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Young, president of the 300,000-member
National Association of Letter Carriers, in remarks for
a field hearing of the House Government Reform Special Panel
on Postal Reform and Oversight asked the panel to "tread
lightly" in revamping the 30-year-old collective bargaining
process so as not to risk harming progress made in labor-management
relations.
"Avoid politicizing the
collective bargaining process," Young said. "Congressional
or White House intervention in the process would be highly
destructive."
He said that would inevitably happen if a politically
appointed regulatory body – such as recommended by
the Presidential Commission – were injected into the
negotiations process, or if the process was exposed to outside
litigation instead of the current arbitration procedure.
Young said that would be "disastrous
to the process."
"Depending on the prevailing
political winds of the day and the makeup of the regulatory
board at any particular moment, either side might be tempted
to try to obtain from regulators what they could not expect
to achieve through good faith bargaining," Young
said.
Young said he opposes the Commission's suggestion that
tripartite arbitration be eliminated, a strict timetable
be imposed for mediation and arbitration, use of the "last
best and final offer" procedure be required, and regulatory
review of collective bargaining agreements be conducted.
"We believe these changes are unnecessary and counterproductive,"
he said, noting that it would discard 30 years of experience
and stating that the only workable changes must be negotiated
by the parties themselves.
Young also rejected a suggestion that pension and health
benefits be directly negotiated between labor and management
instead of being included in federal programs.
Young said pensions and health benefits figure very prominently
in postal labor negotiations, adding that "the added
cost of benefits when postal wages are increased is never
far from the negotiators' minds."
Despite his opposition to several aspects of the Commission's
report, Young said the union favors reforms that would strengthen
the ability of the Postal Service to function in the face
of technological change.
"We urge Congress to reject
a pure down-sizing strategy and to embrace an empowerment
strategy for the Postal Service," he said. "The
USPS should be given the commercial freedom it needs to
maximize the value of its universal service network by
adding services and working with its customers to find
new uses of the mail to replace those uses that are now
migrating to electronic alternatives."
Young spent most of his testimony discussing the focus
of the hearing – postal workforce issues and reminded
the panel that since the Postal Reorganization Act was enacted
in the aftermath of the national postal strike of 1970,
there has not been a single work stoppage or significant
disruption in service as a result of labor relations.
"This 34-year record of
peaceful labor relations should not be minimized,"
Young said.
The 115-year-old NALC represents 220,000 active letter
carriers in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions in collective
bargaining with the U.S. Postal Service.
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