SALEM - U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, said he wants to hear what area postal workers have to say regarding the operation of the U.S. Postal Service.
"I think Americans all over the country want to know how the U.S. Postal Service can be made profitable," he said during an interview earlier this week.
Johnson has been approached by Salem post office clerk Gene Johnson (no relation) about setting up a meeting with local postal employees so they can tell him their thoughts on pending proposals to address the self-supporting department's financial crisis.
The Sixth District congressman said he's planning to look at the two proposals and "see where we stand." He said a meeting will be scheduled, but no date has been set.
"If they've got good ideas, I want to hear about them," he said.
Gene Johnson spoke briefly with the congressman during an open house at his office in downtown Salem on Monday.
"He seemed very open about meeting with us," Gene Johnson said.
Last week he sent an e-mail to Johnson's office explaining how they wanted to meet with him before he casts a vote on House Resolution 1351 and House Resolution 2309, both dealing with the USPS.
He wrote the workers would give him the real reasons why the USPS is in a mess, noting "...it's not labor but poor management skills at all levels, forced overtime to run up the hours and buying sorting machines that are not being used."
He also wrote they can show him how to "reduce labor spending, keep post offices open in all areas to take care of the public. We only need someone to listen to us."
Gene Johnson said that the way it has been explained to him, if H.R. 1351 passes, all the problems are going to go way. If H.R. 2309 passes, jobs will be lost and post offices will close. The bills will have an effect on every employee in the U.S. Postal Service.
An informational document from the American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO, which represents Clerk Craft workers (the people working the windows), blamed the cause of the financial problems in the USPS to a 2006 provision requiring the USPS to pre-fund healthcare benefits of future retirees, with a 75-year liability over a 10-year period costing more than $5.5 billion per year.
According to the document, H.R. 1351 would allow the USPS to use pension overpayments to cover its bills. The other legislation, H.R. 2309, would allow a board to cut wages and benefits and would create a commission to order $2 billion worth of post office closures over a two-year period.
Gene Johnson suggested people visit the union website at www.apwu.org to get more information and use the site to send a message to their legislators.
He said they only want an hour of the congressman's time, with one representative from each of four unions covering USPS workers set to talk after a short introduction. There are actually five unions in the USPS, but he's not expecting the union representing postmasters to speak. The other unions, besides the one covering the clerks, cover the postal carriers, rural letter carriers and postal supervisors. About 200 workers are expected to attend.
He said there's not going to be any screaming or yelling.
"We want this to be a positive meeting with the congressman," he said.
Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net
