President Issues Executive Order on USPS
04/13/2018 – President Trump has issued an Executive Order to form a “task force” to evaluate the finances of the United States Postal Service. Such evaluation will include pricing, policies and the costs of the workforce.
The Task Force will be chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury, and comprised of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management as well as other department and agency heads the chair may designate.
The Executive Order calls for a full report within 120 days to provide a “thorough evaluation of the operations and finance” of the USPS to include:
- the expansion and pricing of package delivery
- the USPS role in competitive markets
- the decline in mail volume and implications of USPS financing
- the USPS monopoly over letter delivery and mail boxes
- the USPS business model, workforce, operations, costs and pricing.
The task force will potentially develop recommendations on administrative and legislative reforms regarding the U.S. Postal Service.
The primary reason for the financial challenges facing the Postal Service is the 2006 Congressional mandate forcing the USPS to “pre-fund” retiree health benefits 75 years into the future. This crushing burden is faced by no other company or agency and is being used by those who wish to destroy the postal service.
“The APWU looks forward to working with anyone truly interested in maintaining a vibrant public Postal Service for generations to come. If given the opportunity to meet with the task force, we will forthrightly tell the truth, share our views and promote the protection of the rights and benefits of postal employees,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “One step toward USPS financial stability is to fix the pre-funding debacle by passing the bi-partisan postal reform legislation currently stalled in both the House and the Senate.”
The new Executive Order is of real concern to the APWU and we will continue to keep all members informed and up to date.
- NALC statement on President’s executive order to evaluate USPS finances
- USPS responds to Trump’s executive order creating task force
- Trump Orders Financial Review of the U.S. Postal Service
The Postal unions should be worried. The unions all supported Clinton for prez, the Postal Service management got their hands slapped for not following the Hatch Act. Trump loves revenge and is using “Amazon” as his excuse for his Executive Order. None of the members of this task force need to leave their offices. All they have to do is write a report saying the Post Office is paying too much for their share of health benefits and that employees need to pay more. Savings for the PO will be in the billions. Tighten the leash on Unions. Savings will be in the billions. Hire an outside accounting firm to make recommendations on the PO accounting scheme. The cost of doing this will cost billions, but in the long term it will save more billions for the PO. Increase prices for all classes of mail. This will increase revenue for the PO by billions. If we’re really lucky this task force might ask retiree’s if we were asked about our input on having to sign up for medicare parts A,B and D when we turned 65. Everything I read about HR756 and the Senate version of Postal Reform states all the stakeholders have coalesced around these proposals. I’m a stakeholder and I have not coalesced around any of these horrible bills.
So the unions are self serving. What about the business bastards, what about the anti worker organizations? They aren’t self serving, are they! The President Dump supporters won’t be happy until the Postal employees work for free. Then soon it will be their turn to be screwed over. In the 1880’s The Reverend Philip Moody went around the country and gave speaking tours to tell the nation that ” The political and economic realities are that workers must work for $1.50 per day for men, and women must work for$.75 cents per day during a ten hour work day. Business can’t let a worker work for only eight hours. The businesses would loose money. The workers should realize that they will enjoy the fruits of their labor in heaven” So even today the workers are expected to work for nothing without any rights. And many people don’t care as long as they aren’t affected. Then when it’s their turn whom will care?
I agree with Postal Joe, sticking us in a separate plan/pool would be throwing Us under the Bus.
What are they afraid of? The truth? Mismanagement is the major problem of the Postal Service. Oversight by Congress also hurts. They have been using it as a piggy bank for years. Anyone can make the numbers say what the higher ups want.
Wow get all the facts do not speak with a forked tongue unless you know the truth. Cant believe just maybe this businessman president will find out how to bankrupt the postal service like all his businesses. . Godspeed look to the future unions stay strong or all will work for minimun wage wxcept the 1 percenters!!!!!!!!!!!!
Strike
Of course they’re upset
President Dimondstein please reveal the truths about the services offered by the USPS.
Please let them know the present Postal Reform according to N.A.R.F.E. study reveals Postal retirees could realize an increase in the $1,600.00 range. Thats unacceptable and postal retirees are already hurting.
This postal reform and all the language in S.2629 is cloudy at best and we retirees needs answers.
Nobody has shared with the retirees exactly how much healthcare coverage will actually cost. The stakeholders has projections, can anyone help us with an accurate figure. Be blessed.
thanks you Sir,
Ernest Johnson, President
Oakland Retiree Chapter
USPS has NEVER made a health care pre-funding payment, yet every time their financials come out, they plead poverty as if they had. This figure is conveniently used to show a massive loss based on something they are not paying for anyway. If Congress (and they ultimately decide what happens) overturned the mandate tomorrow, USPS would still show a massive loss to bolster their argument for rate increases. Trump’s “commission” cannot make any changes to current law. They cannot arbitrarily void labor contracts without Congress, who every year claims to have the ultimate legislation to fix USPS, yet it always dies in committee. Trump’s commission will be faced with the same obstacles.
APWU’s president Dimondstein’s solution to fixing the prefunding law is to pass the reform legislation that would have us all in a new “Postal only” FEHB plan? If President Dimondstein is going to fight for a solution, why not go after the real problem (PAEA Law) instead of taking the easy way out and choose to throw all Postal employees and retirees under the bus with the reform bill!! This union is not what it used to be 25 years ago….back then it would take on a fight like this to stand up for its members to do what is right!
Blah, blah, blah. Politics, gross mismanagement, self serving USPS and unions.