Despite suffering another multibillion dollar loss in its last fiscal year, the U.S. Postal Service is giving a raise, albeit a small one, to virtually its entire non-union workforce. Yesterday, the U. S. Postal Service announced, to its executive, supervisory, administrative and professional employees, that effective immediately an across the board 1% salary increase is taking effect. It is the first time the Postal Service has increased the pay of this segment of its workforce in three years and doesn't even fully cover the 1.5% inflation rate for 2013. Nevertheless the raise was unexpected and the announcement came without warning.
As small as the raise may be, I will be surprised if this news doesn't become controversial. So, I am surprised that the pay raise hasn't even become news, yet. I find no trace of the story with the customary online searches.
Yet, almost everything about the Postal Service is controversial these days, as the price of a stamp is going up again, unions are squeezed and understandably squawk about it, and Congress mulls over whether it wants to have the Postal Service pickled, salted, smoked or roasted before serving it up to the private sector.
The employees receiving this raise represent about 10% of the Postal Service workforce, including people like local Postmasters. Nevertheless, the cost will be tens of millions of dollars in order to pay for this raise for the already best paid people in the organization at the same time the Postal Service is seeking concessions from Congress and taking controversial austerity measures.
If anyone can find some news coverage somewhere of this move by the Postal Service please link to it in the comments. If there is nothing else out there yet, then I am breaking the story here and now. I was present at the announcement yesterday by telecon. The story is true.