William Burrus  APWU President

Ask the President

Question:

I appreciate your position on the partnership between the USPS and Goin’ Postal. It explains why a supervisor stood in our lobby last December telling our customers that they could have gone to a Goin’ Postal store instead of waiting in our line (which was deliberately created by management). Our window was, in my opinion, intentionally understaffed to eliminate overtime. To make matters worse, the vending machine had just been removed, causing more customers to stand in line just to purchase a single stamp.

It seems to me that the Postal Service is trying to force our customers to use ‘alternate access’ or ‘alternate channels’ for their stamp and shipping needs in an effort to reduce the Postal Service’s dependence on window clerks.

Are we going to point to our customers that a lot of these stores ship through the Postal Service because we have the lowest rates and these businesses have to charge enough to cover their operating expenses in addition to paying the Postal Service the same amount the customers would pay if they shipped through the Postal Service directly?

There is a UPS store next to my station and UPS employees stand in line at our window to mail packages for customers who went to the UPS store rather than wait in line at the post office. Our competitors tie up a clerk for 30 to 45 minutes forcing our other customers to have to wait even longer for service that will only send more of our customers to our competitors.

Sounds like the plan that the Postal Service has in mind.

Don, APWU Local 308

President Burrus:

Thank you for the comments you submitted to Ask The President. You have accurately summarized the Postal Service’s efforts to privatize retail services.

In the top echelons of postal management there is a strong belief that the Postal Service would be more successful if it contracted out the core work of transportation, mail processing, delivery, and retail services. These managers believe that the workers hired by subcontractors would perform basic postal functions at a fraction of the wages negotiated by postal unions.

We will contest management’s subcontracting efforts in every forum in order to preserve good-paying jobs and to protect the service we provide to the American public.

We also will be calling on you and your co-workers to join with us in protests at the Goin’ Postal stores, which demonize postal workers with an offensive stereotype.

Thank you for your leadership.

June 30, 2008