IIB 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2249

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 22 (legislative day, JULY 21), 2003

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT

To amend chapter 10 of title 39, United States Code, to 

include postmasters and postmasters’ organizations in 

the process for the development and planning of certain 

personnel policies, schedules, and programs of the United 

States Postal Service, and for other purposes.
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Postmasters Equity 

5 Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. POSTMASTERS AND POSTMASTERS’ ORGANIZA7 TIONS. 

8 (a) PERCENTAGE REPRESENTATION REQUIRE9 MENT.—The second sentence of section 1004(b) of title 

10 39, United States Code, is amended—

11 (1) by inserting ‘‘that an organization (other 

12 than an organization representing supervisors) rep13 resents at least 20 percent of postmasters,’’ after 

14 ‘‘majority of supervisors,’’; and 

15 (2) by striking ‘‘supervisors)’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘supervisors or postmasters)’’. 

17 (b) CONSULTATION AND OTHER RIGHTS.—Section 

18 1004 of title 39, United States Code, is amended—

19 (1) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub20 section (i); and 

21 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(h)(1) In order to ensure that postmasters and post24 masters’ organizations are afforded the same rights under 

25 this section as are afforded to supervisors and the super-
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1 visors’ organization, subsections (c) through (g) shall be 

2 applied with respect to postmasters and postmasters’ or3 ganizations—

4 ‘‘(A) by substituting ‘postmasters’ organization’ 

5 for ‘supervisors’ organization’ each place it appears; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(B) if 2 or more postmasters’ organizations 

8 exist, by treating such organizations as if they con9 stituted a single organization, in accordance with 

10 such arrangements as such organizations shall mu11 tually agree to. 

12 ‘‘(2) If 2 or more postmasters’ organizations exist, 

13 such organizations shall, in the case of any factfinding 

14 panel convened at the request of such organizations (in 

15 accordance with paragraph (1)(B)), be jointly and sever16 ally liable for the cost of such panel, apart from the por17 tion to be borne by the Postal Service (as determined 

18 under subsection (f)(4)).’’. 

19 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Subsection (i) of section 1004 of 

20 title 39, United States Code (as so redesignated by sub21 section (b)(1)) is amended—

22 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

23 the semicolon; 

24 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period and 

25 inserting a semicolon; and 
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1 (3) by adding after paragraph (2) the following: 

2 ‘‘(3) ‘postmaster’ means an individual who is 

3 the manager in charge of the operations of a post 

4 office, with or without the assistance of subordinate 

5 managers or supervisors; 

6 ‘‘(4) ‘postmasters’ organization’ means an orga7 nization recognized by the Postal Service under sub8 section (b) as representing at least 20 percent of 

9 postmasters; and 

10 ‘‘(5) ‘members of the postmasters’ organization’ 

11 shall be considered to mean employees of the Postal 

12 Service who are recognized under an agreement—

13 ‘‘(A) between the Postal Service and the 

14 postmasters’ organization as represented by the 

15 organization; or 

16 ‘‘(B) in the circumstance described in sub17 section (h)(1)(B), between the Postal Service 

18 and the postmasters’ organizations (acting in 

19 concert) as represented by either or any of the 

20 postmasters’ organizations involved.’’. 

21 (d) THRIFT ADVISORY COUNCIL NOT TO BE AF22 FECTED.—For purposes of section 8473(b)(4) of title 5, 

23 United States Code—

24 (1) each of the 2 or more organizations referred 

25 to in section 1004(h)(1)(B) of title 39, United 
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1 States Code (as amended by subsection (b)) shall be 

2 treated as a separate organization; and 

3 (2) any determination of the number of individ4 uals represented by each of those respective organi5 zations shall be made in a manner consistent with 

6 the purposes of this subsection. 

7 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

8 The amendments made by this section shall take ef9 fect 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Passed the House of Representatives July 21, 2003. 

Attest: JEFF TRANDAHL, 

Clerk.