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Other
Song:
Keep the Mail in Olympia (wma file),
"A great 30 second music file
- 'Keep the Mail in Olympia' by the Ragin' Nixies. The Ragin' Nixies are
a self-described underground pro-labor group trying to help."
Keeping Track of Mail
Processing Plant Consolidations - Closures
Related PDF Files
Why
the Union Opposes the Olympia Consolidation
Olympia Study Notes
Olympia Study
Notice of Withholding - Olympia, WA (12/7/05)
Congressmen
Baird and Smith Letter to PMG
USPS Responds to Baird / Smith Letter
to PMG
News
Articles
Olympian Effort May Be Model For Combatting
'Consolidation'
(APWU 12/22/05)
Postal Service Withholds Tumwater
Article
12/20/05
Plan to cut Olympia postmark advances (12/3/05)
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On this Page
- Nationwide
Informational Picket to Oppose Consolidation and Reduction of
Mail Service
- New Postal
Service VP Responsible for
Suppressing Article on Olympia Productivity
-
Time
Warner, Big Corporate Mailers Getting Nervous
About Public Resistance to Mail Consolidation
Plans
-
Letter to the Editor: 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 Service Request for Advisory Opinion from
Postal Rate Commission
- Postal Service Suppresses
Article Praising Olympia Workers
- Postal Service Study
on Moving the Olympia Mail is Dubious at Best, Fraudulent at Worst
- Transfer of Mail Processing from Olympia to
Tacoma will Reduce Service to Entire State
- Postal Service Should Stop Plans to Transfer
Mail Cancellation Operations From Olympia to Tacoma
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Nationwide
Informational Picket to Oppose Consolidation and Reduction of
Mail Service Thursday, October 26, 2006
Statement by Clint Burelson, Olympia APWU President
The Olympia
Local of the American Postal Workers Union will hold an all day
informational picket on Thursday, October 26, 2006 at the
Olympia Post Office to protest the Postal Service’s plans to
consolidate facilities and reduce mail service to the public.
The Olympia action is part of a nationwide informational picket
by the American Postal Workers Union. Postal workers in cities
across the United States will be informing the public about
consolidation plans that will reduce service to their
communities.
The Olympia
outgoing mail has already been consolidated to Tacoma. It is
worth noting that the Tacoma Plant cannot handle the extra
Olympia mail. The Tacoma Plant is using overtime and often
sending Tacoma mail to Seattle in order to handle the Olympia
mail. In essence, Olympia mail is being worked in Tacoma and
Tacoma mail is being worked in Seattle. The consolidation of the
Olympia mail to Tacoma has increased costs and reduced mail
service for the average citizen.
However, all
too often, the Postal Service no longer acts in the interest of
the average citizen. Similar to other government agencies, the
Postal Service increasingly acts in the interest of large
corporations who have been successful in electing and
influencing government officials with large amounts of money.
The power of large corporations over the Postal Service is
illustrated by the fact that James C. Miller III, a long time
advocate for the privatization of the Postal Service, is now the
current chair of the Board of Governors for the Postal Service.
The governing head of the Postal Service is someone who does not
believe the Postal Service should be a democratic institution.
In the case of the
Postal Service, the corporate influence has the added element of
media power. Time Warner, the Newspaper Association of America,
and other large corporate media interests are big customers of
the Postal Service and have been actively supporting
consolidation and other plans in their self-interest, which
often comes at the expense of the general public.
It is difficult for
postal workers and other advocates for a democratic postal
service to get their views articulated when most of the media is
corporate owned and in support of a corporate oriented postal
service. Therefore, postal workers will utilize picket signs on
Thursday, October 26, as one method of informing the public that
unwarranted consolidations will reduce mail service and increase
costs for the average citizen in the country.
For more
information contact: Clint Burelson -
clintburelson@comcast.net or 360-970-2965
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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
For More Information
See especially Docket
#N2006-1 at
www.prc.gov
for the Postal Rate Commission case on consolidation.
