USPS proposes cutting 120,000 jobs, pulling out of health-care plan ~ WP

[mzmolly]

By Joe Davidson, Thursday, August 11, 12:17 PM

In an attempt to stem its financial hemorrhaging, the U.S. Postal Service is seeking to reduce its workforce by 20 percent, including through layoffs now prohibited by union contracts. USPS also wants to withdraw its employees from the health and retirement plans that cover federal staffers and create its own benefit programs for postal employees.

This major restructuring of the Postal Service’s relationship with its workforce would need congressional approval and would face fierce opposition from postal unions. But if approved, eliminating contract provisions that prevent layoffs and quitting the federal employee health and retirement programs could have ramifications for workers across the government and throughout the national’s labor movement.

In a notice to employees informing them of its proposals, with the headline “Financial crisis calls for significant actions,” the Postal Service said “we will be insolvent next month due to significant declines in mail volume and retiree health benefit prefunding costs imposed by Congress.”

The Postal Service plan is described in two draft documents obtained by The Washington Post. A “Workforce Optimization” paper acknowledges “that asking Congress to eliminate the layoff protections in our collective bargaining agreements is an extraordinary request by the Postal Service, and we do not make this request lightly. However, exceptional circumstances require exceptional remedies.

...

The USPS says it needs to reduce its workforce by 120,000 career positions by 2015, in addition to the 100,000 it expects through regular attrition. Some of the 120,000 could come through buyouts and other programs, but a significant number likely would be the result of layoffs, if Congress allows the agency to circumvent union contracts.

More @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/usps-proposes-cutting-120000-jobs-pulling-out-of-health-care-plan/2011/08/11/gIQAZxIM9I_story.html?wpisrc=al_national">WASHINGTONPOST.COM

A former http://www.uspsoig.gov/Bio_Williams_040711.pdf">Bush appointee heads the USPS. I can't imagine this is another attempt to weaken unions. :sarcasm:

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. In other words, attack the union

it is simpler than that REPEAL the 2006 law, I know a girl can dream

[mzmolly]

3. Yep.

Sigh.

They're brazen SOB's aren't they?

[nadinbrzezinski]

Yep, and this will lead to trouble

It is time the unions stage an old fashioned STRIKE

[mzmolly]

7. Agreed.

:hi:

[Raschel]

26. And republican voters will applaud. They want everybody to live in mom's basement like they do.

They cried that the autoworkers were overpaid and the cause of expensive vehicles (lmao) and I'm sure that they're jealous of the postal workers as well.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. :grr:

[readmoreoften]

29. That's what Repubs and New Dems do: attack the unions.

[msongs]

2. it could raise the rates on all the unwanted garbage and trash it puts in my box (98%) nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Alas CONGRESS needs to ok that

[CreekDog]

6. this ^^^^

:applause:

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. You think Congress will let them?

It is CONGRESS that authorizes any US Mail rate increase,

[mzmolly]

9. Exactly.

eom

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Alas congress needs to approve that

any bets on Daryl Issa even allowing it to come to the floor in his committee?

[mzmolly]

15. I'm sure he'd agree that it's important to maintain a strong middleclass

and preserve union jobs.

:silly:

:hide:

[DCKit]

5. I guess "Going Postal" has lost its original (all?) meaning. nt

[Dr Fate]

10. nt

nt

[Dr Fate]

11. This proves that centrism and the 3rd way is working. Private corporations would do a better job.

Obama gets points from moderates for leaving a Bush appointee in charge-part of centrism means that you have to let the conservatives be part of the solutions too.

[mzmolly]

17. Can he fire the SOB?

If so, he should. ;)

[Dr Fate]

22. He should keep him. It will impress moderates, like it always does.

nt

[mzmolly]

23. He should reconsider keeping him

now.

[Dr Fate]

24. Well, at least Max Baucus is back in the spotlight again, so there is hope...

...that Obama might fire him, just to placate the liberals.

[Ilsa]

13. Crap. Our mail delivery has gotten worse over the last two years.

Now it will be even worse.

The USPS needs to be supported by tax dollars. They are the only ones that deliver everywhere.

[pam4water]

14. Just raise the damned stamp price FFS.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. As I keep saying, you think Congress will let them?

CONGRESS has to authorize that.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. Notice the pattern? "Crisis!!!!" followed by "union busting" followed by "benefit stops"

followed by "pay more for less".

It is world wide, a clear pattern of destroying all productive wages and benefits.
Apt name, is neo-feudalism.

[mzmolly]

20. Yes indeed. And they're too cowardly to do it until they create

a crisis.

[Cool Logic]

19. "layoffs now prohibited by union contracts."

How is that possible? Surely, someone has misinterpreted something.

Let's say, that all of the entities that fill our mailboxes with paper spam, decided to re-focus all of their efforts on electronic spam. Obviously, there would be less work to do, so how would it be possible to maintain the same work force?

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. You of course know most of the work is not in first class mail

right?

There has been a slow down, but that is because there are LESS packages getting processed and for those, they do not need the congress for rates.

[mmonk]

25. And the real story behind the Postal Service situation:Pre funding retirement mandate

Media coverage of the report predictably focused on its negatives—the historically high figure is undeniably a headline-grabber—and news stories, shying away from the somewhat harder analysis the report demanded, laid the blame for the losses on the ever-rising use of e-mail, text messaging and paying bills online as a substitute for communicating via postal mail.

But take away two key complications that are completely beyond the Service’s control, and you’re left with the real story: that postal losses instead amounted to about $500 million—still a lot of money, but considerably lower than $8.5 billion, and down by more than 50 percent from last year’s $1.1 billion loss.

The first complication is one that should sound familiar to all letter carriers by now. A 2006 congressional mandate legally bound the USPS on September 30 to once again make a $5.5 billion payment toward pre-funding its Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund. This 10-year mandate to front-load the PSRHBF is both highly unusual (no other corporation or agency is required to pre-fund benefits at such an onerous level) and unnecessary (before September 30, the fund was already contained enough cash to cover current and future retiree health benefits for decades to come).

http://www.postalreporternews.net/2010/11/18/nalc-the-real-story-is-usps-losses-amounted-to-500-million/

[GeorgeGist]

27. Didn't the UNION win the Civil War?

[mzmolly]

28. LOL

Yes. ;)