NALC President Fred Rolando is making it clear to the Postal Service and to Congress that ending six-day mail delivery to American households is unacceptable and this union will fight it with all the energy and power it can muster.
“Termination of six-day delivery would open the floodgates to all other delivery services in America to fill the void, resulting in a continual diminution of postal service, especially in the cost-effective areas of package and specialty delivery in which lies the economic future of the Postal Service,” Rolando said.
NALC received a letter dated June 11 from the Postal Service requesting the union’s input on a study of the feasibility of eliminating Saturday delivery. NALC rejected a timetable calling for a response by June 19, instead requesting a full briefing on the subject before responding.
Rolando said NALC is committed to working with Congress and the administration to find better ways to help the Postal Service remain viable: “Rather than contemplate a radical change like the elimination of Saturday delivery, we should pursue more sensible solutions.”
He recommended that Congress re-examine all the retirement financing decisions made by the Bush administration that have so burdened the Postal Service in this time of economic crisis. He said shifting the cost of FERS benefits for military service performed by postal employees from postal ratepayers to the Treasury; granting the Postal Service eligibility for Medicare Part D subsidies, as intended by law; and fundamentally reforming the scheme for pre-funding retiree health benefits were “essential first steps.”
“Expanding services and making full use of the Postal Service’s invaluable last-mile network is the key to the future,” Rolando added.
Giving carriers Saturdays off WILL improve customer service. Do you think a TE of T6 care about your route? Mine doesn’t. I have to spend a day or two fixing there mistakes. The customers know when I’m off because of the poor service. Going to 5 day work week will give customers one carrier, except during vacation time. It would save me time looking in vacant boxes that they deliver to even though they are labeled VACANT. Customer service would improve.
Nothing like a SCAB to sell out all his or her co workers by thunking of themselves. How soon each one of you SCABS forget, that all the things you have gotten was because of the union. Vacation time, collective bargining,FMLA,sick time, medical, the list goes on and on. Yet when you want a five day work week at the expense of others jobs, you are truly not a real union member. Look at the amount of money that is spent on micro managed supervisors, and how little they do. They should be time studied like everyone else in this company. I bet there is millions that can be saved. Remember WE THE CARRIERS AND CLERKS ARE THE JOB. We don’t show up to work nothing gets done, supervision doen’t show up to work we still do the job….who do you need more…
As I understand it, the plan is to eliminate REGULAR Saturday mail delivery. No reason why Express mail and (at an xtra fee as does UPS) parcels can be delivered Saturday. A money saving AND making opportunity. I don’t buy the scare talk that “others are willing to jump in and takeover” that the union is putting out. Are there really a lot of companies out there just waiting for a chance to deliver 2nd class and bulk mail ( remember: the USPS has a lock on 1st class), on Saturday ONLY? If WE can’t make money on that, with our organization and experience, who can??
The “internet” brought the USPS to their knees, and if anyone thinks that the NALC or COLCPE can restore the services that they once enjoyed, well, keep living in that DREAM WORLD…..
Hey, I agree there may not be milk left soon, but let’s take a real hard look at who’s shootin’ the holes in the bucket. If a Stupidvisor can spend time violating the contract, then having to give union time to stewards, then copying 10 zillion papers to “cooperate” with the union so it can push one more grievance up that never gets settled (or if it does, then never gets paid to the carrier…again, not by fault of the Union); or if they can discipline carriers for 15 mins. of “unauthorized ot” because they can’t carry their “undertime” in record time based on some “magical machine,” then they go to an EEO redress and 4 people spend 3 more hrs there with nothing resolved, then send someone out to help finish that carriers route because of the meeting, then that’s gonna go on forever, dadadadadaaaaaaaa on and on………all over 15 minutes!!! Now, you tell me, who’s sucking the life out of the Postal Service? (And, JB, it’s not us that have to WALK the same amount no matter how much mail we have!) Although the grievances aren’t getting settled fast enough, I think we should ALL be thankful for the Union that got us ALL we do have and let them continue to fight for us!!! Most people that gripe don’t realize YOU are the Union…go to meetings, step up and sacrifice YOUR time to help this, and support the COLCPE (because it’s all about politics… don’t you see?!) Remember, if we’re dead, we’re not going to have a job anyway! Gosh, I feel better…have a nice weekend
You can only milk a cow soooo long, and before you know it….there’s no milk left! The same with the U.S. POSTAL SERVICE…seems like there’s alot of “wishful” thinking here, the people have already spoken and are now performing most of their postal needs through the internet, and don’t expect it to ever go back to the “good-ole-days”. There is much to blame for this shortcoming, and less direction for improvement! Layoff the fatcats! And to those of you who were carriers for not even five years, and felt miraculously inspired to “change the U.S.Postal Service” and sought the way of becoming a professional supervisor, “GIVE IT UP” and “GET A REAL LIFE” WalMart awaits you as their next greeter! A good percentage of businesses are closed on Saturdays, and everyone else either don’t have the time to check their mail on Saturdays, or are away on vacation! Come’on, give up the Saturday delivery……. In the good-ole days before the computer came along, it took only 2 supervisors at the most (depending on the size of your office) to run any office. Now, it takes the entire national guard to be out there in their little cubical spending more time on the computer trying to figure out who’s coming and who’s going….talkin about wasteful spending!