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Olympia Local
American Postal Workers Union
New Postal Service VP Responsible for
Suppressing Article on Olympia Productivity
For Immediate Release
7/3/06 Contact Clint Burelson, President
360-970-2965
Statement by Clint Burelson,
President
The postal manager who suppressed
the article on the productivity of Olympia postal workers has
been dealt with by the Postal Service. He has been promoted.
Jon Leonard is the new acting Vice President of Public Affairs
and Communication for the Postal Service.
Leonard suppressed the article
scheduled to appear in a Postal Service publication that praised
the Olympia Processing & Distribution Facility for its ranking
as the most productive plant in the entire nation for a plant of
its size. Leonard, in charge of employee publications and
consolidation "messaging" at the time, pulled the story praising
the productivity of the workers at the Olympia Plant because it
could have harmed the Postal Service's efforts to transfer mail
operations from Olympia to Tacoma. The Postal Service has
argued that it would be more efficient to process the mail in
Tacoma and the story of the high Olympia productivity could have
undermined that argument.
Due to the publicity surrounding
the suppression of the article, a shorter article regarding the
Olympia workers without pictures was run in a later edition of
the publication. Other postal facilities were included in the
article in an apparent attempt to dilute the Olympia
achievements.
Leonard, who is also the
speechwriter for Postmaster General John Potter, was promoted to
acting Vice President upon the sudden resignation of the former
Vice President, Azeezaly Jaffer. According to the Postal
Service, Leonard's positions in the Postal Service have included
Communications Integration Manager, as well as assignments in
Government Relations, Labor Relations, Human Resources and
Operations.
In April of 2005, the General
Accounting Office (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, harshly criticized the Postal Service for its lack of
openness and fairness in handling consolidations.
However, in handling the
unprecedented amount of announced consolidations in the fall of
2005, the Postal Service did not improve their clarity, criteria
or accountability in handling these consolidations. Jon
Leonard's suppression of the article praising the productivity
of Olympia postal workers and his handling of consolidation
communication in general shows that the Postal Service continued
to use suppression and secrecy even after the GAO report was
released.
Furthermore, earlier this year,
many members of Congress, expressed the frustration of their
constituents and severely criticized the Postal Service for
continuing to be less than forthcoming in their handling of
consolidations. The Postal Service still has not adequately
responded to their concerns at this time.
With this background, the recent
promotion of Jon Leonard to acting Vice President in charge of
public affairs and communications is a clear sign that the
Postal Service fully intends to continue to suppress, conceal
and mislead the public on consolidation issues.
When a public agency like the
Postal Service refuses to be open about their plans and
information, and promotes to top communication positions people
with a history of concealing information rather than sharing it,
the public needs to be concerned. The Postal Service is a
public institution and as such needs to be accountable to the
public.
The refusal to be open and provide
information can be interpreted as a strategy to hide major
problems with the Postal Service consolidation plans. In the
Olympia case, the evidence from the Postal Service's own
documents show a decrease in mail service and an increase in
costs if the transfer of the mail from Olympia to Tacoma is
allowed to continue. Not surprisingly, the Postal Service has
yet to schedule a public meeting to openly discuss the Olympia
consolidation.
In summary, based on the Postal
Service's violation of their own regulations, their failure to
follow GAO recommendations, their refusal to seriously listen to
members of Congress and the public, and their continued use of a
passive aggressive strategy of refusing to adequately deal with
all questions, the Postal Service should be required to cease
all consolidation efforts until such time as they have
demonstrated that they have people and processes in place to
insure that straight answers are provided, documents are
released, public meetings are held, and Postal Service proposals
that affect the community are fair, open, and beneficial to the
community.
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
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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
Big mailer comments on
consolidation and other postal issues can be viewed at
http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/usps/comments
or by Googling president’s commission postal service.
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Letter to the Editor:
The Olympian: A Failure to Report
by Clint Burelson,
President APWU Olympia Local
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
For more information
contact: Clint Burelson - clintburelson@comcast.net or 360-970-2965
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 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
Big mailer comments
on consolidation and other postal issues can be viewed at http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/usps/comments
or by Googling president’s commission postal service.
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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
More information on the
consolidations happening across the country can be found at
www.apwu.org....
