Bill Would Cramp, Not Kill

An amendment to a bill meant to ease the costs of the embattled U.S. Postal Service has been criticized by a union official as laying the groundwork for "the death of collective bargaining."

The amendment, proposed by a conservative U.S. Senator, Tom Coburn, would require arbitrators deciding labor contracts to consider the Postal Service's ability to pay in determining their awards. Chuck Zladkin of the New York Metro Area Postal Union contends this would so tilt the arbitration process in management's favor, it would no longer have an incentive to actually negotiate a contract.

The truth is, however, that ability to pay has been a factor in every city contract arbitration for the past three decades. There is no question that it places limitations on what unions can hope to get, particularly in tough fiscal times.

That hasn't stopped some of them from persuading arbitrators to go beyond existing bargaining patterns, or from getting city officials to voluntarily negotiate relatively generous deals. And it's hard not to weigh the Postal Service's shaky fiscal condition —with or without a law change—when contracts are decided.