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Reply from the Office of Representative Michael Grimm

Reply from the Office of Representative Michael Grimm

 

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Dear Mr. Roma,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the financial troubles of the United States Postal Service (USPS). It’s good to hear from you.

As you know, on April 4, 2011 Congressman Stephen Lynch (MA-09) introduced H.R. 1351, the USPS Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011 which would repeal the requirement for prefunding retirement health costs of future postal employees and retirees. If it was not for this requirement the USPS would have run a surplus of $611 million as opposed to the net loss of more than $20 billion over the last four years. You will be happy to know I have cosponsored H.R. 1351 and plan to do all I can to see it passes the House and is signed into law.

I realize the United States Postal Service is in a difficult financial situation. H.R. 1351 would help the USPS return to financial solvency and help to avoid the closure of local post offices and disruption of services.

Rest assured, I will keep your views in mind as legislation regarding the United States Postal Service. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and concerns. I invite you to follow me on Facebook www.facebook.com/repmichaelgrimm and Twitter @repmichaelgrimm or visit my website at www.grimm.house.gov. Should you have any further comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office.

Sincerely,

Michael G. Grimm
Member of Congress

Federal Times – USPS wants single health plan for employees, retirees

The U.S. Postal Service wants to create a new, single health care plan for its employees.

Tony Vegliante, the Postal Service’s chief human resources officer and executive vice president, said in an interview Wednesday that concentrating roughly a million postal employees and retirees in a single insurance provider would yield true economies of scale and hold down health care costs for the financially flailing agency.

Postal employees and retirees now get their health insurance through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), which offers hundreds of national, regional and local health plans to choose from. The Postal Service recently proposed pulling out of federal health and pension plans and starting its own as a way to cut costs.

Vegliante said FEHBP has “watered down” its negotiating position by dividing 8 million federal and postal employees and retirees among more than 200 plans.

“I don’t see any benefit we’d be deprived of,” Vegliante told Federal Times. “In fact, I see the opposite effect. There’s 207 plans in FEHB — there’s no economy of scale there. I don’t know where the leverage is.”

Click here for complete article.

NAPS Executive Board Teleconference Minutes – September 19, 2011

Louis Atkins

Before beginning the telecom regarding the September 27, 2011 Legislative Rally for support of HR 1351, President Atkins informed the Executive Board that NAPS takes prided in the success of getting every impacted NAPS member in the latest RIF a job, who wanted one.

President Atkins also mentioned that NAPS supports President Obama’s Budget Plan as it relates to the USPS, except for the President’s plan that reduces mail delivery from six to five days. NAPS still contends that 6-day delivery should be the last resort, since there are other legislative options to get the monies owed the USPS due to overfunding.

Download complete minutes here.

Sales Meeting – September 23, 2011

President Atkins thanked Mr. Rucker for agreeing to participate in a meeting on Sales with NAPS. We moved into the prepared agenda that was provided to the Postal Service in advance of the meeting:

Agenda Item 1:

On August 4, 2011, NAPS sent a proposal to the Postmaster General that, if implemented, would transfer the current Sales group from a headquarters reporting structure to a structure that would report to the District at the local level.

This proposal was referred to the Vice President, Sales and the Chief Human Resource Officer for review. What is the status of your review of this proposal?

We have received information that now there are two Postal Service Areas that are conducting “pilots” where detailed employees, (not headquarters employees) will be used to receive leads that will be contacted via telephone. A determination will be made by the individuals making the calls if a sale can be completed by the call or whether the sale will be given to District employees or Headquarters Sales employees.

With this pilot be expanded nationally? Will this cause redundancy in harvesting Sales? Won’t this impact the Sales goals of Headquarters employees and cause in-fighting between three groups reporting to two or three different structures? This pilot indicates to NAPS that we should place Sales under postal Districts.

Download full minutes here.

21st Century Postal Service Act (P-21) Summary

??The P21 Act saves money with critical workforce-related reforms.

Buyouts and Retirement Incentives

The bill would give the Postmaster General access to the money the United States Postal Service (the Postal Service or USPS) has overpaid into one of its pension funds (FERS) and use it to offer buyouts or retirement incentives to reduce the active postal workforce by 100,000 or more employees over the next several years. The incentives could include either a cash buyout of up to $25,000 (the cap for federal worker buyouts) or credited service years toward retirement annuity: up to one year for Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) employees and up to two for FERS employees. Any funds remaining after the Postal Service has completed this incentive program may be used to repay debt and meet obligations related to workers’ compensation, pensions, and retiree health. USPS has estimated that reducing its workforce by 100,000 would save up to $8 billion annually.

Download the full Summary here.

