Postal Service backs off plan to end Saturday mail
The U.S. Postal Service has backed
off of its plan to end Saturday mail de-
livery, for now.
On April 10, the Postal Service
Board of Governors overruled Post-
master General Patrick Donahoe’s plan
to go to five-day mail delivery. Dona-
hoe announced in February that Satur-
day mail pickup and delivery would
end, starting Aug. 5.
The announcement was met with
stiff resistance from postal unions and
some lawmakers, who said language in
Congress’ “continuing resolution” to
fund government operations required
six-day mail. [USPS receives no tax
dollars for operating expenses and re-
lies on the sale of postage, products and
services to fund its operations.]
Rallies to keep Saturday mail deliv-
ery were held nationwide, including the
streets of Portland, where some 600
people marched on St. Patrick’s Day.
Following a closed meeting on April
10, the postal board restated its support
for a change to five-day delivery, but ef-
fectively conceded that the postmaster
general’s claim that he could ignore the
continuing resolution was wrong.
In a press statement, USPS said that
“although disappointed with this con-
gressional action, the board will follow
the law and has directed the Postal
Service to delay implementation of its
new delivery schedule until legislation
is passed that provides the Postal Serv-
Texas Hold’em card tournament draws 72
players, raises $4,818 for Doernbecher
Unions for Kids raised $4,818 at its
second annual Texas Hold‘em card
tournament March 16 at the Sheet
Metal Workers Local 16 union hall in
Portland.
The poker tournament is a spin-off
of the annual Motorcycle Poker Run
and motorcycle raffle sponsored by
Unions for Kids, a 501(c3) non-profit
founded 11 years ago by union mem-
bers to raise money for Doernbecher
Children’s Hospital. To date, $326,000
has been donated.
John Candioto, business manager of
Local 16, coordinated the Texas
hold’em event. Seventy-two players
participated and 21 businesses and/or
union locals sponsored tables.
Members of Sheet Metal Workers
Local 16 swept the top four places,
with Daniel Kiraz finishing first. Next
in order were Maria Gamon, Brian
Lee, and Sean Hanrahan.
Tickets are still on sale for a chance
to win a new Harley — a 2013 Her-
itage Softail Classic. Tickets are $10
each, with only 5,000 sold. The draw-
ing will be held at 4 p.m., June 8, fol-
lowing the motorcycle poker run.
For more information, call Lee
Duncan at 503-260-5905 or email him
at lee@unionsforkids.org.
ice with the authority to implement a fi-
nancially appropriate and responsible
delivery schedule.”
Fredric Rolando, president of the
National Association of Letter Carriers
(NALC), said “postal unions were grat-
ified the board “has seen the light on
the law, but it is time for them to recon-
sider their entire ‘shrink to survive’
strategy.”
USPS has already shuttered 114
mail sorting centers, with another 75
slated for closure this year. Nearly
170,000 jobs have been eliminated
since 2006.
Postal unions are lobbying Congress
to pass reforms that will grow service,
not cut it. They say USPS’ biggest fi-
nancial problem stems from congres-
sionally-mandated prepayment of fu-
ture retirees’ health care costs covering
the next 75 years. The mandate, which
is not required by any other govern-
ment agency or private business, sets
USPS back $5.5 billion a year.
At the same time USPS said it
would continue Saturday delivery, it
asked all postal unions to re-open their
contracts for concessionary bargaining.
Three of four unions were forced to
go to binding arbitration within the last
year, after USPS refused to come to
terms on contracts that expired in 2010
and 2011. The most recent was in Feb-
ruary, with the National Postal Mail
Handlers Union, a division of the La-
borers. NALC and the National Rural
Letter Carriers Association received in-
terest arbitration awards in January
2013 and July 2012, respectively.
Members of the American Postal
Workers Union ratified a contract in
2011.
For the most part, arbitrators re-
jected USPS’s proposals to freeze pay,
eliminate cost-of-living adjustments
(COLAs), contract out work, and im-
pose a two-tier wage schedule.
