Aloha kakahiaka! Mahalo Terry for that wonderful introduction. I want to extend my appreciation to you and to all of your fellow letter carriers for inviting me to speak. Last month, I met with Terry, your Hawaii president, Wally Tokuda, HSALC treasurer, and Owen Koehnen, your legislative officer. And I would be remiss if I didn't recognize and welcome Jim Williams, your national executive vice president who is here with us today. Jim, will you please extend my warmest aloha to my good friend, George Gould, who represents the Letter Carriers so well before Congress.
In my meeting with your state officers last month, we talked about the great job you are doing in Hawaii. We discussed how the financial viability of the Postal Service depends on its employees and the continued need to strengthen partnerships between labor and management. I also want to commend our state's letter carriers for their community spirit. Your 11th annual food drive was held a couple of weeks ago, and I understand that last year you collected 319,000 pounds of food. The Hawaii Food Bank and food banks across the nation are faced with increased requests for assistance and depend upon the kokua and generosity of creative food drives like the letter carriers national campaign.
As you wrap up your 36th biennial state convention, I am sure that a sense of anticipation and excitement is already building as you prepare to welcome your brothers and sisters from the National Association of Letter Carriers next year when Honolulu Branch 860 will proudly host the 64th Biennial NALC Convention in July.
The 1200 members of the Hawaii State Association of Letter Carriers can be proud of their role in delivering a record 303,471,839 pieces of incoming mail to Hawaii last year. The Hawaii postal district enjoys an on-time average delivery of First-Class Mail with a next-day delivery standard of 95 percent. You are an integral part of a network that moves mail to nearly 140 million homes, businesses, and post office boxes every year.
According to independent customer surveys, Hawaii customers consistently rank the Honolulu District very high in terms of overall customer satisfaction. Ninety-five percent of your customers rate the Honolulu District as "good to excellent" in overall customer satisfaction. You can be proud knowing that very few agencies earn these high numbers.
This overall customer satisfaction is due in large measure to your hard work as Hawaii's letter carriers. For example, in Quarter Two this year, 95 percent of Hawaii customers surveyed responded that their impression of mail delivery to the correct address was "good, very good, or excellent." This score ranked Honolulu Number One in the nation in this most important customer category. Congratulations on a job well-done!
Nationally, the postal community is closely following the activities of the presidentially-appointed Postal commission, which is evaluating the future of the Postal Service. I expect that the Commission's recommendations to President Bush – which are due at the end of July – will likely be the basis of Congressional hearings when we return from our August break.
I cannot predict what those recommendations may be. But I do know that even though the mandate of the Commission is broad, I believe its purpose should be finely focused to ensure a competitive Postal Service that preserves collective bargaining and maintains six-day a week universal service at affordable prices.
There are those who have testified before the Commission who suggest privatizing the Postal Service. I reject that idea. Throughout my 26 years of Congressional service – a period during which I have always served on a postal panel, by the way – I have opposed wrong-headed efforts to privatize the delivery of the mail in the United States. You may be assured that I will continue to do so.
Your national president, Bill Young, has testified before the Commission twice. In Chicago last month, he said, and I quote – "Because postal employees, through their unions, have meaningful input in the determination of their own terms and conditions of employment, they have consistently respected the results of the process. Just as Congress intended, bargaining has served as an outlet for the kinds of frustrations that led to a nationwide strike of 1970."
The strike of 1970 pushed Congress to pass the Postal Reorganization Act of 1971, which created the independent Postal Service we know today.
At over 30 years of age, the Postal Service is facing challenges like increasing competition from the Internet and other electronic means that are siphoning off mail volume. We're in agreement that these financial and competitive challenges facing the Postal Service are affecting the Service's ability to remain competitive.
To meet the needs of the Postal Service, I joined with my Governmental Affairs Committee colleagues a little over a year ago to ask the Service for a comprehensive transformation plan. That plan, presented to Congress by Mr. Potter at a hearing I chaired last May, is helping the Service chart a positive course for the future.
In addition to ensuring that the Postal Service has the tools to guarantee its financial stability, we must also make sure that your retirement future is secure. I was proud to cosponsor legislation that permits the Postal Service to reduce its payments to the CSRS by over $2.5 billion a year, by allowing the Service to fund future CSRS benefits in the same manner it now funds FERS benefits. The Act also implements a more accurate mechanism for calculating the Postal Service's unfunded liability for past CSRS benefits.
The importance of the Postal Service should never be underestimated, and simple math proves that point. With annual revenues of more than $67 billion, you help deliver more than 43 percent of the world's mail volume – some 203 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year as part of a system that serves 7 million customers each day at 38,000 retail locations nationwide. The nation's mailing industry creates nine million jobs and $900 billion in commerce.
An observation I often share in speeches and meetings with members of the postal community, whether they are letter carriers, mail handlers, mailers, postmasters, or officials at Headquarters, is how the Postal Service enjoys a uniquely personal relationship with the American people, and how overwhelmingly positive their view is of the Postal Service. For many Americans, letter carriers and all postal workers are the daily face of the federal government and your role in the life of our nation is without parallel. The operation of the U.S. Postal Service and the delivery of the mail is critical to our nation's economy. Our Internet age is not all that different from times past; the delivery of the U.S. mail remains a basic and fundamental public service that must be protected from disruption. Over the course of two hundred years, in good times and in bad, we have built a system which enables every American to communicate equally and effectively. Our challenge is to honor and carry forward this proud legacy and ensure that the American people continue to receive universal service today, tomorrow, and long into the future.
As our nation's letter carriers, you are part of a proud heritage that deserves a continued voice in postal affairs. You may be assured that I will work to protect your future and your rights as letter carriers. I am proud to serve you in Washington.
Aloha and mahalo.
