U.S. Postal Service: Little Progress Made in Addressing Persistent Labor-Management Problems
Released: 1997-11-04T00:00:00

Letter

U.S. Postal Service: Little Progress Made in Addressing Persistent Labor-Management Problems

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: We are pleased to be here today to discuss our report on the efforts of the Postal Service, the four major labor unions, and the three management associations to improve employee working conditions and overall labor-management relations. Our recently issued report provides updated information related to our September 1994 report, which identified various labor-management relations problems in the Postal Service and made recommendations for addressing such problems. In our most recent report, we discussed the challenges that these eight organizations continue to face in attempting to improve labor-management relations. Specifically, this report provides information on three topics: (1) the extent to which the Service, the four unions, and the three management associations have progressed in addressing persistent labor-management relations problems since our 1994 report was issued; (2) the implementation of various improvement efforts, referred to in the report as initiatives, some of which were intended to help these eight organizations deal with the problems that we identified in our 1994 report; and (3) approaches that might help the eight organizations improve labor-management relations. which the Service was using a third party to serve as a facilitator in labor-management discussions, which we recommended in our 1994 report.

Little Progress Has Been Made in Improving Labor-Management Relations Problems

Since our 1994 report was issued, the Postal Service has improved its overall financial performance, as well as its delivery of First-Class Mail. However, little progress has been made in improving persistent labor-management relations problems. In many instances, such problems were caused by autocratic management styles, the sometimes adversarial relationships between postal management and union leadership at the local and national levels, and an inappropriate and inadequate performance management system. Labor-management problems make it more difficult for these organizations to work together to improve the Service’s performance so it can remain competitive in today’s dynamic and competitive communications market.

In recent years, we have found that the sometimes adversarial relationships between postal management and union leadership at national and local levels have generally persisted, as characterized by (1)a continued reliance on arbitration by three of the four major unions to settle their contract negotiation impasses with the Service, also known as interest arbitration; (2)a significant rise not only in the number of grievances that have been appealed to higher levels but also in the number of those awaiting arbitration; and (3)until recently, the inability of the Service and the other seven organizations to convene a labor-management relations summit to discuss problems and explore solutions.

According to various postal, union, and management association officials whom we interviewed, the problems persist primarily because the parties involved cannot agree on common approaches for addressing these problems. This, in turn, has prevented the Service and the other seven organizations from sustaining the intended benefits of specific improvement efforts that could help improve the postal workroom climate. I would now like to discuss these problems in more detail.

Regarding the use of interest arbitration, as discussed in our 1994 report, contract negotiations occur nationally between the Service and the four labor unions every 3 or 4 years. Since as far back as 1978, interest arbitration has sometimes been used to resolve bargaining deadlocks in contract negotiations by APWU, NALC, and Mail Handlers. The most recent negotiations occurred for contracts expiring in November 1994 for those three unions. The issues at stake were similar to those raised in previous negotiations, which included the unions’ concerns about wage and benefit increases and job security and postal management’s concerns about cost cutting and flexibility in hiring practices. According to a postal official, negotiations about old issues that keep resurfacing have at times been bitter and damaging to the relationship between the Service and the unions at the national level. Union officials also cited the Service’s contracting out of various postal functions—also known as outsourcing—as a topic that has caused them a great deal of concern. high volume. These officials told us that their views had not changed significantly since we issued our 1994 report. Generally, the officials tended to blame each other for the high volume of grievances being filed and the large number of backlogged grievances.

Finally, at the time our 1997 report was issued, the Postal Service and the other seven organizations had been unable to convene a labor-management relations summit. The Postmaster General (PMG) proposed the summit over 2 years ago to, among other things, address our recommendation to establish a framework agreement of common goals and approaches that could help postal, union, and management association officials improve labor-management relations and employee working conditions. Initially, the responses from the other seven organizations to the PMG’s invitation were mixed. For instance, around January 1995, the leaders of the three management associations and the Rural Carriers union accepted the invitation to participate in the summit. However, at that time, the contracts for three unions—APWU, NALC, and Mail Handlers—had expired and negotiations had begun. The union leaders said they were waiting until contract negotiations were completed before making a decision on the summit. In April 1996, when negotiations had been completed, the three unions agreed to participate.

Because of these initial difficulties in convening the summit, in February 1996, the Service asked the Director of FMCS to provide mediation services to help convene the summit. Also, in March 1996, Mr. Chairman, you encouraged the FMCS Director to assist the Service by providing such services. As discussed in our 1997 report, although various preliminary meetings had taken place to determine an agenda, the efforts to convene a summit were not successful. Recently, according to an FMCS official, a summit occurred on October 29, 1997, that was attended by various officials from the eight organizations, including the Postal Service, the four major unions, and the three management associations. We are encouraged by the fact that this meeting occurred. Such meetings can provide the participants a means of working toward reaching agreement on common approaches for addressing labor-management relations problems. We believe that such agreement is a key factor in helping these organizations sustain improvements in their relations and in the postal work environment.

