APWU President Cliff Guffey will testify before a House Subcommittee on June 15 about the retail and mail processing network of the Postal Service. The hearing will be broadcast on the committee’s Web site beginning at 1:30 p.m.

The hearing will focus on the “extent that these networks need to be right-sized to meet diminishing mail volume,” said Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL), chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and Labor Policy.

Rep. Ross called the hearing to examine whether “the Postal Service has excess mail processing infrastructure, whether the Postal Service is moving fast enough to right-size that network, options for creating a modern processing network, and the growth of alternative access to postal services.”

He has been an outspoken critic of the USPS and postal employees. At an April 5 House hearing, he blamed labor costs for the Postal Service’s financial problems, and recently said the Postal Service should have more freedom to close facilities.

“To save the Postal Service, legislators must repeal the unique and unreasonable mandate that requires the USPS to pre-fund future retiree health benefits,” Guffey said.

Instead of cutting service, Guffey said, the Postal Service must expand its services to fill needs emerging because of digital communications.

“It would be tragic to dismantle the postal retail infrastructure and lose the opportunity to improve the postal services that millions of Americans rely on,” he said.

The APWU President urged members to focus on legislative action. “It is critical that members contact their U.S. representatives and seek support for measures that will get the USPS back on track to fiscal solvency.”

Republican congressman Darrel Issa finally got around to using the “B” word to describe the postal service’s request to reduce the $5.5 billion a year pre-funding requirement Congress imposed on the USPS in 2006. Issa tells us in today’s Washington Times that postal employees “know that a deeply indebted Postal Service leaves the federal government with no real alternative to a taxpayer bailout as the situation approaches insolvency. Indeed, a sheep’s-clothes argument already is being put forward by the postal lobby and some Democratic lawmakers for a $75 billion taxpayer bailout of USPS.”

Issa conveniently ignores the fact that the $75 billion in question came from postal customers, not the taxpayers. When he refers to the “deeply indebted postal service”, he doesn’t bother to cite the biggest contributor to that debt- Congress, which in 2006 created the health benefit requirement so it could keep $5.5 billion in postal funds flowing in to the Treasury every year.

Most alarming for postal workers is this: “Allowing USPS to postpone billions in obligations just makes a bailout easier and takes away one of the few inducements for a compromise between USPS and postal worker unions.” Translation: “we need to keep the phony ‘obligation’ in place so that we can exaggerate the USPS’s financial situation and win concessions that wouldn’t be justified by the service’s actual operating performance.” Even more alarming? If the GOP succeeds in winning a majority in the House, Issa will be in line to chair the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which oversees the USPS.

The following information was released by the office of Louisiana Rep. Joseph Cao:

Today, Congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao (LA-2) announced the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will resume door-to-door mail delivery in Gentilly on May 15th for the first time since Katrina.

Cao, who sits on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, pressed USPS to resume home deliveries at the request of Gentilly residents.

Since Hurricane Katrina, some 3,000 residents have been receiving their mail in "cluster boxes" scattered throughout Gentilly.

Many accused USPS of dragging its feet to resume door-to-door service, subjecting them to inconvenience and potential danger as they walked the neighborhood, sometimes after dark, to retrieve mail from the cluster boxes.

Cao said, “It was past time for the Postal Service to give the people of Gentilly what other Americans take for granted and we all pay for: mail delivered directly to your home. When my constituents contacted me, we acted fast and got it resolved. Now, the people of Gentilly have what they’ve got every right as Americans to expect from their government.”

WASHINGTON, April 22 — The U.S. Postal Service issued the following news release:

Postmaster General John E. Potter told a Senate subcommittee today that while the Postal Service continues on a path of growth and cost reductions, legislative change is still needed to put the Postal Service back on the path of financial stability.

Testifying before the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management* of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Potter asked for a restructuring of the payment obligation required of the Postal Service to prefund retiree health benefits and that an adjustment be allowed for the current six-day-a- week mail delivery schedule.

Read the rest of this entry »

Washington, DC – Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Ruth Y. Goldway today cautioned against deciding on major cuts in universal mail service until Congress considers possible changes to Postal Service funding of employee pensions and future retiree health benefits.

In remarks before the Senate postal oversight subcommittee, Goldway said, “These are two unresolved issues that could have major immediate impact on the Postal Service’s financial crisis, as well as a material effect on the five-day delivery issue.” The Commission is currently conducting extensive public proceedings to gather evidence and analyze the impact of eliminating Saturday mail service. She emphasized that no decision has been made. “This important matter requires the consideration of both the Commission and the Congress.” Read the rest of this entry »

April 15, 2010

We are here today to discuss the financial crisis facing the United States Postal Service and the unsustainable business model threatening its viability.

For more than 200 years the Postal Service has connected American citizens, facilitated commerce, and provided good paying jobs. Now, this tradition of service is under more pressure than ever before. Mail volume has dropped precipitously, from 213 billion pieces in 2006 to 177 billion pieces of mail in 2009, causing revenues to fall as well. The Postal Service is losing money at an alarming pace, and its health and pension obligations exceed the Postal Service’s ability to pay for them at this time. Read the rest of this entry »

The following information was released by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:

Chairman Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY) today announced that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing on Thursday, April 15, 2010, to examine the status of the Postal Service and recent reports on short and long-term strategies for the financial viability and stability of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The hearing titled: “Continuing to Deliver: An Examination of the Postal Service’s Current Financial Crisis and its Future Viability”. At the hearing, the Committee will examine three recent reports on the future of the Postal Service.

A report released recently by the USPS that studied possible scenarios for the Postal Service in 2020 will be examined. According to the report, under the most likely scenario and without changes to the current system, the Postal Service would continue to experience significant declines in mail volume from its peak in 2006 resulting in a $238 Billion shortfall over ten years. The report called for legislative action to address the shortfall, including allowing a five day delivery.

The Committee will also examine a January 2010 report by the Postal Service Inspector General which concluded that in the past 30 years the Postal Service has made $75 Billion in overpayments related to its Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The study pointed to possible shortcomings in the formulas OPM used in calculating the Postal Service’s CSRS obligations for postal employees who worked before and after July 1, 1971.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) will release a report on the Postal Service’s business model at the hearing. GAO will be asked to explain the reasoning behind the report and the impact of its recommendations in reducing the Postal Service’s projected shortfall.

The witnesses invited to testify include:

The Hon. John E. Potter

Postmaster General and CEO

United States Postal Service

Mr. David Williams

Inspector General

United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General

Mr. John Berry

Director

Office of Personnel Management

Mr. Phillip Herr

Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues

United States Government Accountability Office

Ms. Ruth Goldway

Chairman

Postal Rate Commission

Mr. Daniel P. Mulhollan

Director

Congressional Research Service