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APWU Sets the Facts Straight on the USPS
(10/13/10) APWU President William Burrus has ridiculed assertions
about the Postal Service that appeared in a recent column in the E-Commerce
Times: “There were so many misstatements in your article,” Burrus
wrote, “I hardly know where to begin.” In the Oct. 8 article,
Theodore di Stefano, a managing partner at an investment banking firm,
said six-day delivery is probably a thing of the past, yet failed to
mention that the USPS is obligated to deliver mail six days per week
by legislation that will likely be renewed by Congress. [read
more]
APWU Fights to
Save Saturday Service, Fix USPS Finances
(09/01/10) The fight to retain Saturday service gained momentum on July
29 when two congressional panels voted to approve spending bills — one
in the House and one in the Senate — that would require the USPS
to continue to provide mail delivery six days per week. The two bills
have a long way to go before they could become law, however. The full
House and Senate would have to approve the bills, and then the two
versions would have to be reconciled to resolve any differences. [read
more]
Delegates Take to the Streets:
Save Saturday Service!
(08/24/10) Thousands of APWU members, led by union president William
Burrus and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, marched through the streets of downtown
Detroit on Tuesday afternoon to Save Saturday Service and rally for good
jobs. Wearing blue APWU T-shirts and chanting “Five Day – No
Way!” delegates
shut down busy streets and assembled in Campus Martius Park to alert
the public to the need to stop USPS plans to abolish Saturday mail delivery. [read more]
AFL-CIO
Adopts Resolution
To Save Saturday Mail Service
(08/06/10) The AFL-CIO adopted a resolution written by the APWU in
support of retaining six-day mail delivery at its Aug. 4 Executive Council
meeting. The motion to adopt the resolution expresses the labor movement’s
opposition to the USPS proposal to eliminate Saturday delivery. APWU
President William Burrus urged the Executive Council to endorse the resolution
and to go on record as “supporting the preservation of six days
of postal services per week.” [read
more]
Two
Congressional Panels Support Six-Day Service
(07/30/10) Two congressional
panels voted on July 29 to approve spending bills that
would require the Postal Service to continue to provide mail delivery six days
per week. The two bills — one in the Senate and one in the House — still
have a long way to go
before they could become law, however. [read
more]
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Locals
Rally to Save Saturday Service
(07/27/10) As part of a nationwide campaign, local union members
across the country have ramped up the fight to Save Saturday Service,
taking action to alert the public to the dangers of the Postal Service’s
plans to eliminate Saturday delivery. Armed with colorful signs and
flyers produced by the national APWU, locals have organized informational
pickets and attended town hall meetings to inform communities about
how ending Saturday delivery would harm American citizens, businesses,
and the USPS itself.
[read
more]
APWU Locals Fight to Save Saturday Service
(07/01/10) APWU members have launched an aggressive campaign
to Save
Saturday Service and to alert communities about the dangers of USPS
plans to eliminate it. “Ending Saturday mail delivery would be the
beginning of the demise of the Postal Service,” said APWU President
William Burrus. [read more]
Supporting Saturday Service
(07/01/10) A resolution to continue six-day delivery introduced
in the House in February 2009 got little attention — until earlier
this year, when the Postal Service began an aggressive campaign to
eliminate Saturday service. By mid-June, more than 220 U.S. Representatives
had signed on as cosponsors of House Res. 173, which urges the USPS to “take
all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its six-day mail
delivery service.” The
resolution was introduced by Rep. Sam Graves (MO-6) in February 2009,
and took on new importance as the USPS launched a coordinated crusade
to abolish Saturday delivery.
[read more]
Capitol Hill Testimony
Burrus:
USPS Must Expand, Not Cut, Service
(06/23/10) Predicting that mail volume will grow in 2012, APWU President
William Burrus told lawmakers June 23 that slashing service will not
solve the Postal Service’s current financial difficulties. The
APWU “believes the USPS can and must expand the services it offers,” he
said. “No service-oriented business can grow by reducing service,” Burrus
told the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government
Information, Federal Services, and International Security, and the House
Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District
of Columbia. Of course, that is patently false. [read
more]
Fight
to Save Saturday Service
Approaches Important Milestone
(06/03/10) Postal employees and customers are approaching an important
milestone in the fight to save Saturday service, as a House resolution
supporting six-day mail delivery continues to gain momentum. Close to
200 U.S. Representatives have signed on to co-sponsor House Resolution
173, which says “the U.S. Postal Service should take all appropriate
measures to ensure the continuation of its six-day mail delivery service.” A
total of 218 votes are needed to adopt the “sense of the House
resolution.”
