Greg Bell, APWU Executive Vice President
At Senate hearings in September on proposed postal legislation — legislation the APWU and the three other postal unions oppose — Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe made several statements that once again call his credibility into question.
At a Sept. 19 hearing, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) said, “It is presently the law that an arbitrator cannot consider the financial health of the Post Office in arbitrating a labor dispute with the Post Office. Is that correct?” Donahoe responded, “That is correct.”
Really?! The fact of the matter is Sen. Coburn’s statement and PMG Donahoe’s response are wrong. When contract negotiations end in arbitration, arbitrators routinely consider the financial condition of the Postal Service — along with other issues raised by either party.Most troubling is the Postmaster General’s insistence that postal reform must fundamentally alter employees’ healthcare and retirement benefits.
The exchange between Sen. Coburn and the Postmaster General is important because the bill (S. 1486) sponsored by Sen. Coburn and Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) includes a provision that would require arbitrators to consider the Postal Service’s financial condition in interest arbitration.
The unions oppose this provision as well as many others in the bill. The reason is simple: By singling out this issue among all the others that arbitrators have to consider, the legislation could lead arbitrators to elevate the Postal Service’s financial condition above all other factors.
The USPS has lobbied to include the requirement in postal legislation.
At a second hearing on Sept. 26, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) pointed out that Donahoe’s statement was inaccurate. Donahoe said, “I misspoke. I should have said that they can consider it but they’re not required by law not to consider it.”
If this was the first time that Donahoe misspoke in this way his error would be understandable, but it’s not.
PMG: ‘Not Closing’
The Postmaster General also “misspoke” on closures. During the Sept. 19 hearing, Sen. Tester and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) asked Donahoe a series of questions about the closure of post offices and mail processing facilities.
Sen. Tester asked, “Is there going to be further consolidation of mail processing facilities or post offices while we’re doing this legislation and debate in committee?”
PMG Donahoe said, “No. The bill would put a two-year freeze on mail processing facilities. We have some scheduled for 2014. We would not advance any of those things to try to get under the wire. From a post office perspective, when I visited Montana last year, people told us, ’Keep our offices open, keep our local identity. If you have to change window time, we understand that but give us access to mail.’ And we’ve done that.”
To make sure he understood what Donahoe was saying, Sen. Tester asked, “So what you’re saying is there wouldn’t be any post office or mail processing centers closed while we’re debating this bill before it becomes law?”
“Nope, we’ve done what we needed to do for this year, and if any further changes require service standard changes we will not do that,” Donahoe said.
In response to a similar question from Sen. Heitkamp, PMG Donahoe said, “There’s no proposal to close any post offices…”
There can be no doubt about what Donahoe said, nor is there any doubt about what he wanted the senators to believe.
But closures are taking place. At least three post offices closed in the week before his testimony and 11 more are slated to be closed before the end of the year. In addition, the USPS accelerated its published schedule for consolidating mail processing facilities and implemented in 2013 most of the consolidations that were set for 2014. Five more mail processing centers are slated for consolidation before the end of the year.
Healthcare, Retirement
Despite Donahoe’s misstatements, the most troubling aspect of his testimony is his insistence that postal reform legislation must fundamentally alter the healthcare and retirement benefits of postal employees. The PMG wants to remove postal employees and retirees from the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and replace FEHBP with a postal-only plan; he also wants to keep new employees out of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).
The proposed legislation would put our federal healthcare and retirement benefits at risk, and smooth the way for these devastating attacks on our benefits to take place by making them subject to contract negotiations and arbitration.
The postal unions adamantly oppose any legislation that would put federal healthcare and retirement benefits at risk.
The testimony at the Sept. 26 hearing shows that there is no justification for the proposals. Jonathan Foley, the director of Planning and Policy Analysis for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), said, “OPM is concerned that the ability to negotiate retirement benefits, especially whether an employee is covered in FERS, will result in disparate execution of benefits.”
Regarding healthcare benefits, he said, “OPM has long believed and has previously testified before this Committee that the Postal Service and its employees and retirees are well-served by the FEHB Program.
“Currently, OPM overhead costs for the FEHB Program are only 0.08 percent of total health premiums. These very low overhead costs have been achieved by managing programs with very large numbers of enrollees and the accumulated experience of the agency and its staff having managed these programs for decades.
“The FEHB Program offers good value to employees and the taxpayer, and is not an excessively costly benefit as compared with other large employer plans. In addition, annual premium increases for FEHB plans are typically at or below industry averages.”
But Foley also said, “OPM is willing to work with the Postal Service on exploring alternative health options within FEHBP.”
Paving the Way for Privatization
In the final analysis, the Postal Service’s legislative proposals are part of an elaborate effort to change the status of postal workers from federal employees to something closer to private-sector employees.
The intent is to make it easier to privatize the Postal Service, particularly mail processing and transportation.
For the PMG or anyone else to say otherwise simply lacks credibility.
(This article will appear in the November-December 2013 edition of The American Postal Worker.)
Get Real….I agree 100 percent with what you said…Unions are the problems…5 Day is the way….
