Olympia,
Washington Consolidation Information |
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On this page:
-
Olympia, Tacoma and Everett Mail May Move to Seattle
- Members of
Congress Criticize Postal Service
- Time
Warner, Big Corporate Mailers Getting Nervous
- The Olympian: A Failure to Report
-
Postal Service Consolidation Plans Will Benefit Big Mailers at Expense
of Citizens
-
Postal Service
Seeking to Reduce Service as Part of Consolidation Plan - Postal Rate Commission Pre-Hearing Set for March 24th
- USPS
Seeks Advisory Opinion From PRC
- Olympia
Song
-
Postal Service Suppresses Article Praising Olympia Workers
-
Release 11/12/05
-
Release 11/09/05
-
Release 11/07/05
Also see: Why the Union Opposes the Olympia
Consolidation (Word .doc) | Olympia Study
Notes (PDF) | Olympia Study
(PDF) | Congressmen Baird and
Smith Letter to PMG (PDF) |
USPS Responds to Baird / Smith Letter to PMG (PDF) |
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Olympia Local
American Postal
Workers Union
Olympia,
Tacoma and Everett Mail May Move to Seattle
Yakima and Wenatchee
(and probably Pasco) Mail to Spokane
Postal Service
Planned Move Without Informing the Public
For Immediate Release
8/8/06 Contact Clint Burelson,
President 360-970-2965
Statement by Clint
Burelson, President
There are plenty of
problems with the Postal Service decision to move the cancellation,
postmark and sorting of the outgoing mail from Olympia to Tacoma.
But now the Postal Service has admitted that they have possible
plans to sort the outgoing Olympia and Tacoma mail in Seattle, which
will further increase the problems.
Moreover, the Postal
Service had plans at least a year ago to move all the outgoing mail to
Seattle, yet the Postal Service did not reveal this information at the
time the Olympia consolidation was announced in November of 2005. The
information about the eventual sorting in Seattle was only released by
the Postal Service after cross-examination in a Postal Rate Commission (PRC)
case addressing the Postal Service consolidation efforts across the
country (Docket #N2006-1).
Under
cross-examination from a lawyer with the Office of Consumer Advocate, a
government agency of the Postal Rate Commission, a Postal Service
witness acknowledged possible consolidations planned last year, but not
shared with the public. The Postal Service provided
a list of 139 potential consolidations a few days later on July 25 as
part of their response to the cross-examination. The
list included Olympia going to Tacoma and Tacoma going to Seattle.
The list from last
year also included a transfer of the Everett mail to Seattle and of the
Yakima and Wenatchee mail to Spokane. The Postal
Service has plans to essentially consolidate and sort all of the
outgoing mail in Washington in just two sites, Seattle and Spokane.
Outgoing mail is the mail that local residents give to their
carrier, put in collection boxes and mail at Post Offices.
Olympia, Tacoma, and Everett handle the mail for many of the
outlying communities in their respective areas. The
outgoing mail currently worked in the Olympia Plant is mail from
residents in Thurston, Lewis, Mason, Grays Harbor, and Pacific counties.
The list of 139
potential consolidations released by the Postal Service is not a
complete list of the planned changes. According to
the National Association of Postal Supervisors, the Postal Service has
“projected the elimination of as many as 250 mail processing centers by
the time the network redesign effort is completed.”
The USPS plan is to have just a few hubs across the country to handle
the outgoing mail. It is possible that many
facilities including the Olympia Plant could be closed completely.
The Postal Service has also quietly been closing smaller post
offices and removing collection boxes from the streets.
The Postal Service
has been very secretive about their plans because of the opposition it
fears from citizens who rightfully do not want to see a reduction in
mail service to their communities. The Postal
Service put all but 10 consolidations on hold pending the outcome of the
Postal Rate Commission case. By putting
consolidations on hold and not identifying their future consolidation
plans in detail, the Postal Service benefits by reducing the amount of
public exposure and opposition it receives to their plans while the
Postal Rate Commission hears the case. If the Postal
Rate Commission allows the Postal Service to delay the mail as part of
the consolidation process, the Postal Service will be free to
consolidate everywhere, including the places they have previously put on
hold or even canceled.
The Postal Service
has plans in place to sort the Olympia and Tacoma mail in Seattle and
the Yakima and Wenatchee (and probably Pasco) mail in Spokane.
However, the Postal Service did not disclose that information to
the public in the beginning and instead just named the first step, which
was the move of the Olympia mail to Tacoma and the Yakima mail to Pasco.
The Postal Service
has repeatedly misled the community about their plans, about the
reductions in mail service, and about alleged improvements in efficiency
or savings associated with the consolidations.
Despite the Postal Service attempts to act like a business, the Postal
Service is still a public institution and must be open, accountable, and
acting in the public interest. The union contends
that the secrecy together with the misleading and false information
coming from the Postal Service is a sure sign that the consolidations
will not benefit the public.
Although a Postal
Service expert witness incorrectly testified that the Olympia
consolidation had already been implemented, the move of the
cancellation, postmark and sorting of the outgoing mail from Olympia to
Tacoma is not scheduled to be completed until the end of September.
The transfer of the Olympia mail to Tacoma should be stopped
immediately until the Postal Service can be trusted to provide full and
accurate information regarding their plans for the Olympia mail.
In addition to the
reduction in service associated with the consolidation, the move is so
inefficient that the plans call for 15 new employees to be hired in
Tacoma. Although the new hires are part of the
consolidation plan, the costs of the new employees were not included in
the calculations of the costs and benefits. The
alleged savings claimed by the USPS is therefore inaccurate.
