{"id":2312,"date":"2011-06-06T22:49:33","date_gmt":"2011-06-07T03:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=2312"},"modified":"2011-06-06T22:49:33","modified_gmt":"2011-06-07T03:49:33","slug":"apwu-says-recent-headlines-predict-the-demise-of-usps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2011\/06\/06\/apwu-says-recent-headlines-predict-the-demise-of-usps\/","title":{"rendered":"APWU Says Recent Headlines Predict The Demise Of USPS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Headlines Predict Demise of USPS – Legislative Action Needed
\n<\/strong>APWU News Bulletin – June 6, 2011<\/p>\n

Recent headlines that predict the Postal Service will collapse within one year demonstrate the importance of APWU members getting involved in legislative affairs, President Cliff Guffey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo ensure the survival of the Postal Service \u2013 and our jobs \u2013 I urge each and every member to make a commitment to legislative action,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe USPS is under attack by anti-labor politicians and some sectors of the business community,\u201d Guffey continued. \u201cIt is crucial that APWU members get involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen your local calls on you to visit your Congressional representatives, you must act as if your job depends on it, because it does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Recent news stories suggest that the Postal Service\u2019s financial problems will lead to the downfall of the USPS. Bloomberg Businessweek published an article on May 27 titled \u201cThe U.S. Postal Service Nears Collapse,\u201d which blamed the Postal Service\u2019s fi nancial crisis on labor costs. \u201cThe Postal Service\u2019s business model [is] so badly broken that collapse [is] imminent,\u201d the article concluded.<\/p>\n

Other news sources blamed e-mail for the Postal Service\u2019s decline. A report on National Public Radio (NPR) said, \u201cThe U.S. Postal Service can\u2019t shrink fast enough. Its revenues are falling and its losses are rising as mail migrates to the Internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe true cause of the Postal Service\u2019s fi nancial woes is the congressionally-imposed mandate that requires the USPS to pre-fund future retiree health benefi ts,\u201d Guffey said, \u201cbut you wouldn\u2019t know it from reading many of the recent articles about the USPS.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsent this pre-funding burden, the Postal Service would have experienced a cumulative surplus, despite falling mail volume and the worst recession in recent history,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must support measures that will enable the USPS to remain viable in the future, such as H.R. 1351,\u201d Guffey said. The bill, introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), would correct postal pre-funding inequities.<\/p>\n

We also support some provisions of S. 1010, introduced by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE). The \u201cPOST Act\u201d would address the pre-funding requirement by allowing the USPS to use overpayments to its pension accounts to meet the pre-funding obligations. It also would give the Postal Service authority to close post offi ces solely for financial reasons, and would require arbitrators to consider the fi nancial health of the USPS when contract negotiations end in arbitration. APWU supports the overpayment provisions, but does not support the bill entirely, as written. We will continue to work with Senators and staff to address the issues of concern to our members.<\/p>\n

The union president urged members to get involved. \u201cIt is imperative that we contact our legislators to win support for bills that will provide immediate relief to the USPS,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is essential to our future.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information, visit the union\u2019s Web site at www.apwu.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Headlines Predict Demise of USPS – Legislative Action Needed APWU News Bulletin – June 6, 2011 Recent headlines that predict the Postal Service will collapse within one year demonstrate the importance of APWU members getting involved in legislative affairs, President Cliff Guffey said. \u201cTo ensure the survival of the Postal Service \u2013 and our jobs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apwu-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2312"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2315,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions\/2315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}