THE UNFAVORABLE STAND

When you accept the Presidency of your local Naps office, I hope you know you will be put on the hot seat when you must take an unfavorable stand against the local USPS. Don’t let any one kid you, if you become a thorn in the side of upper management, they will look to retaliate. It’s all part of the job. If you are looking for upward mobility, they will tell you that your on the wrong side. In my time I have been asked to take a step back if I was looking for upward mobility in the future. My answer to these people was, I was here before you got here and I will be here after you leave. Forty four years later I am still standing. In my opinion anyone who can’t take the pressure of the responsibility of the Presidency should not be President. I love when I hear I cant get involved for fear of retaliation. This tells me you are a marginal EAS and afraid for your job. If that is the case you are not giving your members honest representation. As President of Branch 68 in Brooklyn, I showed Management I was not the enemy and wanted to partner with them for the betterment of both the USPS and NAPS. My track record proves that I gained the respect all through my career. (Roma quote) I don’t want you to love me, I want you to respect me as I respect others.

During this holiday season let us not forget our dear departed President Vince Palladino who left us suddenly on Dec 21, 2004. It was Vince who instilled a lot of what I discussed above in me through the years.

If ever I needed an answer to anything my friend Vince always had the right answer for me. I often wonder if he were alive today, would he have the answers to the Postal problems of today? Im sure he would be right in there fighting for our rights during these trying times. They say the great ones like Vince Palladino only come along once in a life time. Even though it was cut short, I’m happy that I was able to be part of his life while he was here. Rest in peace my friend, you will always be missed.

In closing from my house to yours, Happy Holiday’s and a Happy Healthy, Safe, New Year.

Stay Strong
Tommy Roma

Where Are We Now? What Comes Next?

NAPS Leg/Reg Update – October 20, 2011

Two recent events have triggered questions from NAPS members about the chances of Congress passing legislation that helps the Postal Service and deals with its financial problems.

The first involved the Government Accountability Office’s finding that the OPM complied with federal law in determining how much USPS should pay for its CSRS pension obligations, undermining the transfer of additional assets to USPS. The second event involved the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s approval of a new version of the Issa-Ross postal reform legislation, H.R. 2309. NAPS continues to oppose the legislation as approved by the House Committee.

These two events have prompted questions about the GAO report, the future of H.R. 1351 and what it means for legislation on Capitol Hill to save the Postal Service. Here are the answers to some of those questions:

What did GAO really find? Did GAO conclude that the Postal Service did not overpay its pension obligations?

The GAO found only that OPM’s actions in calculating how much the Postal Service owed for its CSRS obligations were “consistent with the law,” regardless of the fairness of the allocation of CSRS payments between the Postal Service and the Treasury.

Does GAO’s finding mean that the Postal Service will not receive a refund for any overpayment of its CSRS obligations?

The GAO finding will make it much more difficult for the Postal Service to receive a refund of any overpayment of its CSRS obligations. Even before the GAO finding, significant political and budget-scoring barriers were making it difficult to convince Congress to provide a refund of CSRS assets to the Postal Service. The White House also has registered deficit-based concerns and only supports the return of overpaid FERS assets to the Postal Service, not overpaid CSRS assets.

Does GAO’s finding mean that H.R. 1351 is dead?

We always knew that getting H.R. 1351 approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives was going to be difficult. Many House Republicans have resisted H.R. 1351 because of its impact on the federal deficit. In the Senate, however, pending postal bills introduced by Sen. Tom Carper (S. 1010) and Sen. Susan Collins (S. 353) would deal with the overpayment issue, just as H.R. 1351 does. They require OPM to recalculate the Postal Service’s CSRS payments since 1971 using a different method more fair and favorable to the Postal Service. But now, the GAO report will make it more difficult to secure Senate approval of the Carper or Collins bills with inclusion of the CSRS recalculation provisions. Sen. Carper has suggested setting aside the CSRS issue to craft a bill with greater chances of approval by the Senate.

Does all of this mean that our efforts to get Congress to pass H.R. 1351 are for naught?

By no means! GAO’s finding does not suggest that our lobbying efforts, including the Save America’s Postal Service Rally on September 27, have been worthless. Just the opposite, in fact. These actions have elevated public attention to show exactly why the Postal Service’s finances are what they are and the impact of the burdensome retiree health prefunding payments.

The schedule governing these massive retiree health prefunding payments must be changed by Congress. This is the same situation a bank and homeowner face when the bank revises its mortgage payment schedule because the homeowner faces financial difficulties and the threat of foreclosure. The revision of the retiree health payment obligations is just the same, and remains an important focus of H.R. 1351 and the Carper and Collins bills. NAPS continues to urge Congress to revise the retiree health payment schedule to restore the Postal Service’s near-term financial stability, while addressing its longer-term business model needs.

When will H.R. 2309 be brought to the House floor? When will the Senate begin to move a bill?

The House Republican leadership has not announced its schedule for bringing H.R. 2309 to a floor vote.

In the Senate, efforts are underway in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to craft a bipartisan measure more sensible than H.R. 2309. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Sen. Collins (R-ME), the top Democrat and Republican on the Committee, have indicated their intent to recommend the package that emerges to the House-Senate deficit reduction supercommittee for inclusion in its package of recommendations. NAPS will continue to keep you advised of further developments.

Bruce Moyer
Legislative Counsel to NAPS