Tag Archives: NALC

Who thinks we should feed hungry Americans?

  By Liz Iacobucci | May 10, 2013 - 6:25 am | , , , ,
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REMINDER: The 21st Annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive is today, Saturday, May 11th. Please leave non-perishable food items by your mailbox and your postal carrier will deliver them to the local food pantry or food bank.

So this is where we are, these days, in this great country of ours:

DSC_9969Almost 15% of Americans were “food insecure” last year. That means one in seven families went hungry sometimes, because they didn’t have enough money to buy food.

Last month, Congress carved out exemptions to the “across-the-board” federal budget cuts known as The Sequester. What did they exempt? Defense spending, of course – and also the FAA, because furloughing air traffic controllers caused (gasp!) travel delays. But Congress kept the cuts to food pantries, Meals on Wheels, and other supplemental nutrition programs.

This month, Congress is debating the Farm Bill. Guess what they’ve already agreed on? The Food Stamp program is going to get cut. It’s only a question of how much. Senate Democrats plan to cut the program by (only?) $400 million. House Republicans want to cut it by about $2 Billion.

Sooo… Congress thinks feeding hungry Americans is a budget problem?! Gosh. Wonder where else in the budget that money could come from. Golly, the Joint Committee on Taxation has some ideas.

  • Maybe corporate tax policies? Who knew that corporations pay reduced rates on their first $10 million of income? The Joint Committee estimates that one policy will cost the federal government $3.7 Billion in revenue next year. Maybe that could pay for Food Stamps?
  • Or how about the way Congress taxes investment income? Current tax law treats investment income as if it’s waaaaaaaaay better than the wage income earned by working people. That policy is going to cost the federal government $91.3 Billion next year. And that could probably pay for a lot of Food Stamps.
  • How about all those corporate stock options that CEOs receive as “performance incentives”? Special tax treatment of those options will cost the federal government $300 million next year – not quite as much as the Senate wants to cut from Food Stamps, but hey, that money would still feed a few families, if it wasn’t subsidizing CEOs.

Budgets are all about priorities. Want to know what Congress’ priorities are? Just look at the Farm Bill and Sequestration and the Federal Budget.

2013_Stamp_Out_HungerAnd then there are the rest of us. Today is the annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive. Please put a bag of food out by your mailbox – your postal carrier will collect it and make sure it gets to a local food pantry or food bank.

Maybe if we collect enough food tomorrow – maybe if we could slow down the Postal Service the way FAA furloughs slowed down air travel – maybe Congress might actually notice that we care about hunger in America.

BTW, congratulations to the students at the Abbett Elementary School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This past week, they collected more than a ton of food for the “Stamp Out Hunger” drive.

They have their priorities straight.

I hope they all run for Congress when they grow up.

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NH Letter Carrier Risks His Own Life To Save Another From A Burning Building

  By Matt Murray | May 7, 2013 - 7:47 pm | , ,
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TonyMeme

Letter carrier have always held a special place in our hearts. It is the letter carrier who delivers our mail six days a week, but a letter carrier is much more than that. To children they can be like Santa Clause bringing gifts in the mail. To others they provide lifesaving medicine. For some the letter carrier is the only person they see every day.

For many years letter carriers have been our friends. We thank them with gifts and treats in our mailboxes at Christmas. We thank them for doing their job every day now matter what the weather may throw at them. Every day the mail gets through.

Letter carriers are also a part of our neighborhood watch program. Notifying the police if an elderly resident does not come to the door, or see that nobody has been at the house in days. They notice little things like a dog barking frantically, which alerts them to a possible problem.

On Saturday, Bill Kelly will be ever grateful to his letter carrier Tom Sapienza.

“Several people, including a mailman, ran into a burning building on Merrimack Street on Saturday looking for residents feared trapped in a fire…” (Union Leader)

Tom, a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers risked his own life to run into a burning building to look for residents. Not many people would think of the mailman as the first person to run into a burning building but that is exactly what Tom did. Then when it was over he went right back to doing what he does every day, delivering the mail.

TonyMeme“Sapienza, after being treated, returned to his postal truck, saying he wasn’t allowed to talk to reporters but wasn’t planning on going right home.

“I have to get back on my route,” Sapienza said. (Union Leader)

After risking his own life, he delivered all of the mail in his truck, all be it with a little delay.

Thank you Tommy for being an everyday hero.

Share this image on your facebook or click here to tweet.