How come you idiots wont realize that eliminating Saturdays means thousands of carriers laid off! What a bunch of selfish bastards just so they can have a Saturday off! Now that sounds like a bunch of lowlife union workers. I agree, you lazy no good worthless carriers need to get a job at Walmart!! I am sure you are the ones stealing time!
If the postal service does trim the fat, we can afford to give discounts and we should do that. On margin. We can no longer play favorites to promote and management is going to have to realize it is outgrown its britches. We have to have 1 postmaster to do over the counter issues. 1 person to fill in for them on their breaks. 1 basic national team who put numbers in and get legitimate, unchangable figures out and then eliminate Saturdays to have an efficient machjine and have crews (volenteers) do weekend duty! Until then…. I am taking extra poop breaks! Yay!
I have been carrying mail for 9 years now and I thing cutting Saturday delivery would save millions in gas alone. And yes, I would love to spend every Saturday with my family.
Get rid of the janitors, 1 Mexican could do all of their work and make all of the carriers taco’s for lunch, we have 3 janitors and they stand around all day talking to their husbands on the floor, the husband is a union vp, wonder how she got that job, anywho, fire the janitors, burras, postmasters, clerks that breath and supervisors and we’ll be ok and i want my flying car to, been waiting forever.
Cutting a work day would extremely cripple the post it might save money in the short term, but it will cost us revunue in the long run. There is always somebody else willing to pick up the crumbs we leave behind. Another all the carriers that agree with cutting saturdays are the same old bastards that need to retire. You are holding on to long go away.
I have heard all of the arguments from craft employee’s about how they should start from the top and cut the fat. I agree, however cutting management will not stop the financial bleeding that the Postal Service is experiencing. The craft needs to face the facts that the mail volume has completely dried up and yet some employee’s are working the same amount of hours they did when the volume was here. The quickest and easiest savings is holding employees to perform beyound the bare minimum standards. There is almost nothing in the case and yet they can only case to 100% to standards. That’s a D on the grade scale. Any employee that thinks that they are doing their job at that pace is a thief. Look the bottom line is if we do not fix the problems that WE all have as POSTAL EMPLOYEE’S (CRAFT AND MANAGEMENT)none of us will have a job. Lets stop fighting each other and work together towards a solution of how to fix it. I have an idea on how to increase mail volume. Get back on mailing list and stop paying your bills online. That’s a starting point.
To eliminate waste, you start and stop with management. Supervisors and managers are making $60,000-$100,000 and aren’t moving or delivering a piece of mail. Multiply that times all those that are doing nothing and you save millions there.
Cheese,
you guys GET toilet paper?
My postmaster said we can’t get “Post-Its” anymore because there are four people over her who have to approve each purchase, no matter how small.
If we eliminate 3 of those people, maybe we’d have money for supplies!
good point hunglong..
lazy bastards ….anti union folk should go work for wal mart…
Attention morons:
How does eliminating Saturday delivery improve service?
Are all these posts from manglement?
We have so many dead weight manglers in the system!!
We’ve got bean counters that count the bean counters.
Get real here. The truth is that you’d like to have Saturdays off.
AS A VETERAN CARRIER, I KNOW THE USPS WOULD SAVE MILLIONS THE FIRST WEEK OF ELIMINATING SAT.DELIVERY.IF THEY DON’T DO IT, THE USPS IS GOING TO GO DOWN THE TUBES. I HAVE NEVER SEEN IT THIS BAD, NOT IN 40 YEARS. ALSO, MANY MICRO-MANANAGER JOBS SHOULD BE ELIMINATED. MOVING THE MAIL RIGHT NOW AND IMPROVING SERVICE SHOULD BE #1 PRIORITY.
no carrier can make a judgement that 5 day will be for the better until we know the specifics on how its going to change our employment, contract, industry , ect..i say lets try other avenues to continue 6 day first..
I say put it to a member vote! Just the ones who never carry mail should not make the input!I strongly support no Sat. delivery!
IF THE UNION WINS THE FIGHT TO KEEP SATURDAY DELIVERY I WILL NO LONGER BE IN THE UNION.
I for one believe and can prove that 5 day delivery is more cost effective. The union is only upset because they will lose members. Our local branch has lost more than six members this year alone and we only have 30 routes. The union ought to be concerning its self with the contract violations going on and not with 5 day delivery. We have had grievances out for over a year and our union branch has lost the paper work for 3 grievances that I know of. I know because I am a former VP of our branch and a stewart. I quit the union because it doesn’t support us. It only supports it own staff.I have filed a suit with the NLRB because of the poor representation.
Letter Carrier Rocky Mount NC | 07.09.09 – 3:09 pm | #