Cites Lack of Confidence after Absence of Transparency, Accountability in Facility Closure Process
Congressman Brian Higgins sent a letter today to the United States Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors Chairman, Thurgood Marshall, Jr. asking the Board to take immediate action to replace Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.
Congressman Higgins also took to the House Floor to express his disapproval with Postmaster General Donahoe.
Congressman Higgins has been an outspoken opponent of the USPS’ “decide now, justify later” process for closing postal facilities and has advocated for legislative reforms to keep the William Street Mail Processing Facility open and maintain current delivery service standards.
The William Street Mail Processing Facility had been slated for closure, but was given a 3-year reprieve after a change in USPS policy on service standards. Higgins believes that a change in leadership must take place sooner, rather than later, to prevent this flawed process from repeating itself as the moratorium expires.
The text of Congressman Higgins’ letter is below:
June 7, 2012
Chairman Thurgood Marshall, Jr.
United States Postal Service Board of Governors
475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Room 3436
Washington, DC 20260-3436
Dear Chairman Marshall,
Having exhausted all other options and with the future of the United States Postal Service (USPS) at risk, I write to ask the Board of Governors to proceed with immediate actions to replace Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.
Over the past year the USPS initiated a restructuring proposal that would make major changes in many communities, including my own. Under the Postmaster General’s leadership, the USPS displayed a complete lack of transparency and accountability throughout the process, which casts serious doubt that the current leadership is up to the task of leading the Postal Service through these challenging times.
n Western New York, where multiple postal facilities were designated for closure and over 700 jobs are on the line, we experienced the following:
- The Postal Service discouraged public engagement. Its idea of notice for a public meeting about a post office closure included posting a flyer in 8-point font in the post office and mailing notices to residents that never arrived, which would be comical if not so disrespectful. And at the public meeting the USPS kept no minutes or notes more detailed than a simple tally of the types of comments made.
- The Postal Service refused to cooperate with repeated and reasonable requests for information on how it arrived at its conclusions on which facilities to close. The information USPS provided to my office and to the public was confusing and often contradictory. The Postal Service proposed to close a sorting facility in Buffalo that it had awarded a gold medal for its practices that “create business growth opportunities for the Postal Service” just months before. They ignored requests to show that they took into account the facility’s role as a major entry point of Canadian mail, the impact on local bulk-mail businesses that depend on access to the facility, community demographics, or how the closure could save on transportation costs – as it claimed – by driving local mail from Buffalo to Rochester and back to Buffalo. Amazingly, to this date we have not received adequate responses to repeated requests to review a cost benefit or comparative analysis of the proposed closures in my community.
- The Postmaster General initially refused to meet or even take a phone call to discuss the proposed closures in my community. It was only after repeated requests that the Postmaster General agreed to discuss Postal Service decisions impacting Western New York. It is highly unlikely that a person who conducts himself with such arrogance and obvious contempt for the public would be capable of working with Congress to enact postal reform that will allow the Postal Service to prosper.
- A lack of integrity on the process led to a lack of integrity in the outcome. The USPS commissioned a report to determine the impact of significant nationwide closures and a degradation of current service standards on revenue. The report showed a significant loss of revenue, so the USPS commissioned a second report to produce the USPS’ desired results and hide the fact that its own initial analysis showed a flawed business plan for consolidation.
Goofey’s last hurrah. He will exit this August with his APWU Officer Only Retirement Plan and will blame it all on the unhappy lemmings. Greg Bell will be left to lead this APWU into the abyss. Greg Bell…yep, now there’s one for ya! Never saw anyone he couldn’t put to sleep with his speeches!
It’s over folks! So keep paying dem dues or decertify APWU in favor of Teamsters! See NLRB.gov
Talk, Talk , Talk!, ( Cliff Guffey stopping the consolidations with one hand) Start the campaign against the union called APWU, well it has started, email, fax and phone, and send Guffey packing home!, if he fails to negotiate the incentive and VER, he is a goner , if not now, later, unfortunately, many are getting their anniversary date and dropping out, as Rome Burns, Guffey was Nero, and then was born again as the captain of the Titanic then again as the Captain of the Costa Concordia, the man is a waste, and his National Flunkies are goners too, any NBA who supports him , will be on a hit list, this is war, and Guffey is offering up those who need the VER to go, they cannot stomach the USPS hostile work environment, being excess-ed with infirmities and age to become carriers, nor being used as fuel for the fire of Guffey’s Damnation, Cliff Guffey is the end of the Union, who is he working for?, definitely not the members, oh!, wait, for that big paycheck and all the bottled spring water he can drink, or all the parties he can attend with his Boyfriend, did not know that did you, your dues support Guffeys “Big man Friend”, go to hell Guffey!, and take all your fairy national pukes with you!, I failed anger management, loose cannon.
