NALC Standing Tall- Then & Now - [PDF Document] (2024)

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THEN

NOW&STANDINGTALL

The same is true of the nations letter carriers.

During times of tremendous struggle, NALC mem-

bers know we can always rely on our brothers and

sisters for help shouldering any burden. It was truein 1970,when rising inflation and stagnant wages

made it nearly impossible for our members to

support a family on a meager letter carriers salary

alone. By banding together, facing a threat of fines,

job loss and even criminal charges, tens of thou-

sands of desperate carriers walked off the joba

bold and illegal act of defiance that not only forced

Congress, the president and the public to focus

on our plight, but that also led to the rebirth and

preservation of our generations-old postal service.

A similar spirit is called for once again from the

current generation of NALC members. Our PostalService faces direeconomic conditions, thanks to

a perfect storm of a faltering economy and elec-

tronic diversion of the mail, not to mention the

unfair requirement to overpay into our retiree

health benefit fund. But if we stand together andmake our voicesheard, loud and clear, we can

convince Congress that cutting service is not the

answerand that we know the right way to save

the Postal Service.

We must make them hear us again. Thats our fight.

In honor of the history-making strike and the loom-

ing battle for todays carriers, we present a look back

and a look ahead. Youll find coverage of the 40th

anniversary of the Great Postal Strikefrom several

points of viewbeginning on page 5. And then youll

also see how the war of words over USPS proposed

five-day delivery plan has already broken out, andwhat NALCintends to do about it, on pages 13-19.

EVERY GENERATION OFAMERICANS FACES GREAT CHALLENGES,

and we somehow always find a way to rise to meet them.Throughoutour history, from civil and world wars to depressions and

recessions, Americans have never backed down from fighting thegood fight.

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Letter carriers answering the call to

go beyond what is good just forthemselves, to rally aroundwhathelps all postal workers and the

Postal Service itself, was a recurringtheme during the NationalPostalMuseums panel discussion to com-memorate the 40th anniversaryof theGreat Postal Strike of 1970, a wildcatwalkout that had itsorigins in NewYork City but soon spread like wildfireacross theUnited States and crippledthe nations mail system.

Dozens of active and retired lettercarriers and their familiesattended

the March 20 event, where museumdirector and former postalemployeeAllen Kane introduced the panelsthree distinguishedspeakers: NALCPresident Emeritus Vincent R.Sombrotto, AmericanPostal WorkersUnion President William Burrus, andGeorge Gould, aformer congressionalaide and retired NALC lobbyist whohelped shapewhat became the PostalReorganization Act of 1970.

That dispute helped shape the futurebusiness model of the PostalService,

Kane said, noting how 40 years later, wefind ourselves in themidst of a fight toonce again save the Service.

Sombrotto also remarked on the oddsimilarity between the PostOfficeDepartments situation in 1970 and theone the Postal Servicefaces today.

Our motivation for going out on strikethen was not only simpleunionism, saidthe member of New York City Branch 36,who laterserved as NALC presidentfrom 1979 until his retirement in2002.There was an upbeat, positive, almostcarnival atmosphere onthe picket lines,

a camaraderie that came from knowing

what we were doing was for the goodof everybody in the PostOffice. Wewere rallying around our brothers andsisters in need.

Sombrotto was quick to point out,however, that the 1970 walkoutwasntthe first postal strike. In July of 1968, let-ter carriers intwo stations in the BronxKingsbridge and Throggs Neckwalkedout forone day, in protest of low wagesand poor working conditions, hesaid.

I cant explain the electricity thatwent through the station Iworkedin, he said, referring to Manhattans

Grand Central Station. Over 660carriers worked in my station.Andeverybody was asking the same ques-tion: If they went out inKingsbridgeand Throggs Neck, when do we go?

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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS MAY 2010 I POSTAL RECORD5

Opposite page, top: Picketsat the Dearborn Post OfficeinMichigan.Photo by Ira Rosenberg, Detroit Free Press

Bottom: New York NALCmembers outside theCapitol.

NALC President Emeritus VincentR. Sombrotto (c) recountstalesfrom the postal strike as part of apanel with APWU PresidentBillBurrus (l) and former congressionalaide George Gould.

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6 POSTAL RECORD I MAY 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTERCARRIERS

SETTING THE STAGE

The starting pay for a letter carrier in1970 was just over$6,176. After 21 years,that could go up to $8,442. But bycom-parison, the average American family wasmaking around $11,000,so many carrierswere forced to work second and some-times thirdjobs just to make ends meet.

These were also the days before col-lective bargaining, meaningCongressneeded to approve any pay raises for

federal workers.But Congress wasnt paying a lot of

attention to postal workers pay, saidGould, who should know,having servedas a House staff member for a number ofcommitteesrelated to postal operations.They viewed a job at the Post Officeasa safe civil service job. The pay wasnt asimportant as thatsecurity.

They knew that postal workers oftenhad two jobs, but theattitude was thatat least they had one secure one, saidGould, wholater worked for 27 years

as NALCs director of legislation andpolitics, beginning in1979.So it was that in early 1970, when Con-

gress approved a 40 percent pay hike foritself and a measly 4percent for postalworkers, the members of New York CityBranch 36decided they had had enoughof broken promises, Sombrottorecalled.In February, the branch approved amotion to hold a strikeauthorization voteduring its March meeting.

Sombrotto vividly remembered themayhem at the meeting on theeveningof March 17 at New York Citys LaborTemple. Word of apossible strike hadrapidly spread throughout New Yorksfiveboroughs, and hundreds of lettercarriers and other postalworkersattended the gathering to witness thevote while a woefullyill-prepared securityforce tried to keep some order, all underthewatchful eye of the media.

As all this was taking place, Branch36s officers were holdingtheir executiveboard meeting across the street, andSombrotto saidthe branchs president,Gus Johnson, was skeptical. Theyre

just a few crazies and radicals, Sombrottorecalled Johnsonsaying. He said,Theyre never gonna vote for a strike.

Of course, the motion to strike wasultimately approved, by a3-to-2 margin.To his credit, Sombrotto said, oncethe strike wasofficial, Johnson supportedit, directing stewards to informthemembers and to set up picket lines.

