Postal Workers Say Contractors Threaten Job And Mail Security

By LINDSAY WILKES-EDRINGTON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jun 28, 2007

TAMPA - "Do you know where your mail is?"

That was a question on signs being held Wednesday by U.S. Postal Service letter carriers gathered at the Tampa International Airport post office.

They were protesting the growing number of routes being given to contract letter carriers, who deliver mail in their own vehicles for lower pay and without benefits.

That practice threatens the future of mail carriers and doesn't provide the same level of security for customers, said Jim Good, president of the Tampa chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

"It's a growing way for the Postal Service to think they can save money in the short run, but it takes away the safety of your mail," Good said.

About 60 letter carriers protested Wednesday outside at TIA, joining postal workers at 17 other sites across Florida. They carried signs and waved to passing motorists who honked in support.

"We care about your mail! Will they?" shouted Jennifer Sullivan, a letter carrier in Spring Hill.

Contractors have been used since 1973 to service sparsely populated areas that proved difficult for carriers to reach.

Their use has grown as new buildings or subdivisions sprout across the country, said Gary Sawtelle, a Postal Service spokesman in Tampa.

He disputed claims that the practice compromises security. Contractors undergo the same background checks as regular employees, he said, and the rate of misconduct among contractors is about the same as that of career employees.

"No one touches the mail without first being screened," Sawtelle said.

Contractors, however, often subcontract their work to others, and that's where the real risk comes into play, said Allan Jones, state steward of the Florida Rural Letter Carriers' Association.

"Nothing requires those people to get checked," he said.

Sawtelle countered that routes are subcontracted, but that those carriers are screened.

When the Postal Service decides to put a route up for bid, anyone interested makes an offer. Those with the best qualifications and the lowest bid get the route, Sawtelle said.

"It is a viable alternative cost wise and efficiency wise," he said. He said he did not know how much the arrangement saves the Postal Service annually.

Every year, the Postal Service adds about 1.8 million new deliveries to its routes. About 3 percent of those are awarded to contractors, Sawtelle said. Of 616 carrier routes in Tampa, nine are contracted routes.

Although that number will increase as new developments are built, Sawtelle said mail carriers do not have to worry about losing their jobs because the Postal Service isn't hiring contractors to take over established routes.

Jones said he thinks that as letter carriers retire, "those routes will open up and probably go to contractors."

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced a bill in May that's intended to protect city and rural carriers from losing work. Called the Mail Protection Delivery Act of 2007, it would prohibit the Postal Service from entering into contracts "with any motor carrier or other person for the delivery of mail on any route with one or more families per mile."

Florida Democrat Bill Nelson is one of 33 senators co-sponsoring the bill.

If the trend continues, Good said, he worries contracted routes could one day outnumber official Postal Service employees and put city carriers' jobs in jeopardy.

"I think we'll play a wait and see," he said. "There could come a time when they take it away from city carriers altogether, and the days of having your mail delivered in a jeep or truck will be gone."

Reporter Lindsay Wilkes-Edrington can be reached at (813) 259-7621 or lwilkes-edrington@tampatrib.com.