If there is one thing conservatives understand, it is that Unions are never satisfied until they get what they want. And when they don’t succeed in their agreement terms with their employers, they will cry threats at everything and anyone except what is really at fault. Recently, the National Association of Letter Carriers Union (NALC) released its new labor contract to its members and posted on its National Bargaining website. One of the statements NALC President Fredric Rolando made was: “This agreement rewards city carriers for these contributions and sets the stage for a major comeback for the Postal Service, provided that Congress does its part to enact real reforms that will allow us to serve the American people and the U.S. economy for decades to come.” Congress does its part to enact real reforms? Could these reforms have anything to do with raising taxes on the American people?
Could it be that the New Agreement included lower wage scales for new career employees as well as the increase of health insurance premiums coupled with no employer matching shares with regard to the Flexible Spending Accounts? Considering the state of the Postal Service and the fact that this once great American institution is now practically broke, why in the world would the NALC want to continue giving support to an administration that keeps stabbing them in the back? Congress certainly is to blame for a lot of things; but rather than focusing on blaming Congressional leaders, the NALC (as well as Unions in general) should take a hard look at the real encompassing cause of the problems with the Postal Service. Surely, the Congress is made primarily of Republicans; but even those Republicans in Congress have no backbone and continuously capitulate to President Obama’s demands.
When FDR pushed forward the Wagner Act, which was expected to be overturned by the Supreme Court due to its unconstitutionality, it was upheld by a 5-4 vote in April of 1937. The Act was supposed to require the employers to bargain collectively with unions. Unfair labor practices were also forbidden from employers such as keeping employees from unionizing. According to Mallory Factor in his book ShadowBosses, “an unshakable alliance was formed between unions and Democrats” since the passage of the Act. The more members Unions acquire and the more money they can suck out of their members, the more money and support goes into the Liberal establishment in order to get them elected (hence passing legislation in support of these Unions.)
The interesting thing to note is that employees at the Postal Service are now going to pay more in HealthCare premiums due to heavy taxation. So while Union Members may talk about how the Union is there to save their jobs, little does the Mailman know the Postal Service will continue to grow weaker over time. In response to the NALC President’s statement, how can the Postal Service make any viable comeback when the economy itself is dwindling from the pressures of President Obama’s heavy taxation? If the NALC is so concerned for the city carriers and for the state of the Post Office, then why show such support for politicians that are now causing Postal employees to pay more in taxes for their Health insurance? Maybe the Union is only in it for the Union. Goodbye, Post Office.
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patti’s notes: reall,don’t fel sorry as, just in news, where some posted trips,at high cost, took lower,price,but billed the higher prices,so they ruined it for themselves. pl,orl,fla
They can never come up with any real policy changes unless it is backed up by taxpayer money.
Speaking from someone who worked in the private sector and now works for the USPS, here is an inside view.
It took several years but the unions finally realized that management was telling the truth, it would lose money if things didn’t change. Obviously the highest cost to any employer is wages and benefits which they are now dealing with. The current employees are grandfathered in on wages however the health premiums did go up and there has been pay freezes for management for four years and now it affects the workers too.
The highest cost is the quarterely $5 Million payment to the PRE-PAID FUTURE RETIREMENT account. This was established under the Bush Admistration and is entirely unwarranted. There are two types of retirement accounts, civil service and federal. The civil service is an old account that very few people participate in because most of those employees have already retired. The vast majority of employees have the federal account which isn’t nearly as good. Most people don’t even consider it much of a retirement account and rely heavy on the Thrift Savings Account which is employer matching. The Flexible Spending Account IS NOT employer matching and is something else alltogether.
Here’s the problem, every quarter the USPS pays this $5 million dollar payment to the government but there basically isn’t anybody left that will use it so why do they have to continue to pay it? It’s the law. The USPS is the ONLY GOVERNMENT AGENCY that has to pre-fund a retirement account. Actually, research shows the private sector doesn’t even do it. That money goes into the general fund. Guess who uses it? That’s right, the government. To stop the payment would stop the flow of money the government can use. It’s a nifty way of being taxed but not calling it a tax. If the USPS didn’t have to make this payment they’d be in the black. As a reminder, all the USPS is required to do is cover their expenses. Any excess profit has ALWAYS gone to the general fund.
The unions argue that in addition to the above issue, which management agrees on, that cutting hours and jobs will hurt the USPS and lose customers. Those in management believe the real reason is then they’ll lose their members. If the USPS goes to a five day delivery week, retail would stay open, the union would lose a massive amount of members. Why? They deliver six days a week therefore there is an additional carrier that rotates between five routes for the regular employees day off. You go down to five delivery days and that employee postition is not longer needed. That would mean in every city office they would lose 1-5 employees nationwide. There goes the union’s pocket book.
Also, unions are the ones who set the stage for collapse. The way the bargaining was set up, which was stupid, is when a wage grievence was sent to an arbitrator the arbitrator never had to take into account the financial aspect of the employer. Once a settlement was made, the following grievances were based on and added onto the existing settlement. Fortunately now the financial situation of the employer is also considered.