Thank you NILDA (CHOCK) for that most kind and generous introduction.

Aloha! It is both a pleasure and an honor for Millie and me to be here this evening with the American Postal Workers Union-Hawaii. It always feels good to be back in Hawaii, particularly with so many fine, hard working letter carriers.

This is a time to celebrate the accomplishments of the past year. This is also an occasion for renewal as you define your goals and chart a course for the year ahead.

Tonight also gives all of us a chance to honor, applaud and thank your outgoing officers and to wish those who assume the leadership of this organization well. To the outgoing officers and directors, you are to be commended for a job well done. To the incoming officers who now take the gauntlet of leadership -- the faith and confidence of your members could not have been better placed. I am confident that you will continue to build on the past accomplishments for the betterment of your membership.

It has been a while since the last time I spoke to you. However, today, many of the same issues that concerned you then are still on the front burner: the federal budget, COLAs, and privatization of the Postal Service.

The Postal Service is delivering the greatest amount of mail ever, and more mail per postal worker than ever before. In other words, productivity has never been better, and postal workers should be rewarded with a decent wage, decent COLAs, and decent retirement and health benefits. We need to make clear that we cannot cut the deficit on the backs of our nation's postal workers.

The issue of privatization of the Postal Service is one that comes up year after year in budget debates. It is again being raised, as evidenced by the introduction of H.R. 22, the Postal Reform Act of 1997, by Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) on January 7, 1997. Among other things, this bill would create a 3-year demonstration project to allow non-postal carriers access to postal mailboxes. It would limit the postal monopoly, allowing private carriage of letters outside the USPS when the amount charged is at least $2. This will, no doubt, open the doors to privatization of the Postal Service. I, for one, still have numerous concerns regarding privatization of the postal service, including cost and service considerations for rural areas and for isolated districts such as Hawaii. I have always worked to prevent passage of proposals to privatize the Postal Service, and I will continue to do whatever I can to prevent privatization. It is wrong. The Postal Service provides a service that is too valuable and too essential to leave to the whims of the private market. And postal workers are too important to be yanked out from under the umbrella of federal employment. So, I am glad that I am still a member of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, which has direct jurisdiction over the Postal Service. And I am pleased to inform you that to date, no legislation such as H.R. 22, is pending in the Senate.

There are also many other issues that we all need to be concerned about. And I know that you are people who care. The 104th Congress, through the appropriations process, reversed decades of progress on job training, education, pensions, and worker protection. This is particularly alarming when American workers and their families are menaced by downsizing and displacement because of trade and technology.

Together, as citizens and elected officials, we need to continue to protect and pursue the interests of working families. We must meet today's challenges of controlling drug abuse, ensuring high quality education, protecting the environment, providing for affordable housing and child care, and ensuring that our senior citizens and veterans receive adequate health care benefits.

These are our children's needs and our needs. These are basic needs of a civilized society. And that is why I encourage you today to get involved in the political process; let your elected officials know your feelings on the issues. If we continue to work together, we will accomplish our goals and meet the other challenges that are before us.

We must all move forward with unity of purpose guided by the goal of bettering our communities and our society. If we can do this, then the legacy we leave our children will be much greater than the legacy we share today.

Let me conclude by saying that I have always considered myself to be (and I hope you agree) a true and fervent supporter of all postal employees. In that regard, I must tell you again that it has also been gratifying to me that, both in the House and the Senate, I have been able to secure committee assignments that provide me with the opportunity to be of direct support to all of you.

Mahalo for allowing me to be a part of your convention and for all of the hospitality and warmth you have extended to me over the years. Without question, by the time this convention has ended, you will have had the fullest of experiences in promoting greater awareness of the issues, in stimulating the growth of new endeavors, and in bringing about the substantive exchange of ideas to better serve our people and strengthen our postal system.

I applaud your diligence, initiative, and commitment. All too often, those of you who make this precious system work are the first to be blamed and the last to be lauded; the first to feel the ax and the last to be rewarded for difficult jobs well done; the first to be sought out when help is needed and the first to be vilified when that assistance does not fulfill total, exact expectations. You deserve every bit of praise for the dedication to duty and dignity of character that each one of you displays every day in serving the American people. It is a living American legacy and tradition in which you can all share and take pride of the human spirit and human dignity.

Millie and I wish you all Aloha and our very best wishes.