in thousands of PTF and CCA conver- status. sions to full-time career period that (1) waived the probationary for CCAs converted to full-time career status if they had successfully served their before as city carrier TEs directly initial CCA appointment, and (2) allowed the parties at the local levels to elect whether employees converted during the middle of a calendar quarter list. could sign the overtime desired 31, 2014. On that day, March to expire MOUs through we extended the three 2015, incorporating changes 31, March ca- full-time regular more that provided opportunities and giving a greater reer conversions priority to CCA career within installations. in nearly 5,000 MOUs has resulted PTFs and close to 10,000 CCAs being status. converted to full-time career TAKING ADVANTAGE OF ADVANTAGE TAKING ADVANTAGE OUR LAST-MILE IN PARCELS last-mile advantage—the fact that we six days a visit 152 million addresses week—gives us a huge leg up in the The booming world of e-commerce. at most 20 private companies reach exible group The changes called for by the Das also implemented a long- The award It also produced a fair deal for the It also produced THE DAS AWARD, CCAS AND CCAS AWARD, THE DAS THE NEW CARRIER WORK- STRUCTURE FORCE dramatic. It eliminated the were award transitional employee (TE) category of in workers that was created non-career ending 1993 by the Mittenthal Award, a category of employees who had no employees. chance of becoming career city the non-career created The award carrier assistant (CCA) position, following a patternthe APWU established by a new path to contract, but provided employment for these CCAs career (something the APWU contract did not do for its so-called PSEs). of a time goal of the NALC: creation workforce. full-time career 100-percent portion of The bulk of the workforce focused on the creation the award fl of CCAs, a lower-cost, of workers designed to cover leave letter carriers for career replacement and to meet fundamental changes in such as de- the business environment, liveries of packages outside of normal (see the “Overview” section above). win all of our battles, but we didn’t We a fair produced believe the process contract for letter carriers as a whole. Postal Service. Evidence of this is that the new contract has allowed the one of the most from USPS to recover devastating economic collapses in the history of the United States. cient efforts to save the Postal efforts Service during the crisis; by maintaining the integrity and of our wage schedule keeping our COLA clause; the tracting achieved in contract; preceding letter carriers; and non-career future letter carriers to capture package delivery. in growth • carriers for their reward • of living defend our standard • the ban on subcon- retain • jobs for a path to career create • position the Postal Service and was chaired The arbitration board we followed was unique inThe process NALC called on multiple witnesses to efforts to the tireless Thanks largely hard in bargaining to think ahead to to think ahead in bargaining hard of the mailing structure the changing mail knew that letter industry—we but continue to decline volume would huge opportunities were that there e-com- in the burgeoning to exploit in market. Our major goals merce ones we the same arbitration were had for bargaining: arbitrator named by a well-respected known Shyam Das, who was already to both parties due to his work on our national rights arbitration panel. Das had an excellent understanding of the Postal Service and the work of letter carriers. the history of postal impasse procedures. Most of the evidence and most of the submit- both parties, were exhibits, from ted in written form. Extensive evidence supporting both parties’ positions was record. into the and entered prepared on the impact of pre- testimony provide nances, the efforts funding on USPS’ fi letter carriers made to help the Postal in the most effi Service adjust routes and fair manner possible, and the level by FedEx,ts provided of pay and benefi UPS and other comparable employers. bold and innovative The union offered as an alternative reforms tohealth care demands for pay the Postal Service’s and a two-tier wage schedulefreezes annual and sickalong with reduced extensive rebut- also provided leave. We tal evidence to counter the testimony of USPS expert witnesses. legal team cers, staff, offi of the NALC’s and expert witnesses, the Das award issued in January 2013 allowed us to meet most of our strategic goals for of bargaining round cult a quite diffi million addresses a day, fi ve days a cisco is a case in point. MetroPost was will be expanded to cover 7,000 ZIP week. The Postal Service’s growth in designed to offer local businesses the codes this summer. As it now stands, shipping over the past several years ability to offer same-day or next-day the Amazon deal is serving 2,000 ZIP shows the potential—our total shipping delivery to compete with huge online codes, averaging more than a quarter revenue increased from $7.8 billion on retailers such as Amazon and Best Buy. million deliveries every Sunday. 2007 to $12.5 billion in 2013 as our While NALC made every attempt to fa- With regard to e-commerce, the sky market share in residential package cilitate the success of the test, the pilot is the limit. The USPS should expand delivery rose from 14.2 percent to 23.5 fl opped due to a lack of preparation. the service to other retailers—just as percent over that period. Given that However, the USPS seems to be having we have unionized FedEx’s delivery e-commerce sales account for just 8.0 more success with a MetroPost test in operations with the packages we percent of total retail sales, the upside New York City. deliver for FedEx SmartPost, we should potential is enormous. The other pilot test that showed aim to unionize a portion of Walmart’s For that reason, we want to work ever more promise was the one with operation by delivering for that re- with the Postal Service as best we can Amazon to provide Sunday delivery of tail giant. There are many more retail to build a 21st-century Postal Service packages for its Amazon Prime cus- companies—big and small, national that will focus on direct mail and pack- tomers. The Postal Service has been and local—that we should try to serve. age delivery—and, it’s hoped, other delivering for Amazon for years. What’s Nobody has a better network than we civic services and commercial services new is Sunday and sometimes evening do. What we lack is the kind of vision- provided imperfectly by the private delivery. The test was begun in May ary management and business strategy sector. 2013 in various cities across the coun- that could reinvent the Postal Service The USPS does not always make try. It was expanded to 900 ZIP codes and the jobs of letter carriers for the it easy to cooperate with manage- in November 2013 in two metropolitan Internet age. To get that, we must ment. The unhappy experience with areas (New York and Philadelphia), and continue to build on the strengths of the MetroPost pilot test in San Fran- it proved so successful that the service the union. IV. BUILDING A STRONGER UNION... PREPARING FOR OUR SESQUINTENNIAL I would like to conclude the report on and the fi nancial crisis deepened. Our bers. Although TEs were paid at the my activities over the past two years bargaining unit was steadily shrinking same rate as PTFs, they had no path to by talking about how we are planning and, ahem, getting older—yours truly career status and our level of organiza- for the future. And by future, I don’t just included. Our craft and our member- tion among them was far below the mean this fall’s mid-term elections or the ship shrank by be- 93 percent to 94 2016 presidential election, or even the tween 10 percent percentpe organiza- 2016 round of bargaining—though we and 15 percent— tiontion rate for career are already preparing for those impor- not least because letterlet carriers. tant activities. Rather, I mean the next 25 the fi nancial crisis NALC The challenge years. This year’s milestone 125th anni- led postal man- ofof organizing versary leads me to think about how we agement to grossly CCAsCC was much