At the time, most letter carriers didntinvolve themselves inthese kinds of

grand political things, Sombrotto said.You wrote a letter toyour congressmansaying, Please vote for this bill so we canget anincrease in wages.

But we were living in an environmentwhereand I must say, itsstarting tocome back again nowwhere authoritymeant nothing, whereeverybody chal-lenged authority, he said. You had theVietnamprotests, teachers went out onillegal strikes, as did sanitationworkersand transit workers, and oftentimes, thestrikes weresuccessful.

Our people had invested their lives in

the postal service, he said. That was allon the line, as far asthey knew. Theycould lose that at the signature of a pen.

A VIEW FROM THE FIELDI was in Cleveland at the time [of the

strike], in my 16th year of service, saidWilliam Burrus,president of the Ameri-can Postal Workers Union since 2001. Hebeganhis postal career as a distributionclerk there in 1958, and by1970, he wasan active member of the National PostalUnionthe APWUdid not come intoexistence until 1971, when NPU mergedwith fourother postal unions.

It was a tough time, he said. I wasmaking $3 an hourbarelyenough tolive off of, after deductions.

The approval of lopsided pay raises forCongress and postalworkers was oneinsult too many. We had suffered thatdefeat before,said Burrus, who laterserved as the president of the APWUsClevelandlocal from 1974 to 1980. Butyou had all these factorscivilunrest,rebellion against authority, Vietnam

Striking members of Brooklyn, New YorkBranch 41 rally on March22, 1970, againstPresident Nixons proposed wage increase.World WidePhotos

Picketing against a few postal workers whocrossed the line.

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and then, after repeated promises,Congress failed the postalworkers.

Picket lines were set up in many postoffices all over thecountry, Burrusrecalled, and when clerks arrived forwork the nextday, they refused tocross the line.

Sombrotto remembered that thequestion of the clerks support cameupin New York the night the strike votewas taken. Everybody startsscream-ing, What about you, Moe? Are youon strike? Moe was MoeBiller,president of the NPUs New York local.He went on to becomenational presi-

dent of APWU from 1980 to 2001.Sombrotto remembered howBillerreminded him that NPU was a democ-ratic union, and he couldnot call astrike on his own. Were a labor union;we wont cross abona fide picket line,Sombrotto said, quoting Biller. I said,Thatsgood enough for me!

Many Cleveland workers soon joinedthe strike, Burrus said, asdid postalemployees in Pittsburgh, Chicago, andother cities acrossthe country.

This was a strike of city letter carriersand clerks, hestressed. Im sure otherssupported it individually, he added,but theother organizations did not rallytheir members. Burrus noted thatthepresidents of some other postal unionsissued a statement sayingthey couldneither support nor condone a strike,and instructed allemployees to returnto work immediately.

We were threatened by the govern-ment, the various postmasters,andlocal supervisors, too, Burrus said.But we achieved our goal. Wegottheir attention.

Did they ever. The work stoppage sohobbled the nations mailsystem thaton March 23, President Richard Nixonaddressed the nationon television andannounced that he was calling out theNationalGuard to go into New YorkCity post offices to try to get themailmoving again (see Declassified: A lookinside the governmentsresponse to the

postal strike, page 11).

Although highly qualified to defendthe country and to providecriticalassistance in times of natural disaster,the Guard simplydid not have theknow-how to sort, case and deliverthe mail. Indesperation, Nixon calledNALC President James Rademacher totheWhite House to hammer out a dealto get postal workers back on thejob.

He did some good things, saidSombrotto of Rademachers role.Notone person was firedand 200,000 hadwalked out. This was a bigdeal and apoint of real concern, Sombrotto said,since anyone whoeven mentioned theword strike was subject to a $10,000fine and fiveyears in prison. In the1968 walkouts in the Bronx, the penaltywoundup being a two-week suspensionfor each participant.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS MAY 2010 I POSTAL RECORD7

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Strikers walk the picket line at themain post office in New YorkCity.World Wide Photos

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8 POSTAL RECORD I MAY 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTERCARRIERS

Jim was alsoable to work out anagreement to ulti-mately get asignifi-cant increase in

wages, Sombrotto said, and because ofthat, on March 25, lettercarriers agreedto end the strike and return to work. Justover aweek later, on April 2, Rademacherand Nixon announced they hadreachedan accord that called for, among otherthings, two successivepay raises and a

reduction in the time it took to go fromentry in the service tothe top pay step,from 21 years to eight years.

But perhaps most importantly of all,President Rademacherconvinced theNixon administration to agree to allowletter carriersto bargain collectively andto have the right to binding contractarbi-tration. (See pages 9-10 for Rademachersfirst-person accountof his historic role.)

Burrus said he understood that theMarch 25 agreement was notactually theend of the struggle. Congress was still

the only body that could authorize payraises, he pointed out.But we werecomfortable enough that this time, theirpromises wouldbe fulfilled.

WHEELING, DEALINGGould noted that serious efforts at

postal reform had already been in theworks since 1968, when, atthe recom-mendation of Postmaster GeneralLarry OBrien, PresidentLyndon John-son formed a commission comprisedof business and laborleaders, includ-

ing George Meany, the president ofthe AFL-CIO. Among thecommissionsrecommendations was the creation ofan independentlyfinanced postalservice corporation. Nixon, whosucceeded Johnson inJanuary 1969,also approved of the groups work.

As one might expect, Congress had anumber of concerns with thecommis-sions findings. But it turns out NALCwas also nervous thatmaking any drasticchanges would damage its relationshipwith membersof the House and Senate,many of whom were sympathetic to the

carriers plight. In the fall of 1969,together with other laborunions, NALCsuccessfully lobbied against the bill.

After the strike was settled, a morerobust postal reorganizationmeasure,with the provisions of the Rademacher-Nixon agreement addedin, quicklymoved through Congress, and Nixonsigned it into law onAugust 12, 1970nearly five months after the week-longwalkout firstgot underway.

The bottom line is, without the unionsand their strike, withouttheir involve-ment and their tenacity, and their rela-tionshipswith members of Congress,postal reform wouldnt have happened,Gouldsaid.

