National Association of Postal Supervisors On Board for “Save America’s Postal Service” Rallies September 27

By Richard Thayer

Politics does indeed produce strange bedfellows. In an unusual show of solidarity, the National Association of Postal Supervisors joined the Postal Service’s four major unions last week in voicing opposition to the agency’s plans to close and/or consolidate half of its mail processing facilities around the country.

NAPS President Louis Atkins said that “important (overnight service of first class mail) will be lost if the Postal Service’s plans are implemented to drastically cut the network capabilities they now have in place.”

At the present time the Postal Service’s success rate for overnight delivery is 96 percent. If the USPS succeeds in closing those facilities, that success rate would plummet as mail would be delayed by a day.

Like the four craft unions, NAPS is advocating that Congress correct the problem by passing H.R. 1351, a bill that would allow the Postal Service to use billions of dollars in its two retirement systems to get it back on solid footing. In other words, closing half of its mail processing plants, laying off thousands of its employees, and eliminating Saturday delivery aren’t necessary. It’s overkill.

In addition, NAPS members will be joining the agency’s four major unions on September 27 in “Save America’s Postal Service” rallies in congressional districts around the country.

In an effort to promote the real cause of the problem facing the Postal Service and a real solution, the National Association of Letter Carriers and three of its sister unions unveiled a commercial this week urging Congress to take action and pass legislation to put the Postal Service back on sound financial footing. The ad will be aired on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC for the next few weeks. As the ad rightly states, “Congress created this problem and Congress can fix the problem.” Click here to view the ad.

A-a-a-a-a-nd, taking things one step further—last week the New York Metro APWU called for Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe to resign…..immediately. If Donahoe isn’t inclined to do so (and evidently he isn’t since he’s still there), the APWU membership is demanding that the Postal Board of Governors step in and fire him.

This comes as the result of Donahoe asking Congress the other week to allow the Postal Service to void all of its contracts with its unions, stripping them of their bargaining rights. Primarily because of this, the APWU has labeled Donahoe “either a well-meaning incompetent or a duplicitous agent of forces who actively want to destroy the Postal Service and have it privatized.”

Not stopping there, the APWU is also calling for an investigation into the unprecedented retirement package given to Donahoe’s predecessor, John Potter, who retired in December of last year. Despite the Postal Service’s financial problems, Potter bailed out with $3.1 million in pension benefits, a separate retirement package worth an additional $1.3 million, and $881,000 in deferred compensation in awards and incentives.

All of this for leading the Postal Service to the brink of oblivion. Not bad.

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