A white paper released July 22 by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the US Postal Service provides a menu of options for sweeping austerity measures against postal workers and the public. While rank-and-file postal workers urgently need to organize to save the post office, the union bureaucracy is moving to block action.
Just over two weeks after the release of the strategy document delegates to the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) convention voted down two resolutions calling for a campaign to restore the right to strike by 2,583–694. The vote occurred as union officials prepared to submit the next contract to binding arbitration.
On the convention’s final day, USPS reported a $2.5 billion third-quarter loss and Postmaster General David Steiner warned that without congressional action, the agency’s “plans would certainly have to entail changes that will impact service,” including closing “thousands of unprofitable post offices” and raising prices. Revenue nevertheless rose 6.1 percent and the controllable loss narrowed as USPS eliminated another 4 million work hours and deferred $1.4 billion in pension contributions.
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