NY Metro Area Postal Union Also Calls for Investigation into Former Postmaster General Potter’s Retirement Package
New York , NY , September 15, 2011 – In the face of the financial crisis that the United States Postal Service is facing, the New York Metro Area Postal Union, APWU, AFL-CIO, led by President Clarice Torrence , has called upon the Postmaster General and CEO of the United States Postal Service, Patrick R. Donahoe, to step down from his position immediately. If Postmaster General Donahoe refuses to resign, the union calls upon the Postal Board of Governors to fire him.
Postmaster Donahoe took the oath of office as the 73rd Postmaster General of the United States on January 14, 2011 after having been appointed to the position by the Board of Governors on December 7, 2010. He had served as Deputy Postmaster General under Postmaster General Potter since 2005. In April of this year, Donahoe successfully negotiated a new four-year collective bargaining agreement with the American Postal Workers Union. Donahoe praised the agreement, “We worked together to negotiate a responsible agreement that is in the best interest of our customers, our employees and the future of the Postal Service.” He took credit for the agreement which he claimed would save the USPS $3.8 billion in labor costs. Less than three months after the agreement was signed, Donahoe called upon Congress to nullify part of the contract to allow him to layoff 120,000 postal workers.
The New York Metro Area Postal Union concludes from his actions that Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe is either a well-meaning incompetent or a duplicitous agent of forces who actively want to destroy the Postal Service and have it privatized. Whichever case is true, Donahoe is violating his oath of office and failing to meet the requirements of his position to be responsible for the overall operation of the Postal Service. Donahoe has contracts remaining to be negotiated with the three remaining postal unions. NYMAPU questions how the other postal unions can bargain in good faith with Postmaster Donahoe after his actions following the contract with the APWU.
New York Metro Area Postal Union is also calling for an independent investigation into the unprecedented sweetheart retirement package that was given to Donahoe’s predecessor, former Postmaster John E. Potter. Potter stepped down on December 3, 2010. He was retiring with $3.1 million in pension benefits accumulated during his 32 year career. Potter was also able to use a separate pension established for him by the Postal Board of Governors in 2001 based on performance goals that was worth $1.35 million when it was frozen in 2007 in favor of direct performance incentives. Potter’s base salary in 2010 was $273,296 but he had already built up $881,000 in deferred compensation in awards and incentives that he could draw out in annual installments once retired.
If the Postal Service is in such dire straights, as is being reflected by Postmaster Donahoe’s recent testimony, there needs to be an investigation into why former Postmaster Potter received such elaborate performance bonuses and awards in his retirement package while leaving the Postal Service on the brink of failure.
It is the position of the New York Metro Area Postal Union that the current financial crisis in the Postal Service is caused by mandates imposed by Congress in the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act and the overpayments into the CSRS and FERS retirement plans that have been expropriated from the Postal Service by the Treasury. H.R. 1351 introduced by Representative Stephen Lynch will correct those inequities and enable the Postal Service to carry out its functions without closing post offices, cutting back on delivery and eliminating hundreds of thousands of living wage jobs in the middle of a recession.
after the dust settles and donahue does his damage, he is going to get the SAME sweet deal potter got….”.life is a joke”
I totally agree with NY Metro. WE THE PEOPLE/POSTAL WORKERS must take a stand! With the PMG and congress!
NYMetro can’t even keep a decent webpage current…so now they’re demanding exactly what? How much does Metro Prez make anyway? And please…spare me BS figures that don’t show expenses as part of that salary !
We work in a glass bubble….you try to get someone to listen to you but you must exhaust all avenues within the Postal Service….try it….go outside the bubble and they tell you the Postal Service is exempt from most of the laws out there to protect the people…
There is power in numbers….one person can not do it…we must all speak as one voice.
I agree with MIKE….Our local union is absolutely in mgmts pocket. So sick of hearing “We have to grieve” but every single damn time we want to grieve the union says: “You don’t have a leg to stand on….you don’t have a grievance”…mgmt is “allowed to mismanage” Like Why??? I’m going on a non-stop letter writing campaign to every congressman, senator, newspapers…CNN, 60 Minutes, 20/20, Dateline….etc….as should ALL OF US. Get organized….ATTICA…..
the disconnect at the top is staggering. PMG et al have no clue what is going on in the field. USPS has turned into a culture of bulling and abuse toward craft as well as Postmaster/Supervisors.
