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USPS Requests Authority for Early Outs
Burrus Update #2-03, Jan. 27, 2003
The union has received a copy of the Postal Service's request to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for authority to offer employees represented by the APWU Voluntary Early Retirement. The USPS seeks to offer "early outs" to APWU-represented employees from April 1 through Sept. 30, 2003. The request is in accordance with the terms of the contract extension ratified by APWU members last month.
In a letter to OPM dated Jan. 23, Chief Operating Officer Patrick F. Donahoe wrote, "At this time, there are approximately 16,000 positions represented by the APWU excess to the needs of the service nationwide by September 30. We anticipate that approximately 50 percent of these positions will be vacated through normal attrition." Voluntary Early Retirement Authority will help the Postal Service reduce a portion of the balance of that number, he wrote.
Approximately 58,000 APWU members are eligible for Voluntary Early Retirement (VER), Donahoe wrote, and the Postal Service expects "5 to 6 percent, or approximately 3,000 of those VER-eligible employees to opt for early retirement."
"In light of the number of positions that we need to eliminate from the Postal Service during this fiscal year," he wrote, "we respectfully request that you give this proposal favorable consideration so that we may use VER as a tool in our downsizing strategies."
"The Postal Service has committed to an effort to take $5 billion in expenses out of our operating base over five years," the letter said. "To accomplish this, we have begun to implement a number of specific measurers designed to improve operational efficiencies. These efficiencies include efforts to automate our mail forwarding operations, to further automate the processing of large envelopes, magazines and packages, and to reduce our transportation costs, by focusing on ways to maximize our distribution/transportation network."
"While the Postal Service's efforts to date have been successful, certain external challenges have surfaced," Donahoe wrote. "The recession, electronic diversion of first-class mail, and bio-terrorism have had an adverse impact on our mail volumes. In fact, our first-class mail volume has decreased by 1.6 billion pieces in the past year. Other classes of mail have sustained similar impact. These business drivers require the Postal Service to review and adjust our complement requirements as we move forward."
As expected, management's application for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority does not include a request to offer incentives to employees who elect to retire early.
William Burrus
President
