Issa set to grill postmaster general over finances, union contract

[Geee]

The Hill:

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) will probe into the deeply troubled finances of the U.S. Postal Service Tuesday and will grill the postmaster general about a new tentative contract with the postal workers union that increases wages and limits layoffs.

The new three-year contract announced March 14 disappointed House Republicans, who think it is overly generous to mail carriers.

“They have had big financial trouble for a number of years. We think the postmaster has gone a long way in the contract negotiations to where they need to be. It’s no surprise that if the numbers don’t pencil out, we think they should go a little further,” Issa told The Hill Friday.


On Tuesday, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and American Postal Workers Union President Cliff Guffey will be asked about the fact the contract limits outsourcing and layoffs and provides a 3 percent raise over three years.

Issa's questioning of the postal workers' contract echoes debates in Washington and state capitals about the cost of benefits that public sector workers receive. A Federal Aviation Administration re-authorization bill is hung up in Congress over union provisions and the Republican governors of Wisconsin and Ohio are embroiled in battles over public workers' collective bargaining rights.