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John H. Dirzius |
Northeast Region Fights
‘Death Spiral’ To
Extinction!
John H. Dirzius
Northeast Region Coordinator
(02/03/12) Local union leaders throughout the Northeast Region have done an outstanding job of organizing opposition plant consolidations and USPS-proposed changes to service standards.
The Postal Service announced plans on Sept. 14, 2011, to conduct Area Mail Processing (AMP) studies at 252 processing centers nationwide, with the goal of reducing the number of centers from 487 to less than 200.
In order to accomplish this radical reduction, the USPS also proposed changes to service standards for first-class mail, periodicals, and other classes of mail.
These proposed changes would, without question, put the USPS on a “death spiral” to extinction.
The American Postal Workers Union vehemently opposes the Postal Service’s network realignment plans, as well as the proposed changes to the service standards. Local leaders have organized workers, businesspeople and community residents to attend the public meetings the Postal Service must hold before it makes a final decision to consolidate. Locals have mobilized their members, the AFL-CIO, other labor unions, and, most importantly, our customers.
Local leaders also have called upon elected officials at all levels of government to attend the meetings, speak out against consolidation, and support our efforts to stop this madness. In fact, at a few of the public meetings, both U.S. senators and several U.S. congressional representatives participated.
Attendance at public meetings has been excellent. At the Southern CT public meeting, hundreds of people were turned away because the hall was filled to capacity and officials risked violating the fire safety code if they allowed more people in. That’s the level of opposition to the Postmaster General’s plans!
The True Cause of the USPS’ Financial Crisis
Let’s examine the real reasons behind management’s destructive proposals. Unfortunately, the changes have far less to do with declining mail volume and the increased use of electronic communication than they do with the enactment of legislation in 2006.
During a “lame duck” session of Congress, President George W. Bush signed into law the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. This legislation targeted the USPS as a “cash cow,” requiring the USPS to pre-fund 75 years of future retiree health benefits in only 10 years! The yearly price tag for this pre-funding requirement is approximately $5.5 billion a year.
No other government agency or private company is required to pre-fund future retiree health benefits. It’s a financial burden that no other governmental agency or private company could afford to pay.
Meanwhile, the USPS has overpaid $11 billion into the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). That “overpayment” should be returned to the Postal Service. Two independent actuarial studies concluded that the USPS overpaid the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) to the tune of $50-$75 billion, due to a faulty funding formula.
Clearly, if the pre-funding mandate was lifted and the overpayments were returned to the USPS, the Postal Service would have more than the $20 billion managers are trying to save through the radical network realignment plans and revised service standards.
However, as we know all too well, getting this amount of money back is going to be difficult. But Congress can make it happen. As stated time and time again, Congress created the Postal Service’s financial crisis and Congress can fix it. At the current time, there are numerous bills pending in Congress to “fix” the USPS in both the House of Representatives and Senate.
Remember, many members of Congress oppose our efforts to correct the pre-funding requirement and return the overpayments to the USPS. Some of the pending legislation would destroy the USPS and strip our members of protections and rights in our Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Let’s also remember that the Postmaster General recently asked Congress to pass legislation to eliminate our no-layoff protection and remove postal workers from the federal health benefits program and retirement system. There are some in Congress who would be happy to accommodate his request.
Our “boss” is asking for the authority to lay off more than 120,000 postal workers only months after signing a contract that includes protection against layoffs.
To date, the two bills that would “fix” the USPS financial problems are H.R. 1351 in the House and S. 1853 in the Senate. Our focus must be to secure postal reform legislation that will address our issues as early as possible in 2012.
Moratorium on Consolidations and Post Office Closings
In December 2011, in response to a request from 22 senators, the Postal Service announced a five-month moratorium on the closure of post offices and mail processing facilities.
The purpose of the moratorium is to facilitate the enactment of postal legislation that would correct the USPS financial crisis and allow a reasonable amount of time to develop a new “business model” that would continue to keep the Postal Service viable well into the future.
Rather than spending our time attending public meetings, all of us, including management, postal unions, mailers, and members of Congress, should be working together to find the “right fix” to maintain the Postal Service in the future as guaranteed under the United States Constitution.
Sadly, postal management is not taking full advantage of the moratorium. Instead, management is holding public meetings and preparing to implement the destructive plans. These plans will, without question, hasten the demise of a vital American institution! It’s worth noting that the USPS is the heart of a $1 trillion mailing industry that employs more than 8 million workers.
Closing and consolidating processing plants is penny-wise and pound-foolish. No business can cut their way to financial health and growth.
If implemented, the plans will destroy good jobs and the loss of tax dollars will weaken affected communities. They will hurt small businesses, neighborhood coffee shops, diners, convenience stores and corner gas stations. They will impact our customers. Local mailers will lose their SCF discounts and will be required to truck mail to other processing centers to obtain discounts. This is no way to keep customers and grow the business.
Drastic Reduction in Service Standards
Let’s examine the other destructive step the Postal Service has undertaken in conjunction with their radical plans to realign the processing network.
The PMG proposes to eliminate overnight delivery of first-class mail and periodicals, and reduce the range of two-day mail delivery. If implemented, the service standard changes will delay mail delivery.
The proposed changes in service standards would degrade USPS products, limit Postal Service’s ability to introduce new products, place the USPS at a competitive disadvantage, and hamper the USPS’s ability to accommodate growth. Most notably, the proposed changes would virtually guarantee continued mail volume declines and further cutbacks in service.
The APWU continues to fight these regressive changes. We believe the changes are contrary to the objectives of the Postal Reorganization Act (PRA) and fail to take into account all the factors the Postal Service is required to consider when setting service standards.
The PRA provides that service standard changes shall be designed to “enhance the value of our postal service to both senders and recipients and to reasonably assure customers delivery reliability, speed and frequency consistent with reasonable rates and best business practices.”
The 252 AMP feasibility studies are based upon the proposed changes in service standards — changes that have not yet been approved. If the changes in service standards are stopped, the mass scale consolidation plans will stop as well; they cannot be implemented. It’s that simple!
At each AMP public meeting, the APWU reminded the postal officials in attendance to pay attention to public comments. There has not been a single comment if favor of consolidation at any of the public meetings I have attended. The clear message has been to immediately abandon the radical network realignment plans as well as the changes to service standards.
It is vital that APWU members understand that your total involvement and continued hard work are necessary for us to be successful in confronting these challenges. We will leave no stone unturned to protect our jobs, preserve our industry, and to keep the word Service in the United States Postal Service. But we can only do it with your help!