Time to change the culture! Start at the top!
I feel betrayed. I have no work incentive anymore. I feel beat down by PMG Donahoe.
It’s nothing but Union Busting at it’s finest. It’s a pure move to streamline for private companies to take over.
And what happens to the safety of the mail. Does anyone remember Anthrax? Mailbombs? Private companies will deliver them for sure.
Donahoe has been a piece of shit since ha has been a national officer
i agree with “we all have to wake up.” The problem with the USPS boils down to management AND the union. No doubt, we must question why Potter and Donahoe are willing to sell us out like the are. It is very obvious to me that they have been planning on “dismantling” the citty carrier with the 5-day service for some time, and I’m quite sure they already have a plan of action prepared and ready to pounce on when they pull this well-orchestrated “call of help.” However, it also trickles down to all of us…the Postmaster/Manager who really works 4 hours a day instead of 8; the clerk who makes a 4 hour job into 8; the mailhandler who finds a hiding place and sleeps; the supervisor who spends all day on the phone instead of really working; the people who respond “that’s not my job”…many of us share the burden of the the USPS’s demise but I feel like the upper management holds the higher burden (at least at some point). I work my butt off, butt that hasn’t made any difference. The P.O. is wrought with favoritism and cut-throats. It’s gettiing worse as things go downhill. I have seem many stellar employees going above and beyond the call of duty, while others milk the system and do nothing. I have supervised clerks, city carriers, mailhandlers, rural carriers and MVS (PVS) drivers..the city carriers in general have one of the best work ethics in the P.O. and they are ridden the hardest. I agree, we ALL need to WAKE UP!, but it’s probabl far too late now. We have all been sold out and many of us have sold theirselves out, now they wonder why they are potentially going to be jobless. I have long thought that if the USPS became employee owned like some of the airline employees, perhaps, employees wouldn’t take so much for granted. It’s either that, or they’ll probably end up privatizing us and the same “poor performers” and “fiscally irresponsible” people will be running things at an even greater profit to them and their cronies!
I agree with many things that are being said here, however we all need to look at ourselves and our crafts and in our own backyards as well as to why the postal service is losing money. You have management that have no clue in some cases and it is ridiculous to see some of the jobs they create such as auditors to go look at offices and verify that they are doing what they need to just to keep there 85,000 salaries. You have districts that dictate to the supervisors what needs to be done when tey sit behind a piece of paper and arenot in the office seeing what it actually takes to run the office. You have carriers who milk the system when they have 2 feet of mail and say they have no pivot time. The mail has declined tremendously and yet they still take 8-9hrs to do the same route they did last year with double the mail? Im not talking all carriers most go and give and honest days work but you know the one’s Im talking about, you have the union who if someone not on the list has to do 15 mins worth of OT after you max everyone else they want to file grievances for POT, which is not smart in our time of financial needs. I think we need an overhauling in alot of different areas and yes starting right from the top, but we all play a part in it as well. All I can say as a carrier which is the heart of this company is that we go out and give an honests days work for our pay. Standup for what is right in all areas of our company and yes lets start with the top butmake sure our own backyard is cleaned up as well.
Cliff Guffey is out for Cliff Guffey. He doesn’t care that the PMG is taking the USPS down the tubes. He is in bed with Donahoe and only cares about himself. I wouldn’t be surprized if he got some sort of kick back, under the table sweetheart deal for himself, while the real workers suffer. He should be fired by the APWU membership for endorsing this contract, which we have to wait for three years before we get any $ benefits, knowing full well what the PMG and his follies were going to do three months later. I am sick of this bullshit!
Top heavy management and narcisstic union leaders only have their pharoh self enhancement interest at heart along with maintaining their overpriced salaries.
Many stare at themselves and role play themselves as making a real business decision in the real business world other than a political controlled government service known as the USPS.
Congress should clean house. Declare USPS insolvent as in chapter 11 bankruptcy and void all contracts with Crafts and union management.