 

Who cares about hungry families? Maybe not the Senate – but your letter carrier does

  By Liz Iacobucci | April 26, 2013 - 10:20 am | , ,
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2013_Stamp_Out_Hunger

Congress is getting really good at pulling together just-after-the-last-minute political deals.

The latest deal passed the Senate unanimously last night.  (What? No filibuster?)  Apparently everybody agreed it would be a good idea to give the Federal Aviation Administration a special exemption to Sequestration.

“Just days after forced unpaid leaves for controllers began, delaying thousands of flights — 876 flights were delayed on Wednesday alone” the Senate decided that maybe Sequestration wasn’t such a good idea after all – at least not when it starts to affect the traveling public.  Read more here.

The bill is expected to pass the House today.  FAA furloughs should be a thing of the past before the Senate goes on vacation next week.

Wow. That was fast. But it’s a real shame that the Senate doesn’t care as much about hungry families as it cares about flight delays.

Take the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program (WIC), for example.  Even while Congress was debating Sequestration, “a number of state and local WIC agencies took steps to reduce their costs.  For example, some clinics laid off staff…  Some states closed or consolidated clinics… Some clinics reduced service hours…  making it harder for low-income women to apply for benefits, especially working women.”  (Read more here.)  And when the dust finally settled on this year’s budget, Congress had appropriated 7% less funding for the WIC program than it received last year.

Sequestration cut federal funding to food pantries, even though the number of people relying on food pantries is still rising.  Some pantries are hoping local benefactors will fill in the gap.  Other pantries are just closing.

Around the nation, Meals on Wheels programs are feeling the cuts.  One program in North Carolina – which has 200 people on its waiting list – is losing funding equivalent to 12,000 meals.  In Maryland, another Meals on Wheels program may be forced to cut its service from five days a week to only four.

The Sequester has hit Federal unemployment benefits, too.  About 15% of unemployed workers now receive extended unemployment benefits that are funded by the federal government.  The Sequester means those benefits will be cut by about 11% for the rest of the fiscal year.  Families’ choices about food versus housing, and which overdue bill to pay this week, are about to get a lot harder.

None of these programs are even on the radar screen, as the Senate prepares to leave town for vacation.  But flight delays?  That got solved by the Senate in record time – unanimously, to boot.

Wow.  What does that say about the priorities of our Congress?  (Read “The Republicans Make an Offer on Sequestration” here.)

Now, look at the priorities of the National Association of Letter Carriers.  Going door-to-door every day, postal carriers know the hunger problem in America all too well.

For more than two decades, the NALC has held a one-day food drive to help restock food pantries across the country.  This effort “is the country’s largest one-day food-collection effort. Last year, we picked up more than 70 million pounds of non-perishable food donations, which brought our grand total from more than two decades of collections to 1.2 billion pounds.”

2013_Stamp_Out_HungerThis year’s NALC “Stamp out Hunger” food drive will be held Saturday, May 11th (the day before Mothers Day).  Don’t forget to leave your sack of non-perishables out by your mailbox.  Want more details?  Click here.

May 11th Support The 21st Annual “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive

  By Bill Brickley | April 22, 2013 - 7:00 am | , , , ,
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NALC Stamp Out Hunger --STAMP Date

NALC Stamp Out Hunger --STAMP DateThe National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO) will be holding their 21st annual food drive on Saturday, May 11th. On that day letter carriers will pick up non-perishable food as they deliver mail on their postal routes. The food donations collected will stay in the towns and cities where they are collected.

When we decided to take our food drive nationwide more than two decades ago, food banks and community service organizations told us that the best time for us to do it would be when people aren’t really thinking about it”, NALC President Fred Rolando noted, “to remind people that, sadly, the need for food is year-round.”  In November and December— around the holidays—many folks get caught up in a spirit of giving, so food pantries and other such organization see a major upswing in food donations,” he said. “But by May, their shelves begin to empty out.”

As the men and women who touch every neighborhood in America six days a week, letter carriers far too often see first-hand how poverty and hunger affect the customers we serve.

“Each year, the second Saturday in May is a day when all citizens have an opportunity, with the help of their letter carrier, to easily donate food to needy families in their community,” Rolando said.

The drive, the largest one-day food-collection event in the nation, has been a success every year. This year’s drive is co sponsored by National Rural Letter Carriers, AARP, AFL CIO and the United Way.

“We are pleased to announce that the United Way will continue to partner with the NALC Food Drive in 2013” United Way President Stacy Stewart said “This effort is a tremendous example of the importance of working with organized labor to advance the common good in communities throughout the United States”

Residents are asked to leave non-perishable food donations in a bag by their mailbox on Saturday May 11th before their letter carrier arrives. It will be picked up and then delivered to a local food bank.