Big mailer comments on deaveraging, worksharing, consolidation and
other postal issues can be viewed at
http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/usps/comments
For more information contact:
Clint Burelson - clintburelson@comcast.net or 360-970-2965
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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
3/13/6
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. T he
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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Postal Service
Request for Advisory Opinion from Postal Rate Commission (2/19/06)
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 acknowledges that mail delivery to at least
some communities will be delayed. The fact that the Postal
Service is requesting an opinion from the Postal Rate Commission
reveals that a reduction in mail service to the public is likely
nationwide.
In their request
before the Postal Rate Commission filed on February 14th, the Postal
Service argued 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 in many areas in exchange for alleged cost savings.
The USPS has submitted the testimony of Pranab Shah and David Williams
to support their request before the Commission.
The Postal Service
has also requested that the Postal Rate Commission modify their
normal procedures in order to speed up the time frames in the process
of securing an advisory opinion.
Notices of intervention
regarding the request for an advisory opinion and responses to the
USPS requested for the expedited procedures are due on March 17th,
2006. The Postal Rate Commission will hold a prehearing conference
regarding this docket on March 24, 2006.
The American
Postal Workers Union, the National Association of Postmasters, and
David Popkin have already filed notices of intervention in the case.
The APWU and Popkin have also submitted interrogatories (questions)
to the Postal Service on the matter. The docket number is
N2006-1 and all the documents can be viewed and/or downloaded at
the Postal Rate Commission web site (www.prc.gov).
The Postal Service's
request for an advisory opinion on reducing standards will be a
good opportunity for a nationwide conversation on the service reductions
occurring as a result of the consolidations. If the Postal
Service's Olympia consolidation plans are any indication, service
will be reduced and costs will go up. I encourage everyone
to analyze the relevant documents and share their insights in order
that we may more effectively stop the consolidations and reduction
in service. If we do our research, educate and organize, we
can win.
In Solidarity,
Clint Burelson,
President
Olympia Local
American Postal
Workers Union
Here are a few
links to some of the relevant documents. If these don't work,
go to the Postal Rate Commission and look for docket N2006-1.
Postal Rate Commission
Notice and Order Regarding USPS Requests
http://www.prc.gov/docs/47/47877/Order1453.pdf
USPS Request
for Advisory Opinion from Postal Rate Commission
http://www.prc.gov/docs/47/47825/FINAL.Request.pdf
USPS Request
for Shortened Time Frames in Procedures for Advisory Opinion
http://www.prc.gov/docs/47/47826/FINAL.Motion.Schedule.pdf
Testimony of
Prenab Shah on Behalf of USPS
http://www.prc.gov/docs/47/47835/FINAL.Shah.pdf
Testimony of
David Williams on Behalf of USPS
http://www.prc.gov/docs/47/47836/FINAL.DWilliams.pdf
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Postal Service
Suppresses Article Praising Olympia Workers
USPS concerned that praising productivity
of workers in Olympia would not send the right message
For Immediate
Release 12/19/05
Contact Clint Burelson, President 360-970-2965
Statement by
Clint Burelson, President
The Postal Service
suppressed an article scheduled to appear in a Postal Service publication
that praised the Olympia Processing & Distribution Facility for
its ranking as the most productive plant in the entire nation for
a plant of its size. The article was pulled at Postal
Headquarters because a story praising the productivity of the workers
at the Olympia Plant could potentially harm the Postal Service’s
efforts to transfer mail operations from Olympia to Tacoma.
Currently, local, state, and congressional representatives, citizens
and the unions are working together to oppose the transfer of the
Olympia mail to Tacoma.
The Postal Service
announced on November 1, 2005, that they intended to transfer outgoing
mail operations from the Olympia Plant to the Tacoma Plant.
The transfer of mail operations to another facility is known as
Area Mail Processing (AMP) or consolidation. The Postal Service
plans to transfer Olympia mail operations to Tacoma on approximately
April 1, 2006. The Postal Service has admitted that mail service
to the community would suffer as a result of the transfer of the
mail.
