For now, Postal Service scraps plans for private carriers in urban areas

For now, Postal Service scraps plans for private carriers in urban areas The U.S. Postal Service has agreed not to assign new urban mail routes, including deliveries to a recently constructed Perth Amboy building, to private companies for at least the next six months.

The agreement reached during ongoing contract negotiations this week is a victory for members of the national letter carriers union, which has opposed the Postal Service’s increased use of part-time, non-union employees to deliver mail.

In New Jersey, the Postal Service has also reversed a recent decision to privatize routes in Little Falls, West Paterson and West Orange. And in Perth Amboy, the building that the Postal Service had planned to assign to a private contractor is now part of a city carrier’s route.

“I was very pleased to hear that,” Perth Amboy Mayor Joe Vas said. “I think it’s the right decision for our community.”

The contract reached between the Postal Service and the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers not only imposes a six-month moratorium, but also establishes a committee to examine future use of private contractors. The committee is expected to be made up of representatives from both the union and the Postal Service, said George Flood, a Postal Service spokesman.

The Postal Service has long employed private contractors throughout the country to serve rural routes where houses are too spread out to make the employment of a full-time letter carrier cost-effective. But this year, private contracting began to surface in more cities, including in a new building in the Bronx.

Letter carriers opposed the move and argued that putting more deliveries in private hands will lead to security concerns and a less reliable postal system. Private carriers are paid less money than unionized employees, receive no benefits, wear no uniforms and use their own vehicles.

Private contracting had become a major sticking point in the union’s contract negotiations. Letter carriers had been working under a contract that expired in November, and national representatives had said they wanted some guarantee from the Postal Service that jobs would not eventually be contracted out to private companies.

Carriers across the country went to their local congressional representatives for support and held a series of protests in Washington, D.C., Florida and, earlier this month, outside the post office in Paterson. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) introduced a bill to limit private contracting, and Rep. Albio Sires (D-13th Dist.) proposed a resolution to abolish it altogether.

Flood declined to say whether that pressure had factored into the post office’s decision to temporarily back away from private deliveries.

“All along we’ve been saying that this was an issue best discussed in collective bargaining, not on the streets of Perth Amboy or anywhere else,” Flood said. “And with collective bargaining, everyone doesn’t get all of what they want, but you reach a compromise.”