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Postal Service - Out of Control
UPDATE: SAN FRANCISCO USPS PROBLEMS
April 2007 - from PEN Reader
Most of you will remember the
murder suicide in San Francisco in
2006. A postal supervisor was murdered and a letter carrier
committed suicide.
Watch
Related Video The following is an update on the
conditions for postal employees in that area - this article was sent to
PEN by a PEN reader.
SAN FRANCISCO UPDATE: MARCH 2007
Reprinted without edit from PEN reader
During the February 2, 2007 meeting at Dan
Bernal's office Winifred Groux;
San Francisco District Manager for the U. S.
Postal Service stated the
problem at the Pacific Carrier Annex (PCA) as "a
turn over in supervisors
that failed to keep up the goals of the Peace
Team." The Peace Team was a
group of union and management people that worked
with personnel at PCA for about two years to
correct the problems with communication, trust
and
dignity and respect.
The craft employees present at that meeting
disagreed with District Manager
Groux's characterization of the problems at our
worksite and stated that the
conditions did not improve after the Peace Team
intervention, they got worse
and it would be a mistake to blame the three new
supervisors for the five or
six years of abuse. The station manager is a
full participant to the
treatment of employees at that facility. Upper
management is aware of the
conditions at least through recommendations of
the Peace Team (to remove
Station Manager Denton), the Voice of the
Employee surveys and an
investigation conducted by manager Steve Santos
in August of 2006.
District Manager Groux stated that after she
found out about the letter
"petition" signed by 87 PCA employees which was
sent to Speaker Pelosi, she initiated a "Postal
Inspection Service intervention." That was not
an
intervention in the dictionary sense but was
basically an investigation of
the work environment.
District Manager Groux stated at that meeting on
2/2/07 that she would
address the employees at PCA because, "they need
to hear that we agree that the treatment of
employees there has not been appropriate."
That did not happen. Instead, Station Manager
Denton who is responsible for
condoning the inappropriate behavior as well as
participating in the actual
harassment and abusive treatment of employees
was put in charge of
"debriefing" PCA letter carriers.
The following is a summary of what Station
Manager Denton said to us.
This meeting is about the petition sent to Nancy
Pelosi's office about
harassment. There was a meeting two weeks ago at
Nancy Pelosi's office with the district manager,
the postmaster and the union all there. It was
determined that PCA has a problem with a lack of
communication and dignity
and respect.
There are going to be different classes to
educate the supervisors and
manager about changing the way we do things.
Station Manager Denton said in a very stern
voice, "the yelling on the work room floor has
to stop." She
paused and looked very hard and serious at each
craft employee in the room
and then said, "The harassment, as it's called,
has to stop on both sides."
Carriers are not doing their jobs the proper way
and when the supervisors
try to correct them the carriers are saying
things like, "I know my job,
I've been here for twenty years," and then the
supervisors are not reacting
properly. This has to stop!
This was not an acknowledgement that employees
have been mistreated, as
promised by District Manager Groux, it was just
one more opportunity for the
station manager to accuse letter carriers of not
doing their jobs.
Furthermore, Ms. Denton's statement is a gross
mischaracterization of the
problems at PCA! The truth is that management's
incentive pay (bonuses)
depends on increasing productivity (and other
goals) and the local
management is using harassment and intimidation
to do it. The place is run
like a sweatshop! Communication; forget it!
Trust; long gone! Dignity and
respect; doesn't exist!
The Joint Statement on Violence and Behavior in
the Workplace states;
We all grieve for the Royal Oak victims, and we
sympathize with their
families, as we have grieved and sympathized all
too often before in similar
horrifying circumstances. But grief and sympathy
are not enough. Neither are
ritualistic expressions of grave concern or the
initiation of
investigations, studies, or research projects.
(my emphasis)
It goes on to say;
We openly acknowledge
that in some places or units there is an
unacceptable level of stress in the workplace;
that there is no excuse for and will be no
tolerance of violence or any threats of violence
by anyone at any level of the Postal Service;
and that there is no excuse for and will be no
tolerance of harassment, intimidation, threats,
or bullying by anyone. (my emphasis)
We also affirm that every employee at every
level of the Postal Service
should be treated at all times with dignity,
respect and fairness. The need
for the USPS to serve the public efficiently and
productively, and the need
for all employees to be committed to giving a
fair day's work for a fair
day's pay, does not justify actions that are
abusive or intolerant. "Making
the numbers" is not an excuse for the abuse of
anyone. Those whose
unacceptable behavior continues will be removed
from their positions. (my
emphasis)
The Joint Statement on Violence and Behavior in
the Workplace address
exactly what is going on at PCA and at other
stations in San Francisco.
. Ritualistic expressions of grave concern
. The initiation of investigations
. Harassment, intimidation, threats, and
bullying
. "Making the numbers" is their excuse for
abusing employees at PCA
The atmosphere at PCA is worse than ever.
