Will Congress Break the USPS Union Contracts? Should they?

Forums: Unions, Usps, Labor Strife
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Unions reacted furiously Friday to a proposal by the Postal Service to lay off 120,000 workers by breaking labor contracts and to shift workers out of the federal employee health and retirement plans into cheaper alternatives.

Labor experts and other unions also sounded the alarm that any move by Congress to break postal contracts would further wound an already ailing labor movement, much as President Ronald Reagan’s firing of striking air traffic controllers did in 1981.

Although the postal unions enjoy collective bargaining rights beyond those of regular federal workers, other unions said the proposal could set an economy-wide example at a time when organized labor is under pressure from cost-cutting governors and employers.

“When you break a contract, basically what you’re saying is that we have left the era of good-faith bargaining and negotiation and entered into employer unilateralism,” said Bill Fletcher of the American Federation of Government Employees.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/postal-service-proposal-to-break-contracts-is-blasted-by-unions/2011/08/12/gIQAi3V3BJ_story.html?hpid=z1

I think this will happen, because there is no other way to get the costs in line with revenue without reinvention and the taxpayers are not interested in paying much for postal service, which mostly delivers waste paper into our mailboxes. As for should I am on the fence, but mostly would rather do less severe labor cost cutting, raise the rates for bulk mail about 300%, go to tiered service on letters (once a week residential, three times a week small business, 5 days a week large business) with 5 day parcel service like UPS.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 2 • Views: 3,150 • Replies: 5

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@hawkeye10,

Well the the postal service is in big trouble because as we all know the internet had taken over first class billings and bills paying, the large former cash cow. to a very large degree.

Still laying off 120,000 employees is very bad timing to say the least for the economic and for the now all others cost cutting measures should be look into first before massive layoffs are done.

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@hawkeye10,

Anything to stop the daily deluge of junk paper. There's a trash can by my mailbox; first step every time I get mail is to sort it... one for me, five for the bucket, one for me, six for the bucket...

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@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

Anything to stop the daily deluge of junk paper. There's a trash can by my mailbox; first step every time I get mail is to sort it... one for me, five for the bucket, one for me, six for the bucket...

I go once a week to the box, then walk directly to the trash can and look at each one before tossing. Ocassionally there is something that I want/need to keep or at least look at.

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You have a huge staff - dwindling customers.

What would you do?

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@PUNKEY,

Quote:

You have a huge staff - dwindling customers.

What would you do?

Cut salaries, look at my pricing structure to see if there is any group/class that I could raised rates on and not lost more income then I gain by so doing.

Hell look at if there is any class of users that by lowering the rates I
could gain more business then I lost income.

Look at every service provider contract to see if I could reduce overhead.

Look at cutting down the current funding of the pension plans future benefits for a few years.

Begin to reduce the work force by having buy outs and hiring freezes.

The last the very very very last thing I would do however is place a 120,000 wage earners out of work right now.

Congress except for the insane tea party members should be of the same opinion and back the postal service every move short of having massive layoffs for the next few years at least.

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Will Congress Break the USPS Union Contracts? Should they?

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