[read
more]
APWU Urges PRC To Save
Saturday Delivery at Memphis Field Hearing
(05/19/10) APWU Assistant Clerk Craft Director Mike Morris urged
the Postal Regulatory Commission to save six-day mail delivery at a
Memphis, TN field hearing, testifying that the Postal Service’s proposal
would “deprive citizens of their right to receive mail on Saturday,
and would eliminate any justification for the Postal Service’s
exclusive access to citizens’ mailboxes.” [read
more]
APWU
Urges Postal Commission
To Save Saturday Service
(05/11/10) Testifying at a Las Vegas field hearing, APWU
Western Region Coordinator Omar Gonzalez urged the Postal
Regulatory Commission to reject the USPS proposal to end
Saturday delivery. The plan will “hasten the call for
elimination of the private express statutes and legal monopolies,
which ensure quality postal services at affordable prices,” he
said. [read
more]
Get the Facts, Spread
the Word
(04/28/10) The APWU has produced material to help union
members spread the word about how the Postal Service’s plan to end Saturday mail
delivery would harm American citizens and businesses — and
jeopardize the USPS itself.
The union has prepared a flyer to help locals alert the public about the dangers of ending Saturday mail delivery. A four-page fact sheet that sets the record straight about the Postal Service’s financial predicament — and how to fix it — is appropriate for distribution to elected officials and news outlets. [read more]
Rationale
for Five-Day Delivery
Shattered at House Hearing
(04/16/10) A USPS myth was demolished at House hearing April 15 — a
myth that serves as the Postal Service’s rationale for eliminating
Saturday mail delivery. In response to questions by Rep. Gerry Connolly
(D-VA), Postmaster General John E. Potter admitted that predictions that
the Postal Service would amass losses of $238 billion by the year 2020
were “theoretical.” The exchange confirms allegations made
by the APWU that the USPS forecast is wildly exaggerated, outlandish
and unsupported. [read
more]
Phony Deficit Projections
Mask Management’s Real Goal
(4/16/10) I generally refrain from devoting significant
time to informing APWU members about the actions of USPS managers. After
all, postal employees have experienced the effects of management’s
decisions first-hand, and my elaboration would not provide much new information....
For this article, I make an exception. On March 2, 2010, the Postmaster
General released an “Action Plan” detailing the financial
challenges facing the USPS in the next 10 years. The news media followed
up with scores of news reports and editorials dutifully repeating the
PMG’s assertion that the USPS is on track to suffer losses never
before experienced in the history of an independent enterprise: A $238
billion deficit over a 10-year period. Without challenge, this assertion
was repeated over and over again as breaking news. [read
more]
APWU Denounces Five-Day Delivery Proposal
(4/16/10) The Postal Service has embarked on an aggressive campaign
to change the frequency of mail delivery from six days per week to five
by eliminating delivery on Saturdays. This change would alter the ability
of American citizens to communicate by mail six days a week through
the United States Postal Service — a right that has endured for
generations. The American Postal Workers Union vehemently opposes this
change.
[read more]
APWU Denounces Five-Day Mail Delivery,
Urges Congress to Fix Pre-Funding Requirement
(03/18/10) In testimony submitted to a congressional subcommittee
March 18, APWU President William Burrus denounced Postal Service plans
to eliminate Saturday mail delivery, and urged Congress instead to
correct two major causes of USPS financial difficulties: A provision
of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) that requires
the agency to pre-fund retiree healthcare costs, and a flawed method
for computing USPS obligations to the Civil Service Retirement Fund.
