NALC: Postal workers latest victims of economic crisis

The United States Postal Service is planning to cut thousands of management jobs in the face of a $6 billion budget deficit. The agency will also offer early retirement to 150,000 workers and close six district offices.

William Young, president of The National Association of Letter Carriers, tells FederalNewsRadio that USPS employees are just the latest victims of the economic crisis.

"Nothing we did, nothing the postal service did and nothing the postal industry did caused this crisis," he says. "We're a victim just like everybody else in the country right now, and we're just doing the best we can to see this thing through."

The use of e-mail has greatly reduced the amount of mail being sent through the postal system, which has greatly reduced the amount of revenue the service takes in.

"Just to put it in perspective," says Deputy Post Master General and chief operating officer Pat Donahoe, "in 2006, we delivered 213 billion pieces of mail. This year, we think that we'll be delivering about 180, so it's a substantial drop off."

Young agrees that new technology took away a lot of business from the service, but he thinks that it eventually adapted.

"Through postal reform and a series of other boosts that have been going on for the last six or eight years I think the postal service adjusted to the fact that there are e-mails and that businesses are doing business-to-business communication largely over computers now. I think they're current problems are related to only one thing, and that is the current economy."

Young says that is a solution other than cutting jobs and offering early retirement.

The Postal Service currently has to pre-fund 80 percent of its future retiree health benefits by 2016, which costs at least $5.5 billion a year.

A bill still pending a vote, H.R. 22, would allow USPS to pre-fund it's under a more realistic schedule.

"Future retirees are my members so I want those benefits to be available, but there's no good reason the Post Service should have to pay 80 percent of that in the next six years," says Young.

He adds that the USPS has already saved $32 billion of the $60 billion debt.

"No other Fortune 500 company that I'm aware of has come anywhere near funding future retiree benefits at that level," he says.

The Postal Service made a similar offer for early retirement last year, and few workers took the package. Young says this package is very similar to the previous package, and due to the economy he doubts enough postal workers will accept.

"We're in a recession so nobody knows what kind of money they're going to have, and nobody knows what kind of obligations they're going to have. So, they're very reluctant to retire."

He adds that the NALC is not advising its members either way on taking early retirement. The American Postal Workers Union issued a similar statement.

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On the Web:

FederalNewsRadio - Postal Service to do more with less

FederalNewsRadio - US Post Service looks for new ways to cut losses

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