The Olympia Plant
has been the most productive plant in the nation for a plant its
size for two years in a row based on Breakthrough Productivity Initiative
(BPI). BPI is the system the USPS uses to measure efficiency.
In addition, the Olympia Plant ranked 28th in the nation
for productivity for plants of all sizes.
The Postal Service
decision to suppress the story praising the workers at the Olympia
Plant was discovered in an email correspondence. David G.
Rupert, the editor of the Postal Service publication, “Western Area
Update,” sent an email (see attached)
to Washington State based Postal Service Spokesperson, Ernie Swanson
on December 5, 2005, which stated,
“I’m sorry to
say that the Olympia BPI story for the December Update was pulled
by Jon Leonard, the manager of Employee Publications at HQ.
He is also charged with reviewing the AMP messaging. He was
concerned about the message the BPI story might send.
So, for now,
we cannot run the story. However, once this storm blows over
we might give it another shot.
To replace the
story, I used the Suplay-Wrestlers Business Connect story.
I’m sorry because I know you fought to keep the story in, but we
will have to move on for now. We will find a way to give some
attention to the employees at another time.”
The fact that
the Postal Service would suppress a story recognizing the efficiency
of the Olympia Plant because it could undermine the Postal Service
plans to transfer mail operations from Olympia to Tacoma is a red
flag that something is seriously wrong with the Postal Service proposal.
Moreover, the attempt to conceal information is just the latest
incident for the Postal Service in a long list of misrepresentations
that the Postal Service has engaged in regarding the Olympia consolidation.
For example,
the Postal Service has claimed big savings regarding the elimination
of craft and management positions in Olympia. However, any
claim of savings is false. None of the employees are losing
their jobs. The workers will still be paid by the Postal Service
elsewhere. Moreover, according to the study, the transfer
of the mail will result in the hiring of 17 new employees.
The Postal Service has not accurately counted this cost.
For a complete
list of the union contentions regarding misrepresentations and other
problems with the Postal Service proposal to transfer the Olympia
mail to Tacoma, see the previously released document entitled, “Why
the Union Opposes the Olympia Consolidation.” Copies of documents
pertaining to the Olympia consolidation are available upon request.
For more information
contact: Clint Burelson - clintburelson@comcast.net or 360-970-2965
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Postal Service Study
on Moving the Olympia Mail is Dubious at Best, Fraudulent at Worst
For Immediate
Release 11/12/05
Statement
by Clint Burelson, President, Olympia APWU
The Postal
Service study justifying their proposal to transfer outgoing mail
operations from Olympia to Tacoma is based on misleading information
and leaves out important information which was known to the Postal
Service before the results of the study were released to the public.
The study is so significantly flawed that any projected savings
or benefits cannot be taken seriously.
The Postal Service
study regarding the consolidation of mail between Olympia and Tacoma
point the reader to various notes, much like footnotes. The
Postal Service did not release the notes and union requests for
those notes have not been responded to. However, the union
has come across documents that appear to be the missing notes referred
to in the study. One document is titled, “Notes for Annual
Workhour Savings/Cost Sheet AMP WA 4a.” It refers to the Olympia
Plant.
These documents
suggest that the Postal Service knew important information that
they purposefully did not include in the study. These documents
also suggest that the Postal Service used inflated figures to justify
cost savings. Here are a few observations of the documents
so far:
Ø
The study released by the Postal Service
claims there will be no changes in service to the community as a
result of the transfer of mail operations to Tacoma. Worksheet
7 of the study states no changes to First Class Mail (FCM) overnight
and two-day service areas. Worksheet 7a of the study states
there will be no changes in service for Priority Mail Service Commitments
for overnight and two-day service areas. Worksheet 8 lists
no changes for any other classes of mail.
However,
the notes show that the Postal Service was aware that cut off times
for drop boxes and entry times for the state mail will need to be
earlier in order to have a better chance of getting mail delivered
on time. (AMP worksheets, 7, 7a, and 8 claim no changes, while
“Executive Brief Summary” states earlier cut off times.)
