USPS Announces Plans for 5-Day Delivery
American postal workers reacted with shock this week after the Postmaster General announced the United States Postal Service was moving ahead with plans to cut Saturday mail delivery beginning in August. The announcement, issued during a press conference at USPS headquarters in Washington, stands in opposition to a congressional rule that mandates six-days delivery per week. UNI Post & Logistic Global Union affiliates the American Postal Workers Union, the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union condemned the news as a major strategic mistake and a counterproductive attempt to save costs.
The PMG's announcement comes after years of congressional mismanagement which forces the USPS to aggressively prefund a future retiree health care liability at a pace unmatched by any other American enterprise. Efforts in recent years to amend postal law have been scuttled by deadlocked congresses and USPS has moved aggressively to downsize its operations.
APWU President Cliff Guffey said in a press release, "“USPS executives cannot save the Postal Service by tearing it apart. These across-the-board cutbacks will weaken the nation’s mail system and put it on a path to privatization.
“Congress has the power to restore the USPS to financial stability. To do so, it must repeal provisions of the 2006 law that created the Postal Service’s financial crisis," Guffey continued.
NPMHU noted that Congress has also failed to return to USPS overfunding payments in its pension funds and vowed to work for postal legislation which will continue "full service to the American people and protecting the jobs, rights, and benefits of its members, and for all postal employees."
NALC President Fred Rolando, who called on the PMG to resign following the announcement added in a statement, "This misguided and counterproductive decision is in keeping with the Postmaster General’s slash-and-shrink approach to dealing with the Postal Service’s financial challenges. Instead of offering a real business plan to tap the full potential of this essential American institution, he is offering a plan that will doom USPS to failure."