Burrus Criticizes Exclusion Of Postal Unions from OIG Workshare Audit

APWU President William Burrus has criticized a decision by the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) to exclude postal unions from providing input into a recently-announced audit of postage workshare discounts. The OIG plans to interview a range of “stakeholders,” including mailers’ representatives — who are the beneficiaries of the discounts — Burrus noted.

In a May 21 letter to the Inspector General Burrus said that he did not believe the exclusion of the unions was an oversight, since the announcement of the audit followed so closely a May 12, 2010, House Subcommittee hearing on the subject of workshare discounts. During the hearing, the APWU criticized postal management and the OIG “for turning a blind eye to the abuses,” he wrote.

Burrus wrote in response to the OIG’s May 21 announcement that it would conduct an audit for Fiscal Year 2009 “to determine whether Postal Service workshare discounts in excess of avoided costs were reasonable.” A March 29, 2010, report by the Postal Regulatory Commision found that 30 types of postal discounts exceed “postal costs avoided,” the legal standard.

“The American Postal Workers Union has a long history of denouncing excessive discounts and pointing out that they fail to comply with federal law,” Burrus wrote. “Therefore, I was extremely disappointed that your announcement of the audit,” excluded postal unions from the consultative process.

Despite his criticism of the OIG’s methods for conducting the audit, Burrus praised the office for undertaking the study. “Given the loss of billions of dollars annually, this subject should have been reviewed long ago,” he wrote.

Burrus said he would be pleased to share the union’s views for the audit. He also urged the OIG to analyze the relative efficiencies of decentralized mail processing and transportation systems, which are encouraged by discounts given to large mailers, as well as their impact on the USPS network.

In testimony before a House subcommittee on May 12, Burrus said excessive workshare are illegal and “self defeating.” In oral comments to the subcommittee, he said, “This is a PONZI-like scheme Bernie Madoff would be proud of.” The Postal Service diverts mail volume to the private sector, using an exaggerated per-piece cost to set postage discounts. At the same time, discount-funded private mail processing plants are opened, while more efficient USPS processing centers are consolidated, Burrus said.

“‘Universal service at uniform rates’ is the linchpin of the American mail system,” Burrus wrote to the Inspector General. “The widespread, persistent deviation from this standard deserves your attention and demands correction.”