As postal workers, we
have plenty of experience in dealing with the Postal Service.
We frequently have to fight Postal Service plans that adversely
affect workers and service to the community. While
the Postal Service may be big and powerful, postal workers are often
able to make the Postal Service adhere to legal and contractual
regulations and be a better public institution by making our case in a
persistent fashion and utilizing all the options available to us.
Our national union is the most active organization fighting
against the Postal Service’s consolidation plans.
However, the union
cannot win this fight alone. Residents, businesses,
consumer organizations and government representatives should do
everything within their power to stop the Postal Service’s consolidation
plans and the resulting reduction in mail service to the communities
they represent. Expressing opposition to the
consolidation plans by contacting the Postal Rate Commission, the Postal
Service, federal representatives and President George Bush would be a
good start.
For more information
contact: Clint Burelson, president of the Olympia Local of the American
Postal Workers Union at clintburelson@comcast.net or 360-970-2965.
A copy of the list of mail facilities considered for
consolidation referred to above can be found at http://www.prc.gov/docs/51/51193/Ans.Homework.APWU.Tr.3.566.pdf
Action Needed
Individuals,
organizations, and small businesses are encouraged to write or contact
the Postal Rate Commission and express their opposition to any reduction
in mail service. A sample letter could look like
this:
Postal Rate
Commission
901 New York Avenue,
NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20268
Subject: Docket
N2006-1 – Mail Consolidations
Dear Commissioners,
I am requesting that
the Postal Rate Commission issue an advisory opinion against the Postal
Service request to consolidate mail facilities and reduce service to the
country. (Additional comments are optional)
Sincerely,
Jane Citizen
Other options to
contact PRC are:
Phone: 202-789-6800
FAX: 202-789-6886
Internet: “Contact
Us” form at www.prc.gov |
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Olympia Local
American
Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO
Members of
Congress Criticize Postal Service
for Lack of
Openness and Fairness in Consolidation Process
19
Members of Congress Ask GAO to Determine if USPS Consolidation Plans are
in Line with Previous GAO Recommendations
For Immediate Release
5/3/06 Contact Clint Burelson,
President 360-970-2965
Statement by Clint
Burelson, President
In a letter dated,
May 1, 2006, 19 members of Congress expressed serious concerns about the
way in which the Postal Service is proceeding in its consolidation plans
and asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to determine if the
USPS consolidation plans are in line with previous GAO recommendations
regarding the consolidation process. The members of
Congress join other top Senators and House members who have made
previous similar requests to the GAO.
The letter from the
19 members of Congress stated,
“Although GAO
recommended that USPS improve its efforts to keep stakeholders informed,
our communities affected by current plans to consolidate mail processing
plants have told us that they have not been adequately informed about
the Postal Service’s plans, the extent to which the Postal Service
proposed to analyze plant performance and make realignment decisions, or
the potential impacts on these communities.
While we recognize
that USPS may need to consolidate its facilities due to various factors
including excess capacity in some area, modernization of equipment, and
changes in the type of mail being processed, we have some serious
concerns about the way in which USPS is carrying out this realignment.
We do not believe that USPS is following the recommendations made
in GAO’s 2005 report, U.S. Postal Service: The Service’s Strategy for
Realigning its Mail Processing Infrastructure Lacks Clarity, Criteria,
and Accountability, which recommended that USPS establish criteria,
inform stakeholders as decisions are made, and evaluate and measure the
outcomes of realigning these plants including the costs and savings that
result. While USPS may contend that the Area Mail
Processing (AMP) study adequately responds to these recommendations, we
continue to have concerns over the AMP study process as a tool to
determine the feasibility of consolidations and its ability to make
transparent the effects on mail delivery, cost-savings, and concerns of
stakeholders.
Therefore, in line
with the previously submitted requests, we are asking that GAO follow up
on its report and determine:
o
What criteria is USPS
using to analyze these plants?
o
How does it plan to
communicate these criteria to affected parties?
o
How does USPS’s
overall communication strategy target the appropriate affected parties
and does it provide sufficient information throughout the process?
o
How does USPS plan to
measure the effects of realignment including costs incurred and savings
realized?”
The letter is signed
by the following members of Congress: Brian Baird, Xavier Becerra,
Marion Berry, Sherwood Boehlert, Jerry Costello, Susan Davis, Lloyd
Doggett, Chet Edwards, Barney Frank, Stephanie Herseth, Rush Holt, Ron
Kind, Dennis Moore, Ted Poe, Bernie Sanders, Adam Schiff, Christopher
Shays, John Shimkus, and Adam Smith.
The letter from the
members of Congress is very similar to the March 27th, 2006
letter to the GAO from Senators Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman and
House members Tom Davis, and Henry Waxman, who are the top Government
Affairs/Reform committee members in the House and Senate respectively.
In January of 2006, Senator Tom Harkin first requested the GAO
follow up on its previous report on the USPS consolidation process.
Previous GAO Report
Criticized USPS for Lack of Openness and Fairness
In April of 2005, the
GAO after studying the USPS consolidation process, issued a report,
U.S. Postal Service: The Service’s Strategy for Realigning its Mail
Processing Infrastructure Lacks Clarity, Criteria, and Accountability,
which as the title implies, severely criticized the Postal Service for
it’s lack of openness and fairness in handling consolidations.