17826
sfclk
06-08-2012
09:27 PM ET (US)
Effective October 7,2012 CFS Operations will
The future White House & !st Family.
It is the sign of the times…the shit is going to hit the fan.
Say your prays.
Actually, I totally agree with McvTm19 completely, although it mirrors what I have been saying for months – if not years! I’ll say it again…I DO think that we should completely clean house in Washington – completely from the top down. Also, they should fire Donahoe and his cronies (although we will surely just get another one like him, but maybe not if we get new lawmakers.) It’s correct that NO ONE in Congress or the House of Representatives have done a damn thing except collect their pay and take month-long (or longer) vacations on the taxpayer dime. Obama isn’t running the country either because he’s too busy running around the country trying to “fund raise” and spread his propaganda bullshit to the younger crowd, thinking that they don’t really have the experience or knowledge to see the truth of the situation. And then he, too, will add a vacation or two in there and sneak in signing the DAA during the Christmas/New Year break, thinking no one was paying any attention to what he was actually doing.
Again I will say that politicians are politicians and they are all freakinig alike, it doesn’t matter the party they “represent.” All I know is they don’t represent us, only their own interests. Until they change the laws and make these freaking elections shorter and put a cap on how much money can be spent on them; until the laws are changed and they let the American public vote whether or not the lawmakers get a raise or not; until the laws are changed and they outlaw lobbyists and “pork barrel spending;” until the lawmakers can stop using their inside information to become millionaires legally, and; until the laws are changed and the freaking lawmakers receive the SAME benefits and compensations that the all other Federal employees receive (meaning vacation leave, sick leave, retirement, health benefits, etc.) then it’s just gonna be the same BS with a different face on it.
When are people going to stand up and INSIST that this be changed? There is only one way to do that – VOTE THEM ALL OUT! We all should have a common goal and that should be to be represented by our elected officials. We all should quit fighting with each other because some or staunch Democrats and some are Republicans. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME, THEY JUST HAVE DIFFERENT AGENDAS!!!!! Duh! And they are ALL running our country into the ground due to their greed and flagrant narcissim. Why should we think that they can be any different, if we can’t even see the truth in front of our eyes and cling to the propaganda that is fed to us by them all? Either be a sheep or be a wolf. Wolves are very pac-oriented and fight for each other. Wolves can see in the dark and see all around with great precision. Sheep just run over the cliff because the shepard told them to…don’t just listen to what our officials say…see what they do and check into what they have told you. Be informed. Be alert. Be together and vote ’em all out!!!!!!! Wouldn’t that be interesting?
“No more leaks to the enemy?” WTF are you talking about dude they just took out another one of those top Al Qaeda leaders.
Both you an STEVE 0 sound like some real JIHAD ACORN IDOT LOSERS!
Pissed off liberals drone from above.
He congressman your right but you should also send a letter to every single demoidiot in the House and Senate and ask for their resignations,including yours.They should all be locked up for treason right along side of Our Great and fearless Uncle Obama.Get rid of the all the liberals and everything will work out.Im still waiting for Uncle Barry to produce his first Net job.It aint gonna happen.The only way he wins the next election is if he cheats and I would not put that out of the realm of possibilities for that ACORN IDOT!
o-bummer must go.
No more leaks to the enemy, get that disloyal SOB out of the ‘white’ house.
Time to get some class back to this country instead of ghetto thinkers.
Wonder if that letter would make it this year. Could get lost in the mail under the PMG new POSTplans.
enufisenuf is this MacvTm19 one of your bipolar/buttbuddy friends?
PMG Don A Hoe seems intent on speeding the postal demise. He was delt a bad hand and hasn’t done the postal service, a good service in his tenure.His replacement is only a part of the far larger rehabilitation of the postal service.
The USPS needs to have the flexibility of pricing for the onerous burden of sucking up higher fuel costs. Most trucking and shipping suppliers have surcharge flexability. This is one small example of a way to help offset losses if indeed that continues to be the overarching question. Perhaps a more realistic approach would be to have price stability for the Petro producers so that planners can plan for what their transpotation costs are going to be in the future.
