Thank you Madam Chairman. I am pleased to join you this morning as we continue our review of the recommendations made by the Commission on the U.S. Postal Service. Your opening remarks affirm our dedication to the men and women of the Postal Service and our commitment to all who rely on the U.S. Mail.

I look forward to hearing from today's witnesses who are uniquely qualified to discuss the Commission's workforce recommendations. We are indeed fortunate to have as our first panelist, Dan Blair, the Deputy Director of the Office of Personnel Management, who for many years served as a senior congressional counsel on postal and civil service matters.

I also look forward to hearing from our second panel – the elected presidents of the four largest postal unions. Together, you represent nearly a half a million postal employees and your input is central to any successful modernization of the Postal Service.

The achievements of the Postal Service in recent years – highlighted by ever-increasing, record levels of productivity and an improving financial outlook – are shared by postal employees. In fiscal year 2003, the Postal Service's net income reached $3.9 billion. Approximately $3 billion of that figure can be attributed to our Chairman's Civil Service Retirement System legislation, which I was proud to cosponsor.

This positive financial turnaround comes at a time when the Postal Service is rationalizing its workforce. Since 1999, the workforce was downsized by 88,000 employees, and yet, customer satisfaction and on-time First Class Mail delivery are at all-time highs.

In concert with this upward turn in good news is a stable labor – management climate that has resulted in a series of voluntarily negotiated labor contracts. I attribute this favorable labor environment to the leadership of our second panel, to the Postmaster General, and to the flexibility built into the existing collective bargaining law governing those who provide this essential public service.

That is why I am concerned that certain workforce recommendations suggested by the Postal Commission could adversely impact today's sound labor environment and undermine existing conditions. The Commission would implement a pay-for-performance system for all employees; impose collective bargaining procedures with rigid timelines and no flexibility to waive those timelines; empower a new Postal Regulatory Board with determining total compensation and defining universal service; and require negotiations over any benefits in addition to wages.

This Committee, more than any other Senate Committee, understands the impact that bargaining over benefits could have on the stability and financial integrity of the government's two pension plans and its employee health insurance program.

As I noted at our hearing two weeks ago, postal workers make up one-third of the federal workforce, and I urge caution when considering splitting postal employees from these federal programs without knowing the effect on active and future employees. Moreover, subjecting benefits to collective bargaining could have a serious affect on retirees. We should do no harm to retired postal workers who have already earned their benefits and planned for their retirements under the federal pension and health plans.

Rationalizing the Postal Service requires leadership from the top down, and I believe that leadership is now in place. I look forward to working in a bipartisan manner on a process that is transparent and accountable to the postal workforce and the public.

I thank our distinguished panelists for being with us, and I again thank Chairman Collins for her leadership.