The Executive Summary in the GAO report stated,
“the Service’s
strategy is not sufficiently transparent and accountable, excludes
stakeholder input, and lacks performance measures for results of
decisions. The Service’s limited communication makes it difficult for
customers to work with the Service to achieve a least-cost network for
the entire mailing industry, for Service employees to understand how
they may be affected, for communities to understand how they will be
affected, and for Members of Congress to explain to their constituents
what the Service is planning to do.”
In response to the
GAO investigation in 2005, Patrick R. Donahue, the Chief Operating
Officer and Executive Vice President of the Postal Service wrote to the
GAO in a letter dated 3/18/05,
“The decision to
consider an AMP consolidation begins at the local management level, with
input from and concern for the views, needs and wishes of stakeholders
on the local business community, mailers, employees and their union
representatives, and local elected officials.”
However, despite
Donahue’s statement, reports from the consolidated offices indicate that
recent decisions to consider an AMP consolidation did not begin at the
local management level and the decision did not begin with input from
local stakeholders. Community members in various
parts of the country have similarly expressed the view that they were
not adequately informed of the USPS consolidation plans for the local
mail facility and the “needs and wishes” of community members were not
even solicited, much less considered.
USPS Secretive About
Consolidations Plans to Avoid Community Resistance
The GAO previously
reported the USPS explanation as to why it did not want to be open with
the community when conducting consolidations. The April 2005 GAO report
stated,
“The Service has
stated that it is reluctant to publicly disclose information on its
realignment strategy because it believes that it will meet with
resistance from employees, communities, and government representatives
if it tells them what it is planning on doing too far in advance.”
The community
resistance to unwarranted consolidations is a normal and healthy
reaction to the reduction in mail service associated with the way the
USPS is currently handling consolidations. USPS
consolidations should improve service, not reduce service.
Make Your Views Known
to the Postal Rate Commission
The USPS is currently
seeking an advisory opinion from the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) to see
if their plans to reduce service as part of the consolidation process
violate the law, which requires prompt service to all communities.
Many consolidations across the country are on hold pending the
outcome of this case. Individuals and organizations
are encouraged to request that the PRC decide against the Postal Service
and any reduction in service by contacting the PRC at:
Postal Rate
Commission
901 New York Avenue,
NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20268
Or “Contact Us” form
at www.prc.gov
Or Fax 202-789-6886
For
more information contact: Clint Burelson - clintburelson@comcast.net or
360-970-2965 |
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Olympia Local
American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO
Time
Warner, Big Corporate Mailers Getting Nervous
About Public Resistance to Mail
Consolidation Plans
For Immediate Release
4/12/06 Contact Clint Burelson,
President 360-970-2965
Statement by Clint
Burelson, President
Union and community
resistance to Postal Service consolidation plans are making big
corporate mailers such as Time Warner nervous.
Through informational pickets, press releases, and visits to government
representatives, postal workers have been educating the public that mail
consolidation plans will benefit the big advertising mailers at the
expense of citizens. For Time Warner and other
corporate media, the union contention that corporate media are not
adequately covering the story because of their corporate interests is
especially troublesome.
The Postal Service,
urged on by big advertising mailers like Time Warner, plans to close or
consolidate mail processing facilities or mail processing functions,
usually the outgoing mail, into large regional hubs spread sparsely
throughout the country. In some cases, the mail will
travel over 100 miles before coming back to the original town for
delivery. The Postal Service acknowledges that First
Class mail will be delayed as a result of the consolidations, but argues
that alleged savings justify the reduction in service.
The union has used the USPS’s own documents to show that there
will be little if any savings.
The plans to
consolidate mail processing facilities originated and/or are supported
by the large mailers because it will reduce the number of sites where
they need to drop off their mail and is expected to provide additional
discounts associated with contracting out postal work as an
ever-increasing volume of mail processing is contracted out.
This privatization of the Postal Service means that much of the
work formerly performed by postal workers making a living wage is now
performed by private sector workers making little more than minimum
wage. The big mailers have pocketed the difference
in wages and are looking for more.
In addition, as part
of their business, the large advertising mailers generally do not send
their mail from mail boxes and are comfortable with reducing service to
those that do in order to get benefits for themselves.
Consolidation is
therefore a big and significant step in the direction of what Time
Warner calls “deaveraging” the costs. Time Warner
and other corporations want to bring “market principles” into the Postal
Service. Currently, “family or community
principles,” although diminished, still prevail somewhat.
For example, the cost of sending a letter across town helps cover
the cost of sending a letter across the country. The
costs are averaged out so that the system is affordable for everyone,
everywhere.
Corporate mailers
want to see the USPS increase service and decrease rates to the high
volume corporate mailers and decrease service and increase rates for the
individual and small mailers. This will make it
harder for individuals and non-profit organizations to conduct their
business and express their views at affordable rates.
Reducing service to
the public, as in consolidation, is another way of putting “market
principles” into what should be a public service.
This strategy of reducing service to the general public is familiar for
members of the community who have witnessed the seemingly deliberate
short staffing of counter help at the Post Office and the signs
directing customers to contract stations.
Large corporate
advertising mailers have been pushing for the mail consolidation plans
for several years. The plans progressed slowly at
first, but the Postal Service started implementing their consolidation
plans in blitz-like fashion in late 2005. Nine
facilities were targeted on one day and since then over forty more
facilities have been targeted for consolidation.
The union contended
that the significant cuts in mail service warranted a public discussion
on the matter. The Postal Service wanted to quickly
consolidate facilities without any public input or oversight.
