Area 1 Report

Two More Reasons Why the Postal Service Is the

Most Trusted Federal Agency

One Sunday morning recently I was reading the newspaper. When I saw the Dear Abby column I was pleasantly surprised. A grandmother wrote to Abby detailing an experience that she had with postal workers. She told how her grandchildren went on vacation and their mother wanted them to send post cards to their grandparents telling them about their vacation. The children had never seen a postcard before and filled them up top to bottom without leaving much room to address them. Their mother found a tiny space on them and addressed them in an unusual location on the postcard.

The postcards reached their grandparents because there were some dedicated workers who made sure they were properly processed and delivered. These workers took the little bit of extra time to make sure the grandparents would hear about their grandchildren’s adventures.

This little bit of attention to detail created a few happy moments for the recipients and inadvertently some goodwill towards those workers.

We are dedicated and professional letter carriers and clerks. When I see new employees training with seasoned employees I turn to moments like these and remember just how important it is to start the process right. It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that we all do the job right and take care of our customers. The bottom line is that we are a service related industry and as such we are required to get the job done right the first time.

On that same note, I would like to recognize a carrier in the New Bern office. City carrier Gary Lovern was delivering his route on June 2^nd 2016 when he came upon a seven year old girl who was frantically crying. The little girl was bleeding profusely from her right hand. As it turns out the girl was trying to get into her house and accidently broke the glass in the front door knocking on it.

School had let out early that day and there was some miscommunication between the caregiver and relatives. The caregiver was on her way home to be with the little girl at the time of the accident. Gary stopped as the child was alone, frantic, and hurting. Gary administered first aid and calmed her down immediately. Then Gary called 911 and stayed with the girl until EMS and the police arrived.

That girl’s parents reached out to Gary and thanked him repeatedly and when they recalled what happened they praised his actions. Gary now has a few friends for life. Gary is a 33 year letter carrier and has served in the Marine Corps also. It is people like Gary Lovern that make the USPS the most trusted federal agency.

If we do our jobs professionally and with care then we will create a better environment and foster goodwill to our customers. This in turn will create loyalty from our customers and will help us thrive as a business.

The Crisis Behind American Pensions

In the May issue of the Postal Record there is an article on retirement which discusses the basics about what we should know about retiring. In this article we are going to look at the crisis behind disappearing pensions. Disappearing pensions are getting to be the norm in the workforce. It is one major reason why older people are working later into their lives.

There are three groups in which workers are classified. The new workers which make up 15 to 24 year olds. The core workers which make up 25 to 54 year olds. Finally, the older workers which make up 55 to 64 year olds. In the past few years there were 79% of the core workers in America gainfully employed. Now there are 77 % that are working. There were 54% of the older workers that were gainfully employed, and now it is up to 61%. It may seem as though this is only a slight shift, but it is a growing trend which is becoming as issue for both worker groups.

With the older group of workers staying longer in the workforce it creates an issue for the core workers. The core workers are fighting for fewer jobs and their availability. It has been proven that peak efficiency of the workforce is due to a larger number of core workers gainfully employed.

Several issue arise which hurt the workforce. Productivity lags behind due to the aged workforce. OWCP claims rise and create a further stress to the bottom line. And creativity begins to suffer.

The drop in pensions being offered in defined benefit packages creates other issues for the rest of society. It widens the gap between the rich and the poor. When companies don’t offer pensions to attract workers to their companies, they tend to use their financial resources on their upper management teams. This creates more than just a financial gap for a company. It creates a problem with morale due to the fact that the lower paid workers with fewer defined benefits are reminded every time they are paid that they are not as valued in the company structure.

The lower paid workforce also creates instability in the company because they are more than likely to look for another job and destabilizes the company by turnover related problems.

In 1980 38% of private companies that had defined benefit plans offered pensions. That number has declined to just 15% today according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Only 43% of private workers enroll into the company 401 K or other defined contribution plans.

The average 401 K plan has only $91,000.00 in it. This certainly isn’t enough to rely upon for the person who lives an additional 15 to 20 years after they retire. These plans and their demise have a direct correlation to worker unrest, turnover in the workforce, increased claims for OWCP, and poorer work performance.

There are several other issues that are cropping up and we have yet to find out what the ramifications are.

The ripple effect is only beginning to be felt and we won’t know for years how society is going to feel the pains of unfunded retirement plans for our workforce. We hear how Social Security is struggling to keep up with paying the benefits that it does. The short sighted policies we as a country are passing will be the burden of our children.

Don’t we owe it to future generations to put these issues on the table and find out what the problems will be if we continue to go down this path with our pensions and the way we are eliminating them? The working middle class is disappearing from the current corporate business model and the loss of defined benefit plans.