In my view, the Postal Reorganiza-tion Act would never havepassed unlessthat strike took place, Sombrotto said.It affected allpostal employees, not justletter carriers. The starting salary foraletter carrier now can reach $50,000 ayear, he said.

Hundreds of thousands of carriers

and federal workersif not millionshave moved into the middleclassbecause of that strike, Sombrotto said,adding that, for labor,it was one of theirshining momentsa moment when car-riers andclerks came together to put theneeds of their brothers, theirsisters, andeven the Postal Service itself, ahead oftheir ownpersonal desires, despite thevery real threat of fines, firings andevencriminal prosecution.

No one on the Postal Museums panelexpressed any regrets. Im justglad I

had an opportunity to play the role that Idid, Sombrottosaid.

To view the complete video coverage ofthe Postal Museum's paneldiscussion,go to youtube.com/SmithsonianNPM andclick on 40thAnniversary of the 1970Postal Strike. A fuller account ofNALCshistory, including an analysis of thestrike's causes andrepercussions, isincluded in Carriers in a Common Cause:A Historyof Letter Carriers and theNALC, available by calling the NALCSupplyDepartment at 202-393-4695.

Top: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Branch 84carriers.

Above: Three NALC presidents were inattendance at the PostalMuseum event(l-r): retired Presidents William H. Youngand VincentR. Sombrotto and currentPresident Fredric V. Rolando.

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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS MAY 2010 I POSTAL RECORD9

THEPERSPEC

TIVEFRO

MWASHI

NGTON

ByJames

Rademach

er,President

Emeritus

March 17, 1970, will go down in NALChistory as the greatestevent, pro-ducing the greatest result, which

most unions would certainly envy. Theobject of it all and thesuccess of it allwas when NALC went from collectivebegging ofCongress to true collectivebargaining with strong arbitrationrights.

SUFFERINGFor years, our members suffered guar-

anteed poverty. When I was elected in1968, the first tworesolutions concernedgetting the right to strike.

I was blasted by some Republican con-gressmen when I dared tostate in June1969, before the House Committee on thePost Office andCivil Service, that if wewere not treated better, there would bea

strike that I would not be able to control.When we were gettingnowhere and a

veto of a pay bill was threatened, we puton a mammoth campaignwith the public.We asked the public to write Nixon anddemand bettertreatment for letter carri-ers. To their credit, under PresidentGusJohnson, Branch 36 members affixedthousands of stamps and theWhiteHouse got 3 million letters from all overthe country. That iswhen I was sum-moned to the White House on December5, 1969. Theyhad gotten the messageand wanted to meet.

WILLING TO MEETThe meetings centered around the

establishment of a corporate Postal Ser-vice. My concern wasabout where Laborwould stand in the new plan. The originalplan hadcollective bargaining with thepostmaster generals appointedboardsettling all impasses.

The plan would also take carriers outof the Civil Service. Aftereach meetingwith the presidents legal counsel, ChuckColson, hewould report to the president.

These were secret meetings and thelegislators prepared newlegislation toinclude our tentative agreements.

The agreed-upon legislation was sentto the Hill where thechairman of thecommittee, Ted Dulski, had his ownreorganizationbill. But he agreed toaccept the Nixon-NALC bill. We wereshockedwhen he then held a press con-ference and denied he would doso.

With such a delay taking place andour members getting anxiousfor me todo something, I issued a letter to allbranches asking totake a vote assuringme of their support. I got acompletelyfavorable response.

When Gus Johnson read that letter hismembers decided to have avote, not atthe meeting but at a special voting place

on March 17, 1970. Many thought theywere actually voting tostrike and thatswhat they did the next day.

LET IT BLOWGus Johnson, a great supporter, called

me at home at midnight about the vote. Isaid, Let it blow. Manybranch leaderstold me they thought the New York walk-out was mysignal to hit the bricks.

The PMG called me at home at 7 a.m.,demanding I come to see himat once.Strange, but it took a strike for him to

finally meet with me, as he had nevermet with me in his twoyears in office.His name was Winton Blount, an

anti-union contractor from Alabama. Atthe meeting, he ordered meto get thecarriers back to work or he would:1. immediatelydiscontinue dues check-off,2. immediately discontinue thegovern-ments share of health and insurancebenefits, and3. use everymeans to punish, fine andimprison leaders of the walkout.

He demanded I get in touch with GusJohnson to have the menreturn to work.

President Nixon meets with NALCPresident James Rademacher(r).

President Emeritus Rademacheraddresses the delegates to the2008NALC Convention.

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10 POSTAL RECORD I MAY 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTERCARRIERS

I sent Gus a telegram but, of course, he

was picketting and didnt receive it.I called a meeting of alllarge branchpresidents for March 20. More than 400attended. Aftermuch discussion, themeeting voted, almost unanimously, toallow mefive days to settle the situation.

THREAT OF A NATIONWIDE STRIKEAt a meeting with Secretary ofLabor

George Schultz and other associations,we were told there wouldbe no negotia-tions until all carriers were back to work.When Ithreatened a nationwide strike,Schultz decided he had better startnego-tiations now. The PMG refused to attendthat meeting. We metfor five days andthen came up with a proposal to immedi-ately raisesalaries by 6 percent.

As we ended the discussions on pay,Assistant PMG Ted Klassenproposedincorporating the reorganization legisla-tion. I said NALCwould accept reorgani-zation only if it would provide thebar-gaining over wages, fringe benefits andworking conditions, andif we were paidfor accepting the long opposed reorgani-zation plan.I demanded 8 percent.

Branch 36 stubbornly resisted return-ing to work and Nixon wasforced to askthe Army to move in. That was a colossalfailure, withall due respect to our greatmilitary, as they were better suitedtofighting battles than delivering the mail.

At one point, I said that the strike wasurged on by members ofthe Students fora Democratic Society who had recentlybeen employedby the Postal Service. Ihad received bad information about it,and Iknow that none of the strikingmembers tolerated SDS members inthepicket lines.

While placing the blame on SDS mayhave eventually saved the jobsof thou-sands of carriers, it would have beenbetter to not havementioned it at all.

The strike came to an end once wespread the word that anagreement wasreached with Nixon. The last carriersagreed to go backto work on March 25.

