USPS Staffing Cuts Are Not Created Equal

From APWU Southwest Florida President Sam Wood via 21st Century Postal Worker:

I know that many of you around the country have been or will be writing and/or contacting your members of Congress and Senate. I sent out my last e-mail with some positive facts about the USPS. I will now give you an update on staffing levels within the USPS so that you can also understand what is wrong with the USPS.

It is important to note that the USPS has made these numbers harder to find since I began writing about this issue in 2009. All of the old information has been hidden or deleted online. Since I compiled the original numbers and kept them, I only had to find the September, 2011 employment numbers to present this information. I hope the following is of help to our membership.

Sure, the USPS has continued to reduce staffing levels across the board in 2011, but it may surprise some that these cuts were not created equal. If you look at the facts, you will see the following staffing changes from 1997 to September, 2011.

Staffing Changes from 1997 through September, 2011:
– Headquarters Senior Management = Total GAIN of +796 Jobs
– Headquarters Employee Staffing = Total Loss of -237 Jobs
– Local Level Management Staffing = Total Loss of -25,016 Jobs
– All Career Craft Employee Staffing = Total Loss of -189,947 Jobs

This comes while USPS Postmaster General, Senior Management Officials and USPS Media Spokespeople continuously go before the media and explain how the mail volume has drastically declined over the past 5 years and speak of gloom and doom and the further decline in mail volumes in the future. Meanwhile, there were/are 796 more Senior Level Managers who make more money than the average employee at USPS Headquarters than in 1997. Why is this? Why the need for more of them? Why isn’t this being discussed?

Since March of this year, more job cuts have been made. Below is the breakdown of where USPS Management has made employee cuts.

Staffing Changes since March, 2011:
– Headquarters Senior Management = Total Loss of 74 Jobs (still at +40.84% gain since 1997)
– Headquarters Employee Staffing = Total Loss of 503 Jobs
– Local Level Management Staffing = Total Loss of 5,224 Jobs
– All Career Craft Employee Staffing = Total Loss of 11,134 Jobs

As you can see, even with 74 USPS Senior Management Job cuts, they are still at a 40.84% gain since 1997. This being while every other employment areas of the USPS has been slashed by well over 20%.

Yes, management has begun reducing Senior Management staffing levels, but not at a rate that will come close to the cuts made in every other area of the USPS.

Employees and Supervisors at the local levels are doing more work with less employees, yet USPS Senior Management employees have been working with increased staffing levels since 1997. The USPS Postmaster General claims employee pay and benefits take up a big portion of the revenue, however, these Headquarters Employees are the highest paid employees within the USPS. The Postmaster General has never (to my knowledge) made negative comments concerning the huge salary increases or bonuses made to USPS Senior Staff Employees. With conversations going on concerning the future of the USPS, this is one of the issues that cannot be overlooked and must be discussed. It is time that USPS Headquarters make the same sacrifices as other employees have made in order to save the Postal Service and stop their attempts to cut service standards or close Post Offices in order to keep their own perks at the expense of all other Postal Employees and USPS Customers.

 

34 thoughts on “USPS Staffing Cuts Are Not Created Equal

  1. Why ARE there all these non-productive people taking up space and resources of the USPS? And what in the hell do we owe THEM a great job, while the hard-working craft employees are taking the hit and losing their jobs? Everything about the upper management in the USPS is WRONG, just like much of the congressional lawmakers we have now are WRONG. These people are offering the American public a complete misjustice by faking numbers, sending out propaganda, and abusing their power and authority. When is SOMEBODY going to do SOMETHING about the injustices being commited by upper postal management?

  2. Crafts must operate cost effective to insure UPPER MANAGEMENT receive their PAY FOR PERFORMANCE for achieving their goals which cannot be proven other than by manipulating numbers……….The salaries these government service employees make is equivalent to the private sector where companies generate revenue to add value to shareholders. UPS and FED X CEOs earn their salaries in creating value in revenue to create earnings per share. The high salaried headquarters government service USPS employees salaries must be reduced to reduce waste. Clerks-carriers should not have to bear the brunt of these excessive cost

  3. this is all true.shelly daniels it is mr. obama who has helped save our postal service so far. we have a Republican led house and a democratic senate and you tell me what has been done to help the working class.REPUBLICANS SAY NO ON EVERYTHING and i mean everything that helps the economy