The Mail Handlers Union said it
would support any USPS moves to in-
crease revenue, including rate hikes
“across all products not covering their
costs.”
The Mail Handlers and NALC have
made the point for years that first-class
mail, which is profitable even in a re-
cession, is subsidizing bulk mail. But
the postal board and management has
catered to the bulk mailers, letting them
ship their mailings at below cost.
“To the extent, however, that the
board is directing management to ‘re-
open negotiations with the postal
unions to lower total workforce costs,’
the pursuit of such an alternative is un-
likely to be successful,” the Mail Han-
dlers warned.
And the fight on Saturday isn’t over:
Rolando said President Barack
Obama’s proposed budget for the year
starting Oct. 1 wants to shut Saturday
service, too.
(Editor’s Note: Press Associates Inc.
contributed to this report.)
Letter Carriers Food Drive May 11
Letter carriers in the Portland met-
ropolitan area and in Clark County,
Washington will help “Stamp Out
Hunger” on Saturday, May 11, part of
the 21st annual National Association of
Letter Carriers and U.S. Postal Service
Food Drive.
Prior to May 11, plastic bags will be
delivered to every household, along
with a postcard reminder. All you have
to do is fill the bag with nonperishable
food items such as canned meat, fish
and soup, cereals, pasta and rice, and
leave it at your mailbox on the morn-
ing of Saturday, May 11. (Please do not
include glass items, homemade items
or previously opened containers.)
Letter Carriers will collect the bags
and deliver them to drop points, where
volunteers will sort the donations and
forward them to the Oregon Food
Bank. Food collected in Clark County
will benefit Clark County hunger-relief
agencies.
The Food Drive raises more than 1.5
million pounds of food each year for
the Oregon Food Bank. It is the largest
one-day food collection of the year in
Oregon — and across the nation.
According to the Oregon Food
Bank, an estimated 240,000 people get
meals from emergency food boxes in
an average month.
Bowling fundraiser April 28
The 24th Annual Labor Bowl Chal-
lenge benefiting the local Muscular
Dystrophy Association (MDA) will be
held Sunday, April 28, at Sunset Lanes,
12770 SW Walker Road, Beaverton.
Registration starts at 11 a.m., with
bowling under way at noon.
Money for MDA is raised by indi-
vidual fundraising and a silent auction.
All proceeds will benefit the local
MDA, which provides much needed
support to over 1,200 local individuals
and families living with neuromuscular
diseases. Money goes to buy wheel
chairs and braces for children, as well
as medical services, research and sum-
mer camps.
Since its inception in 1989, the La-
bor Bowl — coordinated by the Na-
tional Association of Letter Carriers
(NALC) Branch 82, the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council, and other par-
ticipating Oregon labor unions — has
raised $339,721 for MDA.
For more information, or to register,
call Jim Cook, president of Letter Car-
riers Branch 82, at 503-493-5903. To
donate silent auction items, call
NALC’s MDA Coordinator Debby
Burbank at 971-404-5384.
Northwest Oregon Labor Council
recognition dinner set for June 8
Mark your calendars for Saturday,
June 8, when the Northwest Oregon
Labor Council hosts the 16th annual
Labor Appreciation and Recognition
Night.
This year’s dinner and awards cere-
mony, which serves as a fundraiser for
Labor’s Community Service Agency,
will be held at Milwaukie Elks Lodge,
13121 SE McLoughlin Blvd. Dinner
tickets are $20 per person. Raffle tick-
ets also will be sold for $1 each or
seven for $5.
The labor council is accepting cash
and prize donations for the raffle.
APRIL 19, 2013
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Through May 3, the labor council
also will be accepting nominations for
persons to be recognized for their serv-
ice to and with the labor community.
Nominations also are open for the Del
Ricks Community Service Award, rec-
ognizing one individual for their exem-
plary service to labor and the commu-
nity at-large.
Nominations should be sent to:
Northwest Oregon Labor Council,
3645 SE 32nd Avenue, Portland, Ore-
gon, 97202-3019.
For more information or to order
tickets, call 503-235-9444.
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