Gus Johnson was fined $10,000 dailywhile the strike lasted, butan appeal tohigher levels canceled his fine. I tried toconvince theWhite House that the strikewas a necessity to demonstrate thehard-ships suffered by the nations letter carri-

ers, with some receiving welfare and food

stamps. Nixon looked at a poll thatshowed 80 percent of thepeople agreedwith their carriers actions, so he orderednodiscipline. The one casualty of it allwas the president ofHartford, Connecti-cut Branch 86, who was fined $2,500.NALC shouldhave paid that fine.

When Congress took so long to passthe reorganizationlegislation, I met withMontana Rep. Arnold Olsen and askedhim tointroduce an amendment makingthe 8 percent retroactive to April 6.Hedid so, and the Postal Reorganization Actwas passed with theretroactive clause

and signed into law on August 12, 1970.

FROM 21 TO EIGHTOur first task, which never gets

enough mention, was to sit down andimplement the Nixon promiseto reducethe time it took to attain the top paygrade from 21 yearsto only eight.

The next order of business wasreaching agreement on a contract.It waseasier doing that than writing a 36-articlelabor agreementfrom scratch.

That first contract provided for a

$1,250 increase, a one-time $300 bonusand a first cost-of-livingadjustmentcapped at $166. The following contract in1973 called foranother hike of $1,310 andelimination of the COLA cap. Thathasmeant more than $18,000 in wages peryear for the top gradesalary since 1973.It is now estimated the top carrier wagesandfringe benefits (salary, health insur-ance, life insurance, annualand sickleave) exceed $83,000 annually.

Because of the political split caused bythe strike, I havewithstood verbal andwritten abuse ever since. But just look at

the record: From 1900 to 1925, pay raisesaveraged $40. From 1925to 1943, therewere no raises at all. From 1943 to 1969,increasesaveraged $200 yearly. But,since 1970, annual wage increaseshaveaveraged more than $1,000 annually.

NALC, as a union of brothers andsisters, should receive all thecredit, notone individual. When I met with thepresident, I wasrepresenting the NALC.I was invited there, not because of mebutbecause of the NALC. I continue tobelieve it does not cost as muchas it paysto be an NALC member. Right on!

Top: Rademacher signs the firstcollective bargainingagreement

with the Postal Service in July1971. Also shown isPostmasterGeneral Winton M. Blount (l).

Above: The mail piles up duringthe strike.

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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS MAY 2010 I POSTAL RECORD11

ALOOKIN

TOTHEG

OVERNME

NTS

RESPON

SETOTH

EPOSTAL

STRIKE

DE-CLASSIFIED

GovernmentAttic.org, an online clear-inghouse for declassifiedfederaldocuments, released two reports

in 2009 that offer a glimpse into the

U.S. governments mindset during the1970 postal strike, revealingparanoia,caution andas with most governmentdocumentsmeticulousdetail.

The first report, from the Bureau ofthe Chief Inspector of thePost OfficeDepartmentpredecessor of the PostalInspectionServicereveals that thePost Office was concerned about a strikeevenbefore the March 18 walkout. How-ever, they believed the strikesinstiga-tion came from outside the Post Office.

With very little evidence, the Bureaufocused on Students for aDemocraticSociety, a radical and sometimes militantpolitical group.After a lengthy investiga-tion, only seven carriers, clerksandmailhandlers, out of 750,000 nationwide,were alleged to haveties to SDS orany socialist organizations. Four of thesewere fromSan Francisconowherenear New Yorks Branch 36.

BUNKER MENTALITY

Paranoia appeared to descend on thePost Office Department whenthe strikeexploded. Postmaster General WintonBlount received24-hour personal protec-tion, and he transformed his office intoavirtual bunker, with patrols and closed-circuit cameras to monitoreveryonewho entered.

That mentality didnt extend to theGeneral Post Office inBrooklyn. There,strikers freely used the lobbys bankof payphonesand the second floorsrestrooms and cafeteria, while guardsandpolice just stood by.

Meanwhile, the Bureau turned itsattention to filing injunctionsagainst

strikers, but with little effect. Perhapsthe fact that theposition of letter carrier,clerk or mail handler is so low intheoverall pay scale in the New York, N.Y.

area leaves these employees with a feel-ing that it would bejust as well to losetheir positions, read one document.

OPERATION GRAPHIC HAND

The second released report, Opera-tion Graphic Hand After ActionReport,

details what happened from the mili-tarys perspective. From thestart, theDepartment of the Army was highlyconcerned about militarymail, whichflowed through New York to troopsstationed overseas. AllAPO mail was

rerouted to Frankfurt, West Germany,where military postal clerksprocessed it.

On the home front, as the postalstrike spread across thecountry,President Richard Nixon ordered thepreparation of a plan touse militarypersonnel to process mail. The Secre-tary of the Armyjoined with leadersof other armed forces branches anddevised whatbecame known asOperation Graphic Hand.

Five days after the strike began,Nixon announced on televisionthat

troops would be used to begin in NewYork City the restoration ofessentialmail services. That night, a militarytask force went intothe first three postoffices, followed by forces from theNationalGuard the next day.

Though the call-up of NationalGuardsmen went smoothly, adecisionwas made not to use members of theIndividual ReadyReserves, one of thegroups of the Army Reservesmainlybecause thenormal mode of contactingthem was by mail.

A soldier sorts mail at the BrooklynGeneral Post Office.Photo byBarton Silverman, The New York Times

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CAUTION ISTHE BETTER

PART OF VALORAs Operation Graphic

Hand planning continued,Army leaders strove toreassurestrikersand

the general publicthatthe militarys goal was not to

act as a force against a civil disturbance.They feared such asentiment mightlead to a nationwide postal strike, or

even a general workers walkout.This cautious mentality wasevidenced

in the after-action report. (O)n oneoccasion, it read, postalemployeeswere assembled and voting in front ofthe General PostOffice. In order topreclude an adverse psychologicaleffect, it wasnecessary to divert anenroute military convoy to a holdingarea,pending the results of the vote.