Earlier this year Donahoe told Congress that discounts to large mailers was somewhere between $14 and $18 billion a year. Mr. Bell why is APWU not addressing this issue? The PRC has sued postal management and won the court case, yet these discounts still continue. As long as big businesses don’t pay what it actually costs to deliver mail, the battle will continue.
These large mailers say that for every percent increase in postage, they lose the same percentage of volume. What they don’t tell you is after time the business comes back because there is no other way to advertise for so little money. The bulk mail associations are still predicting a 2-3% increase in volume every year. Yet small town America has lost the ability to have a local post office.
According to the Postal Services annual report for 2012, bulk letters are 50% of volume but only 25% of revenue. First class letters were 43% of total volume but 44% of revenue. First class mail has declined by 25% and the post office is expecting another 25% decrease. Yet management still wants to give discounts to mailers who have had little or no price increase in postage over the last 40 years!
Nothing coming from NALC on this, they’re salivating on the postal service selecting NALC insurance as the company plan…..
We’re only in this position of congress messing in pay and benefits due to the dum a$$e$ in the Unions not supporting the downsizing in a orderly fashion, trying to keep dues paying members…..Now look at the mess you’ve got us in.
CCAS lost quite alot of pay in the last contract, looks like all new hires will be placed in a sub standard pay scale, pay more for their health care, have poorer retirement system, and management is still going to reduce the work force, possibly by layoffs after Congress gets through rather than early outs like they did for Clerks, Mailhandlers, Postmasters, and now Supervisors….how many CCAS, NEW HIRES are going to pay UNION DUES after they realize CONGRESS CALLS THE SHOTS……THE UNION HAS NO POWER TO STOP THE WHIM OF CONGRESS, JUST LOOK AT THE DEBACLE OBAMACARE AS A PRIME EXAMPLE. …..
TO THE UNIONS I SAY, GET ONBOARD WITH MANAGMENT AND PRESENT A UNIFIED REDUCTION plan with the elimination of SATURDAY DELIVERY before you screw all the emloyees out of decent pay and benefits.
After bending over for the current CBA, Greg Bell has a lot of nerve critizing postal managers. Greg and his cronies have done more damage to the postal employees than management ever could. Greg doesn’t give a hoot about the workers he is suppose to represent. If these idiots are re-elected, then we are the morons!
I won’t be surprised that he is a professional liar, that is his job.
screw you donahoe! you suck!
Dav come to the office
Been bent on giving it away for years ! Sooner or later, then no service for sure ! !
SUPPORT PRIVATIZATION!
USPS will continue to loose millions $$$ as long as cost effective operations are ignored. 6 day street delivery of bulk business junk mail is a deliberate act to exercise control by craft unions leaders, management pressure groups and ignorant politics. Revenue generation and cost effective operation are primary to maintain a form of USPS and preserve jobs for the long haul. Eliminating services WHICH ARE NOT IN DEMAND MUST BE ELIMINATED Work hours and affiliated cost must be reduced. Small community post offices within 7-10 mile radius and located near large offices must be eliminated. Changing demographics has resulted in less need of small community post offices.
Reality must be dwelt with.
Can anyone say dog and pony show. They want to privatize and as long as people can sit in a congressional hearing and tell falsehoods without fear of legal action, it will continue. Most of us have seen these things before. Congress hold a hearing and people say what congress wants to hear so they can make the decision they have already made. The only thing saving us at this time is that not everyone is on board with this, so its dog and pony showtime.
USPS is in the red and will raise postage on ordinary American citizens; but USPS is no longer a not for profit federal organization.
The PMG wants to be called CEO.
This CEO has made common cause with big mailers and now the USPS is asking for up to 20 % discount for big mailers who were given over 14 billion dollars in undeserved discounts last year.
THE P.M.G. IS A COMPLETE MORON! HE HAS NO FORMAL BUSINESS TRAINING AND IS NOT QUALIFIED TO HOLD HIS JOB. HE IS A BUFFOON. THE U.S.P.S. NEEDS LEADERSHIP BY SOMEONE WHO IS INTELLIGENT. THIS LEAVES DONAHOE OUT.IT NEEDS SOMEONE WITH FORMAL BUSINESS TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE RUNNING A LARGE ORGINAZATION. AGAIN,NOT HIM. LISTENING TO HIS UNFOUNDED AND UNTRUE FACTS, AS HE SEES THEM, IS COMICAL BECAUSE IT IS AS IF HE JUST MAKES THEM UP AS HE GOES ALONG. I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW MUCH OF A COMPLETE JACKASS THIS IDIOT IS. GET HIM OUT BEFORE HE RUINS THE POSTAL SERVICE BEYOND REPAIR.
Postal mgmt = liars and theives, at all levels. RIF them all, including EAS.
Consider who wrote this piece,Greg Bell,an APWU honk who helped spread lies and mislead the members in pushing the incomplete,management dictated crap CBA on the uninformed members who ratified a contract where the worst parts of the new articles were not written until after ratification.The current APWU leaders have less credibility than USPS management!And don’t forget his president Guffey testified he would negotiate to take APWU members out of FEHB and put them under DonahoeCare!