Dear Supporter,
Five weeks ago, I asked all members of this union to collect signatures in support of protecting the future of the United States Postal Service, and you delivered. From every corner of this country, from big cities and small towns, active and retired letter carriers alike gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures.
At last count, you and your brothers and sisters had collected more than 800,000 signatures in support of saving Saturday mail delivery service. Your work paid off, as the collective voice of these 800,000 Americans was not ignored.
Congratulations! Now, let’s keep going!
On Monday, the “super committee” on deficit reduction announced that it had reached an impasse and would not be issuing a recommendation to Congress on how to reduce the nation’s deficit by $1.2 trillion. But before that announcement, as the members of the committee worked to salvage a deal, the NALC learned that reducing mail delivery from six days to five was off the table. The good news is that our message got through to the 12 members of the super committee. The bad news is that, while we have we won this battle, the war is far from over. There are still hundreds of other members of Congress who need to hear that the American people do not support the elimination of a day of delivery, because there are two major bills pending before Congress which call for eliminating Saturday service.
Both bills, H.R. 2309 and S. 1789, have been approved by their respective committees and are now awaiting floor action. To ensure that Congress does not adopt drastic measures that would lead to the radical downsizing of the Postal Service, we need to continue to gather signatures from the American public. Let’s keep going—with a goal to get 1 million signatures by the end of the year.
Thank you for your continued efforts to educate customers about the impact eliminating a day of delivery and ending door-to-door delivery would have on their communities. It is because of your hard work that we can claim two victories: The super committee dropped the five-day delivery proposal, and H.R. 2309 has not yet been scheduled for a vote in the House of Representatives.
Let’s ring in 2012 with 1 million petition signatures and the full support of the American people behind us as we fight for the future of the USPS.
I wish you and yours a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.
In Solidarity,
Fredric V. Rolando, President
National Association of Letter Carriers
