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Contracting Out
OIG Studies Support APWU Position
Subcontracting Fails Workers,
Consumers, and
the USPS
(05/01/08) Postal Service outsourcing practices often prove
to be wasteful and inefficient, resulting in poor customer service
and undermining the USPS. Recent reports by the USPS Office of Inspector
General (OIG) support the APWU position that mail processing, transportation,
and retail services often cost the Postal Service more than if the work
were kept in-house.
[read more]
Six
More U.S. Representatives
Co-Sponsor Mail Network Protection Act
(04/28/08) Six more members of the U.S. House of Representatives have become co-sponsors of the Mail Network Protection Act (H.R. 4236) in support of the union’s efforts to reduce wasteful, inefficient, and detrimental subcontracting by the U.S. Postal Service. The legislation would help preserve inexpensive, trustworthy mail service for the American public as well as USPS jobs by requiring the USPS to bargain with postal unions before it engages in significant contracting-out. [read more]
Mail
Network Protection Act
Gains Eight More Co-Sponsors
(04/17/08) Eight more members of the U.S. House of Representatives have become co-sponsors of the Mail Network Protection Act (H.R. 4236) in the past two weeks, thanks to continuing outreach efforts by APWU locals. The legislation would help reduce wasteful, inefficient, and detrimental subcontracting by requiring the USPS to bargain with postal unions before it engages in significant contracting-out. [read more]
10
More U.S. Representatives
Co-Sponsor Mail Network Protection Act
(04/03/08) Since Congress returned from its Easter recess on March 31, 10 additional members of the House of Representatives have taken a stand against wasteful, inefficient, and detrimental subcontracting by signing on to the Mail Network Protection Act (H.R. 4236). [read more]
Inspector
General:
USPS Wasted $17.8 Million on FedEx Contract
(03/17/08) An audit by the USPS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has concluded that during Fiscal Years 2005 and 2006, the Postal Service’s Pacific Area incurred approximately $17.8 million in unnecessary costs by the use of “expensive FedEx transportation to move mail that could have been moved on low-priced surface transportation or on less costly passenger airlines. [read more]
Mail
Network Protection Act
Steadily Gaining Co-Sponsors
(03/14/08) As of mid-March, 55 members of the House of Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of an anti-subcontracting measure supported by the APWU. The Mail Network Protection Act (H.R. 4236), which was introduced in November by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), would require the Postal Service to bargain with postal unions before it engages in significant contracting-out. [read more]
Get Involved in the Process
(03/01/08) The year 2008 will present several opportunities for APWU members
to engage themselves in the legislative process. The opportunities
include the battle to enact the Mail Network Protection Act, the
presidential primaries, and the national elections this fall.
[read
more]
Grassroots Coordinators Go to Work
(03/01/08) Four “grassroots coordinators” joined the APWU’s Legislative Department in January to work on the union’s political-campaign efforts. After initial training at APWU headquarters, the new staffers were assigned to the field. [read more]
Anti-Subcontracting Measure Attracting Support
(02/28/08) Several more “co-sponsors” have signed on to show their support for the Mail Network Protection Act (H.R. 4236), which would require the Postal Service to bargain with postal unions before it engages in significant subcontracting. [read more]
APWU Requests Investigation
Of Private Contractors’ Use of USPS Property
(02/27/08) APWU President William Burrus has asked USPS Inspector General David Williams to conduct an audit of the postal practice of permitting subcontractors to park trucks and store equipment on USPS property free-of-charge. The practice raises USPS operating costs and defers potential revenue, Burrus charged in a Feb. 22 letter to the Inspector General (IG). [read more]
Anti-Subcontracting Bill Picking Up ‘Co-Sponsors’
(01/31/08) The Mail Network Protection Act (H.R. 4236), which would require the Postal Service to bargain with postal unions before it engages in significant subcontracting, has been steadily gaining sponsorship in the House. The legislation was introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) on Nov. 15, and support for the measure has been picking up steam since 2008 began. [read more]
Postal
Service Says
It Will Request
Proposals to Outsource Some BMC Activities
(01/18/08) The Postal Service has notified the union that it intends to issue a Request for Proposals for the outsourcing of some Bulk Mail Center activities. At a Jan. 9 meeting with APWU national officers, postal officials presented a “pre-decisional briefing” on its Request for Information (RFI) Concerning a Time-Definite Surface Network. The briefing was a follow-up to a Sept. 11, 2007, meeting. [read more]
Union
President Asks Locals, States
To Seek Support for Subcontracting Legislation
(01/09/08) APWU President William Burrus has asked the union’s state and local presidents to encourage APWU members to write to their U.S. representatives and ask them to co-sponsor and support the Mail Network Protection Act (H.R. 4236). The bill, introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) on Nov. 15, 2007, would require the Postal Service to bargain with postal unions before it engages in significant subcontracting. [read more]
An Anti-Subcontracting Bill
(01/01/08) The APWU won a major victory Nov. 15, with the introduction of a bill that would require the Postal Service to bargain with postal unions before making a commitment to significant subcontracting. The union had been strongly advocating such legislation for several months. [read more]
House ‘Mail Network Protection Act’ Gains
Seven Co-Sponsors Prior to Holiday Break
(12/26/07) Seven U.S. representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of
H.R. 4236, the Mail Network Protection Act introduced by Rep. Stephen
Lynch (D-MA). Introduced in the House on Nov. 15, the bill would
require the Postal Service to bargain with postal unions before engaging
in significant subcontracting. The union has been strenuously advocating
such legislation for several months, including in congressional testimony
in April and July.
