APWU Denounces USPS Plans to Dismantle Mail Processing Network

[MrsBrady]

http://www.postalreporternews.net/2011/09/15/apwu-denounces-usps-plans-to-dismantle-mail-processing-network/
from
www.postalreporternews.net


APWU President Cliff Guffey condemned USPS plans to study 252 mail processing facilities for possible closure, saying widespread closures would “dismantle the mail-processing network.” On Sept. 14, the USPS released a list of offices where studies will take place.

“The Postal Service should be urging Congress to address the cause of its problems – not slashing service and demolishing its network,” the union president said.

A 2006 law has pushed the USPS to brink of insolvency by imposing a burden on the Postal Service that no other government agency or company bears. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act requires the Postal Service to pre-fund the healthcare benefits of future retirees. The mandate, which forces the agency to pre-fund a 75-year liability in just 10 years, costs the USPS more than $5.5 billion annually.

“The mail processing network is a major asset,” Guffey noted. “Destroying it is misguided and counterproductive.

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[nadinbrzezinski]

1. kick and recommend

[pinboy3niner]

2. K&R

[aquart]

3. Isn't the post office in the constitution?

Let's admit that privatization failed AGAIN, and take back our constitutional right to communicate. Which, I'm thinking, should all be held under the post office designation.

[Abq_Sarah]

4. The USPS is not a failure

The problems are a direct result of the US Congress.

The USPS was created in part because the congress treated them as a cash cow and used them to curry favor with "friends" and constituents. The creation of the USPS was supposed to dilute congressional interference but it hasn't worked out that way.

In 2003, the congress decided the USPS should pay the military retirement benefits of post office employees. No other federal agency is under that obligation.

In 2006, the congress decided the USPS should prefund retiree health costs over the next 75 years in a 10 year period. That money isn't going into a "lock box", it goes into the general fund. No other agency is under that obligation.

The Congress continues to use the USPS as a cash cow and they have the temerity to blame the APWU and NALC for high costs. If the congress has stuck to their original mandate of very limited oversight, the USPS wouldn't be sending the congress billions of dollars each year to be pissed away.