Bill Would Authorize Layoffs, Force Out Senior Employees First
Unions Keep Pressure On, Urge Members to Join Sept. 27 Rallies
A bill that would destroy the Postal Service as we know it passed a House subcommittee on Sept. 21 by a vote of seven to four, along party lines. Republicans voted in favor of the bill; Democrats voted against it. The bill, H.R. 2309, was co-sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL), chairman of the postal subcommittee.
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Prior to the vote, Rep. Issa amended the bill, which he first introduced on June 23, to include numerous provisions that are even more controversial than those contained in the original version:
The amended version includes a provision to grant authority to a newly-established control board to carry out layoffs, in spite of any provisions in collective bargaining agreements that might limit them. In addition, it says that employees who are eligible for retirement must be laid off before employees who are ineligible, and dictates that retirement-eligible employees with the longest service must be separated first. The new language also forbids the payment of severance pay to retirement-eligible employees.
The new version of the bill continues provisions from the original that would empower a newly-created “solvency authority” to unilaterally cut wages and abolish benefits.
The amendment doubles – from $1 billion to $2 billion – the value of mail processing facility closures mandated by the bill, and it continues the provision found in the original version which requires $1 billion worth of post office closures. The new version also includes many changes to mail delivery, such as a requirement to reduce “door delivery” by 75 percent within two years.
In addition, the amendment includes several changes that would negatively affect workers who are injured on duty, including one that would cut the monthly compensation of totally disabled employees from 66.66 percent to 50 percent, once they meet the age and service requirements for retirement.
Democrats on the subcommittee argued strenuously against the bill and offered several amendments of their own; all of them were defeated by the Republican majority.
APWU President Cliff Guffey denounced the bill. “This is a brazen attempt to dismantle the United States Postal Service and render it ripe for privatization,” he said. “It is a blatant attack on unionized workers.
“The bill does not address the cause of the Postal Service’s financial crisis. It does nothing to correct the requirement to pre-fund the healthcare benefits of future retirees, which forces the USPS to fund a 75-year liability in a period of just 10 years,” Guffey said. No other government agency or private company is required to make such payments, which cost the USPS approximately $5.5 billion annually. “The bill also fails to address billions of dollars in USPS overpayments to federal pension accounts,” he noted.
“The Postal Service is a critical part of our economy. It is the center of a $1.2 trillion industry that employs 8 million people, including printers, mailers, and other businesses that rely on the Postal Service,” Guffey said.
“The post office is where the flag flies across America, and it is an integral part of our national life. Yet the bill would destroy this great institution – shutting thousands of offices, slashing service, and punishing workers.”
Guffey called on all union members to participate in rallies set for Tuesday, Sept. 27, to Save America’s Postal Service. Events are planned in every congressional district across the country, as part of a campaign by the four postal unions to win support for legislation to avert a collapse of the nation’s mail system.
The APWU is working with the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association to organize the activities. (Please send high-resolution photos of your event to sdavidow@apwu.org.) To find the location of the rally nearest you, visit www.SaveAmericasPostal Service.org.
The unions are urging support for H.R. 1351, which was introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA). The Lynch bill would prevent the financial collapse of the USPS – without closing thousands of post offices, eliminating hundreds of mail processing facilities, delaying mail delivery, laying off 120,000 workers, cutting postal workers’ pay, or ending collective bargaining rights.
H.R. 1351 would allow the Postal Service to apply billions of dollars in pension overpayments to the congressional mandate that requires the USPS to pre-fund the healthcare benefits of future retirees.
“We are fighting for our lives,” Guffey said. “I urge every APWU member to attend a rally, and to ask his or her member of Congress to support H.R. 1351.”
ATTEND THE ORGANIZED RALLIES AROUND YOUR AREA ON SEPTEMBER 27TH. STAND TOGETHER…… BUT IF YOU DECIDE YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE IT THEN KEEP YOUR DAMN COMPLAINING PIE HOLE SHUT.
Mike:You are fat ,lazy,and a dope!
