The National Association of Postal Supervisors posted the following statement in its NAPSHQ 2 U Newsletter regarding our June 10 story on the loss of tax exempt status. As the statement points out, it was the NAPS local branch in Alexandria VA, not the national office (also located in Alexandria) that had its tax exempt status revoked, along with numerous other NAPS locals, and the local units of other postal employee organizations:

On June 10, Postalnews.com come ‘Tweeted" and posted on its website; NAPS loses tax exempt status for failure to file returns. This is a half-truth. Your NAPS National Office at 1727 King St, STE 400 in Alexandria VA did NOT lose its tax-exempt status. Postalnews.com made it appear that we did.

Unfortunately, many of our local NAPS branches throughout the country had their tax-exempt status revoked for "failing to file an annual information return or notice with the IRS for three consecutive years". One such NAPS branch had a mailing address listed in Alexandria, VA; which gave the appearance it was NAPS HQ.

Furthermore, NAPS local branches were not the only "postal-related" organizations on the IRS list. Postalnews.com reported that local units of the League of Postmasters and NAPUS, local and auxiliary units of the American Postal Workers Union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, Postal Police and National Alliance of Postal Employees also had their tax-exemptions revoked.

The reason an organization appeared on the IRS list of organizations, whose tax-exempt status has been automatically revoked, was because IRS records indicated the organization had a filing requirement and did not file the required returns or notices for 2007, 2008 and 2009. The IRS is contacting those impacted organizations with a letter informing them of their tax-exempt revocation.

Impacted NAPS Branches may request reinstatement of their tax-exempt status. I suggest these branches visit www.irs.gov to get the full instructions on requesting reinstatement. Again, NAPS Headquarters did not have its tax-exempt status revoked for not filing the proper tax returns. Your NAPS national office remains tax-exempt/non-profit.

via NAPSHQ 2 U Newsletter-June 24, 2011.

President Louis M. Atkins regarding the USPS’ termination of their payments into FERS

June 22, 2011 — The U.S. Postal Service announced on June 22 that it immediately will suspend its bi-weekly contributions to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) benefits, citing overpayment of its FERS obligations by enough of a margin to where a nearly $7 billion surplus currently exists.

For months the Postal Service has indicated that its worsening financial condition will put at risk its ability to satisfy a series of financial obligations, including a statutorily-required advance payment of $5.5 billion in late September for future retiree health benefits along with fulfilling other basic operating expenditures. The termination of the FERS payments is the first in a series of last-ditch efforts by the USPS to remain financially solvent.

The National Association of Postal Service believes the Postal Service’s actions underscore the critical need for Congress to address the Postal Service’s pension surpluses in both CRS and FERS. Surpluses as large as $75 billion in CSRS and $7 billion in FERS may exist.

While the legality of the Postal Service’s action is unclear, USPS and OPM have agreed to seek legal review through the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice. If the Postal Service has erred, it will make the necessary catch-up payments.

In the meantime, OPM and USPS will continue to award full service credit for employees retiring from the Postal Service, regardless of the state of USPS-employer contributions to FERS. NAPS will continue to work to assure that the interests of its members and their retirement benefits are fully protected.

6-23-2011 Atkins Statement on FERS

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POSTAL SUPERVISORS

NAPS Leg/Reg Update – June 21, 2011

Is Your Congressman on HR 1351? There are 150 Members of the House ofRepresentatives who have co-sponsored HR 1351, the critical bill introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) that fixes USPS overpayments for CSRS and FERS pension obligations and realigns USPS prefunding health benefit payments for future retirees. This is the most important postal legislation before Congress. NAPS strongly supports it. NAPS members need to express their support for it to Congress.

NAPS needs to gain the support of many more House lawmakers for this bill. It will do that by more NAPS members asking their House lawmakers to cosponsor HR 1351.

Has your House Member cosponsored HR 1351?

Click here for a list of House Members who have cosponsored HR 1351.

Click here for a list of House Members who have not cosponsored HR 1351.

Click here to send a message to your House Member to urge his or her cosponsorship of HR 1351.