Congress could help stabilize the postal (aledged) financial instability by recinding the extremely unfair burden mandated by PAEA of 2006. Postal inspector D Williams, as I recall, stated that the account was already funded to the tune of $40B. Also if congress really cared about the people that they’re supposed to represent they could at least freee up the 11B FERS overpayment to allow the PO to downsize in a more humane fashion than the current “bloody sherman” plan.
Lastly and most importantly we need to ask “the American People” how they see the future of their PO and what they are willing to pay or sacrifice for the service. The PO is mandated by the constitution. All people in Congress who continue to delay fair minded postal resolution to the problem that they created are not being true to their solemn pledge ‘to preserve protect and defend…..” and should be subject to removal for violating that sacred oath.
Cites Lack of Confidence after Absence of Transparency, Accountability in Facility Closure Process
This sounds more like President/Marxist Obama than the PMG !!!!!
More grandstanding by another DemocRAT trying to get money from the Unions to pad their own retirement program. I worked for the USPS and so much BS from the unions especially the APWU. APWU protecting workers that are to lazy to work, workers that hid rather than put in a honest days work. Workers that worked in the same office for 17 years and still had to be told what to do every 1/2 hour and the union protects these dead weights. A maintenance worker who would show up to punch in then would disappear until lunch then disappear until its time to punch out. Was disgrunted because they wouldn’t transfer him to another location. Workers showing up drunk and getting suspended only to have it over turned by the union. President of the APWU making over 200 hundred thousand a year plus benefits such as attending a convention staying at a suite at a ritzy hotel other than where most union worker stayed. Arrive at the convention hotel in a limo paid by the worker bees supporting these crooks. Can you say MPLS, MN. and the DemocRATS are collecting money from all these unions bosses to pad their re-election. When are the ones that work for these thugs going to wake up !!!!!!Next time you see a postal worker ask him how much he makes a hour and who pays for the majority of his health care, more than likely its going to be as twice as much as you make, for less work. GET RID OF THESE UNION LEECHS NOW !!!!!
Obiewan54 is dead right. Jerry, there are many politicians in Congress, not all of them are corrupt. Jacnorcal has it right as well. If the Cons weren’t so busy blocking everything the President is trying to do we would all be in a better position. Even jerk offs like Enuffisenuf. My god, is that his real face?
How can ANY politician talk about lack of leadership when our congress shows NO leadership at all. I don’t like the PMG either but for any politician to talk about a lack of leadership or incompetence is a big JOKE. Afterall our Congress has an approval rate of about 13%. Gee, I wonder why.
Hey Congressman Higgins, better yet…Call for Immediate Removal of all House Republicans for Treason.
WAKE UP
THE PMG is nothing more than a puppet. Capital hill is pulling the strings.
Im calling the OIG bad apple hotline and report Donahoe!
Im turning in everyone who dont flush after using the toilets, all those blowing their noses in the sinks, beware,and if i see three or more supervisors standing around watching one pse employee busting his/her ass…hmmmmm… wait a second maybe thats what their doing? checking out ass.
Its all going down in my report!!!!!
That’s the help were getting from Congress? A letter about the PMG??? PLEAZZZZ!!! Congress needs to start taking this serious. All they do is talk for awhile then go on more recesses. The PMG told Congress he needs help to save the PO. Fire Congress!
You know, come to think of it, Donahoe must have given classes on not answering phone calls or helping customers in any way…it sounds JUST LIKE Bisrat Meskel, who was appointed the Level 22 Postmaster of Anderson, Indiana, and he had no right in the world to have that job. HE was just like that, too! After he took over, the Anderson Post Office suffered in employee morale so bad that they constantly had to have teams in there – spending useless money like always when the real problem was HIM! He had sexual harrassment suits against him, but lets not remove him from his perch. THERE’S some sound management there, folks! He would sit in his office and play with his IPhone and REFUSED to go to the window, even when customers specifically requested to speak to him. He was much too important for that! He thought he was a little king sitting on his throne and ordering the “low-lifes” what to do. There’s a wise decision made again from the upper management of the US Postal Service! Yep, I think Donahoe has been conducting classroom training to all management on how to be an asshole, ’cause most of them sure are!