When unions were created, defined benefit plans were one of the most important parts that were negotiated into our package of benefits. When we were hired, the USPS told us just how lucky we were to have such benefits and they used them as a way to get us to work for the USPS. The strength of our union was able to fight for those pensions and the benefits of them. Don’t we owe it to our new workers and the workers who have yet to work for the USPS to fight to keep those benefits?

The quality of retirement is enhanced by having a good pension plan. Our union has an obligation to the American dream to fight for these benefits.

The Sky is Falling

We all have heard the relentless attacks on the Postal Service by the fans of people who want to privatize and the people that are simply listening to the ones who are screaming the loudest against the working middle class. Previous congresses have tried to enact legislation to cut delivery, let the PMG fire thousands of USPS workers, threaten union contracts, close plants, and feverishly facilitate privatization of the USPS through outsourcing core functions of our business.

We have recently seen a shift in some of these things that Congress is attempting to push through legislation. We have recently heard the four point plan of the new PMG. This plan includes keeping stamp rates current for five years, authority to provide new products, recalculate retiree benefits, and an effort to make Medicare the primary health carrier for retirees.

The USPS has backed off their push for five day delivery, which was included in their slash-to-survive business theory.

The USPS is looking to suspend closures of more USPS installations. It is also looking into restoring the delivery standards they relaxed at the beginning of last year. It is also looking into expanding the law to allow us to mail new products such as wine and beer. In addition, it wants to repeal the 2006 Postal Accountability Enhancement Act which requires the healthcare retiree prefunding that accounted for over 85 percent of the losses incurred by the Postal Service since 2006.

Recently, APWU president Mark Dimondstein brought to light parts of an internal USPS document where a consultant recommended that the organization invest in high traffic locations and eliminate the majority of the standard volume at USPS locations. The consultant also recommended the USPS move all of that work to outside retail partners that aren’t staffed by APWU members (i.e., lower paid non-union workers).

The NALC has been lobbying long and hard to restore the service standards, repeal the 2006 PAEA, shift the pension surplus back to the USPS, and to preserve our jobs. We all have fought hard in order to have our jobs. We come to work each and every day to be professionals and give our customers the best service possible.

Recently there have been a lot of issues cropping up on the workroom floor between local management and our members. Carriers have been dealing with managers telling them that they aren’t making the numbers and that they need to improve. We are hearing the need for carriers to be on the street by a certain time. We hear managers telling carriers that they need to be back in the office by 5 p.m. or they will have to explain what they did minute by minute. Managers are telling carriers that they have to look at the DMS screen to explain turn by turn of their mail truck what they have done for that day if they don’t make it back in the time they determine.

Remember that we have safety rules for a reason. If we fail to follow those rules, then we also can be disciplined by management for not following them. If you work professionally and do your job right every day as though there is someone walking with you or sitting in a jump seat in your truck, then you will be fine.

We also have to help other carriers be professional too. Safety is everyone’s job and we don’t get a second chance to take back a shortcut that could turn into an accident.

BUYER BEWARE

Have you ever noticed the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you walk into a car dealership? Let’s fast forward now to walking into work. Lately management has asked carriers to come over to the supervisor’s desk and they start showing them what they did on their route the day before. They call this breadcrumbs. Apparently management has been told that the last people back to the office need to be questioned as to what they were doing the day before.

Management has been questioning carriers about their performance and as to why they were in one location for a few minutes or why they didn’t do what looks right (to management) on their map. One carrier has requested that their steward be present for this and it was denied. The manager said that they were just trying to find out why the carrier was the last one back. The manager also said they were not doing an investigative interview.

I disagree with the last statement. As soon as they start asking questions as to your performance don’t the hairs on the back of your neck stand up? Once management starts to question your performance it takes on an investigatory tone. If you are being asked about what you are doing on your route and why your times are not what they expect and you answer something that they don’t agree with, then I say it is an investigative interview. I am sure that they will seek to correct what they feel are deficiencies with discipline.

It is management’s responsibility to perform street management in order to find out if carriers are performing their duties correctly and professionally. In Section 134.2 Techniques for street management, it states 134.21- The manager must maintain an objective attitude in conducting street supervision and discharge this duty in an open an above board manner. 134.22- The manager is not to spy or use other covert techniques. Any employee infractions are to be handled in accordance with the section in the current National Agreement that deal with these problems.

It is not open and above board when someone sits behind a desk and looks at a screen to try and figure out if the carrier is doing something wrong. When the carrier comes into work the next day and a supervisor asks them what they did the day before it starts to wear them down. People are worried that they will get in trouble for simply doing their job.