PMG be appointed as a cabinet position. A budget devised based on workhours and volume. Congressional subcomitee monitor fiance as to workhours and revenue. Offices and services eliminated that are not cost effective. Aligin services for service demand to create revenue to meet breakeven point.
How can we get outside help? Someone needs to come and look at the mismanagement on a daily basis.I’ve been a letter carrier for fifteen years and I’m amazed at how they are purposely destroying the Postal service.Anyone can see it.FSS is the biggest joke out there. Doing the route my way I’m done at 3:30pm. Doing it the postal services way takes me till 5:30pm.thanks for the free money. Wake up people the PMG has to go.he is ruining our postal service. Stand up fellow union members,this is our livelihood. Show Donahue the D-O-O-R!!!!!!!
It is disappointing the manner in which OUR CEO appears to be selling out the company he took an oath to protect. I wonder if he has a better offer waiting in the wings like some of the former executive have had. I still don’t think Congress gets it that we don’t need a bail out, just a refund! September 27 is Save the Postal Day in the country. Find the closest Congressional office and rally to “Save the Postal Service!” Check out the website to see if there is an organized event near you. This is for ALL union, associations and non-union employees to stand strong and show your support of our company. If Donahoe won’t do it WE MUST!
I’m right with New York Metro! Donahoe do not care anything about the Postal Workers that are really doing the real work in getting the mail volume out daily to all of this country and abroad!! He does not care enough about trying to fight and get the Retiree Pre-Fund overpayment back from Congress. In his video on Wednesday, he stated that it was not important enough; well $50 to $70 billion might not be important to someone who gets $800,00 a year maybe, but to Union paid employees it’s a hell of a lot!! This just goes to show Donahoe does not care and he needs to go!! Potter definitely need to be investigated as to why he could get $5.5 million at his retirement, when the Postal Service was already in finanical difficulty! Now working people will have to pay for this mismanagement!!
Hey Cliff this is how a LEADER of men and women should act.
Newton….you are the voice of the ignorant and here is why:
1. Union leaders have NO CONTROL over congress or the President….The PAEA created this entire mess. We have OVERFUNDED our retiree costs and retiree health benefit costs to the tune of 125 BILLION DOLLARS over the past 5 years.
2. 125 Billion in PROFIT have been taken away from the USPS by the republican regime of GW.
3. add 5,5 billion to 10 billion per year to the USPS budget and we have made a huge profit over the last 5 years…put that up ur teabagging ass and smoke it.
4. Fix the accounting errors and NONE of these actions that WILL LEAD to the destruction of the USPS are necessary.
5. Union’s negotiate contracts and fight for workers rights, salaries and benefits. They do not literally steal money from a business and cloak it under the guise of prepaying 75 years of retirees hard earned benefits.
it is time > VIVA THE REVOLUTION!!!!!
Amazing – The government raided and looted retirement funds and you all are surprised?
In 1984 one of my college professors put a graph up “on the overhead” that showed the demographic shift with baby boomers moving into middle age and how the existing entitlement programs will be unsustainable when that group hits retirement. Since then we have done nothing except add more entitlement programs and richer benefits packages. Suddenly we are all now shocked that we are running out of money – WHAT A JOKE! If anyone needs to fired it’s the union bosses that negotiated you all into this position when we say this coming 30+ years ago. You put your faith in a group that has let you down by over promising things and you all planned your lives based on what they knew they someday could not deliver.
THANK YOU…. THANK YOU….. THANK YOU….. TO THE NY METRO APWU…FINALLY SOMEONE IS TAKING A STAND. NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL OF US TO STAND UP….. WRITE….WRITE…AND WRITE SOME MORE… TO EVERYONE….TELL EVERYONE WHO WILL LISTEN!!!! LET US BE HEARD. GOD HELP US IF USPS RUNS OUR HEALTH AND RETIREMENT BENEFITS….WE’D BE DOOMED.
will mgmnt run a new health benefit and retirement system as well as they run a mail delivery system ?
Please do not let them do this!!
there will be some great paying jobs that will no doubt go to the BEST qualified
mgmnt hack they can find
let OPM and FEHB do their jobs
Someone start up a petition to call for his resignation, I’m sure everyone employed by the USPS will sign it, that would be huge show of how we feel about how he runs this agency.
