Post_and_Parcel just tweeted
#USPS is not announcing plans next week to cut jobs by 30,000 this year. They’ve told us it is just 7,500, as announced previously.
According to Federal News Radio, Federal Times has found out about USPS plans to reduce the wordforce
In the Federal Times article:
The positions targeted, which will hit as many as 10 district offices and headquarters, include 3,500 administrative positions, 2,000 front-line supervisor and manager positions, and 2,000 postmasters.
Donahoe said the announcement will be part of a broader effort to trim postal ranks by 30,000 positions this year.
He said the Postal Service will use attrition and early retirement offers to reach that number. He said the Postal Service is still weighing whether to use buyouts as well.
He said that if the Postal Service resorts to using a buyout offer, it will be targeted and not organization-wide.
There is nothing really in the article that we did not already know from 2 months ago. Most of the VERs over the last 9 years have not “organization-wide.” Either craft or managerial groups were left out o the VER offers.
The Postal Service’s goal is to cut 30,000 employees overall for the year, said Federal Times editor Steve Watkins, breaking the news on Your Turn with Mike Causey.
USPS will also announce a drawdown of 7,500 positions on March 25 that include unoccupied positions, administrators, frontline supervisors and managers and postmasters, Watkins said.Federal Times found out about the plans after an editorial board meeting with Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.
Today March 24, 2011 Mr. Donahoe announced his RIF for management and targeted some of them with a $20,000.00 buy out. He should have played all his cards and got rid of the other 30,000 bargaining employees that he would like to get out by the end of the year. Why wait any longer? The more he waits, the more he has to pay retirement, health insurance, S/L, A/L, etc. This just makes the Postal Service loose more money down the road. He should have included bargaining unit employees with an incentive. If there is no monetary buy out, he could have offered time. OPM can offer a month added to your service for every year you have as time in service. I’m sure Mr. Donahoe would have cleaned the house by May 31, 2011 which is the VER and special incentive effective date for non bargaining employees, at the same time with 30,000 barganing employees he wants out. Without any type of incentive for bargaining employees, a mass exodus will not happen.
When the contract is settled between the USPS and the Postal Workers Union very soon, don’t be surprised to see much of the work now being done by managers in smaller post offices shifted to the bargaining unit clerks. Savings would be immense if this takes effect as rumored.
Although supervisors are not paid overtime, they are paid straight time for additional hours and their straight time equals the overtime of a postal worker. The postmasters rig the hours by overlapping their shifts, so supervisors routinely get the most hours of any workers. Most of the supervisors do nothing but pick their noses once the carrier leaves/returns the office for delivery. In addition, they should get rid of the postmaster position unless there are at least 20 post office under a postmaster.
If you considered the total amount saved by this proposed action you arrive at the figure ten million dollars.Add to that what the U.S.P.S.means when they say cut or eliminate.In the past it meant positions eliminated only on paper and salaries paid to employees at that same level for up to two years because of contractual obligations! Nobody lost their jobs in management they just got a new I.D. Therein lies the real problem with the U.S.P.S., their unwillingness to cut from the true bottom line.Every time you listen to some postal official it’s always about wages paid workers or benefits to retirees but never their bloated salaries or extravagant expense accounts or pet programs that will make the U.S.P.S. meaner and leaner! I agree they should cut the fat from the postal service and it should start with upper management. They could start with Donahoe himself!