Don't put all the blame on postal service workers

After reading the op-ed piece from the National Newspaper Association on the exigent postal increases, I felt compelled to clear up some of the issues cited.

Yes, the U.S. Postal Service has gotten itself in financial straits. The NNA correctly pointed out that this is partly due to the fact that the USPS is required to prefund retiree health benefits as mandated by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. Hopefully, this situation will be alleviated if Congress passes HR 5746, which would reimburse overpayments of $50 billion to $55 billion into the civil service retirement system.

However, I must take issue with another contention the NNA made about labor costs.

The NNA contended that the USPS has not addressed "high labor costs." The NNA pointed out that the USPS has not laid off workers. While layoffs have been minimal, thousands of jobs have been lost through attrition. According to the Postal Regulatory Commission, 25 percent of the workforce has been cut in the last eight years. Forty thousand jobs were cut last year alone. The USPS is looking to cut another 30,000 jobs this year. Overtime is also targeted, with the equivalent hours of 20,000 more jobs being eliminated, for a total equivalent of 50,000 jobs lost by year end. This is on top of the total of 200,000 jobs that were lost in the last 10 years. This can hardly be construed as unwillingness to address labor costs.

As far as wages go, postal workers earn wages comparable to those in the private sector like UPS and FedEx. As far as wage increases go, workers represented by the American Postal Workers Union, the world's largest postal labor union, received a mere 1.2 percent wage increase in 2009. This increase was mandated by contractual obligations negotiated through collective bargaining in 2006. No cost-of-living increases have been received in two years.

The USPS has also closed many facilities, which has further reduced costs. Unfortunately, these closures, along with personnel reductions, have strained the ability of the USPS to provide quality service. I am sure many who read this have noticed the effects of these actions in their day-to-day dealings with the postal service.

The Southeast Missourian has joined an organization called the Affordable Mail Alliance. It should be noted that many of the groups in this organization are large-volume mailers that pushed for the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act in the first place. They are at least partly responsible for creating the financial burden.

The NNA quotes Sen. Susan Collins of Maine as saying that the postal rate increase would put the USPS in a "death spiral." It is ironic that Senator Collins has taken great pride in co-authoring the PAEA.

According to the Postal Regulatory Commission, periodicals are processed and delivered at a prices that is below the actual cost incurred by the USPS, and a rate increase is justified. This difference has been made up by individual postal customers, which is all of us.

In fairness to the Southeast Missourian, many of the financial problems facing the USPS are due to huge discounts granted to large-volume mailers. These losses are also made up by individuals.

No one likes to see postal rates increase, whether it be newspaper publishers or individual customers. However, if the readers of the Southeast Missourian contact their elected officials or the Postal Regulatory Commission, they should do so after having the opportunity to review all the facts.

Sadly, the Southeast Missourian has not reported all the facts the public should know, and even more unfortunate is the fact that so much of the blame is placed on high labor costs. Although it may not be the intention of your newspaper, these claims reflect negatively on the postal work force, which is struggling to do more with less.

Even though there has been a significant drop in mail volume, this reduction is far less than the reduction of personnel. Additionally, there has been an increase of 18 million addresses in recent years.

Postal workers work hard to ensure all mail, including your newspaper, is delivered correctly and in a timely manner.

I would hope that further editorial comment would be more comprehensive in reporting the facts and not unfairly malign the men and women who perform what has become an increasingly difficult task.

Greg Davidson is the president of American Postal Workers Union Cape Girardeau Area Local 4088.