NALC President Fredric V. Rolando wrote in a letter to Republican presidential candidate Gov. Tim Pawlenty expressing “Deep disappointment” in his suggestion that the ” ‘post office’ was ‘built for a different time in our country.’ NALC said Pawlenty’s statement “demonstrated profound ignorance about what the U.S. Postal Service does today,” Below is text of the letter:
July 1, 2011
Governor Tim Pawlenty
Pawlenty 2012
P.O. Box 385340
Bloomington, MN 55438
Dear Govenor Pawlenty:
I write on behalf of the 280,000 members of the National Association of Letter
Carriers (NALC). Our members live and work in almost every city and town in
America, in blue states and red states, and we come from all backgrounds. Almost a
third of us are veterans and our political beliefs reflect the full range of American
opinion – we are Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike. However, I
believe I speak for all our members when I express our deep disappointment with
your shallow and uninformed treatment of the Postal Service in your economic
policy speech in June.
Your simplistic “Google test” – for determining what the role of the federal
government should be – was rightfully panned by most economic observers. But
your suggestion that the “post office” was “built for a different time in our country”
demonstrated profound ignorance about what the U.S. Postal Service does today.
And contrary to what you said in your speech, left to their own devices, private
companies would not provide universal mail delivery at affordable, uniform rates
(44 cents for a basic letter).
Indeed, both FedEx and UPS use the Postal Service to deliver millions of packages
every day in places where it is not profitable for them to serve. Ending the Postal
Service would cut affordable service to tens of millions of Americans in rural states
and inner city neighborhoods where private companies could not make a profit. I
understand that political candidates often pander to the prejudices of their “bases”
and rely on hyper-partisan rhetoric in their speeches. But as a former governor, I
would have expected better from your campaign.
So let me tell you a little bit about the Postal Service. As a function expressly
authorized by our Constitution, the post office is as old as the republic. Since it was
reorganized as a financially self-sufficient agency in 1970 it has enjoyed broad bipartisan
support. It has not received any taxpayer support since 1982 and has strong
public support – an 83% approval rating, as a matter of fact. It provides the most
affordable, high-quality postal services in the world. Six days a week, we deliver to
150 million American homes and businesses serving the postal needs of banks,
magazines, online merchants, advertisers and ordinary American citizens.
Although the impact of the internet is doubtlessly reducing mail volume and
changing the mix of mail (fewer letters, more packages), the Postal Service remains
a vital infrastructure service in the American economy. Not only does it employ
575,000 Americans and generate $65 billion in sales annually, it also serves as the
hub of a $1.3 trillion mailing industry that includes paper manufacturers, magazines,
shippers, financial service providers, direct marketers and merchants of all kinds.
Trillions of dollars of transactions flow efficiently through the mail each year. In
fact, more than half the bills received by American households are still paid through
the mail, making the USPS a vital part ofthe nation’s financial payments system.
The mailing industry that surrounds the Postal Service employs some 7.5 million
Americans and accounts for a significant share of the nation’s GDP. Yes, our
industry is changing and may become smaller, but we are certainly not the obsolete
institution you insultingly portrayed in your speech.
A lot of our members are Republicans. Like their fellow letter carriers who are
Democrats, they will be very active in next year’s primary campaigns. I urge you to
win their votes by treating them with the respect they deserve as hard-working
Americans who provide an important public service.
Sincerely,
Fredric V. Rolando
President
Just had to reply to spiderman. Either he is a super rich idiot who doesn’t care about anyone else having a decent life or he is a man with a spider brain. I think the latter.
As far as the union goes, keep your effin 50cent raise and do something about the hell that is your day to day job. NOTHING has changed in the 30+ years that I’ve been a carrier. Every damn day it’s the same crap, pivots, never fast enough, arguing…on and on.
SCABS!
Spoken like a true Flat Earther, Joe the Freeloader.
Ah, better to be a scab than a liberal sore oozing puss.
Scab pussies.
Yea, Its the Unions that are breaking us. Those Supervisors and Postmasters (who also have their own Union) will tell you the same thing! If you work for the Post Office and you are a craft worker……why would you bite the hand that feeds you? Proud of being a Scab? Good for you. Maybe Rush Limbaugh could have you on his show.
Feel ya Spiderman. January 2012, I will not only be a proud scab, but also a 31 year proud veteran. Union presidents are no better than the worst politician. Million dollar homes complete with drivers for their limos all on our dues money.
Spiderman……..The Postal Service is one of the only few Jobs where a Veteran who risks his life for his Country can get preference, work hard….. and actually make a living. 52-54K a year. Its the people that attack Unions and Labor that are making this COUNTRY nothing more than a Big Buisness! Perhaps you would like to work in China?! Think about it. Postal Union Jobs is “Pocket Change” for those Politcal SOB’s!!! Its just a trick of the Rich to keep you Poor! Americans deserve Jobs…after all its us (middle American) that make it happen.
So thanks to the awful American automobile industry…we have a middle class? And you call me dumb? By the way, I’m not a scab yet! I’m stuck in the union until Feb 2012! And I not only look forward to being considered a scab, I consider it a compliment!
Pawplenny demonstrates ignorance because he is dumb-as-a-rock ignorant Teabag.
Read some history Spidernitwit. There would have been no middle class without unions. You dumb Scab.
It doesn’t matter what the NALC says!
Unions suck!
Why do you think American cars fall apart?
Even though Apple Computers work great…oh wait, those are foreign made non-union products!
It doesn’t matter what the NALC says!
Well said Wage Slave….
I’m wondering when Rolando and any of the other “Republican members” of his Union will wake up and see who the GOP/TEA POT TALIBAN really are and what they stand for and are predisposed to DO TO THE WORKING MEN AND WOMEN OF AMERICA.
How long does it take???
The “NEW REPUBLICANS”, who have taken over the “old” Republican Party, with their dogmatic ULTRA CONSERVATIVE IDEAS AND ACTIONS and their almost psychotic insistence on eliminating ANY MODERATE REPUBLICAN that would even think of “COMPROMISE” with the Democrats or Progressive elements of our Congress, THEY are the rabid destroyers of worker’s rights long established through decades of collective bargaining, wage sacrifice and concessions to Corporate Management.
How long will “even handed” Union Officers like Rolando and others who have been “courted” by the Republican Party take to FINALLY SEE that there is in fact NO POSITIVE SIDE TO SUPPORTING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN IT’S PRESENT FORM….these people are out to SKIN YOU ALIVE in order to satisfy THEIR CORPORATE AND MEGA RICH FRIENDS.
Darrell Issa and Dennis Ross ARE THE “NEW REPUBLICANS”….
IT’S WHO THEY ARE….IT’S WHAT THEY DO….IT’S IN THEIR DNA AND THEY WILL NEVER CHANGE OR MODERATE.
THE ONLY ANSWER IS TO KICK THEM TO THE CURB
BEFORE THEY DO IT TO YOU…