February 2003
George W. Bush will try to push his agenda through Congress, and it doesn’t look good for us. He has even appointed a Postal Commission to try to reform the Postal Service as we know it
Who’s to say that next attack will not be the retirement benefits we retirees depend on and our health insurance. We have never forgot the time they delayed our COLA benefits until April, losing three months of this benefit. It took us several years to get it back to January 1st.
Our legislation in 107th Congress never got out of committee. We now have to lobby our Congressional Representatives to re-introduce this legislation that affects every retiree, mainly the Government Pension Offset, the Windfall Elimination Provision, and the Premium Conversion Legislation.
In our state we lost two champions in Congress because of redistricting— David Bonior and Lynn Rivers. We gained two Republican Representatives who I hope will not align with the Republican delegation from our state, because that group has never supported our legislation. Our newly elected Representative from the 10th District claims that she is union friendly and that her daughter is even a member of the UAW. We shall see.
If you read Ron Brown’s article in the November Postal Record about spouses of deceased letter carriers and their entitlements to survivor benefits, health insurance, and life insurance, it proves there is much to learn. I have a packet made up that will give you all the information you need on how to contact OPM about appropriate benefits.
If any branch officers contact me, I will be glad to get the packets to them.
In closing, I would like to congratulate Branch 4374 President Pat Carroll on his promotion to Regional Assistant to NBA Jim Korolowicz. Pat has done a great job for his branch as well as with the state organization, and he will do a great job as the R.A.A. We wish him every success in his new position.
