Service and efficiency in postal service
Recently, members of the letter carriers’ union, with strong vocal support from local and national politicians, beat back an effort by the U.S. Postal Service to further privatize some mail routes in North Jersey. In the carriers’ eyes, at least, it was a way of preserving, at least for now, the integrity of the post.
The carriers’ triumph came about at the same time that Postal Service officials agreed to a tentative moratorium on the use of outside contractors to deliver mail. It also coincided with the announcement that the Postal Service had reached a tentative five-year contract agreement with the union.
Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, who rallied with hundreds of unionized carriers in the Silk City earlier this month, hailed the pullback on contract workers as a victory, proclaiming that “postal delivery routes will remain exactly where they belong — in the reliable and secure hands of unionized letter carriers.”
Specifically, the cancellation of the contract routes means that delivery service to the Four Seasons at Great Notch in Little Falls and West Paterson, and to the Bel Air Development in West Orange, will be maintained by union carriers.
The National Association of Letter Carriers, like the American Postal Workers Union — and the Postal Service itself — has a storied history. That, in and of itself, is no reason to keep union carriers in place, as opposed to the contract workers that the Postal Service has employed in recent years to cut costs, even though it does speak to a tradition of service (perhaps not as efficient as it once was).
The move to privatize delivery has picked up momentum in recent years, particularly under pressure from the Bush administration. Since 2003, so-called contract carriers, i.e., non-union workers, have been utilized in more and more places. Those who run the Postal Service, as well as many outside and non-partisan observers, agree that the service as we once knew it no longer exists.
It has, for better or worse, become a business.
Though it still has a strong public component, in many ways it already operates as a multimillion-dollar corporation. Nothing is necessarily wrong with that. Indeed, certain fixed employee costs — health care, for example – have hampered operations in other areas of government service. Further, one has only to look at the difficulties faced by everyone from the Passaic County board of freeholders to Gov. Jon S. Corzine to see how union negotiations can impact public budgeting.
The postal service may be, as some critics complain, “the last monopoly,” even if it is one validated by the Constitution. That does not mean it should be immune to reformation, that it should not be vigilant about reshaping itself to compete with the realities of modern economy.
These moves to streamline and economize should be measured against service — secure service – as prescribed by the Constitution.
The new Postal Service might indeed turn a profit; service, however — quality, efficient and secure service — should remain its priority. These are some thoughts the postal service and the unions should keep in mind as they study options during the contract workers’ moratorium.