[read more]
APWU Seeks Support for ‘Mail Network Protection Act’
(12/19/07) The APWU has written to all members of the U.S. House of Representatives, asking them to co-sponsor and support the Mail Network Protection Act (H.R. 4236), which would require the Postal Service to bargain with unions before committing to significant subcontracting. [read more]
Rep. Lynch Seeks Support for ‘Mail Network Protection Act’
(12/12/07) Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA) has asked his congressional colleagues to co-sponsor legislation he introduced last month that would require the Postal Service to bargain with unions before engaging in significant subcontracting. Lynch’s Dec. 11, 2007, letter to fellow representatives outlines the importance of the legislation in maintaining the security of the mail network. While noting that contracting out core postal functions impacts “the allocation of work,” he said “this alarming trend bears much broader implications in terms of compromising the security of the U.S. mail network. [read more]
APWU-Backed Bill Introduced in Congress
Legislation Would Compel
USPS to Bargain Over Subcontracting
(11/19/07) The APWU won a significant victory Nov. 15, with the introduction of a bill that would require the Postal Service to bargain with postal unions before engaging in significant subcontracting. The union has been strenuously advocating such legislation for several months. The bill (H.R. 4236), introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), would affect private contracts involving mail processing, mail handling, or surface transportation of mail, provided that over a 12-month period it involved the equivalent of $5 million or 50 work-years. If signed into law, it would require the USPS to bargain with the affected unions before awarding such contracts. [read more]
|
'Soaking the Taxpayers'
(11/06/07) ...Addressing problems that directly affect APWU members and other workers, President Bill Clinton said he opposes the privatization of public services, noting that subcontracting often proves to be more costly.
“I thank you for your steadfast opposition to privatization of the Postal Service and the unnecessary private contracting that’s been done in the last seven years, which I think has wasted a lot of money and undermined the public interest,” he said.
Referring to recent revelations that it costs more than twice as much for contract employees to provide diplomatic security and other services in Iraq, Clinton said, “I thought we were supposed to be contracting-out because it saved the taxpayers money, not soaked the taxpayers.” [read more]
| The USPS “has begun to travel
resolutely down the road of privatization without authorization
from Congress” — or the American people." The
subcontracting of postal work “is just one aspect of
a dangerous trend: the wholesale conversion of a vital public
service to one performed privately for profit.” — Testimony of APWU President William Burrus before a U.S. Senate panel, July 25, 2007 |
Burrus to Congress:
Service Undermined by Privatization Push
(09/01/07) The USPS “has begun to travel resolutely down the road of privatization,” APWU President William Burrus told a Senate subcommittee on July 25, “without authorization from Congress” — or the American people. The subcontracting of postal work, he warned, “is just one aspect of a dangerous trend: the wholesale conversion of a vital public service to one performed privately for profit.” [read more]
Burrus Tells Congress:
Compel USPS to Bargain Over Subcontracting
(07/20/07) If Congress wants to limit USPS subcontracting, lawmakers should
enact legislation compelling the Postal Service to bargain over the
issue, APWU President William Burrus told a House subcommittee on
July 19, rather than intervening in specific
contracting-out disputes.
[read more]
House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on USPS
(04/18/07) On April 17, 2007, APWU President William Burrus testified before the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, in the first congressional oversight hearing since the enactment of postal reform legislation in December. "My message to Congress was that APWU vigorously opposes subcontracting work performed by postal employees, but there are many problems associated with separating one type of subcontracting from the dozens of others," Burrus said in a report to union members. [read more]
Postal Service Continues Plans to Close AMCs
(03/23/07) As part of an ongoing effort to outsource postal work, the USPS recently outlined management’s continuing plans to eliminate Air Mail Centers across the country. Two letters to the APWU provide additional details about plans management announced over the summer. [read more]
Union President Condemns USPS Plans to Privatize AMCs
(07/10/06) APWU President William Burrus has denounced Postal Service plans to subcontract work currently performed by bargaining unit employees at more than half of the nation’s Air Mail Centers. “This ill-advised adventure would privatize an important and sensitive sector of the United States Postal Service, slashing the postal workforce and jeopardizing security and service to ordinary citizens,” he said. “Once again, management is succumbing to the demands of the big advertising mailers.” [read more]
USPS Jobs, Relevance Threatened
(05/01/06) Your job and livelihood are under attack by the postal Service
consolidation “plan.” Your
facility may not be specifically targeted, but a large number are,
and if these consolidations are implemented, there will be a huge
cost-savings for the biggest mailers, and the communities we serve
will find the USPS to be less relevant. When the service to the average
citizen is reduced, the ease with which your job can be contracted
is increased.
[read more]
USPS Outsourcing Projects Fail to Deliver |
Click here to read about failed USPS outsourcing initiatives involving Priority Mail Centers, trucking contracts, Mail Transport Equipment Service Centers, as well as excessive "work-sharing" discounts for large mailers. (From The American Postal Worker magazine, July/August 2003.) |
