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Updated:   October 30,  2003

Postal Commission Watch:

Senate Sets Next Commission Hearing Date-The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee has invited Postmaster General John Potter and General Accounting Office chief David Walker to present their views on the presidential commission’s postal “reform” proposals at a hearing slated for Nov. 5.  (correction) Last month, committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-ME) announced that union leaders and mailing industry representatives will be invited to testify at a future hearing. To date, no hearings have been announced in the House of Representatives 10/24   Postmasters League Met with AUSPL President regarding Post Office Real Estate-"The Association of United States Postal Lessors president was to meet with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) on Capitol Hill and provide input to her on post office 'real estate' as incorrectly defined in the Commission report." The majority of the post offices are small, and the Commission report suggested “selling off such real estate” while not being aware of the actual facts of lease agreements rather than land ownership by the Postal Service."  National League of Postmasters   Burrus Viewpoint: Our Struggle Moves To the Halls of Congress-Efforts have been made to reach common ground with the large mailers, overlooking the fact that the mailers are not allies, but rather are vermin - APWU -Postal Union President Attacks Corporate Mailers-Federal Times   --NALC Young Applauds Postal Mailers For Support Against Wage Caps --Postal commission chair outlines proposal for deep staff cuts: --Commission proposals put Letter Carriers Under Siege  (pdf) --Senator Joe Lieberman's Statement | Statement of Senator Susan M. Collins --Statement of Commission Chairman James Johnson on "U.S. Postal Service Reform: What Can Be Done to Ensure Its Future Viability." September 17, 2003. Potter & a member of GAO will testify at the next scheduled hearing in early Nov. on the commission's findings. --Burrus:  Johnson's testimony confirms  commission report  fundamentally dishonest 9/17 --Senator Susan Collins to Press for Universal Postal Service for Rural Areas -- APWU Video Update-Presidential Commission's Report: An Important Message From President William Burrus. postalreporter has converted the APWU video into PDF format. The video contains live excerpts of the  Postal Commission presenting their report. Please read very closely the  Commission's Recommendations. They are recommending cutting the no-lay clause, health and retirement benefits, outsourcing window clerks, vehicle maintenance, processing jobs and others that the Commissioners feel are "incidental" to mail delivery (It is "rumored" that USPS at the National Level is already discussing the reduction of window clerks ). If you have high internet access you can download 8MB file from the APWU website 8/30   Labor Day Strike at Yale University -Yale's President is Postal Commissioner Richard Levin--  and member of the Commission's  Workforce Committee. "It's appalling that (Yale's) President (Richard) Levin, when he retires, will make more in a month than many workers here make in a year," Levin said Yale's offer "compares very favorably to recent labor settlements throughout the region and the nation.   --Postal Commission Releases Final Report on USPS  --Chapter 6:  Building a 21st Century Postal Service Workforce (web) --Workforce Issues Loom In Postal Service's Future --Executive Summary of the USPS final report in web format --- Discuss Postal  Commission Report --Consumer Alliance for Postal Services (CAPS) Condemns Postal Commission for Weakening Mandate of USPS-CAPS was founded in 2003 to protect affordable and dependable mail service for all Americans --Postal Commission’s Proposals Would Cheat Consumers-Federal Times 8/2/03 --US Panel Urges Postal Service To Comply With SEC Rules -- Rep. McHugh to Hold September Hearing on Commission's Report --GAO Study on Worksharing --Pitney Bowes: Recommendations Will Transform USPS for the 21st Century --Senator Tom Carper Responds To Postal Commission's Recommendations --Mailers Hope Commission Report Will Translate into Legislation --NAPS Vincent Palladino Statement on Postal Commission Report --Magazine Publishers of America's Statement --Commission: Postal Service Must Modernize --Leaders of America's $900 Billion Mailing Industry Praise  Report. --Postal Commission Report Serves Advertising Mailers  At Public’s Expense, APWU President Charges-Burrus Calls Recommendations ‘Seriously Flawed’ • see summaries of  Postal Commission recommendations April 16, 2003-James Johnson, co-chair of the Presidential Commission told the mailers and postal managers at the National Postal Forum in New Orleans, the Commission recognizes the extraordinary challenges the Postal Service and the mailing industry face and that what was good enough in the past will not be good enough for the future. Although not wanting to foreshadow the Commission’s report due in July, Johnson did say the Commission was looking to integrate the essential elements of universal service with those of a world class organization and move the blockage that keeps the Postal Service from being as innovative as it could be. (excerpt from article by a Business Mailers organization) See the partial list of groups that  the Postal Commission Members Met With

