It’s not looking good for the American Postal Workers Union’s last-ditch attempt to delay a wave of mail processing plant downsizings set to begin next week.
In a unanimous decision released today, the Postal Regulatory Commission ruled that the APWU had failed to make the case for an emergency injunction. Although the five-member commission didn’t make a final decision on the union’s complaint filed earlier this month, today’s ruling says that the union “has failed to demonstrate that it has a substantial likelihood of prevailing on the merits, that it will suffer irreparable harm, or that the balance of the equities in this matter weighs in its favor.”
An APWU spokeswoman could not be reached for comment. In a statement posted on the union’s web site, President Cliff Guffey said that the decision “demonstrates the need to strengthen the commission’s authority and to enhance public input into USPS plans that would affect service on a nationwide basis.”
In the next two months, the U.S. Postal Service plans to close or consolidate 48 plants in the first phase of a three-year push to cut the size of its plant network by half and eliminate 28,000 jobs.
In a June 12 complaint, the APWU had argued that the Postal Service should not be able to proceed until the commission issued an advisory opinion on proposed changes to mail delivery standards that are accompanying the downsizing; that opinion is expected in early September.
2 Comments
Closing plants will only give the postal service a reason for late delivery of 1st class mail. One more reason not to use the USPS.
Management needs to convert all ptf mailhandlers to full time ,pay the early out money to retire all the dead wood then hire pse mailhandlers at half the rate of pay its now paying their employees . That would save them money and allow the neccessary restructuring thats needed.