Jake:Posterchild for the new Post Office…..”hey,I carried the route faster than the old guy”.What Jake didn’t tell you is that he did it in an unsafe manner while mis-delivering the mail and delivering all the nixies!
po
Mike:You are an idiot!
Impeach Darrell Issa and Ross!
and MIke what a jerk you are writing stuff you know nothing about. The Post Office isn’t a free ride. My husband has worked for the United States Post Office for 31 years now and he works hard every day. So until you walk in their shoes, don’t make asumptions.
and MIke what a jerk you are writing stuff you know nothing about. The Post Office isn’t a free ride. My husband has worked for the United States Post Office for 31 years now and he works hard every day. So until you walk in their shoes, don’t make asumptions.
I think the Post Office employees should strike. Not rally. Sure they say the Post Office employees can’t strike just like teachers can’t strike but what if they did? It would show everyone how much the post office does. How would people get their buisness correspondences, their medicines, the bills, their social security checks, bonus checks, magazines, parcels, and on and on. If you take it away, you will get the attention of everyone. Everyone who doesn’t receive their mail will be calling Congress, their Senators, their Congressmen, the White House because people want their mail, their deliveries. They need the Post Office. The Post Office employees have dedicated their lives to serving the United States Post Office and serving the people of this country. Who does Issa think he is? We all know what kind of person he is and what he did? Now he wants to destroy the Post Office. Don’t let him. If you think the destruction of the Post Office by people like Issa will stop there you are worng. They will come after every business, every thing they can. Stop them. The Post Office needs to STRIKE! President Obama needs to veto that Issa bill if it makes it through.
@ hadenough I doubt you have carried mail in recent years with Three bundles, pivoting, GPS and hidden cameras and mic in vehicles. If anything carriers need a substantial raise for what the added stress their job entails . Delivering much, much longer routes in extreme heat and then extreme cold. Given new vehicles with both A/C and heat, yet punished if their is any trace that they are “waisting” fuel by using either. Even crummy rusting machines in the middle of nowhere countries are allowed their easing oil if for nothing else so that they will not brake down. Only an idiot would question why a human being soaked with sweat from arduous work outdoors gets sick frequently wether by virus or break down. Grow up and get back in the lines for a couple years under the current conditions and then talk. Just another pencil pusher that has realized a high school intern could do your job for a fifth of the pay. 70% of “supervisors” do nothing other then basic data entry on spread sheets like my 5 th grader does for his homework and put a carriers keys away for them. All I have to say to sour supervisors is good bye and you will most definitely are not needed and will not be missed. A lot of you gave up your routes expecting to make a 30 year career with ludicrous salary for what amounts to 2hours worth of actual work for eight hours pay. Where is the media story covering this.
I worked both in craft and management, and it doesn’t matter in what capacity you work for the Postal Service because if you don’t change the way you think you won’t have a job. It appears that it’s all about what’s in it for me and I’ve earned it. That is a stupid comment, since you were paid what you were hired to do and this entitlement mentality is what has craft employees using excessive sick leave, penalty overtime, etc. Most of these employees are paid per hour way above the normal public and yet they take pay at a penalty rate rather than giving a full days work for a full days pay. I could go out on the street today and find at a minimum, 10 employees expanding breaks, lunches, excessive conversations with their customers and the list could go on and on. I hope they do force retirement, go to a five day work week and force CBU’s for existing delivery. If this had been a private business, management would have done this years ago. Put on your big boy panties and act like an adult.
Respect elders? All the old people that I work with make me work later every day and take time from my family cause they can’t do there job. Why should I respect them if they don’t think twice to screw me over every day. And none of them can do there job half as good as me and that’s a fact. Whether they admit it or not 55 plus men an women cannot walk out my rt better than me they will come up with a mysterious injury or something.
Does anyone know if this bill passes will they offer those of us the choice of retirement or lay off or will they be allowed to just lay us off without our retirement benefits that we have worked so hard for? Should we jump ship now or wait and see? Advice please….
quit blathering and organize, organize, organize, UNITED WE STAND!