Actions to Implement Initiatives Have Been Taken, but Little Information Was Available on Results

September 1996) on Delivery Redesign, have not endorsed the testing of the revised processes. At the national level, NALC officials told us that they believed that revisions to the processes by which city carriers sort and deliver mail should be established through the collective bargaining process.

The Employee Opinion Survey (EOS) is an example of an initiative that was discontinued. The nationwide annual EOS, begun in 1992 and continued through 1995, was a voluntary survey designed to gather the opinions of all postal employees about the Service’s strengths and shortcomings as an employer. Postal officials told us that such opinions have been useful in helping the Service determine the extent of labor-management problems throughout the organization and make efforts to address those problems. Efforts to continue implementing this initiative were hampered primarily by disagreements among the Service and the other involved participants over how best to use the initiative to help improve the postal work environment. Also, according to postal officials, a lack of union participation in this initiative generally caused the Service to discontinue its use. According to some postal and union officials, the 1995 EOS was boycotted primarily because some unions believed that the Service inappropriately used the results of past surveys during the 1994 contract negotiations.

Continued Need to Improve Labor-Management Relations

As discussed in our report, we continue to believe that to sustain and achieve maximum benefits from any improvement efforts, it is important for the Service, the four major unions, and the three management associations to agree on common approaches for addressing labor-management relations problems. Our work has shown that there are no clear or easy solutions to these problems. But continued adversarial relations could lead to escalating workplace difficulties and hamper efforts to achieve desired improvements.

In our report, we identified some approaches that might help the Service, the unions, and the management associations reach consensus on strategies for dealing with persistent labor-management relations problems. Such approaches included the use of a third-party facilitator, the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act, and the proposed Postal Employee-Management Commission.

As I mentioned previously, with the assistance of FMCS, the Postal Service, the four major unions, and the three management associations recently convened a postal summit meeting. As discussed in our 1994 report, we believe that the use of FMCS as a third-party facilitator indicated that outside advice and assistance can be useful in helping the eight organizations move forward in their attempts to reach agreement on common approaches for addressing labor-management relations problems.

In addition, the Government Performance and Results Act provides an opportunity for joint discussions. Under the Results Act, Congress, the Postal Service, its unions, and its management associations as well as other stakeholders with an interest in postal activities can discuss not only the mission and proposed goals for the Postal Service but also the strategies to be used to achieve desired results. These discussions can provide Congress and the other stakeholders a chance to better understand the Service’s mission and goals. Such discussions can also provide opportunities for the parties to work together to reach consensus on strategies for attaining such goals, especially those that relate to the long-standing labor-management relations problems that continue to challenge the Service.

Another approach aimed at improving labor-management relations is the proposed establishment of an employee-management commission that was included in the postal reform legislation you introduced in June 1996 and reintroduced in January 1997. Under this proposed legislation, a temporary, presidentially appointed seven-member Postal Employee-Management Commission would be established. This Commission would be responsible for evaluating and recommending solutions to the workplace difficulties confronting the Service. The proposed Commission would prepare its first set of reports within 18 months and terminate after preparing its second and third sets of reports.

Comments From the Postal Service, Labor Unions, Management Associations, and FMCS

We received comments on a draft of our report from nine organizations—the Service, the four major unions, the three management associations, and FMCS. The nine organizations generally agreed with the report’s basic message that little progress had been made in improving persistent labor-management relations problems, although they expressed different opinions as to why. Also, the nine organizations often had different views on such matters as the implementation of and results associated with the 10 initiatives; the likelihood of the organizations to reach consensus on the resolution of persistent labor-management relations problems; the desirability of having external parties, such as Congress, become involved in addressing such problems; and the comprehensiveness of our methodology, which we believed was reasonable and appropriate given the time and resources available. We believe that the diversity of opinions on these matters reinforces the overall message of our most recent report and provides additional insight on the challenges that lie ahead with efforts to try to improve labor-management relations problems in the Postal Service.

In summary, the continued inability to reach agreement has prevented the Service, the four major unions, and the three management associations from implementing our recommendation to develop a framework agreement. We continue to believe that such an agreement is needed to help the Service, the unions, and the management associations reach consensus on the appropriate goals and approaches for dealing with persistent labor-management relations problems and improving the postal work environment. Although we recognize that achieving consensus may not be easy, we believe that without it, workplace difficulties could escalate and hamper efforts to bring about desired improvements.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. My colleague and I would be pleased to respond to any questions you may have.

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