The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced today that it has negotiated an agreement with the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU) to offer select employees a financial incentive to retire or resign before the end of the fiscal year.
Letter carriers represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association were not extended this offer. USPS stated that the financial offer was not extended to letter carriers because the number of addresses grows by 1.5 million each year.
USPS hopes this move will accelerate targeted staffing reductions for employees represented by either APWU or NPMHU. Advances in mail processing technology and the continuing recession have led the Postal Service to more aggressively match work hours with work output.
The incentive provides eligible employees $10,000 to be paid during the first three months of Fiscal Year 2010, creating salary and benefit savings for the next nine months. The same employees will receive a second payment of $5,000 in Fiscal Year 2011. Fiscal Year 2010 starts Oct. 1, 2009.
As many as 30,000 employees could take advantage of the incentive offer. Savings to the Postal Service could be as much as $500 million next year.
The employee incentive offer is the latest in a series of cost reductions the Postal Service has made this year. Cost savings during 2009 are expected to total more than $6 billion, including the following actions:
— Cutting more than 100 million work hours, the equivalent of 57,000
positions;
— Halting construction of new postal facilities;
— Closing six district offices;
— Negotiating an agreement with the National Association of Letter
Carriers that adjusts letter carrier routes to reflect diminished
volume;
— Instituting a nationwide hiring freeze;
— Reducing authorized staffing levels at postal headquarters and area
offices by at least 15 percent;
— Selling unused and under-utilized postal facilities;
— Adjusting Post Office hours to better reflect customer use;
Consolidating mail processing operations; and
— Freezing salaries of all Postal Service officers and executives.
“This decision reflects our desire to provide a fair and equitable opportunity for some of our longest-serving employees,” said Anthony Vegliante, chief human resources officer and executive vice president. “It is important to the Postal Service that we take appropriate measures to address our current financial situation.”