Top postal executive’s visit to Vancouver draws protest
VANCOUVER, Wash.— Deputy
Postmaster General (DPMG) Ron Stro-
man drew the ire of dozens of postal
workers and community allies when he
visited Vancouver, Wash., Aug. 21.
Carrying signs and chanting, the
protesters massed at the entrance to the
2014 Mailers Conference at the Van-
couver Convention Center Hilton.
SEPTEMBER 5, 2014
“No closures, no cuts, no contract-
ing-out” blared from a bullhorn heard
inside by conference-goers, gathered to
hear Stroman speak. A flier with “Nine
Questions” for the DPMG was distrib-
uted to attendees.
Stroman is the second-highest rank-
ing postal executive. He serves on the
Postal Service Board of Governors. Ac-
cording to promotional materials, he
“also has the lead role in working with
Congress to …adjust delivery fre-
quency and gain greater flexibility in
aligning the Postal Service processing,
distribution and retail networks…”
In plain language, the Deputy PMG
is pushing to eliminate Saturday and at-
the-door delivery, as well as continue
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
the massive cuts and closures to mail
processing plants and post offices
across the nation. In addition, Stroman
is a leader in the outsourcing of postal
work to private corporations such as
Staples, Pitney Bowes, Amazon, and
Dill’s Star Route trucking.
Of immediate concern to the protest-
ers is the projected closure of 82 mail
processing facilities — including those
in Bend, Pendleton, and Eugene, Ore-
gon, and Tacoma and Wenatchee,
Wash., beginning in January.
“Fifteen thousand family wage,
union jobs will be lost and delivery
standards will be relaxed to delay mail
two to three days,” protesters said.
Stroman and postal management
say the cuts and closures are necessary
because the USPS is losing money. The
protesters, organized by Portland Com-
munities and Postal Workers United,
say that a 2006 Congressional mandate,
which forces the U.S. Postal Service to
prefund retiree health benefits 75 years
in advance, has created a phony finan-
cial crisis. Although the USPS has
claimed a “loss” every year since 2006,
due primarily to the pre-fund mandate,
the postal service has not made an ac-
tual payment toward prefunding since
2011. The USPS has generated an op-
erating profit for the last six quarters.
“It’s not the internet, not private
competition, not labor costs, not the re-
cession — postal management is killing
the U.S. Postal Service,” said Jamie Par-
tridge, a retired Letter Carrier. The ac-
tivists are calling on postal management
to suspend cuts, closures and subcon-
tracting and allow Congress to fix the
finances by repealing the prefunding
mandate and refunding the pension sur-
plus.
The pension surplus involves some
$60 to $85 billion overpaid into federal
retirement accounts, according to the
Office of the Inspector General and the
Postal Regulatory Commission. Twin
bills — HR 630, sponsored by U.S.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) and S
316, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders
(I-Vermont), would fix postal finances
and prevent plant and office closures
and service cuts.
Charges dropped
against 3 ‘postal
protectors’
Federal charges against three “postal
protectors” were dropped Aug.1.
Rev. Schwiebert, Jamie Partridge
and Jack Herbert were arrested during
a demonstration on a postal loading
dock last December, protesting the
scheduled closure of the Springfield,
Oregon mail processing plant. Prior to
that, they were arrested in Portland in
July for blocking a private truck con-
tracted to transport the U.S. mail.
The three activists said they were
singled out by postal authorities, point-
ing to a United States Postal Inspection
Service report that said “these individu-
als have been involved in repeated
protests, demonstrations and trespass-
ing incidents.”
The three protesters accused postal
officials of attempting to suppress their
right to free speech and assembly.
“I suspect the authorities dropped
the charges because their persecution
just emboldened us to further spotlight
waste, fraud, and abuse at the people’s
postal service,” Schwiebert said.
In 2013, USPS shuttered 141 plants
— half the mail processing facilities in
the nation, including the Salem plant in
June. The postmaster general an-
nounced that he will continue “consoli-
dations,” with the closure of 82 more
plants beginning in January 2015.
Among the closures are facilities in
Springfield, Bend and Pendleton. Once
completed, 300 union-wage jobs will
be lost in Oregon.
The new network will see all mail
from the Willamette Valley — from the
Snake River to the Pacific — processed
in Portland. Mail delivery standards are
being degraded to allow two- and three-
day delays. This delay could compro-
mise Oregon’s vote-by-mail system,
union officials said.
“Postal management is tearing apart
the infrastructure of the public postal
service,” said Partridge, a retired letter
carrier. Vowing further direct actions,
Partridge declared that “we plan to es-
calate this fight to save our national
treasure.”
PAGE 3