Ron the APWU president Bill Burrus did not support PAEA and openly spoke out against it.
I’ve go 32 years in and at 50 outwork 99% of all other employees regardless of age so cut the slow/lazy old guy get out of the way for the younger ones BS.
No where did anyone say us old guys didn’t plan ahead my nest egg is just fine and I could go now if I have to and live very comfortably. The point is these ideas are wrong, and people shouldn’t take them as an inevitability. Congress never passes a bill in toto, especially this one where neither side will work with the other.
No the forced retirements if it did pass would not include management. They are never the problem, it is the working class labor costs that can easily be fed at lower costs to the millions of currently unemployed americans. CBA’s signed in good faith are binding, and should never be tampered with by government.
To take it to a logical analogy, if this was the right thing to do, our national debt, and budget deficit, should require immediate removal in all branches of government , legislative, judicial, and executive, including all branches of the military, energy, etc, etc,etc, of all highly paid senior office/rank/position holders, and force them to leave, cut their total amount of positions by the amount we are currently in debt or out of budget, and replace them with lower paid figure heads.
To the working class republicans on this site, democrats may be far from perfect and to some extent still trying to cover their own re-electon asses, but they do not blatantly force a plutocracy down the throats of every honest hard working american. Wise up.
to the dumb a** younger postal worker, put your time in and shut your mouth. I have been with the postal service for 26 yrs, carried a park and loop every day and paid my dues. You are not entitled to take my work! I am sure I could still out delivery you any day of the week. Didn’t your mama every tell you respect your elders, but no this younger generation just wants everything handled to them and dont want to do the time. Seniority assh**e
The Post Office and the Board will do something if their is nothing elese done. The union is only trying to protect the entire population of jobs. That is not going to happen. So the union will sacrifice its membership to fight and losing battle with the Post Office and Congress. The union has to accept the Post Office and Congress is going to WIN, So do all it can for those that will be separated..Don’t allow separation without severance.. don’t allow the mandantory separation of all the senior personnel only. Fight for a reasonable separation/severance package that will intice personnel to leave willingly. Senior personnel will leave happlily with a collective separation/severance deal for them to make the transistion to retirement, especailly under the current economic umbrella! The union should be fighting for this issue, instead of fighting to see the Post Office sink!
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH yall old heads need to retire and let fresh blood run the post office, if yall would have save up enough money for retirement and invested wisely then no one would be crying right now. Lets be real most of y’all could have taken pay cuts to allow new workers to come and help keep it from going under, but instead yall wanna be greedy and not do your job correctly and at time not care since yall have the union backing u up. Well I shed no tears for anyone postal worker that’s been working for damn near 40-50 years and dont have nothing to retire on. Still I’m learning from yall mistakes and thats why when I retire I will be set, not tryin to work until I die
it is time…………………………………………. ” VIVA THE REVOLUTION !!
EVERYONE Don’t be upset this bill will never pass Congress and if it does then Obama will VETO it when it gets to his desk. And then he will be reelected. If this
bill passes and the older workers in the post office get layed off without severance pay then watch out there will be a fight in Washington you will never forget.
I want everyone to understand something. Whether you have 1 year or 40 we are all in a lot of trouble here. Postal worker or not the middle class is under attack. Anything you see here that you think people should see should be posted on face book, liberal blogs local media blogs. We need to inform the public. This is not a bail out! We are not funded by their tax dollars!! And these politicians stole 75 billion dollars and are now using that to send 125000 people to the unemployment line. Act now it’s our last chance!
Im all for it!!! Grandmas the gravy train is over! I know its tough leaving your 300 stop all mounted joke of a route, but its time to go. And all of yall on disability, retire, back to work or take a pay cut. Its about time!!! We have carriers who have been on disability for over a decade due to stress!! How are you stressed when you havent delivered a single piece of mail in ten years? Ill give you a hint!! Your not, your just fat and lazy and looking for a free ride.