Finally, the Postal Service acknowledged that the reductions in
service were nationwide and therefore, as required, requested an
advisory opinion with the Postal Rate Commission (PRC).
The PRC will determine if the USPS plans violate the Postal
Reorganization Act, which requires prompt service to all communities.
Although the case is
now before the PRC and although postal workers have mobilized the
communities in many of the towns where consolidation is taking place, a
public discussion on the significant changes to the Postal Service has
not taken place. At this time,
the story of how large corporations are
benefiting and the average citizen losing in the Postal Service
consolidation plans is not being adequately covered by the corporate
media. This is because many of the large mailers,
like Time Warner, who will benefit from the consolidation plans are also
the large media corporations that provide most of the news to the
country.
Other large mailers are also keeping quiet
on the issue in order that the consolidation plans are accomplished
without any attention. In an article on 3/24/6,
titled, “Some Mailers Complaining (Quietly) of
Slow USPS Service,” on www.multimerchant.com, it was reported that
consolidation is resulting in the delay of mail even for some large
mailers. The article states that mailers are quietly
and anonymously complaining about the delay and explains why,
“Why
are mailers insisting on anonymity? One source says that mailers don’t
want to draw too much attention to the problem because they want to see
the Postal Service’s network consolidation succeed.”
The Postal Service
recently reiterated their request for cooperation from the large mailers
and reminded the mailers of the benefits to them.
Postmaster General John Potter, giving the keynote address to the big
mailers on 4/3/2006 at the National Postal Forum, stated,
“Second,
we need the industry's cooperation as we streamline our networks --
whether it's our transportation networks or our processing networks…From
your standpoint, it will mean fewer places to drop your mailings and
enable you to maximize worksharing discounts. This is not something that
will happen overnight. Rather, it will be an evolutionary process that
will enable all of us to transition smoothly.”
On the same day, the
Postal Service sent a letter stating that they were putting on hold
studies planned for five different mail processing facilities.
Although the USPS did not provide a specific reason for the
change, many think that the USPS and the big mailers don’t want to see
any more pickets and community opposition to their consolidation plans
while it is being decided by the PRC.
The nervousness of
the large mailers to public resistance of their plans was revealed
dramatically on 4/7/6 when Time Warner took the unusual step of publicly
responding to a small local union press release titled “Postal Service
Consolidation Plans Will Benefit Big Mailers at the Expense of
Citizens.” Jim O’Brien, a vice president at Time
Warner wrote the article, which had the somewhat reactionary title of
“You Are Wrong!” O’Brien, although not disclosed in
the article, is a Time Warner representative in the PRC case regarding
the reduction in service. If one takes the time to
dissect his response, Time Warner does not come across very well.
Union members and
community activists are pointing to the Postal Rate Commission case,
Docket N2006-1, as one place where public attention should be directed.
Time Warner and other big mailers are participating in the case
and advocating their corporate interests. However,
anyone can submit comments to the PRC on the issue of reducing service
to the public. Government representatives are
especially being encouraged to defend the public interest and write to
the PRC.
Union members plan to
continue to educate the public as to how big mailers will benefit with
consolidation at the expense of everyone else and will press the point
that big mailers like Time Warner are not adequately covering this story
because of their corporate interests.
Time Warner, the
Newspaper Association of America (another participant in the PRC case)
and other big mailers that are also part of the corporate media have to
be nervous that their image and hence their influence could be quickly
destroyed if the average citizen realizes that information from
corporate-owned media is not neutral, objective, fair or balanced.
Once people realize
that corporate-owned media reflects the bias and views of its owners and
the owners of the corporations that advertise with them, corporate
control of public discussion will be significantly eroded.
With a more democratic media we will have a more democratic
government.
People would then
react to corporate media such as Time Warner in a manner similar to when
they hear something from their boss. They will
listen, but understand that it is the boss’s view and that his interests
may be significantly different from their own.
For more information
contact: Clint Burelson - clintburelson@comcast.net or 360-970-2965
###
Additional
Information
The Postal Rate
Commission is handling the case (Docket N2006-1) to determine if the
USPS consolidation plans to reduce service violate the law, which
requires prompt service to the public. The PRC web
site has all the documents submitted and is updated daily.
Individuals and organization can request the PRC decide against
the Postal Service and any reduction in service by contacting the PRC
at:
Postal Rate
Commission
901 New York Avenue,
NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20268
Phone 202-789-6800
Fax 202-789-6886,
“Contact Us” form at
www.prc.gov |
|
Olympia Local
American Postal Workers Union
Letter to the Editor
The Olympian:
A Failure to Report
For Immediate Release
4/5/06 Clint
Burelson, President (360) 970-2965
Statement by Clint
Burelson, President
The Olympian’s
editorial, “Let the Postmark Go,” and its articles concerning mail
consolidation failed to report important information relevant to the
issue of mail consolidation in general and the Olympia consolidation in
particular.
First, The Olympian failed to
disclose their owners’ corporate involvement regarding mail
consolidation. The recent owners of The Olympian,
Gannett, followed briefly by Knight Ridder and currently The McClatchy
Company, are all members of the Newspaper Association of America (NAA),
which represents nearly 90% of the daily newspaper circulation in
the US. The NAA
submitted comments to a Postal Reform committee of Congress on 2/11/04,
which stated, “NAA
supports providing the United States Postal Service (USPS) with the
operational flexibility to close, consolidate or relocate postal
distribution and processing facilities.”
Not all corporate
mailers are completely happy with the plans. Netflix,
bankers, and other businesses that rely upon First-Class mail will be
adversely affected with the delay in the mail.