They need to quit doing all these drastic things, do some smaller things to see if it works before you go in and totally destroy something to where it doesn’t work at all. They don’t even take time to see if anything works. Maybe the large offices need to do their own finances, instead of let it be taken care of all in one place. IF you can’t afford to pay the overtime, then don’t call for it. Let the casuals/PSEs do it, you can always send them home early on other days. They have no guarantee on hours. If you can’t fix the little things, you’ll never fix the big things.
Its time for Mr. Donohoe to leave he is definitely incompetent
all unions have to stick together now……….unity
The South Jersey Area Local agrees with NY Metro and asks for the resignation of PMG Donahoe. It is time to stop the destruction from within. Of course the Unions were kept in the dark until the plan was announced. PMG and friends have no regard for Unions at all. The answer is to resolve the issues that have put the PS in the position it is in, not destroy it.
Should read why is HE coming to us.
My bad.
On September the 6 in front of the committee of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Mr. Guffey said “We are working on other things to reduce the number of employees… We feel that we are one big family” He was asked point blank “Did you ask Donahoe why is coming to us about the no layoff and if you did what did he say.” Guffey replied “I’m not going to get in to that and I won’t get in to that.” Google the video and hear it for yourself. They both need to go.
Why does this have to come from the New York Metro Area Postal Union President? Where is Cliff Guffy or is it Cliff Claven?
Strange bedfellows?
In a word: awesome.
You go, Clarice!! I am sick & tired of hearing Donahoe state there are all these problems. And the only solution he offers is unjustified layoffs and closures. If you do not know what you’re doing—GET OUT OF THE WAY!
The USPS missed the boat years ago when they promoted Potter. They should have chosen someone from the private sector with tech experience who could have made the USPS competitive in the global era. Instead Potter kept us from moving forward. Amazingly, he is now ‘retired’ and getting a pension in addition to recently accepting a 6 figure job overseeing both of D.C.’s airports! Retired in place?? The next time I have business in the Capitol, I’ll be sure to take the train.
Oh, yeah, and by-the-way…I think the excuse is always that they have to get such big raises to “retain the best and the brightest?!” If these people running the Post Offfice since Potter took over are “the best and the brightest,” then why are we failing SO TERRIBLY!!!”
I am a loyal Fox news viewer, and one thing I know is that Charlie Casperino is a great reporter. Therefore, I am calling on him now to take up our cause and exspose these criminals!!!!
I totally agree with this action & let’s add the fact that our lawmakers and “powers that be” also passed the “Postal Transformation Act” just a few years ago, in which PM Potter and all upper USPS management (including Donahoe) received HUGE raises much greater than the rank-and-file craft workers. I believe Potter’s raise was around $100K and was about 35%!!! You can’t tell me that any of this wasn’t planned and calculated years ago so that, just like our Congressional buddies, the upper management in the USPS became like the kingdom of the “haves” who reaped exorbitant benefits from the Postal Service while kicking down the masses (a/k/a the craft or the “have nots.” There has LONG been a hidden agenda here.
“Lets make some noise, hopefully the media will pick up on this!!! The truth about the mismanagment needs to come out.”
After listening ALL DAY, to all the news services, play down the lowering of standards, as insignificant, I doubt that the media will do much with this. Although we are a good portion of the ‘middle class’, which DRIVES the economy in this country, they seem to be content with eliminating us.
I know, let’s give just a little bit more to the CORPORATIONS!! They are really hurting, the trillion dollar “padding” isn’t enough…
Management just came thru our Post Office and told clerks with 28 years seniority that they were going to be laid off soon. They are closing our PD&C and only keeping 53 clerks to service the 3 major Post Offices here. Over 250 CLERKS WILL BE LAID OFF, breaking the contract. This will leave us clerks in this area with a 1 to 1 ratio of Managers to Clerks. Jeez My own personal STUPIDVISOR!
Thank you to the NY Metro APWU for having the character and courage to call it as it is……Court-martial would be great, seeing he is supposedly a general {insult to our military folk to have him or Potter with that title} and Potter too!!! Hopefully the recent calls for Issa to be investigated or charged with abuse of office go through as well.