Further, the military decided to issuerations to the troops,rather than provideallowances to buy lunches, in an effortto avoidconfrontations with strikers innearby restaurants or on thestreets,the report said.

Packets containing the operationsorders were prepared for troopsto gointo 34 other cities if the postal strike con-tinued andexpanded nationwide. But onlythe New York City plan wasimplemented.

COUNTER CULTUREThe Bureau of the Chief Inspector

noted efforts by SDS and other radicalorganizations, such as theBlack Panthers

and Hippies, to use the strike as alaunching point for their ownsocialprotests. One such plan, the anti-draftPhiladelphiaResistance, called for flood-ing the mail with phone books andothermaterial to impede the military handlingof the mail, thebureau reported.

In Harrison, Pennsylvania, about 50people staged a post officesit-in, thoughtheir message may have gotten lost. Nodirectinterference with movement ofpatrons, but created nuisance withthenoise and discarded foodstuffs andpeanut shells, noted thebureaus report.

The consistent reaction of theemployees was to refuse anyofferedparticipation and assistance from out-side organizations,the report concluded,and [they] spoke out loud and clearthroughoutthe strike that they neitherdesired or appreciated beingidentifiedwith individuals nor units from outsidethe postalestablishment.

A CIVIL AFFAIRBoth declassified reports make clear

how civilly all parties handled the strike.As the Bureaureported, Acts of violencedid not occur and field reports relatethatin most locations, a good humored air ofcamaraderie existedamong the picketingemployees and patrons.

Only two incidents of propertydamage were reported. In bothin-stances, employees were not involvedand the damage wasconsideredattributable to irate patrons chagrinedby the fact theinstallation was closed.

In the end, with meticulous detail,

the Army report claimed that more than20,000 military personnelprocessed12.8 million pieces of outgoing mail and4.4 million piecesof city mail, cased 3.2million pieces, and delivered 2millionpieces to businesses and charities aswell as 3.2 millionpieces to callers. Thetotal cost came to almost $3 million.

The Army sent Postmaster GeneralBlount a bill for $2.5 millionof it.

PDFs of both reports can be read on thePostal Recordpage ofnalc.org. Specialthanks for this article goes to Tom Gates.

12 POSTAL RECORD I MAY 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTERCARRIERS

A map of the area where postaloperations were halted, fromtheOperation Graphic Hand AfterAction Report.

Picketing postal workers at theEighth Avenue Post Office watchasfederal reserve troops arrive.UPI photo

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The letter carriers who went onstrike in 1970 knew thatsome-times you have to choose sidesand fight for what you thinkis

right. Forty years later, letter carriers

face the same choice.Multiple battles are raging in Wash-

ington over the future of the Postal Ser-vice and carriers mustdecide what todo about it. Do we sit back and acceptour fatesor atleast cede the power ofdeciding our fates to postal managerswhothink reducing service and down-sizing is the only way to surviveordowe fight for a better alternative for our-selves and the Americanpeople?

In March and April, we made ourchoice to fight for a betterway.

On March 17, President Fred Rolandosent a letter to every cityletter carrierin the country, members and non-members alike, inresponse to thePostal Service action plan announcedinMarchincluding its multimillion-dollar campaign to sell it. Youveprobablyeven gotten a postcard from PostmasterGeneral Jack Potterhimself.

Our letter expressed support for

many aspects of the Postal Servicesplanespecially thoseregarding leg-islative reform of the Postal Servicesretiree healthfunding obligations.But it also urged carriers not to bebamboozledby the USPS media blitzin support of eliminating Saturdaydeliveryas a key strategy in avertingcatastrophic financial lossesforecastby its economic consultantsforecastsbased on predictionsabout mail vol-ume over the next 10 years that areunreliable bydefinition. Specifically,Rolando wrote:

ABATTLEFORHE

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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS MAY 2010 I POSTAL RECORD13

NOW

5-dayis the

wrong wayto save thePostal ServiceFive-day delivery is not adone deal, or a good deal, for the PostalService, Letter Carriersor the public.

The Postal Service cannot reduce service to 5-day deliverywithoutCongress okayand NALC is working hard to prevent that.

Eliminating Saturday collections and delivery will slowservice,accelerate the shift to electronic alternatives, drive awaymailersthat value Saturday delivery (newsweeklies, DVDdistributors, mailorder pharmacies, Parcel Select customers, etc.),anPostal Services financial problems worse, not better.

Giving away the competitive advantage of six-day deliverywillopen a path for competitors to deliver on Saturday, exposethesanctity of the mail and of the mailbox, and eventuallythreatenthe letter mail monopoly that makes universal servicepossible.

There is an answer to the Postal Services financial woes: Letususe $75 billion of our own moneythe amount the Inspector

General says we were overcharged for pensionliabilitiestoeliminate the onerous cost of pre-funding futureretiree health costs(saving at least $8 billion annually).

www.nalc.org

5-day is a bad dealnot a done deal!

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Eliminating Saturday delivery and offeringslower service ispenny-wise and pound-foolish*t will lead more mailers who relyonSaturday delivery (news magazines,mail-order merchants andpharmacies, andDVD rental firms, to name a few) to exitthe postalsystemand eventually worsenthe USPS bottom line. Worse, repeal ofthe6-day delivery requirement would allow theUSPS to eventually cutadditional days ofservice and lead new companies to enterourbusiness to fill the void left by theUSPS. In the pages of majornewspapersand business magazines, we have alreadyseen reports ofcompanies salivating to fillthe void left on Saturdays and writersurgingthe Postal Service to go further and toreduce deliveries to 3or 4 days per week.How long would it be before these newcompetitorsdemanded access to Americansmailboxes and how long would it bebeforethose same companies demanded a repealof the letter mailmonopoly to level theplaying field?

In the days that followed, the PostalService unveiled a newwebsite to sellto mailers and the American peopleits plan forfive-day delivery. NALCexpressed its dismay over the arroganceofthe move. The website seemeddesigned to convince mailers thatelimi-nation of five-day delivery in fiscal year2011 was a donedeal. It was launched:

despite the fact that current lawrequires six-day delivery andthatCongress has not given its approvalto the Postal Servicesproposal tocancel delivery and collection ser-vices onSaturday;

despite the fact that neither theappropriations committees northePostal Services oversight commit-tees have even held hearings ontheradical proposal to slow service anddestroy 50,000 to 80,000good jobsin the middle of a jobs crisis; and

despite the fact that the PostalService has not even filed foranadvisory opinion from the PostalRegulatory Commission, whichmusthold hearings and subject thePostal Services questionablefinan-cial claims to democratic scrutiny.

