Is Privatization Worse for Labor than the Issa/Ross bill?

Congressman Dennis Ross made the following comment in a discussion on his Facebook page suggesting the alternative to the Issa/Ross bill is privatization.  The quote in full:

I have sat down with NALC, Rural Carriers, APWU and many others. I have met with the PMG on countless occasions. What your union wont tell you is, the status quo, will lead to privatization of the USPS in less than 5 years and ...a nullification of every contract. The current path of the USPS is financially unsustainable and for the last time, it has NOTHING to do with prefunding. Those are the facts. 

Congressman Ross is correct that the current path is financially unsustainable.  It is unsustainable if retirement liabilities and payments are adjusted and it is even more unsustainable if they are not.   The problem is the Postal Service is a transportation company and has to have financial goals similar with other transportation companies to be a sustaining enterprise.   The Postal Service cannot meet a standard financial target without addressing the retiree payments and unless it can operate with a standard financial target it will never have the cash necessary to make investments needed to serve its existing and future customers.  

Also, Congressman Ross in his bill confirms that an adjustment is needed by adding debt to the Postal Service's balance sheet that is used to pay its retiree obligations.   Technically, what is happening is the Postal Service is borrowing money from the Treasury Department to pay the Office of Personnel Management which deposits the money in the Treasury Department.   Metaphorically , the Treasury Department is doing little other than shifting money from its left pocket to its right.   By increasing the Postal Service's debt, the Issa/Ross bill "reduces" the Postal Service's problems by changing a cash obligation into additional debt that may or may not be paid in full.

He is also wrong that privatization means nullification of every contract.   Labor contracts that the Postal Service now has will change regardless of whether it is privatized because changes in demand for services has been so great.   Nullification of Postal Service labor contracts will occur only if the Postal Service enters bankruptcy as a private corporation.   (This does not mean that contract provisions will change in negotiations but it does not mean they will be nullified outside of bankruptcy.)

Privatization offers two benefits for Postal Service employees that the Issa/Ross reform does not.   1) Privatization allows for the infusion of private capital as well as cash generation opportunities from the sale of assets that can make Postal Service employees more productive, allowing the Postal Service to pay its employees more than they would have otherwise.   2) Privatization creates the possibility that employees will receive a share in the company in return for changes in labor contracts and compensation levels.  Trading reductions in compensation and changes in workrules for an ownership stake is common when negotiating changes in labor agreements inside and outside of labor agreements.   The opportunity for employees to receive a share of the business in return for changes in contracts does not exist as long as the Postal Service remains a government entity.