Monday, March 26, 2007

Private carriers replace postal workers

The New York Times reports private contractors are delivering mail in New York, Florida, and Oregon. Relatively uncommon, they serve only 6,400 of the Postal Service’s roughly 250,000 routes nationwide, according to the paper.

Patricia McGovern, a regional spokeswoman for the Postal Service, is quoted in the article as saying hiring a nonunion worker was cheaper than using a regular letter carrier, in part because they provides their own transportation and must send or pay for a replacement if they cannot work.

McGovern said private carriers, who work about an hour and a half a day and earn approximately $16,800 a year, are hired only for new housing developments where there is no existing route.

Needless to say, local representatives of the National Association of Letter Carriers are not happy about this.

To read the entire article, click here.
Bookmark and Share
posted by Don Schilling at 12:01 AM