APWU HAS LAID DOWN A CHALLENGE WE SHOULDN'T REFUSE

 

The following is a perspective by postal commentator Gene Del Polito for Direct magazine.

 

There isn't much about the report of the Presidential Commission on the Postal Service of which the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) approves. Indeed, it's hard to find anything at all. The union has been particularly vituperative about the Commission's recommendation for expanded worksharing and outsourcing when the economics so justify. As the union would have you believe, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) are both guilty of indictable offenses for recommending postal rate discounts in the first place. Forget the fact that worksharing discounts are specifically called for in the horribly outdated postal reorganization act the union wants to perpetuate.  For it seems that these days historical revisionism is in high fashion at the APWU.

 

The union's leadership has decried the granting of discounts that seem to be calculated on some percentage "greater" than actual cost of worksharing. The union also seems more than willing to dismiss mailers' calls for a more accurate and up-to-date costing system. After all, why contemplate the possibility of change when you can use bluster and name-calling to help maintain an economically indefensible status quo.

 

In the course of the many discussions and debates that have followed the Commission's published report, the president  of APWU has contended that his union is more than willing to demonstrate that the cost-efficiency of its union members' efforts can best whatever competition the private sector thinks it can muster. That's a contention that postal policy makers should not ignore as the debate over postal reform moves to center stage on Capitol Hill.

 

APWU President William Burrus has laid down a challenge mailers would be most eager to accept. If his union membership can provide mail processing services more cost efficiently than the private sector, then the Postal Service should opt to keep these functions in-house. It's only reasonable to assume from the nature of his challenge, however, that he and his union would accept the likelihood of greater worksharing and outsourcing if  it can be definitively proved that private sector forces can provide these same services at no lesser quality but greater cost savings.

 

The only question that remains is whether the APWU is willing to put the money where it's mouth is. Let's have the experts take a look at the relative costs of having certain functions provided by the private sector versus his postal union. But I wouldn't be surprised to find that after some thought, the union and  its leadership will find some reason to back away from the challenge.