Dear Supporter,
I know that you and your fellow members are extremely busy with the task of collecting petitions to save Saturday delivery in advance of the Nov. 14 deadline to get them to NALC Headquarters. We need you to keep working on this important task.
But as I said at the rap session in Las Vegas, we are facing multiple legislative threats at present. We need to walk and chew gum at the same time because Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and his right-wing allies in the House of Representatives are advancing H.R. 2309, a bill that would dismantle the Postal Service and gut our labor contract and our collective-bargaining rights. It is imperative that we engage and educate the American public about the need to defeat H.R. 2309 and Save America’s Postal Service.
On Oct. 13, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved H.R. 2309, which would eliminate Saturday mail delivery at a cost of 80,000 full- and part-time jobs, undermining the needs of millions of American businesses and residents that rely on six-day delivery. It would mandate the closing of thousands of post offices and end mail delivery to the doors of 90 percent of American households and businesses that now receive it. And it would create new layers of bureaucratic oversight with the authority to rip up and rewrite the collective-bargaining agreements of the nation’s postal employees.
H.R. 2309 is not a bill to save the Postal Service; it’s a bill to destroy it. Congressman Issa intends to bring this legislation to a floor vote as early as mid-November.
To prevent this devastating bill from ever becoming law, letter carriers across the country need to convince their family members, friends and neighbors to weigh in with members of Congress against H.R. 2309. We need to generate public opposition to this bill, not just union opposition. Indeed, we need you to target four key groups of potential allies in your communities – businesses, senior citizens' groups, veterans' organizations and faith leaders – and ask them to call their representatives and tell them why H.R. 2309 is a bad bill. Communities across America would be devastated by this bill and members of Congress need to hear this message from their constituents.
Below are links to information (flier, talking points, local press release) to help you rally members of your branch to call key allies and constituency groups, as well as their member of Congress, and urge representatives to vote "no" on H.R. 2309.
On Sunday, Nov. 6, you will receive a phone call at 7:30 p.m. EST (4:30 p.m. PST) inviting you to join a teleconference that I will be hosting for tens of thousands of letter carriers across the country. Please accept this phone call at your home and stay on the line. I will use this opportunity to discuss the battles we are fighting to Save America’s Postal Service, and the specific actions needed to defeat H.R. 2309.
Thank you for what you are doing to protect our jobs and for doing what’s best for America.
In Solidarity,
Fredric V. Rolando, President
National Association of Letter Carriers
