SHREVEPORT,
Louisiana - November 7, 2008 – In order to keep from sinking, the United States
Postal Service is considering cutting thousands of jobs nationwide. Lavelle
Pepper with the post office in Shreveport says they too are feeling the affects
of the same disease hitting the country... a struggling economy. "We lost
2 billion dollars and like any other business we have to stay afloat. We employ
about 685,000 people. If we do layoffs it would include clerks, carriers, and
mail handlers across all crafts."
Pepper says the postal service is looking to eliminate 40,000 jobs nationwide. There's not an exact number on how many of those could be from the Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas tri-state area. Pepper says workers who are not part of a union with six or less years of service would likely be the first on the chopping block. "We've identified 16,000 people that are not covered under contract. We'll see how those numbers add up."
The Postal Service is also offering early retirement packages to workers over the age of 50 who have more than 20 years on the job. But according to Pepper it may not be enough. "The preliminary numbers look like it's not going to be enough and we may have to do something else." But despite what may happen, Pepper says customers will not feel the pain the Postal Service is going through. "The general public when it takes place won't see any decrease in service. They largely won't know about it."