Issa Bill in the Wings …
Meanwhile, three of the four members of the Congressional postal oversight quartet (Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-E)) each have crafted and introduced postal bills … with Congressman Darrel Issa (R-CA) still not yet unveiling his bill. That could change soon. Issa’s staff says he is preparing to introduce a “comprehensive” bill to reform the Postal Service, meaning another bill as complicated and fraught with difficulty as the Carper and Collins bills offered in the Senate.

Issa’s bill is likely to give the PMG greater latitude to close post offices and reduce delivery days, but not do much short-term to address the USPS money problems, other than possibly raise the $15B debt ceiling (which is the last thing the Postal Service needs to do). Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL), chairman of the postal oversight subcommittee, is likely to be a primary cosponsor of the Issa bill. It took twelve years to enact Postal Reform I in 2006, and it will require more time than between now and September 30, the end of the fiscal year, to create another set of reform measures for the Postal Service.

What is more certain, on a different level … is that some combination of cuts in federal and postal employee/retiree pension and/or health benefits, along with caps on workforce growth, are likely to be
included in the agreement that emerges from the debt ceiling negotiations at Blair House moderated by Vice President Joe Biden.

An unprecedented number of legislative proposals have already been introduced in Congress for cutting federal pensions and health benefits, or increasing employee contributions – similar to or beyond the cuts in pay, benefits and workforce recommendations of the President’s debt commission. NAPS strongly opposes these cuts.

Two Money Battles You Need to Follow …. It’s hard to imagine a sequel to a battle yet fought. But the upcoming three-way showdown between the President, House Republicans and Senate Democrats over the debt ceiling may be only the first “ceiling” battle as we head into the fall. Ceiling Battle II will be over the postal debt ceiling and the solvency of the Postal Service. Republicans will call it Postal Service bankruptcy and the political consequences of the controversy could be big. If debt ceiling brinksmanship continues past August 2, with Republicans and Democrats agreeing initially to only a small increase in the debt ceiling that temporarily postpones agreement on bigger cuts, the money issues surrounding Postal Service could fall into the larger debate over the nation’s debt and solvency. For more details, read my column in the upcoming July issue of the Postal Supervisor: http://scr.bi/mk734U

Bruce Moyer
NAPS Legislative Counsel

Two Money Battles You Need to Follow

The National Association of Postal Supervisors has had its tax-exempt status revoked for “failing to file an annual information return or notice with the IRS for three consecutive years”.

NAPS isn’t the only postal organization on the list- a number of its branches also appear, along with local units of the League of Postmasters and NAPUS, and hundreds of local and auxiliary units of the American Postal Workers Union and the National Association of Letter Carriers.

The IRS has started publishing a list of organizations that have had their federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked for failing to file an annual information return or notice with the IRS for three consecutive years. The Automatic Revocation of Exemption List (Auto-Revocation List) is available in Adobe and Excel formats, and divided into separate lists by jurisdiction. The Auto-Revocation List provides the name, employer identification number (EIN), organization (subsection) code, last known address, effective date of revocation, and date on which the name was posted on IRS.gov.

via Automatic Revocation of Exemption List.

National Association of Postal Supervisors
Legislative/Regulatory Update – April 6, 2011

Tuesday’s House oversight hearing into the tentative APWU contract and postal worker pay fell far from its billing as “Wisconsin Comes to Washington.” House Republicans appeared unready to take on the nation’s largest postal labor union, the Postal Service or the newly-minted labor contract the two have struck.

Prior to the hearing, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) had warned that his panel would grill Postmaster General Pat Donahoe on why the Postal Service had not sought greater concessions from the American Postal Workers Union during its recently-concluded contract negotiations, resulting in the 4.5 year deal that the Postal Service says secured $3.8 billion in savings. Issa called the APWU negotiations a “missed opportunity” for the Postal Service in relieving its financial burdens.

But at Tuesday’s hearing, more committee Democrats showed up than Republicans. Few of the Republican panel members asked tough questions about the labor contract. Some even denied that the hearing was intended as an assault upon labor. Democrats extolled the virtues of the Postal Service and postal workers and asked why business mailers were receiving as much as $4.5 billion in postage discounts.

The only clash came during a heated exchange between APWU President Clliff Guffey and postal oversight subcommittee chairman Dennis Ross (R-FL) over Ross’ accusation that APWU was paying its members to vote for the contract. Ross charged that the APWU website was promoting incentive payments to locals to vote for the contract. Guffey denied the charge, explaining that the union was encouraging locals to participate in the ratification vote, not telling them which way to vote.