Apparently, the NAA and
the large advertising mailers believe the benefits of consolidation for
them outweigh any costs to others. Corporate mailer
consolidation plans have already been made clear to congress.
Gary Pruitt, the CEO of McClatchy, while testifying for the NAA,
on 4/4/03, stated, “It would be extremely disappointing and
counterproductive if the Postal Service were unable to implement changes
in its distribution network because of congressional intervention.”
Other corporate mailers have warned members of Congress with
similar messages. What member of Congress wants to
disappoint the large corporate-owned newspaper chains and other powerful
media that have significant influence in elections?
Second, contrary to
The Olympian’s claim that nothing that can be done to stop
consolidation, the issue is far from over. The laws
regulating the USPS mandate prompt service to all communities.
The Olympian failed to report that the consolidation issue
is now before the Postal Rate Commission (PRC), which will hold hearings
on whether the nationwide service reductions associated with the
consolidations - planned throughout the country - violate that law.
The public can submit comments protesting the reduction in mail
service and therefore influence the decision of the PRC.
In fact, the NAA is a formal participant in the case, which again
The Olympian failed to disclose.
Third, The Olympian acknowledges that
a one-day delay in the mail will cause significant problems for the
community, but suggests hope that mail will not be delayed.
However, The Olympian failed to report evidence that
showed mail would be delayed, including a USPS newsbreak, which
stated that after the transfer of mail from Olympia to Tacoma takes
place, “current cost pressures make the protection of
all overnight and/or two day service commitments for the consolidated
office (Olympia) impractical.” This will also reduce service to all the
985 areas that Olympia now serves.
Furthermore, the USPS
case is before the PRC precisely because the USPS acknowledges a
nationwide delay in the mail for many parts of the country because of
the consolidations. The case would not be before the PRC if nationwide
service reductions were not involved.
Fourth, The
Olympian failed to report evidence that the USPS claims of savings
associated with the consolidation were misleading at best and fraudulent
at worst. For example, USPS documents reveal that USPS claims of
savings were based mainly on cutting employees off the rolls in
Olympia. However, the USPS will still be paying their salaries
elsewhere. Moreover, the USPS did not count the costs for 15 new
employees scheduled to be hired in Tacoma or the 2 new employees
inexplicably scheduled to be hired in Olympia.
The evidence from the
USPS shows the transfer of the mail to Tacoma will cause mail to be
delayed and will not save an alleged 1.2 million dollars. Indeed,
counting all costs, it will be most likely more expensive to process the
mail in Tacoma. The Olympian had the USPS documents necessary to
report important facts regarding mail service to the public, but failed
to do so.
Fifth, in the union’s
last press release, we pointed out that Postal Service plans are
benefiting big advertising mailers at the expense of everyone else.
The Olympian could have reported this part of the issue as
well. After all, Gary Pruitt, the CEO of McClatchy,
providing further testimony on 4/4/03, stated, “The Postal Service has
used revenues obtained through the excessive First-Class rates and
captive monopoly customers to finance disproportionately low bulk
advertising mail rates…”
The large corporate
advertising mailers have successfully lobbied in the past so that the
public pays disproportionately more for First-Class mail, while
corporations pay disproportionately less for their advertising.
Now, the corporate mailers are pushing the Postal Service to
consolidate mail facilities, which will reduce service to the
First-Class users as well as having them pay an even greater share of
the cost.
Ultimately, corporate
mailers want to see the USPS increase service and decrease rates to the
corporate mailers and decrease service and increase rates for the
individual and small mailers. This will make it
harder for individuals and non-profit organizations to express their
views at affordable rates. Not everyone can afford
to own a daily newspaper or a television station.
Affordable rates for small mailers have historically supported a wide
expression of views, some of which are decidedly anti-corporate.
Finally, it would
have been useful if The Olympian also disclosed that the NAA
supports “worksharing,” in the Post Office.
“Worksharing” is a deceptive, Orwellian, corporate word for contracting
out postal work to the private sector. The discounts
to the corporate mailers for presorting, barcoding and transporting the
mail have turned union jobs with living wages, job security, medical
care, and retirement benefits into non-union jobs, with low wages, no
job security, and little or no medical care and retirement.
The owners of the corporate mailing companies have pocketed the
difference in the wages and benefits as part of the “income transfer.”
Governments have to then cover medical care, school lunches and
other costs for the underpaid private sectors workers.
The large mailers are seeking more postal work and income through
mail consolidations.
Most consolidations
across the country are now on hold pending the outcome of the Postal
Rate Commission decision. The decision in the PRC
case may determine mail service to many communities throughout the
country. A public conversation should take place on
the issue. Corporate newspaper chains like McClatchy
and other large corporate media like Time Warner (another participant in
the case), apparently believe that the conversation should take place
behind closed doors, among themselves and a few government officials,
without general public input.
The public has a
right to relevant information concerning mail consolidation so they can
participate as informed citizens. This will be
difficult as long as we have corporate-owned media, with vested
interests like The Olympian, and Time Warner, determining what
stories get told and how.
I don’t mind a
corporate newspaper presenting their views on an issue, but it should
not hide its corporate interests, fail to report important information,
or pretend it is a community paper representing the public interest.