Postal Commission Members Official Postal Commission biographies-Treasury.gov

Executive Director Dennis Shea, a long-time staffer for former Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (Republican)  and now with Washington government relations firm Black, Kelly, Scruggs and Healey. The Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, consequently named Shea one of the fifty most influential congressional staffers Co-Chairman Harry Pearce, Chairman of the Board at Hughes Electronics; chairman of the U.S. Air Force Academy's Board of Visitors   Co-Chairman James Johnson     former CEO of Fannie Mae, Chairman of the Board ,Brookings Institution. Resigned as chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Partner with the Washington-based merchant bank Perseus LLC Norman Seabrook, president, NYC Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association; fought against privatization of New York City jail facilities Dr. Dionel Aviles, president of Aviles Engineering Corp. in Texas; appointed to Texas A&M University Board of Regents by then-Gov. Bush in 1997-Aviles term at the university expired 2/1/03  Carolyn A. Gallagher former Pres.& CEO of Texwood Furniture, in Texas; member Board of Trustees for St. Edward's University in Texas; appointed by then-Gov. Bush in 1995 to serve on Conservatorship Board of the Texas Commission Richard C. Levin, President of Yale University; member of the Board of Science, Technology & Economic Policy at the Nat'l Academy of Sciences.  Member of Yale-New Haven Hospital Board of Trustees, (along with President Bush's uncle, Jonathan Bush Joseph R. Wright, president and CEO of PanAmSat, in Connecticut, and former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan. Robert Walker chairman and CEO of the Wexler Group, and former member of Congress from Pennsylvania (Republican) . Now a Washington lobbyist, Walker once called for the privatization of the government's NASA space agency  Don V. Cogman, chairman of CC Investments in Arizona;  appointed by President Bush to the National Council on the Arts; served on the White House Advisory Board on Private Sector Initiatives; Former Chief of Staff for the late Dewey F. Bartlett (R-Okla.)

News from May 29th Public Commission Meeting USPS

• PMG remarks at final public Postal Commission hearing -USPS  (5/29)

-- Witness Testimony-Treasury.gov 5/29

-- Postal commission considers new agency pay system

-- Mailer Groups Back Potter's USPS Recommendations-Direct 5/29

-- GAO David Walker Urges Postal Panel To Look At SEC Reporting Rules-

-- Summary of testimony by GAO's David Walker, NAPS' Vince Palladino

Commentaries, Resources on USPS Outlook

• Testimony of Thelma A. Dowies "Statement on the Workforce in the U.S. Postal Service" -April 29, 2003 Meeting Chicago, Illinois --PostalWatch.org

• Burrus : Survey Results submitted to Commission Pose Important Questions- 

(read the referenced survey: Most Americans View USPS Favorably )

• The Challenge for the Presidential Commission -former USPS CFO Mike Riley

• Read paper submitted to the Postal Commission by Robert Cohen,et al titled "The Cost of Universal Service in the U.S. and its Impact on Competition"

• Issue Brief: USPS- End the Monopoly to Help Consumers-Heritage Foundation (4/14)

•  Advisory: Postal Reform Bills That would Not Deliver -in this report it states USPS pays its employees too much Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation 4/12

• USPS Competition with the Private Sector by Deputy PMG John Nolan  4/12

• Commentary: USPS Comes Up Flat  by Gene A. Del Polito 4/11

• USPS Employee Operational Analysis: Challenges and Opportunities

• The Presidential Postal Commission recently met with several businesses to discuss "the latest information-encoding technologies that are designed to make mail more “intelligent” and potentially more valuable to business and individual consumers.

• New Division To Help USPS Simplify Tracking Mail-Federal Times 1/20/03

 Below are some Selected Papers Requested by Commission Subcommittees:

• Postal Commission's Analysis of USPS Logistics Network and Development of a Network Optimization Model

• Analysis of the collective bargaining model currently utilized by the Postal Service and its employee unions and an assessment of possible alternative models.

• Postal Service Competition with the Private Sector (Deputy Postmaster General John Nolan)

• The Power of Intelligent Mail (Pitney Bowes)

• Trends in Intelligent Mail (Maynard Benjamin, Envelope Manufacturers Association)

Comments, Testimony, Recommendations on USPS

• NALC Paper: Major Postal Stakeholders Benefited From Use of Interest  Arbitration -

• APWU to Commission: Work-Sharing Works Only When Mailers Pay Their Fair Share

• On Feb. 12, APWU President William Burrus submitted written testimony to the President’s Postal Commission . Also submitted were comments by noted economists   

 Joel Popkin and Kathryn Kobe --APWU  2/14

• Greeting Card Association Urges Focus on Citizen Mailer For USPS Viability (2/13)

• Greeting Card Association Submits Recommendations to Presidential Commission: "The Postal Service must be a service and not merely a business. -Clearly, the Postal Service can no longer think of itself as an ever-expanding, hyper-efficient materials handling business, nor can it count on increasing or even keeping bulk letter mail volume by offering further price-cutting discounts." GCA 2/17

• Mailers Council Study Shows Postal Productivity Improved, but Still Lagging Behind Private Sector Gains ---Study  Mailers Council.org 2/12/03

• “Postal Reform Triangle,” looks at reform from three vantage points:(12/18/02)

• National Mailhandlers reaction to Appointment of Postal Commission-The Commission already has stated that it would be seeking input from all postal stakeholders and holding hearings around the country. When directly asked whether the Presidential Commission represents part of a "stealth" plan to privatize the Postal Service, representatives of the Bush Administration vehemently denied that claim-NPMHU 12/13/02
• Young Becomes NALC President; Pledges Push for Postal Reform (12/13/02)

• Issues & Challenges #1-30 Years of Postal Reform PDF-APWU.org
"Looking Back, Looking Forward: 30 Years of Postal Reform," the first in a series of APWU analytical papers on the Postal Service, was published Dec. 4. This document, like others to follow, can also be seen on the union Web site, www.apwu.org.

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