The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 was a law passed by the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
that abolished the then
U.S. Post Office Department, which was a part of the
Cabinet, and created the
U.S. Postal Service, a
corporation
A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...
-like independent agency authorized by the U.S. government as an
official
An official is someone who holds an office (function or Mandate (politics), mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual Office, working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (eithe ...
service for the delivery of
mail
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
signed the Act in law on August 12, 1970.
The legislation was a direct outcome of the
U.S. postal strike of 1970. Prior to the act, postal workers were not permitted by law to engage in
collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...
. In the act, the four major postal unions (
National Association of Letter Carriers,
American Postal Workers Union,
National Postal Mail Handlers Union, and the
National Rural Letter Carriers' Association) won full collective bargaining rights: the right to negotiate on wages, benefits and working conditions, although they still were not allowed the right to strike.
The first paragraph of the act reads:
The Postal Reorganization Act (a
39 USC 410(c)(2) exempts the USPS from
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure of "information of a commercial nature, including trade secrets, whether or not obtained from a person outside the Postal Service, which under good business practice would not be publicly disclosed".
[(1) ]
(2)
See also
*
Post Office Act of 1872
*
Postal Service Act
*
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...
References
External links
The Postal Reorganization Act (original statute)
1970 in American law
United States federal postal legislation
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