In addition,
in a notice posted on employee bulletin boards on 11/1/5, announcing
the transfer of the Olympia mail to Tacoma, the Postal Service stated,
“current cost pressures make the protection of all overnight and/or
two day service commitments for the consolidated office impractical.”
The consolidated office is Olympia. Yet, the official Postal
Service study released at the same time claimed no changes in service.
Ø
The notes for the study indicate that
projected savings are based on highly inflated assumptions of productivity.
Instead of using current productivity figures for the Tacoma Plant,
the Postal Service is using productivity figures that are the Postal
Service’s ideal level of productivity. In some of the larger
numbers, they are using figures that are even higher than the ideal
goals set by the Postal Service and again are not the current productivity
norm for Tacoma. (See Note 15)
Ø
The notes reveal that Tacoma does not
have the capability to process all of the Olympia mail with automated
equipment. (See Note 2)
Ø
The notes state that some of the mail
that was formerly sorted by machines in Olympia will need to be
sorted manually in Tacoma. Moving mail from non-automated
operations and facilities to automated operations and facilities
is a reason given in Postal Service guidelines to justify the consolidation
of offices. Transferring mail currently worked in Olympia
on automated equipment to Tacoma to be worked manually is the direct
opposite of Postal Service guidelines. (See Note 2.
“060” is a manual operation, “331” is a automated operation)
Ø
The study claims
$319,987.20 in annual savings as a result of the loss of 4 EAS (Exempt)
employees. The salary and benefits for the EAS employees are
recorded as a savings to Olympia and as a savings overall since
the EAS employees apparently are not going to be transferred to
Tacoma. However, there is no recording of the cost of the
EAS employees’ salaries and benefits elsewhere. Presumably
the EAS employees will still be employed by the Postal Service and
there will still be the cost of their salary and benefits to account
for. (See AMP worksheet 6)
Ø
In addition, the Postal Service allegedly
suggests a ratio of 1 supervisor to every 22 employees when staffing
supervisors. The number of supervisors per employee in the
study currently in Olympia works out to 1 supervisor to every 28
employees. After the transfer of mail to Tacoma, the ratio
works out to 1 supervisor for every 40 employees. (See AMP
Worksheet 5 and Worksheet 6. Ratio based on working supervisors
(1 MDO and 4 SDOs) to employees)
Ø
The study claims transportation savings
overall for the Postal Service. However, the notes indicate
that additional required transportation was not included in the
final study document. (See Note 16)
Ø
The study states that Olympia will lose
its Advanced Facer Canceller System (AFCS) machine, which is used
to cancel the mail. The Olympia Plant has one AFCS and the
Tacoma Plant has four. The study states that Tacoma would
remain with 4 AFCS machines. However, just days after the
release of the study, Postal Service spokesperson Ernie Swanson
is credited in an 11/4/5 article by The Olympian as saying
that the Tacoma facility “will gain a fifth machine once the consolidation
is complete.”
In addition,
the Olympia AFCS machine has very expensive additions, such as an
anthrax detector, that were added within the last few months.
However, there are no costs recorded for the removal, transportation,
and installation of this machine in Tacoma or any other facility.
There may be other unrecorded costs as well. (See AMP
Worksheet 10, One Time Costs and Worksheet 10a, Equipment Relocation)
These are
just a few observations by postal workers in the short period of
time we have had to look at the documents. There are other
problems with the study that require clarification from the Postal
Service. The Postal Service should be required to release
all the relevant documents, explain their assumptions in the study
and explain exactly how the Postal Service will save money and/or
increase service by their proposal.
So far,
the Postal Service has only given vague assurances of “increased
efficiencies.” The Olympia Plant has the highest productivity
in the entire nation for a plant its size. The Postal Service
will also have to explain how taking mail from the most productive
plant in the nation results in “increased efficiencies.”
Under consolidation
guidelines, decisions to transfer mail operations from one office
to another are appropriate when it can be shown that efficiency
and/or service will be improved. The Postal Service has demonstrated
neither improved service nor improved efficiencies.
