ROYAL OAK, Mich. – Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. The National Association of Letter Carriers has revved up its campaign to save America’s postal service. In an unprecedented move Nov. 6, NALC president Frederic V. Rolando made a phone call to over 200,000 of the nation’s letter carriers to apprise them of the dire circumstances facing the Postal Service and to encourage them to take action.
Using an amazing teleconferencing technology, at 7:30 P.M. phones rang in tens of thousands of letter carrier households across this land. A live discussion presented by President Rolando concerning the issues facing the postal unions was followed by a question and answer session. The entire event lasted one hour. In that time, many troubling matters dealing with the plight of this nation’s universal communications system were brought to light.
Rolando talked about the legislative attacks facing the Postal Service. In the Senate, the 21st Century Postal Reform Act of 2011 (S. 1789) is a deeply flawed bill that would end door to door delivery to 90% of America’s postal patrons by 2015. In the House, H.R. 2309 would end Saturday mail delivery, door-to-door delivery, and radically downsize the Postal Service. Both bills could destroy up to 200,000 jobs if enacted.
President Rolando encouraged all letter carriers to become politically active and engaged. “It’s up to us to get the American people involved” he emphatically stated towards the end of his call. “We need to contact all of us in our universe” he urged those on the line. “They want a part time workforce with no collective bargaining agreements. They do not understand the full role of what we do in every community” was Rolando’s description of USPS upper management and those in Congress who support these bills.
Currently, a nationwide petition drive is underway as well as a campaign to call our legislators about these bills. Go to NALC.org or Save America’s Postal Service.org for more information. This is YOUR postal service, America’s must trusted and venerable public institution.
Photo: Marilyn Bechtel/PW
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