  4. The only fix for this is to separate management and craft. Management should have no authority over craft at all. Let us see if they can work for their salaries. They will be responsible for customer service and increasing revenue for their check. If they can’t generate at least their salary in revenue then they are terminated. Just like in the private sector which they are trying to turn the postal service into. Create a new t6 position for daily operations and have the 6 most senior carriers switch off every day. This way we will be managed by our peers and not make work inbred micro- managers. The current management scam has no accountability and thinks the postal service needs them. WE DON’T! The other crafts can do the same. Eliminate 110,000 managers equals 7 billion 150 million dollars in savings. Create 10k new t6’s to replace management costs only 500 million. It can be done. This is what our union should be pushing for. Then we won’t have to negotiate with a middle man like we are with management. It will be with an arbitrator. It goes to arbitration every contract anyway.

  5. Say the average pay for the 110,000 managers nationwide is $65,000. This is $7150000000. 7 BILLION 150 Million DOLLORS a year. Donabloe says we are losing 8 billion and have to lay off 220,000 workers. The OIG and postal inspectors work for management and target mainly the workers. They are fully aware this is going on but do nothing. $65,000 is a low average not including the bonuses and perks they give themselves. This figure could easily be beyond 15 billion. FIRE THEM ALL OR AT LEAST SOMEONE INVESTIGATE IT, PLEASE!!! We just want to work and make it to retirement.
    Management in the USPS just negotiated with themselves and awarded their salaries with a 6.5% pay increase. The majority in management are now whining that it’s not enough and deserve more. Not including their bonuses and perks. It’s time to shake off the blood sucking leaches so the post office can heal. FIRE ALL MANAGEMENT BEFORE THEY SELL US ALL OUT TO THE PRIVATIZING VULTURES!!!

  6. There is only one fix for this sky is falling scam implemented by management. A nationwide lock-out of every inbred weasel manager that slithers to work every day to pretend that they actually do or micro-manage anything. The 6 most senior WORKERS would rotate daily operations at plants and stations Monday to Saturday. Every postal worker needs to put the spotlight on our real enemy which is postal management. Here is a simple math problem. “If you lined up the 6 foot desks of the 110,000 management slots in a line. How long would it be?” Answer: 125 miles. I say send those desk jockeys to line the California/ Mexico border and deduct their worthless salaries from the PO and drop a dime off of a stamp. One, it won’t affect the mail stream at all and 2 management is only good at taking workers jobs away. So line them all up on our southern borders to keep the illegals from taking away American jobs. 2 birds 1 stone.

  7. “When you are not an expert on staffing it is sometimes best not to say anything.”

    Amen to that, just two cents worth…if you please?

    Any of you HQ’s Expert Staffing Specialist/Coordinators whatever your called? get cut or got family members we could use you?

    10% of new scrubs can be PSE’s $12.50 to start. Will let you keep your Specialist titles.

  8. The same can be said about APWU, less members now, why are their still the same number of NBA’s and Coordinators? Good article Sam, however to throw rocks when you live in a Glass House does not make sense, as you open yourself up to the same critique. You lead by example, not do as I say not as I do.

  9. What amazes me is not that they have only lost 796 senior employees but the fact that they had that many to start with.

  10. sam please see if you can find out how many managers are on detail earning $50.00 per day to eat and put up in a fancy hotel paid milage when they do go home. then another manager has to get the same to cover the vacancy created, and so on and so on

  11. When you are not an expert on staffing it is sometimes best not to say anything. Comparison since 1997 to now not quite as clear as it seems as some of the jobs in Districts were reclassified as Hdqrs. jobs a few years ago and certainly the 40+% shown for Hdqrs. staffing quite disappropriate when comparing the whole numbers. Get an actuary and look as to what has happened since 1997 and reclassification of positions and you may get a better picture as equality or inequality; this won’t do!

  12. The USPS is not required to make a profit. We just need to provide a service. Maybe if congress allowed us to keep our profits from years past, we’d be able to stem the flow. Instead, they used the USPS’s profits to plug holes created elsewhere. And what the hell is up with making the USPS pre-fund the retirement system by such an obscene amount? Why are we the ONLY agency required to do so? More hole-plugging, I guess, but let’s not focus on that elephant in the room.

    That being said, we should definitely not bleed money. Management should have been fair across the board with their reductions. They weren’t, so let’s get rid of those who were in the position to make better choices and failed. We all know this won’t happen.

  13. Sounds clost to the number of counties in the USA. They must be the ones who tell local management what to do, being so close to the actual work-sites, they MUST know what directions to give.

  14. 10 more of the 2566 Headquarters employees’ salaries.