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS can position the NALC to be as strong understaff delivery City Carrier greatergr because at the next big milestone—our 150th operations across thereth are con- anniversary, or sesquicentennial—as we the nation, placing siderablysi more are today. Let me highlight four areas of tremendous pres- Assistant CCAsC allowed focus since the last convention: organiz- sure on our active underu the new ing the next generation of city carriers, members. contractc than strengthening our political and legislative That started to Rights thet number of capacities, investigating the need for change in 2013. The TEsT permitted structural reform in NALC, and imagin- creation of the CCA Beneﬁts& before.b In addi- ing the Postal Service of the future—let’s classiﬁ cation led to Updated April 2014 tion,t because say the Postal Service of the year 2039, a huge injection of CCAsC make for example. fresh blood into our up the pool of union—posing both future career ORGANIZING CCAS, an opportunity and a city carriers, ORGANIZING THE FUTURE challenge for organiz- theth stakes for ing a new kind of workforce. organizing CCAs were and are much Between 2007 and 2013, the pace of We faced the same challenge with higher. hiring in the Postal Service had slowed non-career TEs, to a certain extent, As I told my colleagues on the NALC Executive Council, organizing CCAs is to a trickle as mail volume plummeted and did “OK” with signing up TE mem-

20 The Postal Record | July 2014 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS 21 at the grassroots level. level. roots will also We use the funds to work with to work with Voice, Workers t W a the AFL-CIO’s the AFL-CIO’s so super PAC, t s r that we can that we can out to all reach t r e o working-class working-class voters, not w v just our own just our own members. And ju m we are experi- we are menting with m w tion campaigns tion campaigns using our funds using our funds to work with al- us t lied unions and lied unions and to organizations li o make targeted make targeted independent m ind The Postal Record