Thank You in advance for your support, Bill Brickley.
(NH Letter Carrier for more than 27 years.)

Below is a great video from the National Association of Letter Carriers about this great event.  Click Here to share to your facebook wall.  For twitter users you can click here to tweet a pre-written message.  Or you can share this YouTube link (http://youtu.be/Uwkr-LJmWwI)

Even the Government Accountability Office says that the USPS must keep 6 day delivery.

  By Bill Brickley | March 22, 2013 - 8:55 pm | , , ,
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Thursday afternoon the Government
Accountability Office issued a legal opinion that supported the NALC’s position that the Postmaster General does not have the law on his side in reducing mail delivery to five days a week. “The GAO agrees with an ever-growing chorus of voices that the postmaster general doesn’t have the law on his side in this matter,” said NALC President Fredric Rolando.

This legal opinion was requested by Congressman Gerry Connolly,D-VA who lauded the verdict: ” Unfortunately, the Postmaster General continues to stonewall Members of Congress, withholding his legal justifications for eliminating Saturday delivery from Postal customers and the American public,” said Connolly, a ranking member on the Subcommittee on Government Operations, in a statement. “The GAO legal opinion clearly rejects the Postal Service’s attempt to circumvent the law.”

In New Hampshire Representatives Carol Shea-Porter and Ann Kuster demonstrated their strong support for Six Day Delivery by being early co-sponsors of HR 630. This legislation protects Six Day Delivery and addresses a number of other important postal issues. Including the 2006 Congressional mandate that requires an annual $5.5 Billion in prefunding of retiree health care costs of employees not yet born. This mandate has largely put the Postal Service in their current dire financial situation. This mandate was created to prevent future insolvency but instead it is causing immediate financial problems.

Wayne Alterisio 2 Also in New Hampshire , on March 17, local citizens in Manchester gathered to rally against the proposed reduction of a day of delivery. NH State Association President Wayne Alteresio rallied the crowd with a moving speech regarding the fight to Save The Post Office. The crowd held approximately 50 signs with the names of local businesses that want to keep six day mail delivery. Also in the crowd were many signs about the negative effects on the local community if a day of delivery was eliminated. Despite the cold wind attendees left optimistic that together we can save the Postal Service.

 

URGENT ACTION NEEDED To Save Six Day Delivery!

  By Bill Brickley | March 13, 2013 - 10:43 pm |
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Please make an urgent call today to save 6 day mail delivery. NALC President Rolando outlines urgent situation:

Tomorrow, there is a possibility that Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John McCain (R-AZ) will offer to the Senate’s continuing resolution (CR) an amendment to strike the mandate to provide six-day mail delivery.

As soon as possible, I need you to call 888-987-3602 and urge your senator to vote against this amendment if it is offered.

The attempt to end six-day mail delivery service is an attack on the future of this great institution, on the customers who need it and the employees who make it work. Ending six-day mail delivery will threaten the viability of the Postal Service.

Your senator needs to hear from you tonight or first thing tomorrow. This is extremely urgent. Call 888-987-3602 and you’ll be patched through automatically. And please leave a voicemail message if no one answers.

In Solidarity,

Fredric V. Rolando, President
National Association of Letter Carriers

Come Support Your NH USPS Workers on March 17th In Manchester

  By New Hampshire Labor News | March 13, 2013 - 10:10 pm | , , ,
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NALC Save Americas Postal Service

Rally to Protect Saturday Mail Delivery and Strengthen the Postal Service at Manchester City Hall Plaza at 12:00pm Sunday March 17th.

NALC Save Americas Postal Service

Concerned Citizens throughout America will rally in other states on March 24 to protect Saturday mail delivery and demand that Congress deliver a better plan to strenghten the Postal Service for the future.  The New Hampshire rally in Manchester will take place at City Hall Plaza on March 17 at noon because of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on the 24th, and all members of the community are invited to attend.

The Postal Service’s plan to shrink the Postal Service and end six-day service is an attack on the future of this great institution, on the customers who need it, and on the employees who support it.  Many Americans – especially smaill-business owners, senior citizens and rural resident-would suffer if the strength and reach of our Postal Service is compromised.  In addition, cutting Saturday mail would delay important household and business transactions, including bills, invoices and personal communications, and may force customers to shift to high-cost competing services.

