Over the weekend, Congress approved an omnibus spending bill to keep the government operating through September that included a provision to again move the deadline for the Postal Service’s 2011 future retiree health benefits pre-funding payment for another eight months, to August. The spending measure also included language to keep the Postal Service delivering mail six days a week, rather than slashing service when the Postal Service needs to grow.

NALC applauds Congress and President Obama for acting swiftly, for avoiding partisan bickering and for not shutting the government down. We are enthusiastic that Congress chose not to make unwise decisions that could bankrupt the Postal Service.

While this bill is a temporary victory, Congress can still take legislative action through other bills next year to shutter post offices, end Saturday delivery and layoff hundreds of thousands of valuable employees.

So NALC’s work is far from over. As members of the House and Senate plan to move legislation that would damage the Postal Service, they seem thus far uninterested in addressing the unique and unfair burden that they created in 2006: that the Postal Service pre-fund its future retiree health benefits.

source: NALC Activist Alert