APWU President Cliff Guffey condemned USPS plans to study 252 mail processing facilities for possible closure, saying widespread closures would “dismantle the mail-processing network.” On Sept. 14, the USPS released a list of offices where studies will take place.
“The Postal Service should be urging Congress to address the cause of its problems – not slashing service and demolishing its network,” the union president said.
A 2006 law has pushed the USPS to brink of insolvency by imposing a burden on the Postal Service that no other government agency or company bears. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act requires the Postal Service to pre-fund the healthcare benefits of future retirees. The mandate, which forces the agency to pre-fund a 75-year liability in just 10 years, costs the USPS more than $5.5 billion annually.
“The mail processing network is a major asset,” Guffey noted. “Destroying it is misguided and counterproductive.
“Degrading service is not the answer to the Postal Service’s problems,” he said, noting that extensive closures would force the USPS to reduce delivery standards and delay mail delivery. “The Postal Service should be looking for ways to strengthen service and increase its relevance in the age of digital communication.”
Guffey said he was extremely displeased by the Postal Service’s refusal to provide the union with any advance notice of its plans.
Click here to view the list of mail processing facilities facing possible closure. Click here to read the Mandatory Stand-Up Talk on this issue.
Why pre-fund our retirement when most of us will never be able to retire from the USPS anyway?
I know how the early settlers felt when their wagons were surrounded.The flaming arrows are flying at us from every direction.I think I’ll go walk my dog and pick up his crap so I can feel like I am work.
Obama should fire Donahoe IMMEDIATELY, and reassure the American public that the USPS will NOT be dismantled on his watch and that any attempt by congress to break negotiated-in-good-faith, ratified, labor agreements wil receive a PROMPT veto from him. There are many ways to maintain postal service standards and deal with the financial problems at the same time…..DESTROYING THE USPS IS NOT ONE OF THEM! Jobs, jobs, jobs…..the administration and congress are always preaching……well, DUH, these are good American jobs…..and sombody should be fighting to keep them, not trying to find ways to lay-off tens of thousands! Besides, over the past few years the USPS HAS DOWNSIZED like no other government agency or entity. Let’s maintain a calm and orderly process of right-sizing the postal service WITHOUT degrading the “service” aspect. Our postal service is the best in the world and the American people do not want this vital and beloved institution destroyed!!
St Paul, Mn. P&DC
Mail coming out our ears
Overtime galore…….BUT the stupidest thing I see is 30 clerks throwing Priority Mail off of conveyor belts while the NDC next door could process all of that mail on their machines. Those 30 clerks are needed elsewhere in this place.
PMG said he was going to cut the fat of excess management ? We have 8 maintenance managers on Tour 2…….wtf for ? If all of the other P&DC’s in the “network” are this glutted can you see the savings the PO could create by eliminating 90% of these good ol’ boys? Have A Nice Day !!!
Way to comment on the obvios, Cliff. That’s exactly what the plan is intended to do.
“Spigot” believes that what we need is more TAX CUTS AND TOTAL DEREGULATION to cure our country’s economic ills….so that THE” JOB
CREATORS” WILL HIRE WORKERS and we will all live HAPPILY EVER
AFTER.
There are a lot of SPIGOTS out there…all preaching the same thing.
Austerity.
Lay off workers.
Cut Government Programs that people NEED TO LIVE in order
to pay back the National Debt in SIXTY YEARS OR MORE.
“SPIGOT” is the fountainhead of useless and incorrect information.
If you are an employee of the USPS, you should resign immediately
to HELP AMERICA AND BUSINESS OUT…go ahead, do the right thing…
The APWU has been out front on this issue since the mid 2000’s. the only Labor organization or federal watchdog to comment on the ever growing Postal Service dismantling. The incompetent leaders in the Whitehouse at that time was only concerned with the status of the big mailers and not the American public. The only reason this organization has sunk yet is because the APWU has steered the debate and has kept the SS Minnow of the rocks. and further more if you are going to make some lame comment about the President of our Union have the guts to put your name out there so everyone will know who the real dumb ass is. But the spigot is probably tied to Fox and is either Hannity or beck the 2 most uninformed people in america
…”address the cause of its problems…”
You mean like rapidly declining mail volumes, a bloated workforce, employees that quit caring about the effect their jobs had on the business as a whole. “Show me the money” will not work as a viable strategy anymore, however, that is the only strategy that the APWU has ever known. Cliffey boy, you better start downsizing your own flotilla of overpaid cronies or you may be leading a Navy of sailboats soon.