Big Bucks Bigger Difference

I like what news correspondent Tom Brokaw said at a past commencement speech, “It’s easy to make a buck, but it is tougher to make a difference.” I say that message needs to go out to all our high paid executives and our national labor leaders. Tom Brokaw continued to say a gentleman took his statement a little further with words to the effect, “If you make a lot of bucks, it’s easier to make a bigger difference.”

I can’t tell if our bosses are engaged with the issues of dignity and respect. It is my opinion that these matters have a lot to do with an employee’s working conditions. Postal management has multiple policies about dignity and respect and harassment posted on bulletin boards everywhere. Those policies will be rendered useless decreasing the value of the workplace if they are not aggressively enforced. Many people feel the only outlets are EEO or filing a grievance through processes that can make employees feel like they are on the slow boat to China.

The strength of strong labor organizations helps solidify a collective agreement which conveys better wages, greater benefits, and redress procedures. We can promote activity in the community; utilize union services, take a tax deduction on our dues, and we have a voice in making the workplace safe. Without a collective agreement we all would be at the mercy of managers to play favorites and change the conditions of employment.

Effective union leaders will let you know it costs money to operate a labor organization and to get things done. With our money, unions pay for operating expenses, contract negotiations, and grievance handling all the way to the national level. There are costs associated with publications, professional fees, legislative activities, education, training, and community service programs. Dues don’t cost, they pay for what we expect as a return on investment. I read on the Department of Labor website that the difference between union and non-union pay is $154.00 a week and that is a difference of $7,392 per year.

Our unions are controlled by us! Many people believe that just because we have a no strike clause the employer holds all the cards and all we can do is some collective begging. Again, according to the Department of Labor statistics “almost all contract settlements (98%) are reached without workers resorting to strikes. Strikes are very uncommon today. Only one work day out of a thousand is lost due to a strike.”

The squeaky wheel gets oiled or replaced! One of the top issues in this federal agency that needs to be drilled down on, brought to the surface, and taken to a public forum by union leaders and management officials is dignity and respect in the workplace. I hear that many employees are afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation, which leads to poor attitudes, no forum for constructive, NOT destructive dialogue. We have to intelligently put pressure on those who own the bakery to remind them that we are the bakers and civilly help them understand that the recipe card they are working off to cook in this business is going to be the basis for a lot of people getting sick. That means management has to be accountable to deal with complaints, inappropriate conduct, and unacceptable behavior.

On the street level I see minimal emphasis on training, limited concern for people skills, some poorly managed processes and limited edition teamwork. Bosses who don’t like feedback make everything urgent even though some things are not necessarily important creating a ball of confusion. Example; If the person in charge has to relocate employees, and in the same breath brags about how well the bathroom remodeling project is coming along might be suggesting we should follow the money, and we will get the answer to the motivation.

Recent reported incidents involving current or former employees that might indicate a wider organizational problem include:

June 2009: North Carolina, postal worker fatally shoots himself at work in the employee locker room.

Oct 2009: Georgia, postal worker pulls gun on his boss.

Oct 2009: Arizona, postal worker charged with assaulting two bosses.

May 2010: Florida, laid-off postal worker involved in a bizarre alcohol induced freeway shooting rampage.

May 2010: California, fired postal worker crashes his vehicle into his ex-supervisor.

June 2010: District of Columbia, postal executive arrested for altercation with a facility manager.

June 2010: New York, postal worker stabs boss multiple times with a pair of scissors.

July 2010: Georgia, postal worker stabs supervisor multiple times with a knife and screwdriver.

Articulate your own images and consider this not-so-cheesy solution to go with that whine. I once took a “how to get your story in the media” seminar presented by local radio and television personalities. They unanimously informed the attendees that the bottom line is “if it bleeds it leads” in the headlines. They also said that the second best way to get their attention is to attach your story to a celebrity since we are a society infatuated with celebrities. It would be nice to see our labor organizations get together for the sake of pride and deference, find a celebrity with mail associated star power to get behind our message, order up 500,000 royal blue t-shirts, and show our strength in numbers in a non-violent national campaign. Let’s talk about all the things that contribute to a hostile workplace. Not only will it help us, it will create a wider discussion about American workplace violence. We know how to bind the nation together, now let’s unite ourselves together by coming to the workplace table with more than a fork. Let’s not just look for the big bucks, let’s make a bigger difference in our organizational culture with our union and management bosses out front.

Written by postal employee Ronald Williams, Jr. for PostalEmployeeNetwork.com (PEN)
Do Not Repost without consent from PEN and R. Williams, Jr.