Rep. Issa Introduces Postal Legislation
APWU Urges ‘No’ Vote on ‘Deeply Disturbing’ Bill 
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) officially introduced postal legislation on July 19, which will be voted on by the House Committee of Oversight and Government Reform on July 24. The bill (H.R. 2748 [PDF]) includes some minor modifications from a discussion draft Rep. Issa circulated in June, but is still “deeply disturbing,” APWU President Cliff Guffey said.
Although the revised bill omits the requirement to re-open contract negotiations to immediately eliminate protection against layoffs, which was included in the discussion draft, the revised bill would prohibit postal unions and management from negotiating protection against layoffs in future contracts; increase health insurance costs; limit collective bargaining rights; close post offices, stations and branches; consolidate plants, and privatize operations.
“The legislation as written is totally unacceptable,” Guffey said.
At the national level, union officers are discussing specifics of the bill with legislators and asking them to oppose it. The APWU outlined its objections to the bill in a July 22 letter [PDF] to Rep. Issa and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the ranking minority party member on the panel.
Legislative and Political Director Gary Kloepfer also urged union members to get involved. “We are calling on APWU members whose U.S. representatives serve on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to contact them and urge them to vote ‘no’ on July 24,” he said.
“This bill would have a devastating effect on the Postal Service and on postal employees, as well as the American people,” Kloepfer said. “We must do everything we can to stop it.”
To contact your representative by phone, call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.
The biggest one problem is this paying in advance for employee health care (cash cow). I retired from APWU in 2003 10 yrs. later I would think most CSRS employees are at a minimum and FERS employees are the norm. Under FERS health care is provided by Medicare since the employees pay into medicare. Unlike CSRS most FERS employees won’t be able to retire until their approx. 62 or older with the 401 k dictating if the employee has a enough money to retire.
FERS pays into SSI and Medicare so I don’t understand this 5 billion pay out to the government every year. What prepaid health care are they talking about since the majority will be covered by their contribution to medicare from their pay checks. If this Russian roulette 401k plan goes as I see it (lost 20+%) a yr or so ago most employees will retire close to 65 yrs. old and would be covered by medicare,. Congress a number of year back tried to setup SSI under a 401k setup but dropped the idea stating it was to risky (like gambling) but you know what they gave it to the Postal Employees instead. Now they must suffer for congresses mismanagement. Dan Anderson – retired postal employee