e-Team Report, Feb. 10, 2013

APWU Condemns USPS Plans to Cut Service

This Wednesday, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe announced that as of August this year, USPS plans to discontinue Saturday delivery of first-class mail. 

Just like reducing post office hours, closing mail processing facilities, and downgrading delivery standards, this move is another attempt by the cash-strapped Postal Service to cut its way out of a congressionally-manufactured financial crisis.

APWU President Cliff Guffey released a statement condemning the short-sighted move to abandon Saturday mail delivery.  “USPS executives cannot save the Postal Service by tearing it apart,” said Guffey.  “These across-the-board cutbacks will weaken the nation’s mail system and put it on a path to privatization.”

To get the constitutionally-mandated service back on the right track, Guffey added, “Congress has the power to restore the USPS to financial stability. To do so, it must repeal provisions of the 2006 law that created the Postal Service’s financial crisis.”

To read more on APWU’s response to Postal Service's planned cuts, please click here.

Guffey to Testify on Postal Finances

At the invitation of Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) and Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R-OK), APWU President Cliff Guffey will testify next Tuesday, February 13 before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.  As the need for comprehensive postal reform becomes more urgent, the committee hearing and President Guffey’s testimony will address “Solutions to the Crisis Facing the U.S. Postal Service.”

“I will tell members of the Senate Committee that they have a solemn duty to save the nation’s mail system,” said Guffey. “The future of the Postal Service is in their hands.” He added, “Congress must get to the root of the problem — the 2006 law that is pushing the Postal Service to the brink of bankruptcy.”

To read more about the hearing, including other scheduled witnesses, please click here.

20 Years Later, The Family Medical Leave Act is Protecting Workers

This week the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) turned 20.  While many in the business community decried the requirement — which allows up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers to recover from illness or care for a newborn or sick family member — as ripe for abuse by employees and onerous for employers, a recent government report found that only 16% of eligible employees took time off under the FMLA.  Additionally, 85% of employers covered by the law reported compliance with the FMLA as “somewhat easy,” “very easy” or as having “no noticeable effect,” and most said the requirement did not harm profitability.

Regarding the FMLA, President Obama stated it is “a groundbreaking step forward for America’s workers and families,” but also said “there is still more work to do.”  Currently only half of the U.S. workforce is covered under the FMLA.