APWU Calls Reform Report Dishonest
American Postal Workers Union president Bill Burrus called the presidential postal reform commission's report "fundamentally dishonest" in response to statements by commission chairman James A. Johnson.Burrus, in a statement issued following Johnson's Sept. 17 appearance before the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee at a hearing on postal reform, blasted Johnson's support for the commission's recommendation that collective bargaining rules and postal worker wage policies be changed. The union has stated its opposition to these reforms.
Burrus said that Johnson was "less than forthcoming" on the subjects of plant and post office closings and employee wages and that he failed to say that witnesses who testified to the reform commission "were representatives of large mailers who see reducing postal wages as a way to hold down their own postage costs."
"The presentation by Mr. Johnson confirms the union's original assessment of the commission report: It was fundamentally dishonest, purporting to represent progressive and modest reform when, in fact, it recommends radical change that would seriously erode service to the American public," Burrus said in the statement.
