Dimondstein on Inspector General's Report on Sale of Historic Post Offices by CBRE

Dimondstein on Inspector General's Report on Sale of Historic Post Offices by CBRE

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Sally Davidow

202-842-4250

sdavidow@apwu.org

WashingtonThe Inspector General’s report on the Postal Service’s real estate transactions with CBRE is a stinging indictment of the way the USPS has sold off post offices and other facilities. It is also a condemnation of the cozy relationship between postal management and the world’s biggest real estate company. The USPS arrangement with CBRE allows the company to represent both the buyer and seller.

The U.S. Postal Service belongs to the people of this country. We must not permit postal executives and the Board of Governors to sell our beautiful historic buildings at a discount; nor should we permit CBRE to drain the Postal Service treasury with lease deals that benefit the real estate firm at the expense of postal customers and the American people.

The APWU endorses the IG’s recommendation to terminate the Postal Service’s contract with CBRE. The APWU also applauds the IG’s decision to refer numerous CBRE transactions to its Office of Investigations for further review.

Regrettably, CBRE is not the only private, for-profit company that is treating the U.S. Postal Service like a private piggy bank.  The Inspector General also should examine the role of CBRE CEO Robert Sulentic on the Staples board of directors at a time when the USPS is reducing hours or shuttering post offices and encouraging customers to take their mail to Staples stores.

This report shows we need to protect the USPS from corporate pirates who would plunder it.

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For more information about the American Postal Workers Union, please visit http://www.apwu.org/. For a copy of the report, Postal Service Management of CBRE Real Estate Transactions, please visit https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/sm-ar-15-003.pdf.