More than one hundred mail handlers from across the country gathered in Washington, DC on May 8 and 9 to participate in the NPMHU’s Legislative Conference for the 113thCongress.  The first day of the two-day Legislative Conference was filled with important programs and speakers, and on the second day mail handlers went up to Capitol Hill to meet with their representatives on important postal and employee benefit issues currently on the agenda of Congress.

 The first day included a full training program, with a host of speakers highlighting both the substance of USPS issues now facing Congress and the politics underlying these issues.  National President John Hegarty and National Secretary-Treasurer Mark Gardner opened the program by highlighting the importance of the NPMHU’s representation on Capitol Hill, noting in particular that year-round legislative and political involvement must be part of the commitment made by all NPMHU activists.  The program also included appearances by a host of experts on postal issues that are currently being debated in the nation’s capital.  Among the featured speakers were Congressman Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA), a key member of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee; Congressman Michael Grimm (R-NY), a crucial supporter of mail handlers and other postal employees living and working on Staten Island, NY; and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the author and sponsor of one of the postal reform bills (S. 316) fully supported by the NPMHU.  Important presentations also were made by Terry O’Sullivan, General President of LIUNA; by Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO; by Bevin Power-Albertani and Dave Hickey, political specialists with LIUNA; and by several key representatives from other unions with whom the NPMHU coordinates its legislative efforts, including Paul Swartz from the NRLCA and Myke Reid from the APWU.  The conference was coordinated by the NPMHU’s Legislative & Political Director, Bob Losi.

          The second day of the Conference allowed mail handlers to meet with Members of Congress and their professional staff.  During those meetings, mail handlers expressed their support for the Postal Service Protection Act of 2013, S. 316 and H.R. 630.  These identical bills – introduced by Senator Sanders and Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) – already have 25 co-sponsors in the Senate, and 146 bi-partisan co-sponsors in the House.  If adopted, these bills would:

-      end the pre-funding mandate of the Retiree Health Benefit Fund, which now that requires the USPS to make 75 years of retiree healthcare benefit payments over a 10-year period, a burden no other government agency or private company is forced to bear.

-      allow the Postal Service to recover over-payments it previously has made to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS).

-      re-establish overnight delivery standards for first-class mail, which would ensure timely delivery schedules and help keep mail processing facilities open.

-      protect six-day delivery.

-      permit the USPS to develop innovative products and services that would generate new sources of revenue, such as issuing licenses, ending the prohibition on beer and wine shipments, and providing notary services.

-      ensure security for rural post offices by giving the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) binding authority to prevent post offices from being closed based on the effect such closures would have

-      establish the position of the Chief Innovation Officer and a Postal Innovation Advisory Commission, to develop a comprehensive strategy for maximizing USPS revenue through innovative postal and non-postal products and services.

For further information, please become a legislative activist through the NPMHU website at www.npmhu.org.