The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has announced it will try to cut 30,000 of its 650,000 employees by offering them financial incentives to retire or resign before the end of fiscal year 2009. The Postal Service expects the workforce reduction will save about $500 million, a drop in the bucket out of the $7 billion it expects to lose this year.
Eligible Postal Service employees who take the incentive will be given a cash payment of $10,000 during the first three months of Fiscal Year 2010, which begins on Oct. 1, 2009. The same employees will get another $5,000 during Fiscal Year 2011.
According to USPS, the buyout will be offered only to postal employees represented by either American Postal Workers Union (APWU) or the National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU), most of whom work in mail processing facilities. The buyout offer will not be extended to letter carriers, because the number of address to which mail must be delivered “grows by 1.5 million each year,” says the USPS.
“This decision reflects our desire to provide a fair and equitable opportunity for some of our longest-serving employees,” said Anthony Vegliante, USPS chief human resources officer and executive vice president in a press release. “It is important to the Postal Service that we take appropriate measures to address our current financial situation.”
The Postal Services also reminds us that it “receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations,” which is not completely accurate. Around $96 million in tax dollars is budgeted annually by Congress for the "Postal Service Fund." These funds are used to compensate USPS for postage-free mailing for all legally blind persons and for mail-in election ballots sent from US citizens living overseas. A portion of the funds also pays USPS for providing address information to state and local child support enforcement agencies, and for keeping some rural posts offices in operation.
Also See:
U.S. Postal Service: Business or Government Agency?
Comments
don”t relie on opm . it has taken us four months to get our paper work done.don:t trust them on anything. my bills are due, my mortgage is late i;m in a hole and they said it would take six to eight wks. itis now twelve wks.