The arrogance of the Postal Servicein launching this website tosell five-daydelivery as the answer to the Postal Ser-vices problemis astounding, PresidentRolando said. Given that Congress hasshownvery little interest in eliminatingSaturday service, the PostalServiceshould focus its energies on real solu-tions, not risky andcounterproductiveservice cuts.

NALC countered with its own cam-paign to stop the PostalServices short-sighted drive to slash service. Within

days, 5-Day is the Wrong Way posterswere distributed to everypostal stationin the country to convey NALCs full-throatedopposition to eliminating Satur-day delivery. The home page ontheNALCs own website, nalc.org, nowfeatures a wealth of informationto helpmembers understand the stakes in thefight over Saturdaydelivery and providesdaily updates on developments in Con-gress andin the media. As major mailersannounce their opposition tofive-daydelivery and key members of Congressweigh in on the debate,the NALCwebsite shares the news. Carriers areencouraged to checkthe site daily tostay informed and to prepare to act.

Going forward, the NALC is workingwith other postal unions andallies in themailing community to develop a mediaand lobbyingstrategy to convince Con-gress to reject postal managementsplan forfive-day delivery, embracinginstead a more enlightened strategyforthe future that will include retirementfunding reforms in theshort run and anagenda of innovation and new revenuegeneration inthe long run.

President Rolando ended his letter tothe members noting that itsdate, March17, was the 40th anniversary of the startof the 1970strike: Today, the PostalService faces a crisis every bit aschal-lenging as the one that prompted NALCmembers to take to thestreets. We willhave to rely on different methods, butwe will needthe same kind of courageand commitment in the weeks andmonths aheadto preserve the good jobswe all enjoy.

Only Congress has the authority todecrease the PostalServicesdays of service, thanks to a clause inan appropriationsbill that Congressrenews every year. That means both

the House and Senate appropriationscommittees will have a bigsay inwhether the Postal Service can endSaturday delivery, and itdoesnt looklike theyre ready to give the PostalServices plan aneasy pass.

In April, House Financial ServicesAppropriations SubcommitteeChair-man Jos Serrano told The NationalJournal, While I understandtheseriousness of the Postal Servicesfiscal issues, I remainsupportive ofa six-day delivery schedule. I willbe in conversationsin coming weeks

with the senior postal leadershipand the postal unions in aneffort toavoid service cuts.

On the Senate side, in anexchange between PostmasterGeneral JackPotter and Sen.Richard Durbin (D-IL) during aSenate Appropriationssubcommitteehearing in March, Potter said thatif USPS was able torecover the$75 billion it has been overchargedfor the Civil ServiceRetirementSystems pension fund, cutting back

to five-day delivery wouldnt benecessary. (For the fullexchange,see AprilsPostal Record.)

Fortunately, the congressionalrepresentatives on theappropria-tions committees have not beensnookered by the PostalServicesarrogant media campaign, Presi-dent Fred Rolando said. Weintendto educate them on the real issuesat the heart of the PostalServicesfunding problems, and on what wethink will be the bestfixes for theService, today and in the future.

APPROPRIATIONCOMMITTEESNOT EASILY SWAYED

14 POSTAL RECORD I MAY 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTERCARRIERS

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ACTIVISTSTAK

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The night before dozens of NALCactivists from New York fannedoutacross Capitol Hill to convince

their representatives that 5-day is thewrong way to save thePostal Serviceand to advocate financing reforms forretiree healthbenefits, Rep. Dan Maffei

(D-NY) rallied letter carriers by remind-ing them just howimportant the PostalService is to America and to the UnitedStatesCongress. Look in your copy ofthe Constitution, he said. WhentheFounding Fathers listed the powers ofCongress, the establishmentof the PostOffice was Number 7 on the list, waybefore the powers todeclare war, raisearmies and navies or to create federaldistrictcourts.

The task before NALC in the weeksand months ahead is to remindevery

member of Congress how important six-day universal service is tothis country.

The work begins with our subcom-mittees and committees ofjurisdiction inboth the House and the Senate. But theappropriationscommittees also have animportant say over the issue ofsix-daydelivery, even though the Postal Servicedoes not receivetaxpayer support for itsoperations (see box on p. 14). NALCPres-ident Fred Rolando met with virtuallyevery member of thesecommitteesthroughout March and April and looks

forward to testifying before oversighthearings as theyarise.Those hearings began in earnest in

April when both the House and Senate

subcommittees held their first hearingsof the year, focusing ontwo reportsissued by investigative agencies, theGovernmentAccountability Office andthe Postal Service Office ofInspectorGeneral. The GAOs report, U.S. PostalService: Strategiesand Options to Facili-

tate Progress Toward Financial Viability,was a deepdisappointment(see story onp. 17), while the IGs reportprovidesCongress with a roadmap for returningthe Postal Service tofinancial stabilitystability that is needed to give us timetodevelop a new business model that willwork over the longhaul.

HOUSE HEARING ON USPS,GAO, OIG REPORTS

The House hearing on April 15featured a government-only panelof

witnesses, including USPS PostmasterGeneral Jack Potter,Inspector GeneralDavid Williams and GAO Director ofPhysicalInfrastructure Issues PhillipHerrall of whom testified aboutreportsthey issued on the crisis facingthe Postal Service. Also called totestifywere representatives of the PostalRegulatory Commission, theOfficeof Personnel Management and theCongressional ResearchService.

The PMG made the case for a changeto five-day delivery and otheraspects of

his action plan (see the April issue ofThePostal Record, pp.9-10) based on aprojected $238 billion loss over the next10 years.He renewed his request for

financial relief fromthe burden to pre-fund future retireehealthbenefits, butback-tracked on astatement he madebefore the SenateinMarch, a suggestionthat elimination ofSaturday delivery

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MAY 2010 I POSTAL RECORD 15

President Rolando gives marchingorders to NALC activists fromNewYork (l), in town to lobby theircongressional representatives.

