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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2013)
Postal unions condemn plan to end Saturday delivery WASHINGTON, D.C. — Postmas- ter General Patrick Donahoe’s plan to end Saturday mail delivery beginning Aug. 5 was met with calls for his resig- nation by leaders of several postal workers unions. Donahoe says the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) can save $2 bil- lion a year by taking the action. “Slowing mail service and degrad- ing our unmatchable last-mile delivery network are not the answers to the Postal Service’s financial problems,” responded National Association of Let- ter Carriers (NALC) President Fredric Rolando. “It is a disastrous idea,” that Arbitrators set three of four postal contracts Three of four postal unions have been forced to binding arbitration after the Postal Service refused to come to terms on new collective bargaining agreements. The most recent was last month, when a federal interest arbitration board set the terms of a new national labor agreement between the National Asso- ciation of Letter Carriers (NALC) and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). The contract is retroactive to Nov. 21, 2011, and runs through May 20, 2016. The National Rural Letter Carriers Association received an interest arbi- tration award last year, while the Na- tional Postal Mail Handler Union is still waiting for a decision (possibly in March). Members of the American Postal Workers Union ratified a contract in 2011. For the most part, the arbitrators re- jected the Postal Service’s proposals to freeze pay, eliminate cost-of-living ad- justments (COLAs), contract out work, and impose a two-tier wage schedule. NALC’s new contract provides three general wage increases between now and the end of the contract: 1 per- cent in November 2013, 1.5 percent in will hurt “millions of customers” — particularly businesses, rural commu- nities, the elderly, the disabled and oth- ers who depend on Saturday delivery. “USPS executives cannot save the Postal Service by tearing it apart,” added American Postal Workers Union (APWU) President Cliff Guffey. “These across-the-board cutbacks will weaken the nation’s mail system and put it on a path to privatization.” The root cause of the agency’s fiscal problems, union officials say, is the unique congressional requirement — the Postal Accountability and Enhance- ment Act — that USPS prefund retire- ment benefits for decades into the fu- ture. Guffey called for repeal of that requirement in order to restore financial stability to the USPS. “No other entity — public or private — bears this burden. Since the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act took effect in 2007, the Postal Service has been required to pre-pay some $5.5 billion per year. Yet the same law pro- hibits the Postal Service from raising postage rates to cover the cost,” Guffey said. The U.S. Postal Service is, by law, an “independent establishment” of the executive branch of the federal govern- ment. It gets no tax dollars for its day- to-day operations, but it must follow budget mandates passed by Congress. The union leaders noted that USPS already has begun slashing mail serv- ice by closing 13,000 post offices or A protester sits outside the Vancouver Hilton Hotel in August, where Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe was speaking about cuts to USPS. drastically reducing hours of operation, shutting hundreds of mail processing facilities, and downgrading standards for mail delivery to homes and busi- nesses. Jim Cook, president of Portland- based NALC Branch 82, believes cor- porate interests, working through their friends in Congress, created a phony fi- nancial crisis to soften the agency up for union busting and privatization. USPS is a $67 billion a year business with over $100 billion surplus in its pension and retiree health benefit funds, 200,000 vehicles, and over 30,000 post offices, many of which are located on prime downtown real estate. “The postmaster general has been selling off assets and dismantling the postal service right before our very eyes,” Cook said. Union officials insist USPS can’t eliminate Saturday mail without con- gressional approval. Donahoe dis- agrees, saying the agency has the au- tonomy to make the change. Rolando said Donahoe’s action “flouts the will of Congress, as ex- pressed annually over the past 30 years in legislation that mandates six-day de- livery.” Rolando said as recently as the last Congress, which ended in January, a bi-partisan majority of representatives co-sponsored legislation backing the continuation of Saturday delivery. The two sides also disagree on the impact on jobs if the cutbacks are im- plemented. Union officials predict a loss of some 80,000 jobs nationally (150 to 200 in the Portland metro area). Donahoe says 22,500 jobs would be eliminated. Rolando said if Donahoe “is unwill- ing or unable to develop a smart growth strategy that serves the nearly 50 per- cent of business mailers that want to keep six-day service, and if he arro- gantly thinks he is above the law or has the right to decide policy matters that should be left to Congress, it is time for him to step down,” he said. Save Our Postal Service rally in Portland March 17 A Save Our Postal Service na- tional day of action will take place on St. Patrick’s Day, Sunday, March 17 — the anniversary of the great postal strike of 1970. In Portland, supporters will gather at Pioneer Square starting at 2 p.m. For more information, go to www.savethepostoffice.com. (Turn to Page 3) (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon as a voice of the labor movement. 4275 NE Halsey St., P.O. Box 13150, Portland, Ore. 97213 Telephone: (503) 288-3311 Fax Number: (503) 288-3320 Editor: Michael Gutwig Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non- profit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Ore- gon and SW Washington. Subscriptions $13.75 per year for union members. Group rates available to trade union organizations. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks are required for a change of address. When ordering a change, please give your old and new addresses and the name and number of your local union. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS, P.O. BOX 13150, PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 PAGE 2 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS FEBRUARY 15, 2013
