The president of the American Postal Workers Union, which is negotiating a new contract with the United States Postal Service, says that the union needs to focus on getting Congress to change the way the Postal Service pays workers and retirees. Instead of closing branches, the union wants the government to change the funding structure for the Postal Service, a move they say would solve the problem. The APWU represents around 220,000 Postal Service workers, including clerks, custodians, drivers and administrators. The Postmaster General says he thinks that the union leaders understand that changes have to be made and that they will work together to make them.
See "Postal unions seek members' help in promoting changes", Ed O'Keefe, The Washington Post, January 25, 2011