Update: According to a NALC Representative there is no agreement between NALC and USPS
However, according to an article in the September edition of the Postal Record –NALC does support moving retirees to Medicare Parts A and B:
Although work remains to be done on key issues, such as adjusting postage rates and service standards,there is broad agreement on the most important financial problem facing the Postal Service: how to alleviate the crushing burden to pre-fund decades of future retiree health benefits. The industry has coalesced around the idea of full Medicare integration for health plans that cover postal employees and postal annuitants in the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP)—that is, implementing a requirement that postal annuitants enroll in Medicare Parts A and B when they reach age 65, and requiring FEHBP plans covering postal employees to adopt drug plans made possible by the Medicare Part D program.
This approach would not only largely resolve the pre-funding requirement that is hindering USPS finances, it also would reduce FEHBP health insurance rates for all active and retired letter carriers as part of the bargain.
“It’s a proposal that NALC was instrumental in developing,” President Rolando said. Indeed, the basic outlines of the proposal were carefully crafted by the NALC and the USPS by the health care task force established by the 2013 Das award. “We have agreed on the major provisions of this plan, but we are taking a cautious approach to it to make sure that any legislation takes into account the best interests of the Postal Service, letter carriers and other postal workers.”
According to the proposal, the Office of Personnel Management would create a postal-only health benefit program within FEHBP. These postal plans would be rated and priced separately from the plans covering other federal employees, with rules on Medicare enrollment that would apply only to the postal plans. Postal retirees covered by these postal plans would be required to enroll in Medicare Parts A and B when they reach age 65. In addition, the postal FEHBP program would embed low-cost drugs made possible by the Medicare Part D program.
Click here to download the full Postal Record article.
October 31, 2015 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 Donahue 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.”
source: Labor Roundup
The union should be working for the employees not against. My question who thought this up must be getting their pockets lined with money….. this hurts us the employees. Its mismanagement. That’s the problem leave our benifits alone
Wow! Talk about not reading carefully….the sky is falling, the sky is falling…
The letter carriers elected this guy? He says “future” retirees, what does that mean, someone that retires next year or ten years from now? This guy is positioning himself for a USPS managing position for sure!! Gee, I thought the union is supposed to look out for the workers, you letter carriers out there need to get rid of this guy, or our retirement benefits will be in jeopardy!!!!
Prefunding is NOT going away in 2016. It is being recalculated… If this proposal goes through the recalculation will end up making it go away. If it doesn’t billions a year will be due for the foreseeable future.
A proposal like this is one of the only chances for current employees to get decent contractual raises that keep up with inflation in coming years.
Are there any more details about the terms that have been agreed to by these idiots?
Existing retirees? Grandfathered? Their spouses?
Date of implementation?
What if one retires before this goes into effect.
Good post, Can we believe anybody? And sadly the answer is, no we cant. What I’ve never understood is how a union leader that is supposed to be representing our best interests can unilaterally make a major backdoor deal with USPS upper management without putting the idea in front of the membership first for vote. It is more of a dictatorship then a democracy. Like postal management themselves, ” We’ll tell you what’s best for you”.
are we no longer able to buy insurance for our spouse and children before or after 65? Has this union just shut out their own insurance ??? what happened to the requirement that work insurance must be primary insurance? are congress and opm going to agree with this????
7 years later and these losers are still blaming bush……..we still have the picture on the wall in our plant of all the unions standing behind the postmaster and bush giggling like a bunch of manginas signing prefunding into law. Ozero has done NOTHING FOR THE PO and Hitlery will DO NOTHING FOR THE PO…….so sit back with your tin cup and hope you get that crummy 1% yearly and NO COLA because the DEMONKKKATS have played around with the inflation CPI index. now go back to work you slugs and shut your pie hole until a low IQ postal mismanager tells you to open it. lets see under Ozero 7 years X 1%= 7% inflation rate of 6% X 7 years=42% dont worry by the time you retire your salary will be worthless-alpo ala king. a honda civic le will run you about 45K. should have become a doctor….oh thats right to stupid.
to “can you trust anybody”hey dim bulb kool-aid drinker………under Clinton and Ozero (Demonrats last I checked) have dipped into the TSP to pay government IRS checks in the months of april. (they were called loans-clintons Sec Of Treasury Rubin was aggroant when called out on it) NO REPUBLICAN has dipped into TSP…..DEMONRATS HAVE! wake up you useful idiot! once you mentioned you were a union president….I knew you were a moron! now go vote for the commie bernie….you tool!
It is amazing how political zealots change the facts to fit their opinion.
https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31967.pdf
In April, May and June of 2002 the secretary of Treasury dipped into TSP.
In Feb, March April and May of 2003 the secretary of Treasury dipped into TSP.
In October and November of 2004 the secretary of Treasury dipped into TSP.
In March of 2006 the secretary of Treasury dipped into TSP….
Dipping into TSP is a standard accounting gimmick used by all Treasury secretaries when political brinkmanship involving the debt limit comes into play.
P.S. FYI Neither Clinton nor Obama were president in 2002,2003,2004 or 2006.
First we get CCA’s, and the NALC was unsuccessful in stopping that disaster. Service has never been worse, and all Rolando seems to do is whine. As for Medicare, it isn’t a bad program, but it seems to me the proposal doesn’t leave room for options. The USPS should fund retirement benefits because after all, we paid them our whole careers, participated in TSP and the Service damn well owes us that money. It wouldn’t surprise me for the Republicans and management to try to steal our TSP’s somewhere down the road, either.