Sincerely,
Clint Burelson,
President
Olympia Local
American Postal
Workers Union, AFL-CIO |
|
Olympia Local
American Postal Workers Union
Postal Service Consolidation Plans Will Benefit Big Mailers
At Expense of Citizens
Informational Picket to Protest
Reduction of Mail Service
Wednesday, 3/22/06 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
For Immediate
Release 3/20/6 Contact Clint
Burelson, President 360-970-2965
Statement by Clint Burelson, President
The
United States Postal Service is reducing service to many
communities by consolidating mail canceling and sorting operations
into just a few large hubs. The proposal to discontinue canceling mail
in Olympia, and to move many mail operations to Tacoma on April 3rd,
is part of a larger national restructuring where as many as 250 mail
processing facilities may be closed and consolidated. These
consolidation plans will benefit the big mailers at the expense of
citizens, non-profit organizations, small businesses, and
businesses of any size that require fast mail service to and from
their customers.
Large
advertising based mailers such as AOL Time Warner (People magazine,
etc.) plan to benefit from the consolidations by obtaining huge
discounts for taking more work away from the USPS. At the same time,
the big mailers want the average citizen and small mailers to receive
less service or pay more for the same service.
It is a
common understanding that the Postal Service provides first class mail
service at the same rates to citizens wherever they live and however
far their mail has to travel. The relatively low cost of
mailing a letter to someone in the same town helps to balance the more
expensive cost of mailing a letter to the other side of the country.
This type of system makes it affordable for everyone and insures that
everyone can correspond equally throughout the United States via the
Postal Service.
However,
out of public view, large mailers have lobbied and have been
successful in securing discounts for their advertising based mailings
through “worksharing,” which is what the USPS and large mailers call
the process by which mailers perform the functions such as applying
barcodes, sorting, and trucking that would otherwise be performed by
the Postal Service. Through “worksharing,” the large mailers pay
less than the regular citizen for using the mail. The “worksharing”
discounts have been so large, in excess of the savings to the USPS,
that it has caused the Postal Service to have continuous
revenue problems and for rates for the small mailers and citizens to
rise unnecessarily in order to pay for the discounts to the big
mailers.
The large mailers
are pushing to pay even less of their fair share of the costs of
universal postal service. In documents submitted
to the President’s Commission on the Postal Service, the large mailers
indicate that regular citizens should have to pay more or receive
reduced service because they are not as efficient as the large mailers
in their mailings.
In their submission
to the President’s Commission, AOL Time Warner stated,
“Rates should be deaveraged and unbundled
to reflect actual USPS costs of providing service.”
AOL Time Warner and
other large mailers argue that local mailings should not have to
subsidize the more distant mailings or that the “efficient” high
volume mailings should not have to subsidize the small “inefficient”
mailings of small organizations or the general public.
With the Postal
Service consolidation plans, which began as the large mailer plans,
the large mailers are hoping to capture more postal work and discounts
by eliminating and/or consolidating as many as 250 mail processing
facilities across the country. So, instead of
processing the local originating mail locally, mail will
be trucked miles away to be processed before returning to the same
town for delivery. Not only is this more costly in terms of
fuel and work time, it also results in delays in first class mail
service. This design is inherently inefficient and
benefits only large advertising based corporations able to take
advantage of the discounts.
In general, the
large mailers want as much of the Postal Service work turned over to
the private sector as possible. In theory, the
discounts they get simply reflect the work they have done to sort the
mail. But the mail from the big mailers still needs to be processed,
sorted, and delivered with the rest of the mail. The discounts awarded
are far deeper than the costs the publishers have “saved” the Postal
Service. In reality, they amount to a subsidy for big mailers – a
subsidy paid for by the average stamp buyer.
The excessive
discounts for the large mailers have reduced the Postal Service role
and dramatically increased the private sector role in the mailing
industry. The CEO of RR Donnelley Logistics, a
large mailing company, in testimony to the President’s Commission on
the Postal Service, stated,
“You have already heard that the mailing industry is a
$900 billion industry employing 9 million US citizens. If we then
think about the role the USPS plays in supporting the mailing public,
these figures imply that the USPS makes up less than 10% of the
mailing industry. That 10% share includes both upstream processing and
transportation functions, which can be outsourced, and the Postal
Service's unrivaled delivery capability...which cannot.”
Corporate speakers
laud a reduction of the Postal Service budget as a savings to the
public, but in reality it is a transfer of work and income to the
corporations. The corporations generally have this
work performed by workers who are paid far less than postal workers,
so the process destroys good jobs and replaces them with low wage
ones.
The big mailers hope
to secure this arrangement by the closing and consolidation of mail
processing facilities, which will make it difficult to return mail
processing functions to the Post Office. The
Postal Service is also closing small post offices.
In fact, over 200 small post offices have been closed in the last 2
years.
Large advertising
based mailers will benefit from the Postal Service plans.
For the average citizen however, the Postal Service
consolidation plans mean a reduction in mail service, higher costs for
the reduced service, and a loss of union covered living wage job
opportunities. The loss of living wage jobs will
hurt our communities in turn.
The reduction in
mail service and higher cost for using the Post Office will also mean
a reduction in equality and will harm small business owners and
non-profit organizations. Many small non-profit
organization and small businesses will find it increasingly difficult
to use the mail for their communication needs if the service is slow
and expensive. In the magazine business, the big
mailers like Time Warner will be better able to discourage competition
if the smaller mailers have to pay more for their mailings.
Perhaps most
importantly, the plans to dismantle the Post Office will mean a
reduction in democracy. Higher costs for small
mailings will reduce the ability of citizens to communicate through
the mail. Corporate
media, no matter how many channels, is still corporate media.
