Federal Daily - May 21, 2010

Five-Day Delivery Campaign Driving Away Businesses, APWU Says

The U.S. Postal Service’s campaign to drum up support for a switch to five-day delivery service may be a prime example of USPS shooting itself in the foot, according to one union representative.

Testifying May 19 at a Postal Regulatory Commission field hearing in Memphis, Tenn., American Postal Workers Union Assistant Clerk Craft Director Mike Morris said that the USPS public relations effort hyping five-day delivery already has begun to drive away existing businesses that depend on six-day delivery as part of their production cycle. For magazine publishers, and companies like Medco, Netflix and eBay, Saturday delivery is crucial, he said. But as the USPS campaign for five-day delivery progresses, some businesses currently using USPS services are experimenting with alternate means of delivery, according to Morris.

“At a time when the USPS should be exploring every available avenue to increase volume and revenue, this seriously flawed PR offensive seems to be driving business away,” Morris said. He urged the commission to reject the Postal Service’s proposal, saying it would “needlessly weaken the Postal Service, a very valuable and essential American institution.”

Abolishing Saturday delivery also would deepen the divide between services provided to rich and poor neighborhoods, Morris said. Private couriers would fill the void for Saturday services in the more profitable locations, leaving the Postal Service to serve rural and poor communities—without the financial benefits of providing service to more lucrative areas.

For example, Morris said, the more affluent parts of Memphis likely would fare well under a private delivery system, while poorer communities would become underserved. “There are millions of Americans who live in these potentially underserved areas, and they also need to receive regular universal mail service,” he said.

To see more, go to: www.apwu.org/news/webart/2010/10-046-prc_5-dayhearing-100519.pdf.

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CBP Trade Function Threatened, According to Union

A House subcommittee examining two Department of Homeland Security agencies’ efforts to facilitate trade and enforce trade laws drew one union leader’s warning that lack of agency resources is costing the nation money.

In testimony submitted May 20 to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley said that understaffing and insufficient resources are undermining the ability of the Customs and Border Protection workforce to regulate and facilitate international trade.

“NTEU is deeply concerned with the lack of resources, both in dollars and manpower, devoted to CBP’s trade functions,” Kelley said. “Lack of sufficient focus and resources costs the U.S. Treasury in terms of customs duties and revenue loss, and cost American companies in terms of lost business to unlawful imports.” The subcommittee reviewed the efforts of both CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

NTEU said it represents more than 24,000 CBP staff members, including officers, agriculture specialists, seized property specialists, and trade enforcement and compliance personnel. Kelley said that while the agency facilitates more than a trillion dollars worth of trade a year, difficulties at CBP also are causing an exodus of experienced staff.

“Because of continuing staffing shortages, inequitable compensation, and lack of mission focus, experienced CBP commercial operations professionals at all levels, who long have made the system work, are leaving or have left the agency,” said Kelley. Moreover, about 25 percent of CBP import specialists will retire or be eligible to retire within the next few years, Kelley said.

To see more, go to: http://tinyurl.com/25h3s2f.

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American Legion Opposes Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask’

As military leaders lay the groundwork for getting rid of the so-called “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that forbids openly gay people from serving in the military, the American Legion has stated its opposition to repeal of the law.

In letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, American Legion National Commander Clarence E. Hill asked that the military be allowed to retain the policy put in place by the Clinton administration in 1993.

“We feel strongly that the current policy has served the U.S. military well for 17 years and it would not be wise to make a major cultural change in the middle of two wars,’ Hill wrote.

Although the House could amend the policy in the Fiscal Year 2011 Defense Authorization Bill, Hill noted that a DoD panel is studying the issue and is slated to deliver a report to DoD at the end of the year. “The Department of Defense has already directed a study on the policy and it would be premature to act before the commission conducting the study releases its findings,” Hill said.

Legislation has been introduced into Congress to repeal the ban, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in March issued revised policy guidelines that eliminate the introduction of certain evidence in separation hearings used to discharge gay servicemembers.

“The military is a unique environment in which [the policy] has worked well, without diminishing our nation’s war-fighting capability,” Hill said in a May 19 statement posted on the group’s Web site. “Indeed, the core purpose of our military is to fight and win our nation’s wars. Enacting any law that does not enhance the military's ability to accomplish that mission would be detrimental to the security of our nation.”

To see more, go to: www.legion.org/pressrelease/22382/american-legion-congress-don-t-repeal-don-t-ask-don-t-tell.

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Salazar to Split Minerals Management Service into Three

The Interior Department has revised its response to the massive Gulf Coast oil spill, with DOI Secretary Ken Salazar announcing a three-way split for the Minerals Management Service. Under Salazar’s plan, one MMS division would be tasked with enforcing safety, one charged with permits and planning and the third with overseeing drilling lease revenues.

Salazar announced the three-way split on May 19, just about a week after he proposed a two-way split for MMS that would have separated its revenue collection functions from its safety mission. In the May 19 announcement, Salazar said a more complete separation of the disparate agency tasks was needed.

“The Minerals Management Service has three distinct and conflicting missions that—for the benefit of effective enforcement, energy development, and revenue collection—must be divided,” said Salazar.

The new MMS divisions under the secretarial order are:

• Bureau of Ocean Energy Management—a new bureau responsible for planning, permitting and leasing.
• Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement—a unit responsible for comprehensive oversight, safety and environmental protection of offshore oil operations.
• Office of Natural Resources Revenue—under the supervision of the assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, the unit will collect and audit royalties and revenues.

To see more, go to: www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Salazar-Divides-MMSs-Three-Conflicting-Missions.cfm.

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