Here’s a timely news item, a new union contract at the Post Office.
If ratified the deal would run through 2015 and cover 205,000 postal employees. The union said the agreement calls for raises totaling 3.5 percent in three steps and protects jobs. Still to come, are deals with the 67,000-member National Rural Letter Carriers Association and two other unions.
The Post Office, which perennially loses money, is likely to lose $7 billion this year. Never the less, jobs will be protected and wages will rise; work rules are unchanged. This institution suffers the usual basic problems of any government agency:
· Legislators mandate nonsensical services and restraints.
· Union work rules and compensation far exceed those of the competition.
· Managers do not have the authority to manage.
The post office can’t charge a reasonable price for a letter because grandma “cannot afford” to pay a buck and a half to send that three dollar birthday card to her grandchild – give grandma free stamps and charge the credit card companies by weight for the bills they mail.
The post office has to carry everything while UPS, DHL and FedEx send you and your difficult stuff to freight haulers. Why? Because that’s what we’ve always done it. I live in an unincorporated, semi-rural area near a small city – there has always been a post office nearby. Since the internet and other competition have really begun to hurt the post office, I’ve seen the opening of two new post offices and three new substations in my immediate area. Why? You tell me. I’ve never seen the place where UPS, DHL or FedEx packages go.
Saturday delivery, why not? Everybody else works Saturdays. Rural delivery, why not? Everybody else goes everywhere. These are not the problems.
Government cannot do anything well because agencies cannot control price, expense, capital investment or employee work rules. There is no accountability and no risk of failure. What should we expect?
During the healthcare debate, the President invoked the Postal Service to prove that government-run insurance would not drive private insurance companies out of business.
"I mean, if you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? It's the post office that's always having problems," Mr. Obama said at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire.
Only a progressive would make his argument that way. Please God; let’s not have more Post Office Departments, “always having problems.” And then, to prove a point, the president of the National Association of Postal Supervisors said there was "collective disappointment that you [Obama] chose the Postal Service as a scapegoat and an example of inefficiency." What are they if not a glaring example of inefficiency? [Is there a National Association of Supervisors at Microsoft, Apple, Google, General Electric, FedEx … ?]
We are in the midst of a fiscal crisis. Congress should seize the moment and put work rules in the hands of Post Office managers, revoking both collective bargaining and “due process” regarding management decisions.
In case my “due process” thought is too obscure:
The Fifth Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, protects individuals against government:
“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
Since the 1970s, courts, including the Supreme Court, have continuously expanded Constitutional due process into the arena of individuals subject to accountability and institutions charged by Congress with duties. This usurpation of authority from managers has been singularly damaging in schools to the point where teachers and principals can no longer impose discipline or even order. Never the less, “due process” has leaked into every aspect of public employment and government agency decision making.
Managers must have the authority to hire and fire and organizations must be able to make decisions within their domain without constant harassment from the courts.
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