A real democracy needs to provide support for the voice of the
regular citizen. The Postal Service is one place
that historically has provided that support.
The large mailer
response to the loss of the small mailings is that people can always
use the internet. AOL Time Warner (an internet
provider), not surprisingly, has been especially vocal on this
argument.
If that’s the case,
then why don’t they take their own advice? Because catalogs and
magazines are easier to browse and read in print form, and because
products can’t be sent through the internet. Small
businesses, non-profit organizations, and regular citizens deserve
services and rates equal to those that big business can get, at least
from our public institutions.
Moreover, not
everyone can afford a computer, internet service, and the time it
takes to keep it working properly. The cost of
internet access prevents many people from accessing information and
participating in our democracy. The Postal Service
rate structure was historically designed to encourage the sharing of
information at affordable rates to nurture a democratic culture.
The Postal Service is too important to our country to have it
be taken over, as have mostly all other media, by “market” principles,
which invariably leads to corporate control.
USPS Consolidation Plans Not Receiving
Adequate Media Coverage Because Corporate Owned Media Benefit by USPS
Plans
The story of how large corporations are
benefiting and the average citizen losing in the Postal Service
consolidation plans are not being adequately covered by the corporate
media because many of the large mailers who will benefit from the
consolidation plans are also the large media corporations that provide
most of the news to the country. AOL Time Warner,
which owns CNN and many other media sources of information, argues for
the “de-averaging” of postal costs and supports the consolidations
plans. Newsweek, Reader’s Digest, and other large
media mailers also support consolidation and cannot be expected to
tell the story from the general public’s viewpoint.
Use Your Voice
The Postal Rate Commission is holding a
pre-hearing on March 24th in a case that will determine if
the Postal Service plans for a reduction violates the Postal
Reorganization Act, which requires that the Postal Service provide
prompt service to the public.
Individuals can submit their views on the
matter in letters to the Commission (901 New York Avenue, NW, Suite
200, Washington, DC 20268), through the use of the
“Contact Us” form on the Commission web site and by calling the
Commission at 202-789-6800 for by faxing to 202-789-6866. The docket
number is N2006-1 and all the documents can be viewed and/or
downloaded at the Postal Rate Commission web site at
www.prc.gov
Informational Picket
The Olympia Local of the American Postal
Workers Union will be holding an informational picket on Wednesday,
March 22, 2006 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Olympia Downtown Post
Office located at 900 Jefferson Street in Olympia, Washington.
The informational picket is to protest the Postal Service plans
to close and consolidate mail processing facilities across the country
and reduce mail service as a result. The community
is invited to join us in our efforts. Please note
that the date is a change from the original date reported.
The date was changed so that union members could pay their
respects to Art Anderson, a union brother and good friend whose
funeral is on Tuesday.
Concerned citizens and organizations
should also contact their government representatives to advocate on
their behalf. If enough people are vocal, the
consolidation plans and reduction in service can be stopped and the
Postal Service returned to its role as a public service.
More Information Online
Big mailer comments on deaveraging,
worksharing, consolidation and other postal issues can be viewed at
http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/usps/comments
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Olympia Local
American Postal Workers Union
PO Box 1953, Olympia WA 98507
Postal Service
Seeking to Reduce Service as Part of Consolidation Plan
Postal Rate
Commission Pre-Hearing Set for March 24th
For Immediate
Release 3/13/06 Contact Clint
Burelson, President 360-970-2965
Statement by
Clint Burelson, President
The Postal
Service is seeking to significantly reduce mail service to the public as
part of its plan to close and consolidate mail facilities across the
country. The Postal Service has submitted a request
for an advisory opinion to the Postal Rate Commission, which is charged
with ensuring that the Postal Service adheres to the Postal
Reorganization Act. The law requires that the USPS
provide prompt service to the public. A pre-hearing
on the issue is scheduled for March 24 in Washington, DC.
In
order to get around the likelihood that a service reduction would
violate the Postal Reorganization Act, the Postal Service is arguing
that requirements in the Postal Reorganization Act for prompt service
must be balanced with instructions to be economical.
The Postal Service will be trying to sell a planned reduction in service
across the country in exchange for alleged cost savings.
However, if the Olympia consolidation plan is any indication, the
public will lose service
and have higher costs.
In addition, the Olympia case demonstrates that the Postal
Service cannot be trusted to be truthful regarding the benefits and
costs of the consolidations.
In the Olympia
consolidation worksheets, the Postal Service claimed there would be no
reduction in service. However, an official Postal Service newsbreak
provided to employees stated,
“current
cost pressures make the protection of all overnight and/or two day
service commitments for the consolidated office impractical.”
And in the
official “Executive Brief” of the Olympia consolidation study, which the
union had to file an unfair labor practice charge to obtain, it states,
“Adjustments to current receipt and clearance times of State agency mail
would be necessary to provide the Tacoma P&DC the mail flow necessary to
give them a chance of operational success. Express Mail, collection box
pick up times, and Associate Office retail hours will need to be pushed
back in many 985 units to account for the additional transportation time
required to process volumes in Tacoma.”
In
addition to the Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater area, the affected Post Offices
would include Aberdeen (98520), Shelton (98584), Chehalis (98532), etc.,
and approximately 60 other Post Offices in Thurston, Lewis, Grays
Harbor, Mason, and Pacific Counties.
Because of
earlier cut off times for the additional transportation, state agencies,
businesses and organizations that do large discounted mailings will be
faced with the unpleasant choice of paying extra postage or delaying the
mail if they don’t meet the earlier cut off time. As
reported in a 11/4/05 article in The Olympian, Consolidated Mail,
a Washington State agency, has predicted a cost of approximately $2
million if the proposal to transfer the mail goes through.
