City Council - Middletown, The USPS, GM & Unions

Competition: For the first time in its history, the U.S. Postal Service is considering layoffs. Imagine that — a unionized work force passing into obsolescence.After 233 years of managing a government-protecte<WBR>d monopoly, reality has struck the post office. The Federal Times is reporting that "Postmaster General John Potter told union leaders that as many as 16,000 employees" could be laid off.A Postal Service spokesperson said layoffs are not imminent. But that's only because the union contract makes layoffs difficult. An absence of urgency should not be taken as a sign of health."We lost $2 billion and, like any other business, we have to stay afloat," said Lavelle Pepper, a post office representative from Shreveport, La., putting the problems of the USPS, which has recorded even worse losses in the past, in clear perspective.The Postal Service employs 685,000 workers who are handling a diminishing volume of mail as domestic industry leaders such as FedEx and United Parcel Service provide better services and do it with less. While the USPS squanders 80% of its revenue on payroll, UPS spends roughly 55% of its income and FedEx about 40% on wages and salaries.FedEx pilots are unionized, and UPS employs more Teamsters than any other company. But the postal workers unions have to be the most powerful unions in history. To force the Postal Service, which was ostensibly severed from the federal government and turned into a private business, to burn eight of every 10 incoming dollars for employee salaries is a remarkable feat.Then, maybe that's routine for unions that have the strength to extract from management a contractual no-layoff clause for all members, save for about 16,000 at the bottom of the seniority list.If the story of a business strangled by organized labor sounds familiar, consider the problems at heavily unionized General Motors and Ford, and past problems at labor-dominated Chrysler. One, two, or perhaps all three, of those automakers might soon be brought down after decades of entering into foolish union contracts they are straining to fulfill.Like those companies, the USPS has been unable to keep up. Electronic bill-paying and Internet correspondence, along with competition from private shipping companies that dominate the parcel market, have made post office customers long for the Pony Express. What the Postal Service needs is an updated mission, full privatization and a leaner work force. Its days of operating as a charity for the benefit of its employees must be cut short.