The US Postal Service is America’s only universal communications network reaching every address in America six days a week.  Established by the Constitution and using no taxpayer funding for its operations, the Postal Service is a vital public institution that New Hampshire cannot afford to be dismantled.

For more information contact Wayne Alterisio

Do The American People Really Support 5 Day Delivery? Hint: Not As Much As They Say

  By Matt Murray | February 15, 2013 - 2:15 pm | ,
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From USPS Polling

Everyone is talking about the USPS and their illegal attempt to change to a five day delivery.  They say that this is the only way ‘save the postal service’.  The USPS has been on Capitol Hill with claims that the overwhelmingly the public is behind the move for five day delivery.   I do not agree.

It is a common trick when conducting polling to ask a question so you get the response you want.  For example how would you respond to this question?

“After learning that this change will allow the Postal Service to be financially stable, to what extent do you support the decision of the Postal Service to begin delivering mail five days per week and packages six days per week, including continuing package delivery on Saturdays?”

If you have to choose yes or no, would you support five day delivery to save the post office? Of course you would.  This is why over 86% of people polled agreed with the above statement.

Now they USPS is pushing the idea that 80% of people support a five day delivery plan.

“To what extent do you support the decision of the Postal Service to begin delivering mail five days per week and packages six days per week, including continuing package delivery on Saturdays?”

The real fact is that only 39% strongly support the idea, and 41% somewhat support the idea.

I cannot back up my polling with any real data, however of the people that I have talked to, only 10-15% seem to know and understand what the real problems are with the USPS.   I would be more interested to know what the polling is on that.

How many people know that the real issue with the USPS is the pre-funding mandate set forth by Congress.

I wonder how many people know that certain members of Congress have ties to UPS and want to privatize the entire USPS system.

These are the questions that pollsters should be asking but are not.  Why, because when you pay the pollster, you pay for the results you want.

We should all get behind the new legislation that was introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) to modernize the U.S. Postal Service, save Saturday mail and repeal a crippling law responsible for 80 percent of the mail system’s funding woes.

Really Mr President, Really??? Are You Going To Sit There While They Destroy The USPS?

  By Bill Brickley | February 8, 2013 - 6:02 pm | ,
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Photo Brian Kersey / Getty Images

We knew Mitt Romney was going to sell the Postal Service off, we didn’t expect President Obama to sit by idly as Congress sends the Postal Service into a death spiral. It seems this issue should be more important to the President as he often states the importance of our nations infrastructure. His administration has worked to create middle class and veteran jobs but he remains stunningly silent as anti union and anti government politicians let the Postal Service eliminate Saturday delivery and accelerate its demise.

It is widely known that the Postal Service financial problems are tied to a 2006 Congressional mandate that requires the USPS to fund retiree health care costs 75 years into the future. Though the USPS pension funds are seriously over funded congress is still requiring it to put away $5.5 Billion a year for workers not yet born. No other business or agency in America is required to do this.

The Postal Service ties this nation together like no other institution. Rural America depends on 6 day’s a week mail delivery as it our country’s only universal communication network. Fed Ex and UPS provide scant coverage to rural America as they rely on the Postal Service to deliver to these unprofitable spots 6 days a week.

The Right Wing is using this manufactured crisis to dismantle one of Americas most trusted institutions. They are doing this for purely ideological reasons.  Postal workers are the Devil to these people. The USPS employs the largest collection of union workers in the country and their hard work is proof that government can be effective. We have the lowest price of First Class Mail in the world while providing universal service 6 days a week without one penny of tax payer money.

African-Americans were rightfully filled with pride when President Obama was elected and then reelected. The Bush recession has hit African-American Communities hard already with soaring unemployment.  So how can the President  be so quiet when the largest employer of African-Americans (22%)  is being decimated by a manufactured crisis?

The Administration has been a strong proponent of veterans jobs but this manufactured crisis is putting in jeopardy over 130,000 veterans jobs in the Postal Service. How can the President let this happen?

President Obama spoke eloquently in his Inauguration Address about Civil Rights, Gay Rights and Women’s Rights  but he seemed to leave out Workers Rights.  How can he not mention workers rights?

The Labor movement has worked tirelessly to elect President Obama and though he has disappointed us he was clearly our better candidate in both races. That is not an issue. The issue is when is he going to stand up for workers rights?

The time has come for him to speak up on preserving 6 day mail delivery. This is now the issue center stage in the war on workers. He can not  remain silent as thousands of middle class jobs evaporate and our nation’s infrastructure takes a step back. As much as President Obama speaks of social rights and the GOP trumpets gun rights. These rights are diminished if people don’t have jobs. Social freedoms are hollow without economic justice.