Does this “employee retirement eligible” include Stupidvisors, PM’s and upper mgmt who have been here since dirt? Or are they just targeting the union bargaining unit employees? What context is employee eligible? My PM has well over 40+ years and is an intolerable jacka@@. Plays with our pay, won’t approve request sick/annual time then forces us to call in and then we get disciplined for abusing our time….and that’s just the tip of the iceburg….refused to let an employee go his only childs graduation…NEEDS OF THE SERVICE…BS….. Please can someone let me know if this bill is targeting ALL POSTAL SERVICE EMPLOYEES OR JUST THE HARD WORKING ONES.
Issa almost as bad another looming shutdown by this selfish Congress ! !
It amazes me how fast Congress can move a bill that takes jobs away from the middle class, yet they move like snails when it comes to fixing the economy. Except of course when they are protecting their so called job creators
I love the part about eliminating “park and loop” delivery. Stupidist thing….make the customers put up a box on the street….stop spoon feeding them.
Issa you are an idiot. Why would you start laying off people that work for a company that employees over 8 million people. What is he trying to do increase the unemployment rate in this country? Republicans say they care about Americans when in reality all they care about is themselves. Closing the USPS will do nothing good for this country.
Does it say anywhere what happens to employees who have the time but maybe are a year or two in age from eligibility?Are they going to force you out as soon as you become eligibile or are they the ones who will be getting some kind of incentive to leave now?Maybe no penalty but you have to go with the years of service as your determining factor in your percentage?That would probably clear out all the rest as there would be no reason to stay if they are only going to make you go when you become eligible,for example you are 53 with 35 years they have you go no penalty,staying till you are 55 with 37 years the difference wouldnt be that much.Any thoughts on this?
Don’t forget Lynch help create this mess with the postal accountability act, which all the unions and postal management thought was a great idea. Collins is the only one asking to keep offices and 6 day. Obama turned his back on nalc with going to 5 days. Swing carriers and ptf’s in small offices good-bye! Where were our Dems when potter walked away 6plus million. after losing money two years in a row.
F$#k all of you idiots that STILL vote Republikkkan after this. Stupidest MFer’s on the planet.
Issa does not care about the USPS.
His job is to make Obama so weak that America will vote a Republican into the White House in November 2012.
It is not personal, it is all politics.
If he succeeds, he wants a Cabinet position in the new administration as payback for getting Obama kicked out of office.
Issa’s job is to fire hundreds of thousands of postal employees, ie..Postal Inspectors, Management, Maintenace, Custodians, Drivers, Carriers, Mailhandlers, Mail Processors etc.. and put them in the unemployment line.
And then turn around and point the finger at Obama and say,”You were all fired on Obama’s watch so vote against him.”
Issa is a shill for the Republicans.
He could care less whose jobs he destroys, just as long as it is a stepping stone up for him in a future Republican adminstration.
He uses his office for personal gain.
Right mister Issa?
America can read you like a book and every American voter is going to vote every Republican out of office.
All you Republicans are criminals
You are not Americans at all.
And if you had a soul, you would be ashamed of yourselves.
Well the average person in the PO is an idiot, just like in AMERICA. The radical 60’s have come to fruit. Kids cant read or write OR comprehend S&^t.
YOU people voted to accept the new contract, eat your young, well ya might have
just said EAT ME TOO! NO BALLS amoungst all of YOU!
TIred of hearing Rebublican, Democrat bullshit, ya dumb bas%@#$DS they are in cahoots.
Read Animal Farm and wake UP! You suckas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I retire soon and look back at the catastropy that you ball less a%%holes and ignorant people let yourself into.
NOT your faults though, it is the NEW WORLD order, just get out of the way of the steam roller!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Imcoming!!!!!!!!!!!! Duck! OH learn to say Thank you masta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Don, how can you say Republicans hate middle class and mention the veterans that will be hurt. Have you read that THIS administration wants to dismantle the military retirement and make it self funded, or stay in until you die or get killed. They also want to take away what is left of retiree medical care or make it so expensive, you cannot afford it. I already use VA and they bill my private insurance and the amount billed is way higher than a normal civilian would pay or be billed to their insurance. I have seen bills from both. If ISSA had a ‘D’ after his name, you guys would be coming up with reasons that what he is doing is justified, just like OBOZO.
