CONGRESS RETURNS TO DEBATE THE POSTAL REFORM

With Congress set to return for the final few weeks of its current session, the question still remains whether the full Senate or the full House will find time on their calendars to debate postal reform legislation. Earlier this summer, both the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Government Reform passed bi-partisan reform bills, and either or both of those bills could be scheduled for discussion by the respective chambers.

As of today, the House Bill(H.R. 4241) and the Senate bill (S.2468) have much in common. In addition to pricing flexibility and a new rate-setting process, they include favorable resolutions to important issues that affect the Civil Service Retirement Fund, the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan, and payments for the retirement benefits of military veterans. From a craft employee’s viewpoint, one major difference is that the Senate bill contains a change in OWCP that is opposed by the NPMHU. That change, if adopted, would require injured workers to use paid or unpaid leave for the first three days of an injury, if that injury is less than fourteen days in duration. It also would require that an individual on disability at age 65 choose between his or her normal retirement or taking a reduced disability payment. The NPMHU is lobbying to have these provisions removed. The House Bill, in contrast, does not include these changes to OWCP. On the other hand, there are various rate-setting provisions in the Senate bill that may be more favorable than the House bill. So the NPMHU continues to work behind the scenes to obtain the best legislation possible.

Watch your bulletin boards for the latest developments in the coming weeks.