U.S. Postal Service in Crisis: Proposals to Prevent a Postal Shutdown -Live video will not be available until approximately 15 minutes prior to the scheduled hearing start time.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
02:00 PM
Dirksen Senate Office Building, room SD-342
Senate website
Witnesses
Panel 1
- The Honorable Patrick R. Donahoe
Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer
U.S. Postal Service - The Honorable John Berry
Director
U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Phillip R. Herr
Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues
U.S. Government Accountability Office - Thomas D. Levy
Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary
The Segal Company
Panel 2
- Cliff Guffey
President
American Postal Workers Union - Louis M. Atkins
President
National Association of Postal Supervisors - Ellen Levine
Editorial Director, Hearst Magazines
Hearst Corporation - Tonda F. Rush
Director of Public Policy
National Newspaper Association
Well, I spent 20 years in this company, and all I see is people are complaining because they are being asked to do what they should have been doing for 40 years.
People want to be on the cell phones, have breakfast, read papers, and socialize on the clock. No one wants to do those on their breaks, lunch time, wash-up, or own time.
Two people are doing one person’s work, and have been doing. Of course I would complain, too.
Management has their own problems. Interesting company!
We are all guilty, and have share in this mess. We lost 26% of the mail volume, and our people still want to do things the “old” way.
Custodian gets $44/hr, people push or pull containers get about $25/hr. Are you kidding me?
GOVERNMENT WANTS USPS TO BE A WELFARE ORGANIZATION, NOT A SERIOUS BUSINESS!
If US Congress lets USPS management run this company as a real business, we will make more profit than other competitors. I mean way more!
Good luck!
Well hello all, what do I say after 32 years seniority as of Oct 6, 2011? Oh yeah make that 33 1/2 years approx as of 3/17/78 including casual time out of Syracuse NY. Did someone say Syracuse NY has the highest number of grievances in the Albany performance cluster? Does the public know what has been going on there or do they? How about raising the 25k retirement value for employees at retirement age? And oh yeah 3 suspension letters after 30 years is a bit excessive, Should I go on? Just who gets the easiest jobs there? And of course everyone tries to get the mail out as quickly as possible even on the night shift. And who in a national election year wants to be labeled as a union buster with contracts already signed? Appoint a bi partisan committee to pass the buck Congress, & lets see what gets done.
Why only just Guffey…….all labor/mgt should have been there!!!
The jerk that said that rural carriers need to work 8 hours obviously has no idea how the rural contract works. What about he days we work 10 hours but only get paid for 8? And we have to keep our yearly work hours to less than 2080… and we DON’T sit at bars instead of doing our routes!
Mispelling in my last post. Eliminate all Area & District offices. Run everything out of D.C.
Eliminate add Area & Districts. Run everything out of D.C.
Looks Like it has come around full circle. Now its payback time.
The big announcement on the 15th will likely reflect P.M.G. Donahoe’s stated plans to close up to 300 processing plants which will effect the 35,000 workers associated therewith. A further reduction in carrier routes from140,000 to 120,000 and the adverse affects associated with that will effect 20,000 more employees. A total of 12,000 offices are now under review to see if they can be eliminated. The G.A.O. said on pg. 17 of their report that the business model that the U.S.P.S. employs is ” broken”. Donahoe said that he still wants to offer V.E.R.A.s as a way of reducing employee complements so that he can realign resources with shrinking volume and wants to seek authority to abrogate or modify existing contracts so that 120,000 career employees are removed from the rolls by 2015. The G.A.O. is not enthusiastic at all about giving the service authority to void labor agreements at will. It also has reservations about the “Village Post Office” concept. Other foreign services have tried this and it was slow to be accepted by the public. His best idea was to offer some type of digital service to the public so that the U.S.P.S. can take advantage of a growing trend.
Level 5 mailhandlers make the same as a level 7 clerk
Level 4 mailhandlers make the same as a level 6 clerk
The janitors would pass the clerks if they were memebers of the apwu
Keep up the good work Cliff
post ofice is commie!
When I was hired 23 years ago, it was to deliver the RIGHT mail to the RIGHT customer. NOWADAYS that doesn’t matter. Common sense has never prevailed at the postal service, and if Congress doesn’t get off their rear ends and do something..Our union and our management obviously aren’t working towards the same goal… it never will…I am riding the gravy train til it runs out of track, hoping for a VERA and praying I have a retirement. Who knows.
Senator Thomas Carper on Bloomberg radio suggested incentives for people to retire. In addition, earlier in the year OPM approved 80,000 for early outs. Only 2000 management took the 20k incentive for retirement. I believe they will try one more time for early outs with incentive and than RIF. Sucka
I worked 41 years of my now 64 years , and I never worked for a company that had a union which could not layoff employees. During my 33 year stint with a major airframe manufacturer when production was down due to reduced sales management, production workers and blue collar staff were laid-off . Who were the people that bought into the postal unions contracts no emplyee could be laid off? We need those people as reps for the UAW and all aerospace workers unions.
Layoff on all the people who are holding the walkie talkie, walking back forth and checking number of the mail has been process, never touch the mail, doesn’t know the zip code for the cities……that will save million of the dollars every month.
For all the CSRS employees, please retire now, so the high seniority of the eligible VER employees become “old timers”.
For all the VER employees, if USPS give you cash money. Grab it and go, don’t wait for 2013 for 100% sick leave credits…..you will be layoff by then.
For the rest of the lower seniority USPS employees….start to play your lottery today.
AFTER LISTENING TO THE LATEST STATE OF THE POST OFFICE,I MUST POINT OUT A STATEMENT MADE BY MR. DONAHOE. HE STATED THAT IT COSTS LESS TO PROCESS STANDARD MAIL. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING! IT COSTS MORE TO PROCESS STANDARD MAIL IF YOU REMIX CARRIER WALK SEQUENCE WITH 5 DIGIT, THEN RUN IT AGAIN TO GET BACK IN WALK SEQUENCE. YOU PAY OVERTIME TO DUMP THIS MAIL AND RUN IT ON THE D.B.C.S. MACHINES. YOU ALSO ARE PAYING OVERTIME TO GET IT DELIVERED. IF A TRAY OF MAIL IS FIRST CLASS OR STANDARD, IT IS STILL RUN ON THE MACHINE AT THE SAME SPEED. THE DIFFERENCE IS HOW MUCH REVENUE IS PAID TO MAIL THAT PIECE,LETTER OR FLAT. WE ACTUALLY GIVE STANDARD BETTER SERVICE AT TIMES. NO WONDER WE ARE IN THE HOLE!!
Get rid of the cube rats and give us more people to service the public. Cube rats are the ones who make the money.
if all of you old 35 plus year and over 60 retire that would be enough people to bad if you did not save for retirement. Time to go.
Just offer the CSRS people a $$$ package and we will gladley go !!
1) offer $50K for those VER. I quarranty more than 120K postal people leaving.
2) step down 70% MDO and SDO. Save a lot money.
3) Privatization, USPS hold 20% share stock, 80% for privates, eleminate the bureaucrat idiot system.
usps closed 7 districts saving 1 billion a year close 35 more districts save 5 billion a year problem solved
make rural carriers work 8 hour days and abolish management jobs that doesnt move the mail
come on VERA!!!!!
Stoopidvisors have run us into the crapper. I hear walmart is looking for a few good people….not on light duty.
When Guffey enters the room the theme from the 3 Stooges will be playing in the background