GovernmentExecutive.com

Now that the House Government Reform Committee has wrapped up its postal overhaul hearings, and with only one more hearing planned in the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, lawmakers already have begun drafting legislation to change the nation's Postal Service.

Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, will introduce legislation with Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., at the end of April, a Senate source said Monday.

Rather than introducing companion legislation in the House, House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., plans to introduce his own bill with Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., a long-term advocate of postal change and chair of the House committee's postal panel.

Although each body will introduce its own legislation, sources predict a smooth conference process with little disagreement. A McHugh aide said last week she expects "nothing earth-shattering or lengthy or difficult" when the bill goes to conference.

Another House source said Monday he expected the House and Senate committees to mark up and report bills in time for a conference "by early summer."

As lawmakers continue putting these bills together, the most hotly debated topics probably will be workforce issues, such as reducing the size of the postal workforce and opening employee health benefits to collective bargaining. Collins also has said she intends to change the postal worker compensation system.

Other potentially contentious issues include scaling back the number of mail distribution centers and determining the Postal Service's ability to compete with private-sector mailers.

Ironically, the two biggest potential fights involve issues on which all postal overhaul players in Congress agree -- shifting the payment of military retirement benefits for civil service workers back to the Treasury and releasing $3 billion, currently in escrow, to the Postal Service.

COMMENTS

• Retired after 30 yrs USPS. I agree that things need to change. I wish you would look at the employees that are injured either due to work or non-work. They impede the work flow of the postal service. Managers hands are tied on what they can do as far as production work. Also managers love to work employees overtime and some clerks make up to $70K. Working employees overtime would not be an issue if they could manage ALL employees and get everyone to do their fair share (again the injured or so-called injured). Also on the overtime issue what I have never understood is how they could send employees home early - mostly annual leave (it is called on early-out for those who want to go home) and then call OVERTIME. Not only are they paying for the employees to go home (annual leave paid) but they are paying time and a half calling overtime on employees who are the most senior hence paying the most in dollars. I never could understand how they got away with that. I use to think that could never be done in private industry. Maybe overtime dollars came out of a different pot I don't know but somehow they were able to justify doing this. Why didn't upper management see this? This has gone on for years and years. Also plenty of time when the mail was nonexistent. Employees sitting around in the lunch room talking and playing cards. The so-called injured (who are limited in what they can do anyway) also get to stay. Why can't they send the limited people home when there is no work? I don't believe those who have restrictions should be allowed to stay at work. It is bad enough that those who can work are sitting around but they can be asked to work any area while those limited cannot. I am not just talking about a handful of employees who are injured and restricted. It is an epidemic. Word gets around and those who want to abuse can get out of working. That area (the working injured) is in total shambles. So much abuse and managers who do not understand the laws and regs in order to correct it. Those areas to me will be the downfall of the postal service and need to be looked at and changed. GovExec.com reader Posted March 30, 2004 2:04 PM