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16 POSTAL RECORD I MAY 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTERCARRIERS

Remarking that the Postal Servicesstrategy to drop Saturdaydelivery seemsto fit with a pattern of private industryattacks onpublic employees, AFL-CIO

President Richard Trumka (pictured at left)told a dinnergathering of the NALCs statelegislative chairs and other unionactivistsMarch 23 in Washington that his federationcontinues tofully support carriers effort topreserve delivery of mail six daysa weekas well as our drive to reduce the onerousoverpayment USPS isrequired to makeinto the retiree health benefit fund.

The dinner was but one part of theannual week-long statelegislative confer-ence, five full days packed with plentyoflegislative activity and training led by themembers of the unionsDepartment ofLegislation and Political Action. Unionleadersrepresenting every state andNALC region took part indiscussions

about all aspects of the legislative agendaand geared up fortheir day on Capitol Hill,lobbying senators and representativeson

why moving to five-day delivery is thewrong way to save thePostal Service (asRegion 1s delegates did with Sen. HarryReidbelowReid is second from l). The

activists also picked up some tips forlobbying state legislatorsback homeabout letter carrier concerns, and dis-cussed early plansfor the fall elections,when every House seat and a third oftheSenate will once again be up for grabs.

STATE CHAIRS SET TONEFOR NALC ACTIVISTS

OHIO CONGRESSIONAL BREAKFASTOhio letter carriers held theircongressional breakfastin Washington on March 18 before going toCapitolHill to lobby their congressional representatives onthedangers of the proposed five-day delivery plan.

Right: Rep. Zack Space (D-18)Below: Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy(D-15)Below left: Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-1)

Below: NALC activistsmet with DemocraticRep. Dennis Kucinich(c)in his Washington office.

Below left: RepublicanRep. Steven LaTourette(standing third froml)poses for a photo with

Ohio letter carriers.

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would be unnecessary if the PostalServices retiree health fundwerecredited with the $75 billion USPS hasbeen overcharged by theOffice ofPersonnel Management.

The GAOs Herr called on Congressto assemble a panel ofindependentexperts to propose changes in postalcollectivebargaining, universal ser viceobligations and the structure ofthePostal Services retail and delivery net-works to allow USPS toremain viable

in the future. With respect to bargain-ing, the GAO appeared toendorse thePostal Services proposal to requireinterest arbitrationpanels to givespecial consideration to the agencysfinancialcondition when issuing theirdecisions, a change that wouldunfairlybias the process in favor of manage-ment. It alsohighlightedwithoutcontext or explanation of the unionsviewsthe factthat postal employeespay less for health benefits than otherpostalemployees.

In a statement posted on theunions website on April 14,PresidentRolando denounced the GAO reportas a full-throated attackon postalcollective bargaining.

The inspector general sparred withOPMs witness over the validityof theIGs report in January that found that

OPM had overcharged USPS by $75billion in Civil ServiceRetirementSystem pension payments over thepast 40 years by using aninequitablemethod for allocating costs betweenUSPS and the federalgovernment forbenefits paid for work performedbefore the creationof the Postal Ser-vice in 1971. NALC strongly backs theOIGsconclusions and has led the fightto correct the unfairness ofOPMsmethods. That $75 billion in pension

assets is more than enough to closeany remaining unfundedliability forfuture retiree health benefitsandenough to justifyrepeal of the retireehealth pre-funding provisions of the2006postal reform law, the PostalAccountability and EnhancementAct.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS MAY 2010 I POSTAL RECORD17

S

etting the debate over how to

save the Postal Service backwardrather than forward, theGovernmentAccountability Office released anaudit report in Aprilcalling on Con-gress and the Postal Service to cutwages and jobs,to shift more workonto part-time employees, and to lookintocontracting out craft functionsthe result of lazy research and apur-poseful misreading of the reportscongressionally mandatedmission.Unsurprisingly, the Strategies andOptions to FacilitateProgress towardFinancial Viabilityreport landed with a

thud in the middle of the ongoing five-

day delivery debate.In 2006, Congress directed the GAOto takefive years to produce a report,evaluating in depth various optionsandstrategies for the long-term structuraland operational reformsof the UnitedStates Postal Service. It was asked tosuggeststructural changes that wouldminimally impact all parties andstillmaintain affordable universal service.

Instead, the GAO released a hurriedand ill-prepared audit reportthataccepts problematic projections andcalls for wholesale changesto the

Postal Service that, if enacted, would

have long-term, damaging effects onlabor and managementalike.The Congress outlined, in detail,

what it ordered GAO to do, and how todo it, said NALC PresidentFredricRolando in a statement about thereport. GAO ignoredCongress.(President Rolando further outlines theunions reaction tothe GAO report in

his Presidents Message on page 1.)The GAO claims that theUSPS

business model has failed because ithas lost $12 billion overthis period[2007-2009], despite achieving billions

FLAWED GAO REPORT ATTACKS EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

L-R: House Postal SubcommitteeChair Stephen Lynch (D-MA)andranking Republican Jason Chaffetz(R-UT) ask questions of thepost-master general during a hearingheld April 15.

Postmaster GeneralJack Potter (l) and GAODirector ofPhysicalInfrastructure IssuesPhillip Herr testifiedtogether beforetheHouse subcommittee.

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in cost savings, reducing capitalinvestments, and raising rates.How-ever, it virtually ignored the fact that thelegally mandatedpre-funding of the

retiree health benefits fund accountsfor $12.4 billionmore thantheamount GAO claims USPS lost.

While the report acknowledges thatchanges should be made to thatpre-funding requirement, it glosses over thatchange as one minorblip within USPSsprojected shortfall of $238 billion overthe next10 yearsa prediction that hasbeen roundly criticized both bytheNALC and members of Congress.

Its an unacceptable practice tolook at economic numbers duringthe

worst recession in 80 years and thenclaim that those conditionswontchange over the next decade, resultingin a disastrous loss,Rolando said.

