{"id":4822,"date":"2012-07-26T21:33:34","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T02:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=4822"},"modified":"2012-07-26T21:33:34","modified_gmt":"2012-07-27T02:33:34","slug":"apwu-says-congress-failure-pushes-usps-to-brink-of-default","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2012\/07\/26\/apwu-says-congress-failure-pushes-usps-to-brink-of-default\/","title":{"rendered":"APWU Says Congress\u2019 Failure Pushes USPS to Brink of Default"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The failure of House Republican leaders to take action to resolve the congressionally-manufactured USPS financial crisis has brought the Postal Service to the brink of default, APWU President Cliff Guffey is warning union members. A $5.5 billion payment is due to the U.S. Treasury on Aug. 1, but the Postal Service cannot make the payment.<\/p>\n

The default will have no immediate impact on mail delivery or employees\u2019 pay, Guffey noted.<\/p>\n

But the missed payment will focus attention on the Postal Service \u2014 and many of the pronouncements will be misleading or downright inaccurate, he warned. \u201cAlready there have been editorials calling for drastic cutbacks and privatization,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cMost of these misguided editorials fail to recognize the cause of the Postal Service\u2019s financial difficulties, so they can\u2019t possibly advocate a reasonable solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the default won\u2019t have immediate consequences for mail delivery or pay, the Postal Service\u2019s precarious financial situation has forced the USPS to begin the process of closing half of the nation\u2019s mail processing centers, scaling back overnight mail delivery, and slashing hours at post offices, the union president pointed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be this way,\u201d Guffey said. \u201cDespite what some would have us believe, the Internet is not kill\u00ading the Postal Service \u2014 and neither are costs associated with postal operations. In fact, the USPS continues to be an engine that drives our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The primary source of USPS financial difficulties is a 2006 law \u2014 the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act \u2014 that requires the Postal Service to pre-fund retiree health benefits 75 years into the future, and to do so in a 10-year period. No other government agency or private company bears this crushing burden. Since it was implemented in 2007, it has drained the Postal Service of more than $20 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese payments \u2014 not the Internet and not losses from postal operations \u2014 are responsible for 82 percent of USPS red ink since the law was implemented,\u201d Guffey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe postal debacle is a manufactured crisis, and it is being exploited by those who want to privatize the Postal Service,\u201d he said. \u201cThe House Republican leadership\u2019s bill to \u2018fix\u2019 the Postal Service couldn\u2019t be clearer.\u201d<\/p>\n

H.R. 2309, which was introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), would require the USPS to close hundreds of plants, shut tens of thousands of rural post offices, end Saturday delivery, and empower a financial control board to tear up union contracts. \u201cIt would destroy the Postal Service as we know it,\u201d Guffey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill is so bad \u2014 as APWU members and oth\u00aders have shown \u2014 that House Republican leaders are reluctant to bring it up for a vote before the election,\u201d Guffey added.<\/p>\n

\u201cRep. Issa\u2019s bill will not save the Postal Service; it would ensure its demise. Yet, with typical twisted logic, Rep. Issa portrays attempts to correct the pre-funding fiasco as a \u2018bailout,\u2019\u201d Guffey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly, the Postal Service must innovate to adapt to the digital age,\u201d he added. \u201cBut the Postal Service cannot modernize while it is struggling to survive this crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHouse GOP leaders are abandoning you \u2014 and their responsibility to address the USPS crisis,\u201d Guffey said. \u201cTheir failure demonstrates once again how crucial it is to change the political dynamic in our country. APWU members must help wrest control of the House from extremists who seek to destroy the USPS. Union mem\u00adbers must vote in November, and they must be actively involved in the run-up to the election encouraging their families, friends and neighbors to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The failure of House Republican leaders to take action to resolve the congressionally-manufactured USPS financial crisis has brought the Postal Service to the brink of default, APWU President Cliff Guffey is warning union members. A $5.5 billion payment is due to the U.S. Treasury on Aug. 1, but the Postal Service cannot make the payment. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking","category-apwu-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4822"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4825,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4822\/revisions\/4825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}