Contract Expires This Week for Postal Workers
Posted May 18, 2015 07:20 am
TALLAHASSEE,
FL - Florida postal workers have more on their minds
this morning than the heavy load of Monday mail.
The American Postal Workers Union contract is set to
expire this Wednesday.
Deborah Smith, representative for the Manatee Area Local
Chapter of the American Postal Workers Union, says it's
a tough time for postal employees.
"They are so stressed out because of all the ups and
downs, never knowing from one day to the next whether
their facility is going to get closed," she says. "Plus
with short staffing in our associate offices, they're
having to deal with our customers being upset about the
lines are out the door."
According to the American Postal Workers Union, if no
agreement is reached by Wednesday's deadline, workers
could agree to continue bargaining, declare an impasse
or proceed to mediation. Postal employees are prohibited
from striking by law.
Sally Davidow, a American Postal Workers Union
spokeswoman, says the protests are part of bringing
consumer issues to the bargaining table, demanding
shorter lines, quicker mail delivery and new services
such as postal banking.
"There are people out there who want to privatize the
Postal Service, so they're starving it of funds and
driving down service so that the profitable routes can
be picked off by private businesses who stand to make a
buck," she maintains.
Davidow says returning banking services to the post
office would provide 10 million low income Americans,
who don't have a bank account, an alternative to costly
payday lending stores.
The Postmaster General told Congress the agency lost
$5.5 billion in 2014, even after cutting 3,000 jobs and
consolidating mail routes and processing centers.
Davidow argues that the agency isn't broke and its
so-called financial troubles are a manufactured crisis.
"It's a result of a unique requirement that only the
Postal Service faces, to pre-fund health benefits for
future retirees 75 years in advance," she explains.
Congress imposed that requirement in 2006. Davidow notes
that no other government agency or private company is
required to pay that far in advance, and without that
expenditure, the Post Office has been making a profit
and will again in 2015.
Photos/graphics; links: added/updated by the Observer | Photo: U.S. Post Office
This piece was reprinted by the Columbia County Observer with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.