APWU President

The American Postal Workers Union has waged a continuing battle against the exorbitant rate reductions afforded large mailers and consolidators under the misguided premise that such “worksharing” practices are good for business.

A label far more appropriate than “worksharing” would be “a postal subsidy extended to big business at the expense of American citizens.” Postmaster General John E. Potter repeatedly expresses his concern that individual mailers are abandoning the use of hard-copy mail for personal communication in favor of computer-driven transactions, yet his policies force them to subsidize commercial mailings every time they use a 44-cent stamp.

In 2006, the union successfully persuaded Congress to amend the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) to restrict workshare discounts to amounts equivalent to “the postal cost avoided.” The Postal Service and its allies in the mailing industry waged an all-out effort to weaken this provision, and the final law was inarguably weakened by exceptions. But even the limited restrictions have come under persistent attack before the Postal Regulatory Commission during its rate-setting process.

Before the PRC

Even as he repeatedly praises the efforts of postal employees, the postmaster general’s policies transfer their work to for-profit companies.

Mailing rates are set annually. In the most recent rate case (R-2009), the Postal Service reached new heights of absurdity in achieving a workshare discount as high as 10.5 cents per letter. This increase comes at a time when postal processing has reached new heights of efficiency — when workshare discounts should be decreasing.

The postmaster general recently bragged that we now have the capacity to process the mail volume generated by “ the entire world ” each day in just two tours in the American postal system. Yet despite this breakthrough in processing capacity and efficiency, those with influence over the rate-setting process had the temerity to increase the “postal cost avoided” discount.

I have grown tired of the gratuitous condescending statements of the postmaster general: He praises the efforts of postal employees at every opportunity, while relentlessly engaging in the transfer of postal work to for-profit companies. (With former Postmaster General Marvin Runyon, at least you knew where he stood.)

Opening Up the Competition

Spokesmen for the “mailing industry” who defend the destruction of the “uniform rate” standard that is enshrined in law often issue challenges calling for the open competition for all USPS work.

Much of the time, the defenders of the major mailers are speaking on behalf of the Far Right, the “capitalists” who contend that American workers cannot compete with the non-union, low-wage, “indentured servants” of the workforce. The distorted logic that drives this thinking comes from a wish to have no government protection of the workforce: According to their way of thinking, all employment should be at low wages and with no benefits. Regrettably, this movement appears to be gaining traction; American manufacturers for years fled to nonunion southern states and now scour the globe in search of impoverished souls happy to accept any rate of pay.

This strategy is presently being followed in a postage-rate case as a pre-emptive strike by big mailers in order to prevent a true accounting of the subsidies involved in setting postal rates. Facing the reality that ever-increasing workshare discounts can no longer be defended, they are working to change the criteria.

Since 1976, the postal cost of processing bulk metered letters has been used as the benchmark for determining the USPS-cost-avoided for workshare discounts. With the continuing efficiencies in postal processing there is an attempt to abandon this 30-year old standard in favor of providing new opportunities to take advantage of the rate-setting process.

The APWU is intervening to try to stave off the attempt to make the process a sham, and has every confidence that the newly appointed PRC chairperson, Ruth Goldway, will see the endeavor of the Postal Service and its major-mailer allies for what it is: An effort to further shift the costs of universal service to the individual mailers.

And to those who would challenge American postal workers to compete for processing mail, I, as president of the American Postal Workers Union, accept the challenge.

Bargaining Preview

In 2010, the APWU will return to the bargaining table to determine future wages, benefits and working conditions. It is expected to be a contentious round of negotiations, with postal management attempting to recover from the massive deficits experienced over recent years. Much of the revenue loss could have been avoided through proper rate-setting, but it is anticipated that instead of facing their mailing partners, management will turn to the employees: Those who they praise will be asked for sacrifices so that postal executives can continue to provide subsidized postage to their friends.

We accept the challenge: Discontinue workshare discounts and have all mail-processing performed by APWU members at a rate of 10.4 cents for each letter and flat.

In response to the right-wing challenge that postal workers cannot compete, I offer the following: Workshare discounts to private mailers and consolidators currently amount to as much as 10.5 cents per letter. Discontinue workshare discounts and allow members of the APWU to perform all of the mail-processing functions at the rate of 10.4 cents for every letter and flat, saving the USPS one-tenth of a cent per item. Meanwhile, along with the receipt of 10.4 cents for each letter and flat, which would generate more than $8 billion, we will commit to processing parcels for free.

In that APWU is a democratic organization, I am not free to finalize an agreement without ratification, but I assure postal management that this offer will generate billions in new revenue to be divided among APWU-represented employees, and I can all but guarantee their concurrence with such a plan.

After all, approximately $6 billion has been allocated in wages and benefits for APWU-represented employees in mail processing in 2009, so acceptance of this offer could represent a 25 percent increase for APWU-represented employees. For even further savings, the APWU would accept responsibility for dividing the proceeds among wages, benefits, and working conditions.

I hope that the postmaster general recognizes this as a win-win proposition that is worthy of serious consideration. The only reason to refuse such a proposal is if his ties to the large mailers and consolidators transcend his interest in reducing the cost of service.

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