NAPS LTS Bulletin #2

LTS Registration Deadlines

The early-bird mail-in and online registration deadlines are Monday, March 11.

Mail-in Registration.  To qualify for the early-bird mail-in registration fee of $200, NAPS Headquarters must receive your mailed-in registration fee by Monday, March 11.  After that point, the fee for registering by mail between March 12 and March 31 is $250.  The fee for registering after April 1 (including onsite) is $300.  A registrant or branch may substitute a paid registrant for an additional fee of $50, if a new registration form and the additional fee are received at NAPS Headquarters by March 31.  For a mail-in registration form, click here.

Online Registration.  To qualify for the early-bird online registration fee of $210, complete your registration online on or before Monday, March 11.  After that point, the fee for online registration bill be $260, if paid between March 12 and March 31.  Online registration will be unavailable after March 31.  To register on-line for the LTS, click here.

Hotel Reservation.  To make your reservation at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel, click here.

The NAPS 2013 Legislative Agenda

The theme of this year's LTS is 2013 CONNECT WITH CONGRESS.  The passage of postal reform legislation in 2013 is a "must" to assure the Postal Service remains solvent.  The Senate and the House will be considering postal reform legislsative proposals while we are on the Hill. 

This will make our time on the Hill very important to educate Congress and urge action in the following three areas:

1. Modernize the Postal Service, Don’t Dismantle It

The Postal Service faces financial insolvency later this year unless Congress passes legislation that modernizes the Postal Service and addresses its structural and financial problems. Congress must deal with the core problems afflicting the Postal Service and avoid “solutions” that unnecessarily dismantle service. NAPS supports legislation that suspends the crippling retiree health prefunding requirement responsible for the vast majority of the Postal Service’s financial losses. NAPS also supports initiatives that would preserve current USPS service standards and provide greater pricing and product flexibility to the Postal Service consistent with the public interest. NAPS supports H.R. 630, S. 316 and H. Res. 30.


2. Achieve Balanced Deficit Reduction; Oppose Further Cuts in Federal and Postal Pay and Benefits

The President and Congress must govern responsibly and reduce the towering debt that threatens America’s future prosperity. NAPS believes that sensible and fair deficit reduction relies on a balanced approach of spending reductions and revenue increases. Federal and postal employees and retirees already have contributed $103 billion toward deficit reduction through pay freezes and reductions in retirement benefits. It’s time to ask all Americans to help their country and pay their fair share.


3. Expand MSPB Appeal Rights to All EAS Personnel in the Postal Service

Approximately 7,500 Postal Service employees covered by the Executive-Administrative Schedule do not possess the right to appeal adverse personnel actions to the U.S. Merit System Protection Board, despite the availability of such appeal rights to all other EAS-covered employees. Congress intended to extend such appeal rights in a 1987 law, but federal court and MSPB interpretations of the law have ruled otherwise. NAPS supports clarification of the law to extend MSPB appeal rights to all EAS personnel. Doing so will provide a neutral forum that provides fairness and due process to all EAS employees.

LTS Program Agenda

The LTS program agenda (tentative) is here.

The program will feature speeches from:

-- Postmaster General Pat Donahoe
-- Postal Service Inspector General David Williams
-- Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Ruth Goldway
-- Congressional lawmakers

Highlights of the LTS will include:

Sunday: Wreath Laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; Nondenominational Worship; Town Hall with NAPS Resident Officers; First Timer's Orientation; SPAC Training; and State Legislative Chairs Dinner

Monday:  Legislative Training, including speeches by postal officials and Congressional lawmakers; SPAC Reception

Tuesday and Wednesday: Meetings with House and Senate offices; debriefings.