Well, I say kudos to Congressman Higgins. And I found it very interesting that the dumbass, Donahoe, wouldn’t even answer his freaking calls. He’s right. Donahoe and most of the rest of upper management is extremely arrogant, pointing fingers at everyone else for the reason the USPS is in a shambles. They are all getting paid to MANAGE, yet that is not what they have done, thus, they have not done the job they are being paid for. And anyone who works in the post office knows that the last thing any of those people in upper management give a shit about is the public that they are there to serve, much less the people in the craft who are all doing the actual work, every freaking day. Many, many (but not all) craft employees bend over backwards to serve their customers (the public). Most of management works short days, sit around talking on their freaking cell phones, and basically milk the USPS of everything they can. And I think it is hilarious that the upper management people, like Donahoe, have failed so miserably in proving their “numbers,” yet they demand that all supervisors and craft people be impeccable in their accountability – or they pay for it with their jobs! Why should Donahoe be any freaking different? All he has done since taking over is carry on Potter’s already laid-out plan to dismantle the USPS. I’m glad SOMEBODY can see the truth that the rest of us have known for a long time.
My hat is off to Congressman Higgins. Next, I think he should go for Ruth Goldman. I don’t see what use she has in the PRC, unless you want to consider her job to spend thousands of dollars on food and alcoholic beverages, and then let’s add in some time off as much as possible. Goldman, Donahoe and many others do not have any idea what it really means to WORK. The should be ashamed of themselves, but you would have to have a conscience to feel shame, thus, it will never happen. Let’s just make some more excuses and play the “damage control” game. They (Goldman and Donahoe) think so much of themselves, but NOTHING about the American public, the Constitutional right to a postal service, or the employees that have given their life-blood to provide that service.
fire him Donut-hole
Congress helps itself to the millions it demands from the Service through the prefunding requirements and helps create the mess we’re in. However, I must agree with Rep. Higgins that Donohoe is doing exactly everything against the best interests of the public, USPS employees and common sense. He is a proven liar, has demonstrated that like Congress, he can’t be trusted either, and is in my view as a 27+ year employee of the Service, the worst and most corrupt PMG ever, even worse than Jack Potter, and that’s saying something.
I firmly believe Donohoe is taking bribes from Darryl Issa and other GOP goons who want to destroy the unions and privatize the Service. If he isn’t taking money under the table, he sure acts like he is. It’s too bad our pathetic lawmakers are the ones who make such decisions as recommending removing PMG’s when the whole Senate and House need a 100% turnover themselves, but that’s the system and we have to deal with it.
Whatever we do, a vote for Republicans this fall will be a horrible blow to unions nationwide and the working conditions in all businesses will slowly revert to the industrial age atrocities of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s without the presence of organized labor. I still can’t believe 38% of voters in Wisconsin who voted to retain Walker were either union members themselves, or had family members who were union. Why must we be so stupid and be our own worst enemies?
Its an election year and this bozo needs union $. So some grandstanding is in order. Some doom n gloom rhetoric. This guy is the same one that would have brought in a new captain as the Titanic was going vertical.
I totally agree with Rep. Higgins. Throughout my 40 plus years as a clerk, it was always do it now, ask questions later. Most of our current managers in our office did not work as a clerk or mailhandler, they almost never take a suggestion and try it to see if it works. Most of them listen (I think) but have no comment. I am retiring soon, because I don’t believe there will be a buyout for clerks any time soon.
please, he has done nothing but pocket his big bonus
That’s the smartest letter I’ve ever seen, I would have signed that right along with the senator, it’s too bad he didn’t have more congressman sign it too, as I know that many of them feel the same way, as you can see if you read here. The person who commeted above doesn’t understand the process. The PO and the OPM (which stands for the office of personnal management) are the ones that make the early out offers. Congress has nothing to do with it, there is however, an offer that is inclulded in S1789 which appropiates extra money for us in the offer, however the Repulican House will not pass something like that because they are too busy trying to run down President Obama, and get themselves in the White House. The PMG is not your friend, he doesn’t care about us, if he did, he would have taken a salary cut from his more that half a million a year when he saw the dire shape the PO is in financially. Would he cut his salary and that of his 36 other flunkies who make almost as much, in order to help us, no, instead, he wants to cut all of us hard working, body beaten, over worked and underpaid postal workers.
Tell the Moron in Congress to let the PMG give us the VER, what a moron, Congress is inept, at least the PMG is giving us a break!
Yea Yea Yea…..he we go…..another letter……another grandstand…….more bullshit!