    US Postal Service Employees, 2011

    Visit DataUniverse.com for more databases
    Last First Title Salary/Hr. Rate* Hire Year Facility City State Zip
    DOMINGUEZ MARIETHERESE VP GOVT REL/PP $184,000 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 2007 VP GOV REL & PUBLIC POL WASHINGTON DC 20260
    DOMINOWSKI BARBARA A HRM ANALYST $82,738 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1980 HEALTH & RESOURCE MANAG WASHINGTON DC 20260
    DONAHOE PATRICK R POSTMASTER GENERAL $276,840 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1975 POSTMASTER GENERAL / CE WASHINGTON DC 20260
    DONAHUE THOMAS J AUTOMAT OPRNS SPEC $78,839 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1977 OPNS TECH & SYS INTEGR WASHINGTON DC 20260
    DONALDSON VIRGINIA L MARKETING SPECIALST $88,643 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1982 PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS WASHINGTON DC 20260
    DONLON MICHAEL A OPRNS INTEGRA SPEC $88,466 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1984 OIS’S WASHINGTON DC 20260
    DONNY NANCY E BSN MLR SUPP ANALYS $65,194 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1978 BUSINESS MAILER SPPRT WASHINGTON DC 20260
    DONOHUE RICHARD J FINANCIAL SYS SPCLT $107,444 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1988 ACCOUNTING DATA MART WASHINGTON DC 20260
    DONOVAN LANCE D FINANCIAL ANALYST $109,602 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1980 FIELD BUDGET WASHINGTON DC 20260
    DOOKIE GLEN M PROG MGR INFO TECH $117,358 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1980 HR BUSINESS SYSTEMS POR WASHINGTON DC 20260

  15. Employee keep losing and the USPS keep losing money too. They never earn money, they always blame this blame that. What a corruption system. Go privacy!

  16. Short-sighted comment from our Local FL President. As you know, the more the knowledge retires, the more we need more heads to guide us toward privatization. Silly stuff. P Don – your fired !

  17. No great secret on this information and not particularly hard to find. Each month the Postal Service submits a very detailed report to the PRC that details numbers of employees and where they’re employed.
    Easy to track the information from month to month.
    Go to PRC, click on Library and then on USPS Periodic Reports. Lots of good information on the PRC website on postal employment numbers and finances.

    I’m not defending the Postal Service in any way but some of the increases you see in HQ and HQ Field were the result of last year’s realignment of Areas and Districts. A number of jobs were shifted up to HQ.
    Those realignments should definitely be scrutinized. They didn’t consolidate very much and they didn’t really change any layers of management. The plan appears to have been more of a public relations stunt than a real effort to save costs. Virtually the same layers and reporting assignments were left in place despite the efforts to portray the plan as groundbreaking.

  18. SPECIALIST? What year was that they started putting that on all their job titles?90’s?

    Safety & Health Specialist,Walk Around ClipBoard Specialist,Supply Specialist, dam near everybody had Specialist plates made up outside their office doors, Specialist of this or that.

    Let me guess? pay raises went along with the new names (SPECIALIST)

  19. Burnett PO in Bloomington MN had 26% of carrier assignments consolidated in Summer 2011. The “management” staff went from four to five, a 25% INCREASE in management to equal the 26% REDUCTION in craft employees!!! Multiply this scenario accross the country, and you get a pretty good idea what the problem is in this so called business. Why would any company need MORE management after cutting their staff!!??

  20. US Postal Service Employees, 2011

    Visit DataUniverse.com for more databases
    Last First Title Salary/Hr. Rate* Hire Year Facility City State Zip
    ADAMS KYLE W PURCH AND SUPLY MGT $99,485 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1981 CMC AIR TRANSPORTATION WASHINGTON DC 20260
    ADAMS MARGARET S RESOURCE MGMT SPEC $85,432 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1994 HEALTH & RESOURCE MANAG WASHINGTON DC 20260
    ADAMS VELTA D SECRETARY $57,175 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1991 LABOR REL POLICY ADMN WASHINGTON DC 20260
    ADDAMS THOMAS M PROG MGR EQUIP INT $119,638 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1974 OPNS TECH & SYS INTEGR WASHINGTON DC 20260
    ADGERS LATRENDA S ACCOUNTANT $76,361 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1997 ASSETS & PAYABLES WASHINGTON DC 20260
    ADONA JACQUELINE A LABOR RELATIONS SPC $87,050 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1979 CONTRACT ADMIN APWU WASHINGTON DC 20260
    AFZAL DANIEL PHOTOGRAPHER $78,745 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 2002 BRAND EQUITY AND DESIGN WASHINGTON DC 20260
    AGUILLON EVA L EEO ADR SPECIALIST $70,718 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1994 EEO COMP & APPEALS REG WASHINGTON DC 20260
    AHARAM RAVI R ACCOUNTANT $109,602 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1985 ASSETS & PAYABLES WASHINGTON DC 20260
    AHMAD AHMAD ADMIN LICNSNG ASSOC $66,649 Yr. / or $0.00 Hr. 1982 RETAIL MARKETING WASHINGTON DC 20260