The Postal
Service study claimed no changes in service. However, the
Postal Service has already admitted that service will be compromised
as a result of the transfer to Tacoma. The Postal Service
study claimed savings of over 1 million dollars. The inflated
assumptions in the study show that the Postal Service claims of
increased efficiencies are dubious at best and perhaps even fraudulent.
In addition, any savings by the Postal Service should also take
into consideration costs to the customers. Consolidated Mail
Services has already claimed a cost to the state, and therefore
all taxpayers, of approximately 2 million dollars per year if the
mail is moved from Olympia to Tacoma.
The Postal
Service’s handling of their proposal to move mail from Olympia to
Tacoma has been less than honest. In addition to the flawed
study, the Postal Service failed to inform the community of their
intentions prior to the announcement of the move, failed to gather
local input and failed to respond to union requests for information.
A General Accounting Office (GAO) report in April of 2005 criticized
the Postal Service for similar problems.
The Postal
Service has not demonstrated that it is capable of making improvements
on its own. Therefore, the Postal Service should be required
to cease all consolidations nationwide until they prove that they
have a process in place to insure that Postal Service proposals
that affect the community are fair, open, and will improve service
to the community.
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Transfer of Mail Processing from Olympia
to Tacoma will Reduce Service to Entire State
For Immediate Release 11/09/05
Contact Clint Burelson, President 360-970-2965
Statement by Clint Burelson, President
The Postal Service study of the Olympia
Processing and Distribution Center justifying the proposal to transfer
outgoing mail operations from Olympia to Tacoma claimed that there
would be no changes in service as a result of the transfer.
However the Postal Service is already admitting that there will
be service changes. Postal Service spokesperson Ernie Swanson
and postal managers have admitted that cut off times for processing
outgoing mail will have to be earlier. This means that residents,
businesses, organizations, and state agencies in the entire 985
zip code areas will have to drop their mail off earlier or their
mail will be delayed.
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. 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.
Olympia is the Capitol and the home
of many state agencies and organizations and if their mailings are
affected, then mail going to residents and businesses in the entire
state will be affected.
Many business, legal, and state transactions
involving the requirement of a postmark will also be in jeopardy
if the Postal Service requires an earlier cut off time to get that
day’s postmark. As it is, most people can mail their letters
after work and the Olympia Plant will place that day’s postmark
on the mail and send it on its way in a timely manner. An
earlier cut off time will mean a major readjustment for everyone
and jeopardize important business, legal and state correspondence.
While there is concern about the postmark,
primarily there is concern with the service historically associated
with having the postmark in Olympia. The postmark usually
signifies where the mail is processed. Processing the mail
in Olympia provides better service to the entire state because of
the mailing cut off times that allow state agencies the time to
get the mail to citizens all over the state. Processing the
mail in Tacoma, Seattle or anywhere else will mean earlier cut off
times. Putting an Olympia postmark on mail processed in Tacoma
or even the ridiculous idea of a joint postmark is dishonest and
will not change the fact that mail cut off times will be earlier
and service will be reduced for the entire state.
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Postal Service Should Stop Plans to Transfer Mail Cancellation
Operations From Olympia to Tacoma
For Immediate Release 11/07/05
Contact Clint Burelson, President 360-970-2965
Statement by Clint Burelson, President
The Olympia Local of the American Postal
Workers Union is calling for the Postal Service to stop plans to
transfer mail cancellation operations from Olympia to Tacoma.
The main reasons to stop the proposal are: the loss of the Olympia
Postmark, the reduction in service to the public, the lack of significant
savings (if any), and the negative impact on employees.
The movement of the mail to Tacoma
should also be stopped based on the Postal Service’s handling of
the proposal, which is in conflict with existing regulations and
policies. The failure of the Postal Service to be forthcoming
in their intentions, the failure to gather local input, the failure
to respond to requests for information and the failure to follow
other existing rules has undermined the public’s confidence in the
Postal Service’s Olympia proposal.
The lack of proper procedure by the
Postal Service has contributed to a flawed study. The study
by the Postal Service states that there will be no reduction in
service to the community. However, immediately after announcing
the completion of the study and their intentions to move the Olympia
mail to Tacoma, Postal Service representatives are admitting that
service to the Olympia community will be reduced. There
are also indications that the cost savings claimed by the Postal
Service are inaccurate.
