USPS slashes overtime (U.S)

The US Postal Service has cut overtime expenses by close to a billion dollars in the first three quarters of its fiscal year. Reports filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission show that the USPS reduced overtime by over 28 million hours through pay period 14, which ended on July 4. The reduction translates to USD 923 million in overtime savings compared with the prior year. The year to date overtime rate for bargaining unit employees stood at 8.7 pct, down from 11.7 pct in 2007. In pay period 14 alone, overtime was 6.5 pct, compared with 10.2 pct in the same period last year.

The overtime savings were partially offset by an increase in straight time hours, which were up by 1.4 million hours. That number is somewhat misleading, since it includes almost 15 million straight time hours worked by new “transitional employees”, or TEs, in the letter carrier craft. Straight time hours for career bargaining unit employees were actually down by over 13 million hours.

The average hourly cost of a transitional employee, including benefits, is USD 23.24, compared with USD 39.47 for the average full time regular carrier. The increased use of lower cost straight time hours means that while the average bargaining unit employee has seen a 3.3 pct increase in hourly wages over 2007, the USPS’s average cost per hour increased by just 1.1 pct.