July 2014 | July But to really strengthen our political our political strengthen But to really At the Minneapolis Convention, we At the Minneapolis Convention, we

February 2014 expenditures in support of true cham- expenditures pions of the union movement. COLCPE we need to rebrand capacity, so that our members know what it does for them and their families. We can start by changing its name at the Philadelphia convention—we will ask the delegates for help on what that new name should be. I hope that a new name will make it easier to con- of our members vince 100 percent to do their part in the political and legislative work of the union—to give $5 per pay period and to get engaged It lobbying efforts. in our grassroots will also make it clear to the politi- the funds we cians we support where contribute come from—hard-working what letter carriers who represent is best about America. Raising our is game in raising funds for our PAC just the beginning; we must look for our union other ways to strengthen over the next 25 years. STRENGTHENING THE STRENGTHENING AND STRUCTURE NALC’S OPERATIONS began a discussion about the future using our PAC to simply give con- to simply PAC using our In- to friendly candidates. tributions want to use the funds we creasingly, activists to letter carrier to release and educa- registration work on voter

—PAGES 12–79

Volume 127/Number 2

for carriers’

Opening doors

COLCPE friends and issues

The monthly journal of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS But as the challenges we face have have challenges we face But as the At this convention, I also want loose in America forces are There have been moving away from We increased in diffi culty and complexity, and complexity, culty in diffi increased ways to keep improving nd we must fi couple of Over the past our capacity. to inter- made it a point years, I have our leg- view all of islative state chairs to learn about working what’s We not. and what’s have begun to re- the way structure we do legislative training—shifting the focus to the the way eld—and fi we will use our in resources eld fi We’ve the future. consultants hired to help us review our communica- tion and messag- ing operations and we will be implementing improvements this year—including a fully website and social media redesigned platform for the future. to enlist the help of delegates to our political action fund, strengthen that can be proud COLCPE. We nearly 30,000 NALC members give to COLCPE. But that means that 90 do not give to COLCPE. That percent is simply not good enough—espe- and cially in an age of “super PACs” United ruling by the the Citizen’s must educate Court. We Supreme our members about the risks we face our jobs, our pen- in Congress—to ts, and to our sions and health benefi rights. collective-bargaining that want to take these things from is in Con- us, and the battleground Since we cannot use dues gress. ourselves from money to protect on we must rely these threats, COLCPE contributions. I am con- who vinced that if the 90 percent give now understood the risks don’t of our political system, and realities they would gladly contribute. So give must be those of us who already leaders to educate our fellow carriers on the need to contribute. lia- cers. The NALC can be rightly proud of of The NALC can be rightly proud So we went to work. We created created We So we went to work. for developed a special guide We to expended the resources We And, of course, we continue to com- The work is not done, but we have the country, all across importantly, More its tradition in political action. The its tradition in political action. The no women present) were men (there who founded the union in 1889 were experienced activists who had lob- for years to provide bied Congress ts for Civil benefi and then to improve veterans such as themselves. War Postal Strike, Vince Next to the Great legacy may greatest Sombrotto’s have been the sophisticated legisla- eld operation he tive and political fi built at NALC Headquarters. IMPROVING OUR POLITICAL OUR POLITICAL IMPROVING CAPACITY AND LEGISLATIVE not just about collecting dues to help collecting dues not just about face today; the epic battles we ght fi of the the future organizing about it’s simply could that we NALC. I argued of affi the lower level not to accept accepted with TEs. tion we long for CCAs, program a new organizing TEs rst on assisting existing focusing fi carrier exam to with taking the city CCA and then gain eligibility for future employment. career rights under the CCAs to explain their and we produced 2011-2016 contract, to explain a video for new employees the value of NALC membership. and to track our deploy organizers the country. across progress to expedite cant resources mit signifi the conversions of CCAs to career. early indications that our organizing as both rate among CCAs is increasing members have risen CCAs and career to the task. Although paid at a lower entry rate, our CCAs, who now have a joining are path, ned career clearly defi the union at a much higher rate than did TEs, and we fully expect the orga- of CCAs to approach nizing percentage so carriers in the future, that of career together. long as we keep working hard getting involved with NALC,CCAs are helping with the Food Drive, raising money Associationfor the Muscular Dystrophy lobby- (MDA), signing up to do grassroots ing, and becoming branch activists, shop and even local branch offi stewards This bodes well for our future. of the NALC, its structure, and pos- We have been pushing back as Service to offer services to those rely- sible reforms we might consider to hard as we can. We have called the ing on the expensive shadow system. become more effi cient and effective Board of Governors on their relent- It predicted the USPS could earn in the face of a declining membership less pessimism and lack of vision. $8.9 billion annually while providing and, paradoxically, growing needs for We have challenged the postmaster better services to the “unbanked.” union action to protect the interests general and other leaders to think The report garnered a huge amount of letter carriers. The debate we about using our existing networks to of attention, and political leaders began in Minneapolis, which gener- provide new services to the Ameri- such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) ated dozens of ideas for reorganizing can people. Let me give you one have enthusiastically endorsed the our conventions, our regions and our example. OIG’s ideas. activities, has continued in NALC In one of my fi rst speeches as pres- How did the Postal Service react Executive Council meetings over the ident of the NALC in 2009, I called to this development? Incredibly, both past two years. for using the the postmaster To advance that discussion further, I Postal Service’s general and have appointed a special review com- 35,000 post the chief fi - mittee, made up of branch, state and offi ces as the nancial offi cer national leaders, to report on these retail network rejected post- matters to the Philadelphia conven- of a national ala banking tion. We will add some data to the infrastructure outo of hand. ideas we discussed and will seek to bank. That bank TheyT did so deepen the debate and create a pro- could funnel evene though cess that will lead to solid proposals the money in ppostal bank- for reform in the future. Our goal will postal sav- iingn has taken be to create a more powerful union ings accounts ooff all over the so that letter carriers can shape their into national wworld in recent destinies together. infrastruc- yeyears—in ture bonds FrFrance, Italy, IMAGINING THE POSTAL to rebuild our NNew Zealand SERVICE OF THE 21ST highways, anand Brazil— CENTURY bridges, ports, prproviding fi nan- rail stations ciacial stability in a In the 20th century, most unions and electrical titimem of techno- accepted a rough division of labor be- grids. It could llogicalog change. tween themselves and management. also provide NNALCA and Managers made business decisions low-cost fi - APAPWU are now and unions focused on getting the nancial services actactively working best terms and conditions possible to Americans who have been aban- to organize a national conference on for their members. That division of doned by the nation’s private banks postal banking this fall. Perhaps we labor might have worked back then, (in rural and inner-city areas). I got can convince someone from postal even for the NALC and other postal polite applause and some interest on headquarters to attend. unions. But it certainly won’t work Capitol Hill. The Postal Service was The lesson I have drawn from this