A General Accounting Office (GAO) report
in April of this year strongly criticized the Postal Service as
whole for its lack of clarity, criteria and accountability in handling
consolidations. These criticisms are valid for the Olympia
case as well.
The Postal Service should be required
to cease all proposed consolidations until such time they have demonstrated
that they have a process in place to insure that Postal Service
proposals that affect the community are fair, open, and beneficial
to the community.
Contact: Clint Burelson - clintburelson@comcast.net
or 360-970-2965
See also the attached background information
for this press release.
Background Information in Support of
Press Release
·
Past Attempts to Move Olympia Mail
to Tacoma
·
Postal Service Did Not Fully Disclose
Intentions with Study
·
Postal Service’s Failure to Respond
to Union Requests for Information
·
PO 408, Area Mail Processing (AMP)
Guidelines and “Appendix N”
·
Postal
Service Did Not Perform Review Prior to Decision to Conduct Study
·
Reduced
Service and Increased Cost to the Olympia Community
·
The Olympia Plant and Distribution
Center
·
Advanced Facer Canceller System
(AFCS) machine
General Documents
PO-408,
Area Mail Processing (AMP) Guidelines, April 1995
is a Postal Service handbook that
provides procedures that must be followed regarding consolidations.
Also, contains instructions for worksheets in conducting studies.
Appendix
N to the USPS Transformation Plan (2002)
outlines the procedures the Postal Service must follow before it
consolidates mail processing plants or closes post offices.
GAO
Report 05-261 U.S. Postal Service: The Service’s Strategy for Realigning
Its Mail Processing Infrastructure Lack Clarity, Criteria, and Accountability
is a General Accounting
Office (GAO) report criticizing the Postal Service for lack of transparency
and consistency in their consolidation procedures.
Documents
Pertaining Specifically to Olympia Consolidation
Postal Service
letter dated 9/2/05 from Seattle District Manager Dale Zinser to
Olympia Local President Clint Burelson informing the union of a
study of the total mail processing in Olympia.
Olympia
Local APWU letter and request for information dated 9/19/05 from
Olympia Local President Clint Burelson to Seattle Human Resources
Manager requesting information on the study.
Olympia
Local APWU letter and request for information dated 10/8/05 from
Olympia Local President Clint Burelson to Seattle Human Resources
Manager requesting for the second time information on the study
previously requested on 9/19/05.
Postal
Service Study of Olympia and Tacoma Consolidation released on 11/3/5.
Postal
Service letter dated 11/1/05 from Seattle District Manager Dale
Zinser informing the union of the Postal Service’s decision to consolidate
Olympia outgoing processing operations with Tacoma.
Postal
Service letter dated 11/1/05, from Manager Contract Administration
John W. Dockins to National APWU President William Burrus stating
certain mail processing operations in the Olympia Plant will be
consolidated into the Tacoma Plant.
Postal
Service bulletin dated 11/1/05 posted on employee time clocks and
bulletin boards informing employees that outgoing mail operations
will be moved to Tacoma.
Selected
Documents Regarding 1987 Attempt to Move the Mail
Senate Resolution
1987-8646 adopted by the Senate April 21, 1987. “Now, Therefore,
be it resolved, That the Senate of the state of Washington request
the administration to support the interests of the present and future
citizens of the state of Washington and preserve the use of the
Olympia postmark.”
House
Floor Resolution 87-4655 adopted by the House of Representatives
on April 21, 1987. “Now, Therefore, be it resolved, That the
House of Representatives of the state of Washington request the
administration to support the interests of the present and future
citizens of the state of Washington and preserve the use of the
Olympia postmark.”
Newspaper
Articles (available through the “Olympian”)
Olympian
article dated 11/2/05 titled, “Olympia Tradition to Expire,” by
Rolf Boone and Brad Shannon.
Olympian
article dated 11/4/05 titled, “State Offices Face Mail Delays,”
by Rolf Boone.
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