Burrus Update #13-2010, July 29, 2010 Competing Interests, Diverging Views In many Updates and editorials on postal issues, I have criticized the influence of large mailers on the USPS — even while acknowledging that they provide much of the volume that makes it possible for the Postal Service to maintain its national network and provide […]
From the American Postal Workers’ Union ‘Ask the President’ on Voice of the Employee Surveys: Question: I would like the National Executive Board to reconsider its stance on participation in Voice of Employee surveys. Here is my reasoning: Management releases their “findings” and states something to effect that 63 percent of those participating gave a […]
Burrus Update 12-2010, July 21, 2010 In a series of recent Updates for union members, I have pointed out that the Postal Service’s current financial difficulties are the result of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA), which imposed on the USPS the onerous burden of pre-funding future retiree healthcare liabilities — in […]
From National Public Radio: For decades, the U.S. Postal Service has provided many communities of color with a reliable career option with steady benefits. But proposed budget and service cuts — including eliminating Saturday deliveries — threaten the livelihoods of many career postal workers. To get a sense of how communities of color will be […]
The Postcom.org EdNote below is in response to this article from APWU President William Burrus. [EdNote: Well, the last I checked, it wasn’t mailers who were sitting idle in holding rooms refusing to do work because contract agreements said they didn’t have to. Talk about ‘immeasurable’ damage. And, the last I checked, those who pushed […]
In Run-Up to Postal Reform, They Championed Annual Increases Burrus Update 11-2010, July 13, 2010 The APWU often criticizes the cozy relationship between large mailers and postal management, but we understand that without the major mailers there would be insufficient mail volume to maintain the Postal Service’s national network and to employ 600,000 workers. “Non-household […]
Attempt to Shift the Burden to Postal Employees Burrus Update The Postal Service has filed a request to increase postage rates effective Jan. 2, 2011, and is proposing to raise the price of first-class, single-piece letters from 44 cents to 46 cents. Increases for other mail classes would range from 5.4 to 8 percent. As […]
Burrus Update The supporters of the PAEA are directly responsible for the precarious financial status of the Postal Service, not reduced mail volume caused by the slumping economy, not the migration of hard-copy mail to computer-driven messages, not the escalation of energy costs. As president of the largest union of postal employees, my mission is […]
APWU News APWU President William Burrus condemned USPS proposals to reduce mail delivery to five days per week, saying, “It would be the beginning of the demise of the Postal Service.” The USPS outlined the five-day delivery plan and other proposals at a conference March 2. “The assertion that the Postal Service must initiate major […]
Burrus Update A Letter Carrier wrote to me recently in response to an Update I posted last month, praising my work on behalf of postal employees and the USPS, and offering some alternate ideas about how the Postal Service could grow. The Letter Carrier suggested that my column (Update 21-2009) downplayed the importance of generating […]