Continuing its behavior of uncriticallyusing questionablefigures, the GAOalso accepted as gospel the Office ofPersonnelManagements valuationresults, even though the Office oftheInspector Generals report says OPMhas overcharged USPS for civilserviceretirement funds by $75 billion.

[W]e did not assess the reasonable-ness of these [retiree healthvaluations]or OPMs actuarial assumptions andmethodology, GAOsreport admits.We utilized OPMs valuation results to

analyze the financial impacts of selectedoptions for fundingUSPSs retireehealth benefit obligations. We did notassess thevalidity of USPSs financial

and mail volume projections due to timeand resourceconstraints.

These self-imposed time andresource constraintsremember,Con-gress wasnt expecting a report untilsometime in 2011lie at theheart ofquestions about the reports validity,making its conclusionsthat much harderto swallowconclusions that call forCongress to,among other things, allowthe Postal Service the ability toclosepost offices, cut Saturday mail delivery,decrease wages,increase the number

18 POSTAL RECORD I MAY 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTERCARRIERS

USPS PLANS, GAO NUMBERSDONT HOLD UP TO SCRUTINY

Subcommittee Chairman StephenLynch (D-MA), full committeeRankingMember Darrell Issa (R-CA), subcom-mittee Ranking MemberJason Chaffetz

(R-UT), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA)and several other membersraised manyquestions about the validity of the post-master generalsprojection of a $238billion shortfall over the next 10 years,USPSclaim that elimination of Saturdaydelivery is essential to itsfuture viability,and whether the GAO study has true

value if the assumptions it used are nowbeing called intoquestion.

Rep. Issa warned the PMG againstseeking support from Congresswithplans to turn career jobs into part-timejobs, citing workersneeds for decentwages and benefits to support families

and to afford decent housing.Rep. Connolly grilled the PostalSer-

vice and the GAO on how they couldproject a $238 billionshortfall over thenext decade. Under questioning, bothPotter andHerr were forced to admitthat the numbers in the PostalServicesaction plan were theoretical and based

THE POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION(PRC) wants answers about thePostalServices proposal to eliminate Saturday

delivery, collections and incoming mailprocessing next year. Sodoes the NALC.

That is why the union has joined dozensof other interestedparties that have inter-vened as formal participants in aproceed-ing initiated by the PRC on March 30 toreview thecontroversial proposal.

The PRCs Docket N2010-1 willinvolve months of litigation,fieldhearings and debate and will lead toa non-binding advisoryopinion regard-ing the USPS proposal.

It would be inconceivable for the

Postal Service to adopt its plan to slashdelivery andcollections services, NALCPresident Fred Rolando said. Forthatreason, the union will spare no effort toconvince thecommission that the Postal

Services plan would recklessly endangerits ability to provideaffordable universalservice to Americas mailers and the

citizens who rely on the USPS every day.Among the key questionsto be raised inthe PRC proceeding are:

Will the savings the Postal Serviceanticipates be as significantas it esti-mates?

Will mail volume decline more thanthe Postal Serviceanticipates?

Will businesses and citizens have ser-vice that remains adequateto meettheir needs?

Will the national economic impact ofservice reductions offset oradd to thesavings that are predicted?

NALC will seek ways to help the PRCanswer these questions andwill providedetailed testimony and evidence to sup-

port our view that eliminating Saturdaydelivery would be atragic mistake.

Of course, only Congress can approveelimination of Saturdaydelivery, Rolandoobserved, but the PRC process is a very

important exercise and an opportunity toeducate the public aboutthe value of six-day delivery for the nations economyand for thecountry as a whole.

POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSIONTAKES UP 5-DAY DELIVERY PLANITS NOTA DONE DEAL BY ANY MEANS, SAYS PRC CHAIR

PRC ChairmanRuth Goldway

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of part-time employees, increase theamount of employeescontributions totheir health insurance, and contract outcraftfunctions to private businesses.

GAO has issued a full-throatedattack on collective bargaining,ourcontractual COLA clause, our contrac-tual limits on contractingout, and ourcontractual protections of full-timecareer positions,Rolando said.

The president pointed out that sincethe GAO basically ignoredCongressinstructions, House and Senate leadersshould insteadconsider the findings ofthe Postal Regulatory Commission,which isnot only preparing its ownreports on the validity of both USPS

projections and OPMs valuations, butis also listening to averagepostal cus-tomers, all in an effort to help it deter-mine whichchanges will ensure a

strong Postal Service for years to come.NALC will spare noeffort in bringing

the truthand the real datato theCongress for its deliberation,Rolandosaid. And NALCs membership will riseto the challenge to makesure that thereal public, their patrons and the mail-ers, know thefacts and act on them.The country deserves nothing less.

For the full GAO report, go to gao.gov/new.items/d10455.pdf. ForRolandosstatement and all the latest news, go tonalc.org.

on worst-case scenarios that assumedthat neither Congress northe USPSwould take any action over the next 10years to ensure theServices viability.Connolly scoffed at the explanationsandconcluded that the projected $238 billionloss was a bogusnumber.

The hearing concluded with Chair-man Lynch expressing hissympathy forthe Postal Services side in the disputewith OPM overthe proper allocation ofpension costs in CSRS. He urged theagenciesto work together to hash outan agreement on how to to fairlydividethese costs. The same agencies werepreparing to testifybefore the Senateon April 22 as this Postal Recordwentto press.

NALC is expected to be called to testifyat the next round ofcommittee hearings.Letter carriers can help amplify themessage Iwill give the committeesby getting involved in ourlegislativeactivities, President Rolando said.

Working together, we have the powerto reach our representativesin Congressin ways that capture their attention andbring themaround to our point of view.

As wave after wave of state associa-tions continue to climbCapitol Hill inthe coming months, that power willbecome much moreapparent.

NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL RECEPTIONOn April 14, members of theNewYork congressional delegationhad the opportunity to lobbytheirrepresentatives during a reception.

At right: Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-14)

got a rousing cheer when she spokeof the need to preservesix-daydelivery.

Pictured below (clockwise from top l):Rep. Tim Bishop (D-1),Rep. MikeMcMahon (D-13), Rep. Dan Maffei(D-25), Rep. Paul Tonko(D-21) andRep. Scott Murphy (D-20).