All the postal leaders and the union leaders have said in the past is we are losing, we need help, we need a bail out, we need our money back, we don’t have any volume, we can’t keep doing it. We need legislation to PROTECT us from our customers, blah, blah, blah. You wash your dirty laundry in the streets, everyone knows your business. We should have left congress out of our business and solved our own problems from within, but no UNION folks think if they give away all the dues money, they can dictate law. They shun trying to work together with management, just backstabbing useless jabs and threatening talk. We know what is taking us down and it is bad policy and procedures and Management bonuses that are designed solely on numbers, not on customer service. They actually get rewarded for making you run til you fall over. You better start acting like leaders and whip this PO operation into shape or we are all going to be on the street or driving brown trucks. They see us as whiners, losers and unable to run this ship we are entrusted with. If we can’t come together and set it upright, they will do it for us, with their rules and procedures. Whatever happens, the union will continue to collect your dues, give it away so they can get a photo with some crook with a ‘D’ after their name and post it on the cover of the propaganda they mail to our door, just to make it look like they are doing something. They are, it is called hobKnobbing at our expense. I could care less who you hung with, I am so tired of their empty promises. We could solve more of our problems at a company picnic, PAID FOR WITH UNION DUES. Most of our internal problems do not require congressional action to solve or improve our business model.
38 years and carrying my route faster than the new hires. If they let me go without severance or incentive, they can have my house under bankruptcy….I’m moving to another country….taking my American bucks and spending them elsewhere to help drain this lying socialist government until it collapses. I agree with cutbacks through attrition, but not extreme ones like the ass Issa presents. Does no one on Capitol hill care about the hardships they will impose on actual lives and families when they they make sudden extreme moves? if they don’t care…then I don’t. Another thing, I will never let my grandsons join the military or fight for this country that has gone socio-communist right user our eyes. Patriotism for what? Imagie a gov that can bail out everyone but let the PO fail by lying about it. Throw them all OUT next election!
Is there any doubt that the republicans hate the middle class? I wonder if Issa has ever thought of all the veterans that would be harmed by his actions? You know the ones he pretends to support.
I hope Issa can’t sleep at night. He ought to be ashamed of himself; he is screwing the people, but the people will speak when election season comes, and he’ll be standing in the same unemployment line. Hopefully he’ll get what he deserves.
Issa is the biggest criminal in Congress.
He has been arrested before.
Served time behind bars.
Covered up his criminal brother’s crimes and got caught.
He is the richest person in Congress.
How is a career criminal like Issa in Congress deciding he keeps their job and who loses their job?
I was going to vote against Obama in the next election but after what Issa did today me and everybody else are going to vote Democratic.
The guy made 300 hundred million dollars.
By working hard and being a honest citizen?
I don’t think so.
IDIOTS THEY WILL GIVE TIME MAYBE MAX US OUT U BOOBS CAN;T READ BETWEEN LINES I WILL BE IN FLA IN 3 MONTHS JACIN OFF FOR THE NEXT 30 YEARS
The unions are now fighting a dead horse ! They have had 40 years to do something . The bill passed by a 75 % margin . Now they are going to hold a rally ? Americans need to drink the chinese kool aid . No middle class ! No class at all . Clinton started it with n.a.f.t.a. now obahma mama ends it all . We are an equal world now .
Rep.Issa can put what ever he wants in the bill but before it goes up for passage it has to be reconciled with current law,so don’t get upset! If I were Guffey I’d start learning the words to a new song. People will think his argument has no merit if he says the same thing over and over again. He should emphasize that doing all that Issa wants will greatly affect ALL government workers and completely throw the body of labor law, for the past 40 years, out the window!
…. Hood
There goes the neighbor ….