USPS representatives stressed the need for Congressional relief from the blunder Congress made in a 2006 law requiring USPS to pre-fund future retiree healthcare payments at such an excessive rate, pushing the Postal Service toward insolvency. Donahoe said realignment of the prefunding payments was “the big issue” demanding Congressional attention.

The only way to get the Postal Service back on track, Donahoe said, was for Congress to change the laws governing its pension and retiree health benefit payments. The “big money” would come from reforming the retiree benefit system and getting rid of Saturday delivery, he said.

Donahoe, Board of Governors Chairman Louis J. Giuliano, and Governor Jim Miller repeatedly stressed the importance of the increased worker flexibility within the union contract, permitting USPS to use up to 20% part-time workers in clerical work, and up to 10% in vehicle maintenance divisions. The previous contract had set a 5.9% limit. The new arrangement takes a more flexible approach to part-time and full time workers, who could have their work patterns vary from week to week depending on requirements.

Bruce Moyer
NAPS Legislative Counsel

The National Association of Postal Supervisors has issued a document containing information and advice for supervisors and managers affected by the USPS restructuring: Read the rest of this entry »

PMG Pat Donahoe speaks to National Association of Postal Supervisors members at the 2011 Legislative Training Seminar.

The recovery of billions of dollars due the Postal Service from the Federal Treasury is at the top of the legislative agenda announced by the National Association of Postal Supervisors (NAPS) today.

Over 500 NAPS members – who are postal supervisors, managers and postmasters throughout the country — will visit House and Senate offices to press the agenda next Tuesday and Wednesday, March 22 and 23. Those meetings with lawmakers and staff will coincide with the annual NAPS Legislative Training Seminar, March 20 – 23, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C.

The NAPS legislative agenda is detailed in the NAPS Issues Brief.

NAPS Legislative Issues Brief

Washington –The National Association of Postal Supervisors welcomed the news of proposed financial relief for the struggling United Stated Postal Service. President Obama’s proposed $4 billion reduction of pre-funding requirements for the 2011 fiscal year will help USPS as it attempts to return to financial solvency.

“A viable Postal Service is critical to the entire infrastructure of commerce in the United States,” said NAPS President Louis Atkins. “We applaud President Obama in seeing that placing the Postal Service on sounder financial footing is best for every American.”

While pre-funding of health benefits is still a part of the proposed budget, it will now be on a more reasonable schedule. The flexibility will allow USPS “with the breathing room necessary to continue restructuring its operations without severe disruptions must be coupled with meaningful reforms to its business model to make USPS viable for the medium and long term,” the budget reads.

Atkins said that NAPS will continue to work with the leadership in Congress to bring about legislation that will work for the Postal Service, its employees and the American people.

“We were pleased to see that the Obama administration saw fit to include language in the budget concerning six-day delivery,” Atkins said. Last month, NAPS sent an 8-page position paper to every member of Congress outlining the need for six-day delivery.

“We have a long ways to go, but this is a giant first step,” Atkins said. “While this is great news, we still must continue to be diligent in bringing the Postal Service back to financial stability.”

Atkins said the Postal Service cannot return to prosperity without the assistance of Congress and support for the Administration’s budget proposals. Without that assistance, the Postal Service is left to do the only thing that it can do-cut service, eliminate jobs and close post offices.

“At a time when the country is trying to get people back to work, it is imperative that the Postal Service remain one of the largest employers in this country,” Atkins said. “This is not a time reduce public service jobs that are vital to both the commerce of the country and its citizens. “

NAPS Responds to Washington Post 12/6/2010 Editorial

In a December 6th editorial, The Washington Post articulated their view of the root cause of the current crisis facing the United States Postal Service. The Post Editorial Board placed the blame for the USPS’ current financial conditions squarely at the feet of its employees.

Postal employees have collective bargaining rights which were hard-fought by the unions in the reorganization in 1970. Prior to 1970, working for the old Post Office Department was similar to being on working welfare. The unions have negotiated fair contracts and working conditions for postal employees for over 40 years and to blame the unions for the current demise of the Postal Service is preposterous. Read the rest of this entry »