The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved an amended version of a postal bill (S. 1486) that faces vehement opposition from the four postal unions. The committee with oversight responsibility for the Postal Service passed the measure by a vote of 9-1 on Feb. 6.
“This was a bad bill that was made worse by the ‘substitute’ version that was introduced last week,” said APWU Legislative and Political Director John Marcotte. “Today the committee amended the bill around the edges but gave no relief to workers and no long-term assurances to the American people about their mail service.”The bill, which was introduced by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), would:
- Threaten 100,000 full- and part-time postal jobs;
- Lead to pension cuts;
- Weaken workers’ position in upcoming contract negotiations;
- Require the USPS to pre-fund workers’ compensation by $17 billion, further strangling USPS finances;
- Permit the USPS to close and consolidate mail processing facilities after two years;
- Allow the Postal Service to further reduce service and delivery standards;
- Eliminate Saturday delivery after 2017;
- Eliminate door-to-door mail delivery for new businesses and households, and
- Expose injured workers to impoverishment once they reach retirement age.
Voting in favor of the bill were: Sen. Carper, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK), Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Sen. Coburn, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY) and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH).
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) was the lone recorded no vote. Others who voted no by proxy were: Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Sen. Rand Paul(R-KY). Proxy votes were not recorded.
Amendments adopted on Feb. 6 would:
- Further limit USPS revenue by imposing a new cap on rate increases;
- Allow firearms in postal parking lots, provided there is no conflict with state and local regulations;
- Permit the Postal Regulatory Commission to overturn plant closures, and
- Postpone plant closures and changes to service standards until one year after the Comptroller General issues a report on USPS compliance with service standards.
“This disastrous bill would severely damage service to the people; weaken the USPS and make it ripe for privatization, and destroy good jobs throughout the country,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “The APWU urges senators to vote against the bill if and when it is brought to the Senate floor for consideration.”
via APWU.org
HUH? It says Tammy Baldwin(D-WI) voted in FAVOR of it and then in the next paragraph it says Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) voted NO by proxy. Which is it?
The Rep Issa has been bought out and I believe the postal service will be privatized and he will be the multi-millionaire ceo of this company. It will be run like wal-mart and be renamed post-mart. The workers will be made-up of part-time and temporary employees. Theft will be a major issue as clusters boxes are a nice catch for thieves. In california they have been driving away with them. If you live in a nice neighborhood your clusters will be a nice target for thieves and identity theft will be out of control. Greed is what is driving this as management will give themselves big raises and the employees will take a big pay cut. If this happens their will be martial law because I believe this country will go into a rage never seen before and rioting will be widespread. I believe they are getting ready for this as they are buying tons of ammunition for they know it will pop the bubble and people will revolt. I just hope I can retire before all this goes down and get the hell out this collapsing nation.