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July 3, 2025On July 3, Trump's tax-and-spending reconciliation bill (H.R. 1) passed by narrow margins in the House and Senate, giving $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy paid for by the working class. While we successfully fought off the threats most affecting postal workers, we can't lose sight of the fact that this bill is no doubt a crushing blow to millions of working families across the nation. LegislationLegislative and Political Today, Republicans in the House of Representatives narrowly passed President Trump’s tax-and-spending reconciliation bill after its passage in the Senate just two days ago. H.R. 1, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” gives $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy, paid for by the working class. The bill slashes Medicaid, food assistance, and green-energy programs while it expands tax breaks and increases defense spending. But thanks to an all-hands on deck campaign by postal and federal union members, every direct attack on our retirement security was stripped from the bill before its final passage. In the House and Senate, Democrats were united in voting against the bill. A few Republicans broke with their party to join Democrats in opposition, including Senators Thom Tillis (NC), Rand Paul (KY), and Susan Collins (ME). In the House, Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) and Thomas Massie (KY-04) found the bill to be not-so-beautiful and voted against it. After Vice President JD Vance broke a tie in the Senate on Tuesday and the House of Representatives passed the bill today, it is now headed to the president's desk to be signed into law. As you may recall, earlier versions of the bill in the House and Senate contained many disastrous provisions aimed at postal and federal workers, including: Increasing the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) annuity contribution rate for all active employees to 4.4%, resulting in a direct pay cut for any active employee hired before 2014; Replacing the High-3 FERS annuity calculation with a High-5 calculation, resulting in a reduction in annuity payments; Eliminating the FERS Social Security supplement, which allows workers who have earned their retirement the ability to retire before their Social Security benefits begin; Increasing the FERS annuity contribution rate for new hires; Establishing a filing fee for the Merit Systems Protection Board Claims and Appeals; Disposing of the Postal Service’s electric vehicle (EV) fleet and rescinding EV funding. Thanks to the tireless activism of APWU members, and our coalition of postal and federal allies, the final version of the reconciliation bill contains NONE of these attacks!  “This was a direct result of APWU member activism and shows our collective power,” said APWU Legislative and Political Director Judy Beard. “I want to thank every member who picked up the phone, sent an email, wrote a letter, or who personally met with their member of Congress. You have shown that even when the odds are stacked against us, we can win!” While we successfully fought off the threats most affecting postal workers, we cannot lose sight of the fact that this bill is no doubt a crushing blow to millions of working families across the nation. “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," declared APWU President Dimondstein. "What is dubbed as ‘The One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ is beautiful if you are part of the 1%, the fossil fuel industry, or multi-national defense contractors. For the rest of us, the working folks, this is as ugly as it gets.” Dimondstein continued, “We are pleased that through concerted efforts, including from our members and the APWU, the major attacks on federal and postal retirement benefits were stripped out of the final package. But let’s be clear: Congress shamefully voted for a massive transfer of wealth from the working and low-income people to make permanent $4 trillion in tax breaks for corporate America, Wall Street and the fat cats. It should never be acceptable to reward those who need it the least by taking away Medicaid health care benefits, nutritional assistance and educational support from those who need it the most.” Although many harmful provisions were successfully removed from this bill, we ask that you continue to stay vigilant. There are other dangerous bills currently moving through Congress and the APWU will keep you informed of our future fights. Reconciliation Legislation Passes - Attacks on Postal Pensions DEFEATEDAttacks on Postal Pensions Defeated0Continue reading→

June 30, 2025On June 24, the House Subcommittee on Government Operations held a hearing titled, “The Route Forward for the U.S. Postal Service: A View from Stakeholders.” No Privatization On June 24, the House Subcommittee on Government Operations held a hearing titled, “The Route Forward for the U.S. Postal Service: A View from Stakeholders.” In a hearing that was clearly created to promote the views and goals of the big mailers at the expense of postal workers and postal customers, the Republican leadership of the House Subcommittee had the following people testify: Paul Steidler, Senior Fellow at the conservative Lexington Institute; Jim Cochrane, CEO of the Package Shippers Association; Mike Plunkett, CEO and President of the Association for Postal Commerce; Thomas Schatz, President of the right-wing Citizens Against Government Waste; and Elena Spatoulas Patel, Assistant Professor at the University of Utah’s Marriner S. Eccles Institute for Economics and Quantitative Analysis. The only voice representing workers was Brian Renfroe, NALC President. In a statement submitted for the record, APWU President Mark Dimondstein quickly dispelled the notion that privatization, whether piecemeal or in total, would lead the Postal Service down a better financial path, stating “privatization offers the illusion of profit, but that profit serves a very limited corporate interest while costs will instantly rise for the majority of businesses and customers and the larger national postal industry collapses.” He went on to reiterate that the Postal Service must remain an independent agency in order to fulfill its fifty-year-old Congressional mandate “to provide postal services to bind the Nation together,” to “provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas,” and to “render postal services to all communities.” Several witnesses at the hearing made dangerous proposals for the future of the Postal Service, including: hiring freezes, public/private partnerships, (code word for subcontracting our work) and matching labor costs with postal revenues. For those following closely, these were blueprints for how they plan to privatize the postal service. Multiple exchanges between committee members and witnesses took place that admonished the Postal Service for the size of its workforce, specifically regarding the conversions of non-career workers to career employees. One particular exchange that should raise red flags for every APWU member took place between James Comer, Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Jim Cochrane, CEO of the Package Shippers Association, where they discussed the prospect of a private sector solution to the sorting of the mail. This would have a direct and devastating impact on APWU members. Despite these areas of concern, there were some notable moments during the hearing that highlighted areas where Congress could work with the Postal Service to improve its financial standing. Allowing the Postal Service to invest retirement funds in safe, TSP-like funds instead of the low-yield treasury securities they are limited to investing in now would generate a significant amount of money. Additionally, Congress should direct OPM to fix the misallocation of pension expenses that has plagued it for decades. In his statement, President Dimondstein advocated for the expansion of non-postal services to local, state, and tribal governments. The opportunities are numerous and could utilize the vast postal retail network to offer a variety of services, such as hunting/fishing licenses and identification verification for government services, as well as resource distribution during natural disasters. The APWU is ready to work with Congress and the Postal Service to share ideas and advance common goals to benefit the public Postal Service while continuing to push back against any changes that would have detrimental effects on the membership and the people’s rights guaranteed under the law to universal postal services no matter who we are or where we live. Privatizers Lay Out Their Plan for Destroying Public Postal Service0Continue reading→