This cost will ultimately be paid by everyone in the state and
was not included in USPS calculations.
For the average
citizen, a delay in mail service could mean a delay in receiving
medicine, income checks, and other important business and legal
correspondence. A delay in mail service could also
result in financial penalties to citizens for late property tax
payments, IRS payments, credit card bills, and other payments.
In addition, Washington State residents vote by mail and all
ballots must be postmarked by Election Day. If the
postmark is not applied in a timely manner, then ballots would be
invalidated and a person’s vote would not be counted.
Other Post
Offices in Washington State and the country will be affected if the
Postal Service’s consolidation plan is allowed to continue.
The Postal Service request indicates that the reduction in
service will be “implemented incrementally” as they consolidate mail
facilities across the country. According to the
National Association of Postal Supervisors, the Postal Service has
“projected the elimination of as many as 250 mail processing centers by
the time the network redesign effort is completed.”
The Postal Service plans to eliminate facilities and transfer or
“consolidate” the mail to fewer and larger facilities, which will result
in further distances of travel and therefore a reduction in service.
The Postal Service also plans on closing smaller Post Offices.
Over 200 small Post Offices have been closed in the last 4 years.
As the Olympia case
indicates, the USPS cannot be trusted when it says service will not be
impacted. Similarly, the Olympia case also indicates that the USPS
cannot be trusted when it says the consolidations will save money.
The
Postal Service claims savings of approximately 1.2 million if the 985
zip code mail currently worked at the Olympia facility is transferred
(consolidated) to the Tacoma facility. The
Postal Service has associated much of the savings with the elimination
of craft and management positions in Olympia.
However, none of the employees in Olympia are losing their jobs.
The workers will still be paid by the Postal Service elsewhere.
The Postal Service is deceptively claiming the salaries of
employees removed from Olympia, but still paid elsewhere, as savings.
Moreover, according to the study, the transfer of the mail will require
the hiring of 15 additional employees in Tacoma and 2 in Olympia, which
the USPS is not counting as a cost. The 17 new
employees alone will cost the USPS over the 1.2 million it claims it
will save. This consolidation of the Olympia mail to
Tacoma will actually cost the USPS money as well as reducing
service. Previous union press releases have
documented this and other problems with the study.
The Postal
Service has been attempting to reduce service to the public through
consolidations and closings in a quick and back door manner.
Not surprisingly, the Postal Service has requested that the
Postal Rate Commission modify their normal time frames in order to speed
up (rush) the advisory opinion.
Although the
commercial media have not informed the public of the Postal Service plan
to reduce service across the country, postal unions, large mailers, and
mailer organizations, and several other interested parties have
recognized the significance of the USPS request to reduce service and
have filed notices of intervention in the case. The
pre-hearing is scheduled for March 24th.
Despite the
upcoming Postal Rate Commission hearing and the Postal Service’s stated
desire to “request an advisory opinion before implementing the service
changes,” the Postal Service still plans on beginning the transfer of
the Olympia outgoing mail to Tacoma on April 3rd, 2006 and to
have at least ten consolidations across the country completed by June of
2006.
The
union contends that the Postal Service’s request for a rushed hearing
should be denied. The Postal Service could have and
should have requested an opinion from the Postal Rate Commission
before
the USPS started implementing its plans in
October of 2005. The public deserves a full and fair
hearing on the Postal Service’s plans to reduce service to the public.
A rushed hearing will not provide a full and fair hearing.
The union also
contends that any consolidations should be put on hold until the Postal
Rate Commission has ruled on the matter. As
mentioned earlier, “the Postal Service has determined in its discretion
to request an advisory opinion before implementing the service changes.”
The Postal Service should be required to wait until that advisory
opinion is provided before implementing service changes in the
985/Olympia area or anywhere else in the country.
More
importantly, the union contends that the Postal Rate Commission should
rule that the USPS plans for consolidation and the resulting reduction
in service should be considered a violation of the Postal Reorganization
Act. Any current and/or proposed consolidations that
will reduce service to the public should be stopped immediately.
The citizens of this country deserve better service, not less.
The USPS is fully capable of providing that better service.
The Olympia
Local of the American Postal Workers Union plans to hold an
informational picket to protest the Postal Service’s consolidation plans
and the resulting reduction in service on Tuesday, March 21st,
from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Olympia Main Office on 900 Jefferson
Street, Olympia, Washington. Concerned citizens are
encouraged to join us there.
Concerned citizens and organizations should
contact their government representatives, the Postal Service and/or the
Postal Rate Commission with their questions, concerns, and requests.
Individuals can submit their views on the matter in letters to
the Commission or through the use of the “Contact Us” form on the
Commission web site. The docket number is N2006-1
and all the documents can be viewed and/or downloaded at the Postal Rate
Commission web site at
www.prc.gov
For more information contact: Clint Burelson - clintburelson@comcast.net
or 360-970-2965
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USPS Seeks Advisory
Opinion From PRC
The Postal Service has submitted a request to the Postal Rate Commission
for an advisory opinion on the Postal Service's plans to reduce mail
service to the public. The Postal Service plans include eliminating
mail processing operations in local communities and consolidating the
mail-processing operations into regional plants. Although the Postal
Service previously argued that service would not go down as a result of
the mail consolidations, the request for an advisory opinion
acknowle | | | |