Threats, intimidation, bullying
and harassment are routine. There is no real
communication, just orders and
instructions. Station Manager Denton continues
her practice of micromanaging with an emphasis
on control. We are treated like we are a bunch
of two year olds out on parole and it is very
frustrating to say the least.
USPS CONTRACTING OUT MAIL DELIVERY
Peter Shapiro, NALC Branch 82
The Postmaster's comment that "contracted mail
delivery has always been part of the overall
delivery process" is transparently false.
Contracting out has only been appropriate is
isolated and extreme circumstances, such as
delivery to camps at the bottom of the Grand
Canyon. Private contractors have not been
utilized to deliver to residential areas, nor
should they.
It's time for the USPS to contract out
Postmasters, and every other layer of postal
employee that doesn't touch the mail. Years of
institutionalized mismanagement has caused the
USPS to squander the monopoly it has been
granted.
Here's an example of the waste:
USPS employs
- acting supervisors
- supervisors
- managers
- area managers
- Postmasters
- POOMS
- District managers
- Area Wide managers
- Area Vice Presidents
...and they recount the same mail several times
a day. The delivery portion of a letter
carrier's job is in some ways similar to the
delivery worker driving a bread route, or a soda
route... loading the truck and following an
established pattern of delivery. The big
difference is those workers do not have to face
the daily micro management and in your face
management of some pencil pusher with a tie. As
a matter of fact, they work relatively
unsupervised - just as a letter carrier should.
Instead USPS employs an army of lazy postal
managers who try to justify their existence by
trying to squeeze five minutes more productivity
out of a stone.
Letter carriers are already tracked by a
computerized system (DOIS) as well as scanned
bar codes along the route and on some classes of
mail (Managed Service Points or Delivery
Confirmation); how can any company justify
paying for supervisors to duplicate and
triplicate work already performed by computers?
Even private industry does not contract out
their CORE duties. It's the administrative work,
such as Human Resource work, that can be farmed
out.
The issue is not about what's good for USPS
management, it's about what's good for the
American public. If the public wanted private
industry to handle their documents, they would
utilize the services of UPS, Fed EX etc.
Clearly, the American public seeks trusted
Federal workers to enter their property daily,
with the sensitive documents sent through the US
Mail.
Editorial in the Beaverton newspaper
by Peter Shapiro, editor of NALC's Branch 82
MAIL DELIVERY SHOULDN'T BE CONTRACTED OUT
The principle of universal service equal
access to the mail for all
Americans has been around as long as this
country. It has been
repeatedly upheld by Congress, most recently
with passage of the Postal
Accountability and Enhancement Act late last
year. Incredibly, it is now in jeopardy.
Across the U.S., the Postal Service is
experimenting with hiring
cut-rate private contractors to deliver your
mail. Local postmasters who
once had the authority to approve new addresses
for delivery service
must now get approval from higher-ups. Here in
Washington County, mail
service for 374 new addresses in the Arbor Park
development near Bethany
are slated to be contracted out. Additional
addresses are being
contracted out near Orenco Station.
I earn my living delivering mail, so itšs
obvious why this is a concern
for me. Herešs why it should be a concern for
you as well:
What a great article - If Peter is reading this
please contact me at
teressa_lenkey@comcast.net. We are experiencing
contracting out at our
local Post Office and would love to share any
idea's you have. Thank you
in advance.
"Teressa Lenkey"
(Not verified)
Sat, Mar 10, 2007 at 06:33 AM
Re: Mail delivery shouldnšt be contracted out
We love our mailman. He has consistently given
us quality service for
the twenty plus years we've lived in our home.
His daily rounds help to
keep our neighborhood vital and connected. I do
not want to see the US
Postal Service get outsourced to the lowest
bidders.
"Kevin"
(Not verified)
Sat, Mar 10, 2007 at 07:26 AM
Continued Next Column
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More Out of Control Issues
Re: Mail delivery shouldnšt be contracted out
They say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Every
day of the week i send 2 - 3 full tubs of mixed
envelopes and packages all over the world using
the mail service, and you know what ? Almost
without exception, it all gets to where it is
supposed to get to, and in good condition. At
the same time, I receive 4 - 5 shipments a week
via UPS, and although they all get to me, they
frequently look like they were used in a
football
game first.
My point is this : we have a mail service in
this country that works, and works well. If you
consider all of the infrastructure that keeps it
working so well, you can also see that it really
is more cost effective than most other things in
our lives. Some things really shouldn't be
changed.
"chris moore"
(Not verified)
Sat, Mar 10, 2007 at 09:41 AM
Over more than two centuries, the post office
has built up an
infrastructure that extends mail service to
every household and every business address in
the nation. Unlike private shippers, it doesnšt
pick and choose whom it will serve or charge
more for out-of-the-way deliveries. Unlike
private shippers, it has no stockholders to pay
off. It charges enough to pay its expenses and
no more. And it doesnšt take a
nickel of your tax dollars.
