Find Your Branch

Spring Has Sprung—Time for SPAC Contributions to Bloom!

Spring Has Sprung—Time for SPAC Contributions to Bloom!
By Dee Perez
New York Area Vice President

Everyone, take a few days of annual leave to smell the flowers and enjoy the warmer climate. Try and break away from the daily stress our jobs dish out, while trying to achieve some unattainable goals.

In the meantime, give yourself a pat on the back for what has been achieved. If you’ve been a contributor to a NAPS 50/50 SPAC drawing at a local branch meeting or national or state convention (be it $5, $10, $20 or more), if you went online and asked your representative and senators to support H.R. 3076, you deserve a pat on the back. No contribution is too small; it all counts.

For those who attended the Northeast Region Training Seminar in beautiful Puerto Rico, thank you for your contributions, as well. All contributions are greatly appreciated. We completed a successful Legislative Training Seminar this past March that culminated in the signing of H.R. 3076 into law in April. The legislation essentially will make the USPS solvent again. I can’t recall the last time the USPS was solvent, to be honest.

We have many people to thank other than the obvious legislators who supported this giant piece of legislation. What was unique this time was the legislation had bipartisan support. Let me spell this out for you. We had Democrats and Republicans supporting the bill.

For the time in which we live and work, politically speaking, this is a major accomplishment. Everyone who was active in contributing and sending emails to our legislative leaders deserves a huge thank-you for their efforts.

However, there is one person who really tipped the scales in getting this done. Politics aside, the Postal Service badly needed H.R. 3076. The agency for which we all work provides a roof over our heads, pays our bills, feeds our loved ones and educates our children, as well as so many other benefits that allow us to live a good life.

That person is Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. For those of you who are not aware of the inner workings of the USPS (not that I am), our leader explained to our politicians why the passage of H.R. 3076 was important and necessary for the continued success of the USPS. As a result, there was bipartisan support that got the bill passed.

Once again, politics and political affiliation aside, you must appreciate that our PMG stepped up and supported the agency to help accomplish this for all of us. Many other PMGs have tried, but failed. Passage of H.R. 3076 has wiped out our debt, maintained six-day delivery and so much more—something no other previous postmaster general has been able to achieve. For this, all of us should extend a grateful hand and say, “Thank you, PMG DeJoy!”

We now have another bill on which to focus for passage: H.R. 3077, the Postal Service Improvement Act. Once again, we need everyone’s support. We need more SPAC contributions from every EAS employee! Don’t forget that UPS, FedEx and Amazon have very deep lobbying pockets and PAC dollars. Midterm elections are right around the corner and, if history repeats itself, we will shift to a Republican-controlled house. Money talks if this happens.

We need everyone to contribute in order to receive support from the politicians to introduce and pass our legislative agenda. The payback is secure jobs, benefits and so much more.

Don’t forget your homework assignment this month! I need everyone to sign one non-NAPS member. You will get $25 for each member you sign with an 1187.