| Submit your comments on this article |
| Economy |
| The Postal Service can't afford unions |
| 2010-10-12 |
| The APWU is currently in contract negotiations with the USPS. When asked about the possibility of union concessions in light of the USPS's financial woes, Burrus called a pay increase for his members an "entitlement" and stated that his union wants "more control over activities at work, more money, better benefits -- we want more." Barack Hussein Obama, Umh! Umh! Umh! There's a union demand that goes back a couple hundred years ... The sad reality is that having watched the unionized workforces at GM and Chrysler receive preferential treatment from the federal government, there's little incentive for Burrus and the postal unions to not ask for more. The postal unions are likely betting that in a worst case financial scenario for the USPS, policymakers will tap taxpayers for a bailout. Unfortunately, if recent history is a guide, they're probably correct. Bend over and hold your ankles, this is going to hurt. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #10 You can't just replace them, its called the Davis Bacon act It was called PATCO once. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-10-12 23:06 |
| #9 >Personally, I'd rather see Joe the welder get >another $1.05 an hour than the VP get a >$2,000,000 bonus. He can take the $1,000,000 and >Joe can get his $1.05 an hour. I'd like that too. Unfortunately the way things work is that VP and Mr. Union Rep split the boodle. VP gets $1,500,000 and Mr. Union Rep gets $500,000 and Joe Welder gets a $0.10 raise + immunity from being fired. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2010-10-12 22:30 |
| #8 You can't just replace them, its called the Davis Bacon act, and the average worker's life was a piece of shit before it was enacted. It's a negotiation, you start out high, or even ridiculous, so that you can settle low. There has been a lot of anti union talk on the Burg lately, some unions are BAD, they put themselves out of business. The dockworkers is a prime example of a bad, abusive union, and as a result they have containerized and eliminated about 75% of them. Other unions are not so bad, if the workers don't stand together and demand a fair piece of the action it will just go to executive compensation. Personally, I'd rather see Joe the welder get another $1.05 an hour than the VP get a $2,000,000 bonus. He can take the $1,000,000 and Joe can get his $1.05 an hour. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2010-10-12 21:42 |
| #7 In Soviet Russia... you pay stamp to pick up your own mail, at Post Office! |
| Posted by: Yakov Smirnov 2010-10-12 21:29 |
| #6 Also note that postal work is not rocket science. With a couple hundred thousand people unemployed out there, replacement is not going to be a challenge. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-10-12 18:39 |
| #5 There's an Oplan for this which involves - using the military - tada. Right, during war when we have all sorts of free manpower. Anyways, the mail is not delivered to you. You go to the servicing post office and pick up the mail. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-10-12 18:36 |
| #4 Volunteers? Yea right, volunteers to steal your mail, open your envelopes, take whats inside...No thanks, that defies logic. A paid mail person has a stake in doing a good job. An overpaid mail person is obviously not desired, but an underpaid one is even worse. |
| Posted by: Private Eye 2010-10-12 18:30 |
| #3 Delivering the mail isn't the issue, it's sorting it ... |
| Posted by: Steve White 2010-10-12 17:51 |
| #2 We, the taxpayers, cannot afford unions in government. No jobs, no money for unions or the government. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-10-12 17:41 |
| #1 I would be willing to bet that many communities could find qualified volunteers to deliver mail. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2010-10-12 17:14 |