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS in the 21st century. The future of our not interested. is that it is up to us. We cannot count employer is too important to leave Then earlier this year, the USPS on the current Postal Service manage- in the hands of postal management. Offi ce of the Inspector General (OIG) ment or its Board to save the USPS. That is not a frivolous statement, issued a report that concluded that We have to do it ourselves. We have thrown out to elicit knowing chuckles. the Postal Service already has the to get strong enough and mobilize That is a serious imperative for the authority to provide non-bank fi nan- enough allies and enough of the public leaders of this union—the men and cial services (payment services and to force change in Congress. We need women assembled in Philadelphia. small-scale savings vehicles, but not a new governance structure and new Left to its own devices, the execu- commercial loans and mortgages). management. But most of all, we need tive management of the Postal Service Even more interesting, the OIG found some imagination and a willing NALC has proven over the past four years that tens of millions of Americans partner at L’Enfant Plaza. that it is incapable of rethinking the fu- without bank accounts spend nearly That is the challenge for the next ture of the USPS. It has accepted the $90 billion annually on high-cost two years and for the next 25 years conventional wisdom that the USPS fi nancial services from check cashing as well. That is the mission we must must simply shrink. It sees six-day stores, payday loan companies and embrace in Philadelphia. If we do, I delivery as a burden, not a network pawn shops—a kind of shadow bank- am confi dent that we will extend our asset. It sees letter carriers as a cost ing system of non-banks. 125-year streak of service, solidar- component, not the source of creativ- The OIG report put two and two ity and progress to well beyond our

ity and innovation we know we can be. together and called on the Postal sesquicentennial year.

22 The Postal Record | July 2014