What Postal Workers Want: 'More'

The Postal Service posted a $3.5 billion loss in the third quarter of fiscal 2010, and by any reasonable estimation is in a deep financial hole. That's not the fault of the postal workforce. There are a whole lot of factors contributing to the challenges facing USPS, from the overall state of the economy to increased competition from private delivery services to the requirement that mail be delivered to every address six days a week.

Nevertheless, given USPS' financial condition, the position of American Postal Workers Union President William Burrus on upcoming collective bargaining negotiations with Postal Service management strikes me as somewhat curious.

Here's what Burrus told GovExec's Emily Long about what his union is seeking in the negotiations: "More -- more control over activities at work, more money, better benefits -- we want more. We will try to fashion our proposals to reflect the entitlement to more."

Management, not surprisingly takes a very different view: It wants less--fewer full-time employees and more part-timers, for example. Those ought to be some interesting negotiations.