NALC agrees to sell-out future postal retirees because of a manufactured financial crisis?


As reported in TheCommunityWord.com:

Letter Carriers, USPS work on funding retiree health care.
Representatives from the Letter Carriers union and the U.S. Postal Service have agreed on a proposal to fund health care for workers and retirees, National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredric Rolando says, and it would end a big red ink drain on USPS.

The proposal would eliminate the $5 billion yearly drain for future retiree health care payments, instead having all future USPS retirees sign up for all parts of Medicare once they’re 65, rather than keeping them in a USPS-funded system.

Solving the problem is important for USPS workers plus customers because, at the behest of President George W. Bush, the GOP-run Congress in 2006 imposed an annual USPS pre-payment of future retirees’ health care benefits. That sent the USPS spiraling into debt. Former Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe responded by slashing services, slowing the mail, closing Post Offices and sorting centers, scheming to fire 100,000 full-time unionized postal workers — replacing many with minimum-wage part-time Staples workers — and letting another 100,000 go by attrition.

“This is a good first step towards positive postal reform that recognizes the needs of the employees and the employer,’ Rolando said, “but we’ll need to tread carefully as we progress further.”

8 thoughts on “NALC agrees to sell-out future postal retirees because of a manufactured financial crisis?

  1. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    APWU Indianapolis Local 130
    Office held, if any
    Former OWCP Director
    One other bad thing that this seems to be missing is that the insurance will be separated from the FEHB insurance.Postal Employees and retirees only. So the cost in general is likely to increase, if for no other reason than a much smaller pool of people and a likely average increase in age of employees. Added to that, a mandatory enrollment in Part B Medicare which is the doctor visits portion and you get limited to doctors that accept it, which many will not and a also a limitation to the USA . If you thought of travel to Canada or anywhere else outside the US you would have no coverage. It stinks and everyone should write their congress-person and voice against it!

  2. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    NPMHU - Local 301, Branch 18
    Office held, if any
    Branch President 1987 to 1992; Assistant to National Presidents Billy Quinn and John Hegarty 1992 to 2014

    Did some digging and found that this information is not true. Glad to find that out but should have checked before posting comment. Apologies to Fred for that.

  3. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    NPMHU - Local 301, Branch 18
    Office held, if any
    Branch President 1987 to 1992; Assistant to National Presidents Billy Quinn and John Hegarty 1992 to 2014

    First it was Guffey who rolled over and now Fred. Not surprise by Guffey but Fred is a shock. I wonder how much business the NALC health plan will get from this. It will be a cold day in hell before you see Paul Hogrogrian roll over like this.

  4. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    NALC Local Branch 1852
    Office held, if any
    Vice President State of North Carolina

    It was a sad day when George W. Bush was elected President of these United States. A draft dodger who hid in the ranks of the National Guard during the Viet Nam War and questionable records that show he may even been AWOL from full filling his obligations to the Guard. Yet he became the President who initially nationalized the National Guard as a fighting unit in the Afghanistan, Iraq and other parts of the world today. He is the same President who signed the authorization by the Republican led Congress to put the burden of a 5 billion dollar payment by the USPS to prefund it’s retirement system for the next 75 years. Something no other business is required to do and a simple lifetime continued all out effort by the Republican Party to find a way to privatize the Postal Service. Now we find ourselves in this situation that requires our leaders to walk softly, tread lightly on the thin ice they have chosen to cross!

  5. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    APWU Birmingham Al

    If this happens, what will happen to spouses coverage?

  6. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    APWU - Nations Capital Southern Maryland Local140

    Don’t you all remember when this was brought to the Unions and the NALC was the only one that showed interest in supporting a postal led Healthcare system? This looks like part of the fallout. Don’t be surprised if they don’t run the plan for the agency.

  7. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    APWU - Philadelphia, PA Area Local #89
    Office held, if any
    Retired Maintenance Craft Electronics Technician / Retiree Activist Member

    This is really insane on a major scale—-they’re using the “prefunding scam” as a pretext to institute an inferior plan, amazing—–meanwhile the prefunding is really legalized stealing from the po and projecting this as intense legacy retiree cost is a mind blower, really. And you can be sure postal HQ will exempt themselves.

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