January 9, 2015
By Stephanie West
John Nichols, senior political correspondent for The Nation, recently expressed his outrage that Congress seems to be abandoning one of this country's most vital treasures. He said that the promise of a robust national Postal Service is outlined in the United States Constitution. "There is something profoundly wrong about the notion that any federal official would abandon that promise and the workers who keep it."
Its shocking that the U.S. Postal Service is continuing to reduce letter delivery to Americans. The service cutbacks come on the heels of record-breaking and successful holiday deliveries of 15.5 billion packages, letters and parcels by postal workers. While USPS employees deliver the mail with a better track record of efficiency than private competitors – services continue to be downsized. Congress refuses to support the planning for improved postal services.
It's an outrage," declared American Postal Workers Union President Mark Diamondstein. "Eight years after Congress ginned up a fake financial crisis for the Postal Service, its members still refuse to take even the smallest steps to prevent a major hit on this great national treasure."
APWU has urged Congress to implement a one-year moratorium on the service cutbacks but lawmakers left town in December without acting. "There is no reason that the USPS cannot delay its consolidations to provide time for the public to see and comment on the service standard worksheets," Diamondstein added.
