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Ask President Burrus

Question:

Do you expect any Voluntary Early Retirements to be offered in the near future?

Maryanne, Hillis (IL) Area Local

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President Burrus:

Thank you for writing.

A number of questions have been submitted about USPS plans to offer additional early retirement opportunities.

To my knowledge, the Postal Service has no plans for an additional large-scale, nationwide early-out offer.

The tentative contract extension agreement requires management to honor the request of employees who were improperly excluded from the 2004 opportunities, and if the agreement is ratified, approximately 600 employees will be affected.

The Postal Service also has made a request to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for permission to offer early retirement to employees in Duluth, MN, although the union is contesting USPS’ authority to do so without bargaining with the union.

There are no discussions between APWU and the Postal Service regarding early retirement beyond that referred to above.

If postal management assumes they have the authority to offer early retirement without bargaining with the union, there may be plans that the APWU is unaware of. However, we have not been informed of any plans to offer widespread early retirement opportunities.

The purpose of early retirement is to reduce the work force more quickly than would occur through normal attrition. The 2004 early retirements allowed the Postal Service to make reductions to the employee complement that were necessary as a result of the deployment of automation in mail processing and due to other personnel efficiencies.

The next opportunities for early retirement, if they occur, will be the result of plant consolidations — but these reductions would be within specific offices or areas, not nationwide.

Early retirement is a “condition of employment” covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and therefore, under the law, management is required to bargain with the union prior to implementing an early-out. To date, there has been no bargaining over a new round of early retirement offers.

August 4, 2005

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