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One Million Signatures! In October, members of the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association were asked to collect signatures in support of protecting the future of the United States Postal Service—and you have delivered. From active and retired letter carriers, from big cities to small towns, more than 1 million signatures have been collected. The message is clear: Americans support first-rate mail delivery service, six days a week, and they will do everything they can to protect it. By reaching this goal, it is our hope that it will help prevent passage of two major bills pending before Congress that are designed to dismantle the Postal Service—H.R. 2309 and S. 1789. If it were to become law, H.R. 2309 would end Saturday mail delivery service, radically downsize the USPS and force the closure of thousands of post offices. In the Senate, S. 1789 fails to repeal the pre-funding requirement, phases out door-to-door delivery and eliminates Saturday delivery by 2014. More than 1 million signatures were collected, processed and sent to Congress in just 12 weeks. Now, it is up to us to ensure that Congress does not ignore the voices of these Americans. We need every city and rural letter carrier to be ready at a moment’s notice to take further action on breaking developments to protect the future of the United States Postal Service. Your dedication, determination and hard work made it possible to reach this goal of 1 million signatures. The voices of Americans from every corner of this country have been heard because of the efforts of the brothers and sisters of the NALC and the NRLCA. However, while the importance of the USPS to America has been proven to Congress and the White House, our battle is far from over and we must continue to fight for a viable effective Postal Service. |
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The American Postal Workers Union and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union are also conducting a petition drive with a slightly different emphasis. The APWU/NPMHU petition urges members of Congress to oppose the Postal Service's announced plans to close post offices and mail processing facilities nationwide, and to reduce service standards, which would result in drastic cuts in service to the American people. Every APWU and NPMHU member is being asked to get friends, neighbors and family members to fill up at least one petition page (10 signatures). The national unions will make sure that House and Senate members will receive petitions collected in their particular districts or states.
No company can grow or even maintain its business by cutting its service. But that's exactly what the Postal Service is proposing to do. The USPS previously announced plans to close 3,700 post offices and 252 mail processing centers. In a recent notice posted in the Federal Register, the USPS has proposed to revise its service standards to eliminate overnight delivery of First-Class mail, change next-day delivery to two days, and two-day delivery to three days. The Postal Service proposes to eliminate 60 percent of existing mail-processing facilities and to make corresponding cuts in service standards. The proposed changes acknowledge what the Postal Service has repeatedly denied: Slashing the mail processing network will result in drastic cuts in service to the American people. |
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