Those of us who deliver your mail are charged
withmaintaining its security and privacy as well
as making sure it gets where itšs supposed to
go. At a time when identity theft has become
rampant, it provides a means of communicating
and conducting business which has proved far
safer than the Internet.
If youšre sending something valuable, wešll
provide extra protection. If you move, wešll
forward your mail. If youšre out of town, wešll
hold it until you return.
Wešre there for you every day, no matter how bad
the weather or how heavy the mail volume. But we
do more than put letters in your mailbox. We
bring medications to the ill and housebound. We
build up personal relationships with our
customers, watch their kids grow, send their
care packages to loved ones overseas in the
military.
If we know youšre home and we notice mail piling
up in your box especially if youšre elderly
and living alone wešll check and make sure
youšre OK. Hardly a week goes by when a carrier
in some part of the country doesnšt intervene on
behalf of a customer facing a life-threatening
emergency who couldnšt summon help on their own.
Wešre considered first responders in case of a
natural disaster or national emergency. Our
access to every household enables us to collect
70 million pounds of food for the hungry during
our unionšs annual food drive. Here in Oregon,
wešre the backbone of the statešs innovative
vote-by-mail system, which has attracted
national attention and praise at a time when
hanging chads, paperless electronic ballots and
long waits at polling places have undermined
public confidence in the electoral process.
In short, mail service is a precious public
resource. That portions of it could be auctioned
off to the lowest bidder ought to elicit howls
of protest, and not just from letter carriers
like myself.
Because our countryšs steadily increasing
population means a constant addition of new
delivery points, maintaining universal service
costs money. Since a machine has not yet been
invented that can deliver mail, much of that
money goes for labor costs. Therešs always the
temptation to farm out the work to private
entrepreneurs who claim they can do it on the
cheap.
But doing so carries a price which none of us
should have to pay. Existing standards of
privacy, security, uniformity and accuracy would
be virtually impossible to maintain. The letter
carrieršs unique role in the community would be
undermined.
More fundamentally, the principle of universal
service, and the delivery network required to
maintain it, would be gravely compromised.
My union, the National Association of Letter
Carriers, is doing all it can to stop it. We
need your help.
Wešre having an informational picket line at the
Beaverton post office beginning at 4:30 p.m. on
Thursday, March 15. Youšre welcome to join us.
If youšre driving by but canšt stop, honk your
horn in support.
When you get home, contact your elected
representatives and let them know that you value
your delivery service and donšt want it
dismantled piece by piece. Itšs your fight too.
And here's some reader comments:
Re: Mail delivery shouldnšt be contracted out
Privatization is not all it's cracked up to be.
By the time you fix all the mistakes made by
inexperienced people, you haven't really saved
money after all. And now we are supposed to
trust untrained contractors with our VOTES?
Enough is enough.
"Jennifer"
(Not verified)
Fri, Mar 09, 2007 at 09:58 AM
Re: Mail delivery shouldnšt be contracted out
We live in Old Orenco and our mail is contracted
out. The mail service in this area is unreliable
with neighbors often returning misdelivered
mail.
"Tim Stout"
(Not verified)
Fri, Mar 09, 2007 at 01:28 PM
Re: Mail delivery shouldnšt be contracted out
If you contract out the mail service, let's say
something gets delivered broke, who's
accountable? Where do I go to complain? Times
that story by 100,000 for all the mistakes,
breaks, tears, rips or lost mail items there
would be if contracted out nationally and who do
you go to for
compensation? Who pays for damage/loss? From
state to state, who handles who's complaint, is
it the hundreds of different "contracts" that
will be delivering the mail? Don't wish to see
privatization or "contracting out" This country
would literally see chaos and pandimonium,,,,,.....really....
"evans"
(Not verified)
Fri, Mar 09, 2007 at 04:07 PM
Re: Mail delivery shouldnšt be contracted out
"there is nothing so expensive as cheap labor"
(unknown)
Anyone who purchases a product or service based
solely on price gets what they pay for. It is
challenging enough for fulltime employees to
deliver the mail accurately and in good time. To
expect contractors or subcontractors to do so
when they have little vested interest is just
plain silly!
"Dennis Purdie (Rural Carrier)"
(Not verified)
Sat, Mar 10, 2007 at 03:00 AM
Re: Mail delivery shouldnšt be contracted out
So you're saying another person, because he/she
is not a USPS letter carrier, can't have the
same principles as you. HE/she can't keep the
mail secure, can't help people in distress they
find on their delivery route, can't uphold
privacy statutes, or be held accountable for
their work. The USPS can and should hold a
contrct delivery person with the same
accountability as their own employees. Why not.
The USPS currently has carriers being fired for
not delivering mail and for stealing the mail.
How are USPS carriers so different than others?
Give me a break and stop blowing smoke up the
publics A**
"Wolfman"
(Not verified)
Sat, Mar 10, 2007 at 05:57 AM
Re: Mail delivery shouldnšt be contracted out
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