[read more]
Setting the Record Straight
On
Five-Day Delivery
(03/11/10) The Postal Service’s proposal to eliminate Saturday
mail delivery has been widely reported, but most news articles fail to
address the devastating effect it would have on the USPS, as well as
on citizens, businesses and communities. Accordingly, the union has prepared
an outline of “talking
points” to correct the record and to assist locals in efforts
to oppose five-day delivery. [read
more]
APWU
Urges Members
To Support Six-Day Mail Delivery
(03/08/10) The APWU is asking union members to contact
their U.S. Representatives and encourage them to co-sponsor House Resolution
173, which urges the Postal Service to continue to provide mail delivery
six days per week. The Postal Service is asking Congress to reduce the
number of mail delivery days required by law from six days per week to
five. [read
more]
Union
Rejects USPS Call
For Five-Day Delivery, New Business Model
(03/03/10) APWU President William Burrus condemned USPS
proposals to reduce mail delivery to five days per week on March 2, saying, “It
would be the beginning of the demise of the Postal Service.” “The
assertion that the Postal Service must initiate major changes in its
business plan to survive a grave crisis is false,” he said. “It
masks the central cause of USPS financial difficulties: the congressionally-imposed
requirement to pre-pay retiree healthcare obligations. [read
more]
Congress Must Fix Funding Requirement;
USPS Must Expand Goals, Burrus Says
(10/27/09) In a follow-up to testimony before a Senate subcommittee, APWU President
William Burrus explored alternatives to station-and-branch closures, facility
consolidations, and five-day mail delivery — which the Postal Service is
proposing in reaction to a severe financial crisis. [read
more]
Station and Branch Closures:
Burrus: 'Acts of Surrender'
(07/31/09)
Closing stations and branches and reducing mail delivery to five days
per week “will unquestionably have a negative effect on the postal
monopoly,” APWU President William Burrus told a House subcommittee
at a hearing July 30. Such actions “will impede the Postal Service’s
ability to compete” when the economy rebounds, he said.
[read
more]
Burrus:
Postal Decision-Makers Are Off the Mark
(07/30/09) Saying that he has long been “skeptical” about
whether the increased use of electronic communication is to blame for
the Postal Service’s economic woes, APWU President William Burrus
told lawmakers July 29 that “It is imperative that postal decision-makers
correctly identify the cause of the reduction in volume and the trends
that will drive future communication.” [read
more]
Changes and Challenges
(07/14/09) If postal management continues to respond to the current
economic crisis by cutting service and slashing the workforce, it risks
causing the USPS irreparable harm, APWU President William Burrus writes
in an Update for union members. The union president says the
APWU will vigorously enforce the Collective Bargaining Agreement as the
Postal Service implements new cost-cutting measures. Support from the
public and elected officials also are crucial to the survival of the
USPS, he said. [read
more]
APWU on Five-Day Delivery: Don’t Do It!
(06/22/09) The APWU has given a straightforward response to a USPS
request for input regarding five-day mail delivery: “Don’t
do it!” “The American Postal Workers Union submits in the
strongest possible terms our insistence that the Postal Service refrain
from conversion to five-day delivery,” APWU President William Burrus
wrote on June 18. “The consequences of the proposed change far
outweigh the expected monetary benefits associated with delivery reduction.” [read
more]
Burrus Testifies on Capitol Hill:
To Survive, USPS Must Change Strategy
(05/20/09) In testimony before a House panel May 20, APWU President
William Burrus told lawmakers that if the Postal Service is to survive,
it must re-examine its overall strategy. He emphasized that the need
was urgent for passage of H.R. 22, which would allow the USPS to pay
its share of contributions for annuitants’ health benefits out
of a retirees fund rather than from its operating budget. [read
more]
Postmaster General's
Testimony Offers Little Insight
(01/29/09) APWU President William Burrus praised the Postmaster General
for asking Congress to relieve the USPS of an onerous obligation to pre-fund
healthcare liabilities, but said the PMG’s testimony before a Senate
subcommittee misstated the cause of the Postal Service’s financial
crisis. In an update for union members, Burrus also said that other
proposals offered by PMG have little chance of preventing a disaster. [read
more]
Testimony on Universal Service Obligation
APWU to PRC: ‘Burden of Proof’
Is on Those Pushing for Change
(07/11/08) Because universal postal service is still extremely
important to the fabric of American life, APWU President William Burrus
said in a public hearing before the Postal Regulatory Commission, those
who seek changes in the postal network or monopoly should provide unassailable
reasons for doing so. [read
more]
High Gas Prices
Are No Justification for Five-Day Mail Delivery
(07/08/08) Special interest groups have begun to use rising gas prices as a way
to advance their own agenda — under the guise of reducing the demand for
energy, APWU President William Burrus notes in an Update for union members.
Recent proposals to reduce mail delivery from six days a week to five are a case
in point, he says. But these suggestions represent just another rationale by
those who wish to privatize postal operations. [read
more]