    First Previous Next Last

    Records 11 to 20 of 2566

  21. +796 Jobs Headquarters Senior Management.WOW!

    With huge salary increases or bonuses made to USPS Senior Staff Employees.WOW!

    Headquarters Employees are the highest paid employees within the USPS. WOW!

    Congress? WTF?

  22. Well done Sam Wood, thank you. I am a carrier with 32 yrs. service. I have been curious for years to know stats on Management numbers. My computer skills are new and will be much improved upon [I hope] in the future.
    In your next post could you give some suggestions how to research these numbers.
    Are these numbers mandated by congress to be available to the public?
    Can non mail touching personal be further broken down. Administrative, 204Bs, floor supervisors, postmasters, secretaries, the plaza heirarchy, etc. etc.
    Years ago a fellow carrier commented to me. “you know the PO. invested in all these computers and tech devices to make management more efficient, why do we have the same number, if not more bosses today” I’ve been curious about the answer for 10 years. I did read in this post there has been a decline in local level management staffing. First time I ever seen that stat !! thankyou, however my cynicism [and personal observation] leads me to suspect, much shuffling occurs.
    Supervisors are moved off one job and appear elsewhere, yet the PO. claims they cut a job. It’s a big morass I know, The numbers I’m sure are colluded and obfuscated, If you could Sam Wood, help with some links, and suggestions. I am curious. If you could offer some tools I’m sure there are many that will use them.
    Thank you

  23. When I looked at the figures from our AMP study that was presented to the public, one thing really stood out. Craft jobs eliminated = 176, Management = 1. Are you kidding me?! 176 craft jobs leave and only one manager goes. WTF is all the managers that were supervising those 176 employees going to be doing besides collecting a fat check for being so incompetent? The savings for eliminating that 1 position was also listed as being under $40k a year. Never met a manager that makes so little in my 33+ years here. They must be planning on giving a plant supervisor a small office PM position and eliminating that persons position that just started so they can say they eliminated at least 1 job in management. I’m sure the one that takes over that position will be save grade so they will not have to get a pay cut. Good old boy system is alive and well in the USPS and that explains the why of this article.

  24. I need all of the help I can get to manage the postal service. someone to fix my coffee, someone to go out to get my breakfast. someone to go out and get my lunch.someone to walk my dog. etc……

  25. excellent work by sam wood, showing that more often than not what postal management speaks does not add up to the truth and is not supported by the facts. we need more of this kind of investigative work in regard to postal officials moving mail from one facility to another. postal management make all these ridiculous cost saving claims in their amp study, lying to the public, press, everyone else, and that data is never challenged by anyone. even after these moves of mail are made someone could be getting data from the losing facility and the gaining facility that shows that the original postal amp study was a bunch of bull crap full of wrong numbers. for instance, say the post office moves all the outgoing mail from plant “a” to plant “b.” before they do this the postal brass stands before the public and gives some distorted, fabricated bullcrap
    dollar figure of their anticipated cost savings from making this move. now, this figure is often loosely based on fact and i believe rarely if ever achieved. after the post office moves the mail to plant “b” to be processed the folks at plant “a” are
    often still there and many times they are sitting around on standby time! someone needs to document these stats and prove the postal move was actually a financial disaster and was costing the post office more money!
    someone nedds to publically “CALL” the post office on the false figures they feed the public/press in their amp studies. again, great job sam wood, we need more like you in the apwu and other crafts.

  26. Amen Brother! You have seen the light. In fact it seems that we ALL know the USPS is corrupt and top heavy but no one is doing a damn thing about it! The Republicans are just like the greedy liars and President OBAMA is too chicken shit to stand up and do the right thing and stop such corruption and the unnecessary destruction of the USPS. Grow a pair OBAMA!!! or does the PMG have more power than the President??? I’m starting to wonder!!

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