The NALC Communications Department stands ready to assist branch leaders and NALC activists in dealing with local media. Find out how we can work together to inform the public, and their elected representatives, about the real story. More
Talking Points: A guide for branch leaders on the postal financial crisis; the truth about the Postal Service and the need for congressional action.PDF
NALC plays prominent role in reactions to USPS 2nd quarter report.Coverage of Friday’s USPS quarterly financial report varied in depth and quality over the weekend among news outlets, but NALC President Fredric Rolando was widely quoted, lending perspective to many reports.
The road ahead. On April 24, NALC President Fredric Rolando served on a panel during the annual PostalVision 2020 conference in Washington. Rolando and his fellow panelists discussed “The Road Ahead” for the Postal Service. The Nation’s John Nichols discusses Rep. Peter DeFazio's (D-OR) “rare step” of posting a petition on the White House's “We The People” website.
Unjust pre-funding of benefits
is killing the Postal Service. NALC President Fredric Rolando had a powerful op-ed in The Washington Examiner. Letter carriers from Idaho rallied in Twin Falls on Friday, April 26, to support keeping six-day mail delivery service. (Also read a letter to the editor and an interview in the Twin Falls Times-News.) An article on The Huffington Post’s “Post 50” blog gives a good mention of Carrier Alert. Des Plaines, IL Branch 2076 President Luis Rivas’s talk inspired an audience member to write an opinion piece for the Glen Ellyn [IL] Patch. Royal Oak, MI Branch 3126 Food Drive Coordinator Jim Hunter was a guest on WDFN-AM’s “First Shift with Tony Trupiano.” Burlington, NC Branch 2262 President Mark Bare’s letter to the editor of The Times-News countered an earlier editorial. Writing for The American Reporter, correspondent Randolph T. Holhut points out how the 2006 postal reform law created “a phony postal crisis.”
DeFazio starts White House petition to remove needless requirement bankrupting USPS.NALC President Fredric Rolando tells ThinkProgress that he is happy with Rep. Peter DeFazio’s (D-OR) efforts to try to repeal the Postal Service’s onerous pre-funding requirement. Vint Cerf, one of the “fathers of the Internet,” told attendees at PostalVision 2020 that he considers USPS to be part of the national infrastructure and that it must be preserved for the good of the country. In Nebraska, NALC Assistant Secretary-Treasurer Nicole Rhine explained to television viewers that the Postal Service’s current financial crisis is a direct result of Congress’ onerous pre-funding requirement.
Solving the Postal Service's problems
NALC President Fredric Rolando’s letter to the editor of The Washington Post was printed on Wednesday, April 17—the day he appeared before a House committee hearing. Rolando’s letter was in response to an April 15 editorial in The Post. On the subject of the hearing, a post to The Hill’s “On The Money” blog quoted President Rolando and noted that more than two-thirds of the Postal Service’s recent losses are the result of the pre-funding requirement, and that the USPS is the only government agency or private enterprise that is bound by law to pre-fund.
May 24, 2013—Friday's Government Executive had an interesting story on a poll about the public's attitudes toward the Postal Service, showing among other things support for continued Saturday delivery, a strong reliance on postal services and a desire to see more services offered at post offices. Making the survey all the more intriguing is that it was conducted solely among Americans who use the Internet.