I retire at the end of next year, and if I think stealing my TSP is a possibility I’ll cash it in and get a private 401K or something. What worries me is the NALC leadership. I’m a career long NALC member and president for 17 of my 31+ years of my local, and I can say I’ve not seen the likes of how the union is behaving. Rolando is weak, too cozy with management, and it seems like we get no real backup anymore from NBA’s, and DRT teams sell thousands of grievants out every year. DRT members should be rotated because some are too damn chummy with their management partners, and some blatantly sabotage grievances from branches where the NBA or DRT NALC rep don’t like the officers there.
I KNOW this happens, and I will not discuss details because it could mean a lot of trouble for all of us.
We better get vocal at the next national convention, nominate somebody with some real balls, and introduce resolutions that force DRT teams to rotate, and for obvious negative rulings to be eligible for review when sabotage and incompetence are contributing to wrongful decisions that cost letter carriers their jobs and screw them on their pay. We pay them and we have the right to demand better.
I didn’t vote for Fred last 2 times he was up but unfortunately enough other people did!
Well put
who does this guy think he is? he has no control over retirees. Retirees are covered under FERS. Federal Employees Retirement System. Not USPS employees Retirement System. Neither Rolando or Meg the Moron can dictate retirement policy . That is left up to a higher standard of morons. The congress.
Carrier chuck u r on the money … Fast Freddy is playing his poker hand to early to earn the respect of the Union … What he doesn’t understand is that we all see the house of cards Freddy has built .. The prefund is done ( why are u sticking your chest out now and standing up for us ?)
Freddy and his inner circle have gotten salary increases for the last 10 years while the letter carrier majority has suffered with no colas and 1.0 raises over two contracts !!
The amount of volume and parcel numbers for each carrier nationwide has increased dramatically .. Do the right thing Freddy and give the letter carriers a 7 % raise just like u and your union heads have received over the last contract !!
This is why Rolando should have NOT been re-elected. He is selling us down the river. LEAVE OUR HEALTHCARE ALONE!!!
Don’t mess with my FEHBP!
If you really read this poorly written article, it says this is a proposal. It means it is something they have agreed to pursue, nothing more. PAEA is a law passed by Congress. NALC and USPS cannot just agree to something that would eliminate the $5.5 billion payment all by themselves. The law would have to be changed by Congress. In addition, a whole new category of employees would have to be created within the FEHBP, and every health plan offered by FEHBP would have to set up a separate rate structure for postal employees, both those eligible for Medicare and those who are not. Either that or the Postal Service will have to create its own health plan and force everyone into that, something Megan Brennan said earlier the Post Office is not pursuing anymore. The article also implies this might only be for future retirees, not current ones, further complicating the issue. It also mentions only the NALC. What about the other unions? And all of this would have to be approved by OPM. Does anyone see any of this as realistic? Until I see further information about this, citing specific sources, I would totally disregard this article.
The PO is NOT losing money…. If there shows a lost it is because PO management is MIS-managing… Like paying for OT when they don’t have to… disobeying rules/regs that lead to paying out grievance monies… discriminating, harassing their workers that lead to EEO/Merit Board claims that lead to paying out monies… Management knows when they break the rules and this will happen but they continue because they want to destroy the PO and privatize…..
And this is our Union working for us???? Is this what we pay for???? Or is the union now working for the USPS interest???
That’s funny Rolando…… since the pre funding ends in 2016 anyway. We haven’t made the last 4 and won’t make next year’s. There hasn’t been any consequences from not making them, yet you and the other unions won’t acknowledge that or give any ideas on how to save $. As long as you can keep contacting the national media and spin it, it will be OK. Right??
I still find it incredible that the Ratpublican people cry about how the Postal Service has lost millions of dollars from operations! They fail to place the blame where it belongs. Ex President Forrest Gump and his pals decided that the Postal Service, and only the Postal Service, must prefund it’s health care costs! How come President Idiot didn’t insist that every other government agency must prefund their health care costs? The right wing could then find reason to get rid of the Postal Service. Then the new Postal Co. could then pay their employees as little as possible. What will happen to our retirement and health care? In America, it’s as American as apple pie and Chevrolet for one to have your retirement and health care taken away!
It states all FUTURE retirees. So I’m retired but not 65…am I under the old? I read it that way
NALC is selling future retirees out. It’s not going to happen unless we be sheep and do not tell out Union representatives to negotiate away from this idiocy. Management was in bed with the Bush administration when the PAEA was signed and the NALC was one of the Union’s that also supported it! Now they want to come back and say this is a way out. I disagree, it is a way to force retirees to pay even more and the NALC should be ashamed of themselves, selling the membership out!
What does happen to retires spouses,why are retires always get screwed,now they get screwed even from their own union!!!!
So this agreement will “end the prefunding requirement” that is expiring at the end of 2016 as it is currently written?! WTF?! It’s already going away. Who is the brilliant NALC “leader” who came up with this?! We ARE doomed!!
This sounds like a sell out. Congress put the future retiree health care funding on the postal service and it is Congress who should fix it, not the Union giving up future benefits for its members. What ever the NALC agreed to will only put pressure on the other Union’s. What about the promise to be able to stay in FEHB program? This is hard to believe and I hope it is not accurate.
How does it eliminate pretty funding? Letter carriers aren’t the only postal employees? Or is that going to be on our backs too?
Still gonna happen. It’s in the cards.
What happens to a retirees spouse if she is not old enough to get on Medicare?