The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006--better known to carriers as "postal reform"-- requires the Postal
Service to prefund 80 percent of its future retiree health benefit costs by the year 2016. This costs the USPS at least $5.5
billion a year--on top of the $2 billion to $3 billion it already pays annually for current retiree health benefits. The USPS
built the cost into their rates in 2006, but that was before the economic meltdown hit and the volume of mail began to
plummet.
The punishing schedule for prefunding is simply no longer affordable and our employer needs relief, immediately. Otherwise,
layoffs, service cuts and facility closings could become a reality.
In January, longtime friends of letter carriers Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) introduced H.R. 22,
a bipartisan lifeline that would let USPS prefund its future health care obligations on a more realistic schedule by allowing
the
Service to pay its share of current retirees' health insurance premiums out of the $32 billion it has already banked in the
Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund. This strategy would save USPS an average of $3.5 billion per year through 2016
while the Service continues to build up the retiree health fund on a much more reasonable and affordable schedule.
Go here (
http://nalc.org/depart/legpol/pdf/HR22%20financial%20relief.pdf)
to download a fact sheet on H.R. 22. H.R. 22 does not require the allocation of any taxpayer funds--it is absolutely
not a bailout. It also would in no way reduce current retiree health benefits or relieve the Postal Service of its future
retiree health obligations. In fact, if Congress passes H.R. 22 and if President Obama signs it, the USPS would still be required
to prefund its future retiree health costs at a far faster rate than any other American company.
Right now, more than two dozen members of the House of Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of H.R. 22.
Go here
(http://nalc.org/depart/legpol/index.html) to find out if your representative is on the list. If your representative is not listed, please call them at the Capital
Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 22 today.
When you talk with your representative's office, make it clear that we fully support funding future retiree health benefits--we
are depending on those benefits when we retire. But given the current economic environment, prefunding on such an accelerated
schedule is no longer feasible. H.R. 22 preserves the Postal Service's obligation to prefund and protects our health benefits
while helping to sustain the Postal Service through a very troubling time for our nation.
H.R. 22 won't solve all the Postal Service's problems--we all have a lot of work to do. But make no mistake about it:
Without H.R. 22, the continued viability of the Postal Service is in serious trouble. So take a few minutes to make this important
call--our
jobs and our future depend on it. Thank you.
In solidarity,
William H. Young
President
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