Not All Agencies Can Act More Like Government

But as Emily Long reports, the Government Accountability Office thinks the Postal Service is among those that can, and it should. As she points out, that's going to depend to a certain extent on what goes down in the collective bargaining process due to happen in two years:

The GAO audit outlined how the Postal Service can create a more flexible workforce, through increasing the percentage of part-time workers and allowing personnel to work in different job assignments. Currently, the agency's ability to reduce or change its workforce is limited by collective bargaining agreements with its four employee unions. These contracts, which cover more than 550,000 employees or 85 percent of the workforce, limit the agency's capacity to hire part-time and contract workers and outsource city delivery routes. And nearly 500,000 employees are protected from layoffs. Another problem, according to GAO: During collective bargaining negotiations, participants are not required to take into consideration the Postal Service's financial situation. Proposed 2009 Senate legislation, however, included such a provision, and GAO is recommending that any binding arbitration take those concerns into account. The Postal Service will begin negotiations with its unions in the next two years.

Participants are not required to take into account the increasingly listing finances of the Postal Service, and with jobs on the line, I can imagine the union will fight to protect them. But some jobs are probably better than none. And I can also imagine a situation in which government decides the Postal Service simply isn't working. I don't think that day is here yet. But it's also definitely not as unimaginable as it once was.