 

 

Ending Six Day Delivery Is The Wrong Answer For The USPS

  By New Hampshire Labor News | February 7, 2013 - 9:30 am | ,
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via Save Americas Postal Service (Facebook)

In a flurry of media yesterday it was announced by the CEO of US Postal Service (aka the Postmaster General) Patrick Donahoe that beginning in August the USPS would stop delivering mail on Saturdays.

Wait, WHAT?   That is right, the USPS plans to illegally stop delivering mail to your home or business on saturdays.

Why would they do this?  That is not a simple answer.

The USPS is a very special government entity.  They collect no money from taxes and are completely self funded.  This means the entire postal service is paid for by selling stamps.    They are like a private company with one big catch, everything they do is mandated by Congress.

You may have heard different, or you may have heard the Post Office is going bankrupt.  There is a little truth to both of those statements.  The employees of the USPS are federal employees and are covered under the Federal Employee’s Retirement System (FERs).  In fact the USPS is the single largest section of the federal workforce with over 800,000 employees currently.   In 2006, President Bush signed into a law a bill that forced the USPS to PRE-PAY their retirement contributions.  Basically the USPS has to PRE-PAY the retirement system for the next 75 years in the next 10 years.  This equates to about $5  Billion dollars a years in over payments.

In what is being called a solution to the ‘funding problems’ the USPS released a statement:

“The United States Postal Service announced plans today to transition to a new delivery schedule during the week of Aug. 5, 2013 that includes package delivery Monday through Saturday, and mail delivery Monday through Friday. The Postal Service expects to generate cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually, once the plan is fully implemented.”

Even without a legislative fix to correct the true problem in the USPS, this $2 billion dollars in savings would not be enough to ‘save the USPS from bankruptcy’.

National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredic Rolando condemned the actions in his statement.

“The National Association of Letter Carriers has tried time and again to work with Postal Service management to pursue growth measures and cost savings, but it has become clear that the Postal Service leadership’s only strategy is to gut the unique postal network that provides us with the world’s most affordable delivery service, and to eliminate the services on which Americans depend.”

The statement from USPS CEO Donahoe drew criticism from many in New Hampshire including Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter.

“Congresswoman Shea-Porter has asked to be added as a cosponsor to H.Res 30, which expresses the sense of the House that the Postal Service should maintain six-day delivery.”

“The US Postal Service is a vital resource for communities throughout our state and our country,” said Congresswoman Shea-Porter.  “Eliminating Saturday mail-delivery does not adequately address the issues facing the United States Postal Service. This is the wrong approach because the Postal Service will lose vital business and consumers will be hurt.”

Congresswoman Annie Kuster has been a long time supporter of the NH Association of Letter Carriers.  She sent us this statement.

“I am very disappointed by the Postal Service’s decision, and am opposed to the cancellation of Saturday mail service. That’s why I’m a cosponsor of H.Res. 30, bipartisan legislation supporting 6-day delivery.  Instead of cutting jobs and services, the Postal Service needs sensible reform to fix the onerous pre-funding requirement for future retiree health benefits, boost innovation and efficiency, reduce costs, and provide new and improved services to New Hampshire communities.”

Senator Jeanne Shaheen also responded to the news with this statement.

“I’m disappointed by today’s announcement from the U.S. Postal Service,” Shaheen said yesterday. “I hope the USPS continues to understand the importance of its six-day-a-week package delivery, which many Americans rely on for crucial needs like prescription medications.”

This plan to stop delivering mail and still continue to deliver packages on Saturday is very confusing especially to those who actually deliver the mail. Wayne Altiserio, president of the New Hampshire State Association of Letter Carriers told the Eagle Tribune:

“(The USPS) is stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime. If you’re going to go there with a package, why not bring the mail, too? We have a lot of packages we’re already delivering.”

What are we to do? If we do nothing then we will continue to see the erosion of the USPS until there will be nothing left of the most trusted government agency who process and deliver 40% of the worlds mail every day.  We must take action!

Go to Save America’s Postal Service petition and sign up to preserve six day delivery.

Contact your Congressional Representative and tell them to stop forcing the USPS to pre-fund their retirement system and preserve six day delivery.

Then show you friends and family that you support the USPS. Click this link to share the image below on Facebook (or click here to tweet)

via Save Americas Postal Service (Facebook)

via Save Americas Postal Service (Facebook)