Lets make some noise, hopefully the media will pick up on this!!! The truth about the mismanagment needs to come out. Promote the package business and we will be fine.
I agree with this article and if we are going to go down we should go down fighting and saying we didn’t stand back and do nothing.
It will get harder before it gets easier in this life.
With the AMP studies the Postal Service already had their minds made up even before the meetings happened.
The Postal Service executives just like Wall Street should take a pay cut or be let go.
Enclosed is a goal poem for inspiration and hope.
Best of Luck On Your Goals
I am sure you will accomplish the many goals you set out to achieve.
You are a determined smart and independent individual that is fair and compassionate.
You are outgoing and get along well with others.
Even though life throws us curves, you will stay on course and bring sunshine to others, even when the rain clouds are storming.
I wish you the best in all you do.
The vote of no confidence is being tabulated. The Obama adminstration should encourage the BOG to ‘supplant him’ with a ‘visionary’. The USPS can be a great organization. It is a national treasure. It just needs leaders with vision, not small minded micro-managers like the present BOG and Donahoe.
i don t know what to say. i feel numb. i, like all employees have seen minor to major waste in the service that have surely added up along with this and other pensions of the top heavy management crew and there was nothing we could do but shake your head and just be glad you had a decent income and benefits. but it has been very disheartening standing by and witnessing our downhill spiral. i wish that we all could have done something to have changed managements bad decisions over the past years. again i feelnumb that it has come to this great loss. i am one blue collar worker whos job has been spared for the time being until the p o screws up the entire company, and i am very saddened for all this.
He is definitely with Issa & Ross. Just out to stomp us out & they are making no bones about it. What did we ever do to them. This is just so ugly.
He is a traitor. For some sick reason he is out to get the employees of the USPS. I wonder what happened to him. I so dispise him right now. He has truly sold his soul. Yes there are problems, issues – but why not try to work with us. Ease us out. Many are/will be retiring. There is no need for him to be so blatantly punitive.
THE BEST POST IN A WHILE
DONALD TRUMP HAS A MESSAGE FOR YOU MR DON THE HO
I agree with the fact that the Postmaster General and his crew simply did not ‘bargain in good faith’ and now are attempting to cut the legs out from all of us! If the delivery standards decrease, as we are hearing is a reason to justify the AMP’s, that will only lead to pushing more people away from using the USPS also. What is wrong with these management types?!
What a sad group of #$@#*&#@!
In Solidarity,
Joe Paul
Clerk Craft Director
APWU of Florida
The correct word is Military pensions
I agree with the NYC apwu leader . Donahue is a sniveling pandering disgrace to the USPS.. He should be fighting for the 25 billion dollars taken from the PO in the early 1989’s for military pesions of those who served in the military for decades before coming to the PO.. Then there is the 7 billion dollar overcharge to the FEHRS and 75 billion dollar overcharge to the Civil service retirement fund from the OPM.. Not to mention the “Prefunding” of our health care a looting not required of ANY other agency of the federal government or 76% of private industry firms. THE PMG is little more than a stooge in Issa’s,Ross, Ryan and Rand Paul-Demint etc. anti union anti government deliberate diisinformation propaganda shill campaign.It turns ones stomach the lies and half truths being bandied about by all of them. There is of course no mention of the expensive FSS debacle that spent multi millions of dollars on FSS machine purchased that cannot fit in a single PO facility in the state of Ct. where I worked for 31 years.How about the top heavy flunkie management with 1 boss for 6-10 PO workers. In UPS and Fedex that ratio is 1 boss to 25-125 workers Pres. Obama should fire Donahue and put in someone who can add and subtract not to mention pointing out the looting of the PO that caused the USPS problems in the first place
What a great idea…..I just contacted the mail handlers at the LIUNA Convention….I am sure we will follow suit….fire this criminal NOW!!!
every local of every craft needs to do this NOW!!!!!
The mail handlers are with you!!! As I am sure every other craft including NAPS
Its about time we called this agent of Issa and UPS and Fedex out…he is our worse enemy right now!!