There are a lot of reasons that a carrier has for being in a spot. It is hard to remember everything that one has done the day before. Heck, I can’t remember what I had for breakfast sometimes. To ask a carrier to account for every minute of their day with a play by play analysis is a bit overboard. The only agreed upon and negotiated way to discipline a carrier for improper street performance is for management to actually come out to the street and to observe their work performance.

Remember, as a carrier with a National Agreement, you do have a right to ask for a steward if you are being questioned about your performance and you feel at that time there is a chance that your answers may be used against you for discipline. Again, it is once you feel that you could be in jeopardy of being disciplined that you have this right and not when management says it is ok.

I have heard a manager say to a carrier, “Hey Joe, I have a few questions about what happened last night on your route. Come on over to the standup desk and let me know what went on."

The next thing Joe is being asked why he spent four minutes at one park point and he better have a good reason. That doesn’t sound like management is trying to figure out whether or not Joe had delivered a particular parcel to an address.

If we all work professionally and do our jobs right then we have nothing to worry about if management comes out to the street and observes us. Everyone today has a camera in their cell phone and more and more people are installing cameras in their homes or jobs.

Work as though you are being watched constantly... because you just might be.

Accident Repeaters

How many times have you been hurt at work? This was the beginning of a safety talk we recently had at our office one morning. Management talked about tendencies that happen in our lives that lead to accidents due to other distractions.

There was talk about limitations and the need to adapt to those limitations, as other external forces push against all of us in order for us to do our jobs safely. Not all of our limitations are physical. Some are emotional too.

Stresses of various types have been proven to show an increase in illness and injuries. The talk focused on outside work stressors. Near the end of the talk there was talk about some job related stressors. Let’s briefly examine these questions.

1). How well do you like your job? For example: Do you have a boss that tells you that you are an unacceptable employee because you don’t give them the numbers that they want?

2). Do you understand your job or the instructions given? For example: Does your boss tell you that you are unprofessional for not following a rule while other employees are allowed to bypass those same rules?

3). Do you really listen to instructions? For example: Do you get berated for being too methodical in your job and taking too long while other employees are told that they are doing well because they were back into the office on time. Meanwhile, when the customer sees you the day after the other carrier delivers the route, you have to explain why there is mis-delivered mail or there is a package sticking out of the mailbox instead of being brought up to the door?

These are just a few rules that may cause conflict and create stress that could lead to employees not being professional and having an accident.

Falling into the trap of creating short cuts and ignoring the rules that have been put in place to ensure that you are safe and professional will eventually create potential for an accident. We all have heard the supervisor talk to us about missing a scan or being told that the street time yesterday was terrible (they are mad because the street time was 12 minutes longer than normal and it was 97 degrees outside).

Let everyone remember again that the rules were created to ensure our safety and have been established due to experiences learned in the past.

Many Changes and Challenges

During my term as Area One Representative I have attended all state training sessions, national and regional rap sessions and the national convention. I have visited several offices in my area in order to further the State Association's business. I have assisted those offices in any capacity that has been requested of me. It has been my privilege to have been elected as Area One Representative.

During my time as Area One Representative there have been many changes and challenges. I have met them head on and done what is in the best interest of the State Association of Letter Carriers. We have had a tough time and there are many challenges that lie ahead of us. With solidarity and steadfast determination we can get through these times together. I have seen some talented new stewards of this union step forward and hope to see more of that. I am, and will always be, available to assist anyone in any way that is needed. With the new political agenda coming out in Washington, we need to be unified in our struggle to maintain the benefits and rights that we currently enjoy.

I want to thank the membership for allowing me to serve as Area One Representative and, again, it has been an honor to do so.

Let’s Be Sensible

I have seen a sharp rise in the service related problems with the Postal Service. We all have seen articles about carriers not doing their job right and the results from that. Recently I read about a CCA who was charged with throwing away walk sequence mailings. When he was questioned as to why he did this, he stated that his boss wanted him back by five and he couldn’t get it done with the work he had.

We all have seen what pressure from our managers has done to some good carriers.

I believe that the postal service needs to look at the way business is done. Whenever we come into work and there is a new policy implemented there usually is a service talk to explain roughly what is expected of us. During the service talk we are told that these are the new marching orders and if we fail to follow them then there will be repercussions from our actions.

When the service talk is done most carriers feel as though they have just been treated unfairly. The tone for the day doesn’t start very well. First off, management has not thought about the best way to get the particular task done most efficiently.

Secondly, there is not thought as to the results and the overall success to the mission. One prime example that I would like to point out is when there are new test projects that carriers are subjected to.

In our office we participated in a twelve week study on using Segway devices. We were told it was a twelve week study where we will be using them on park and loop routes and it was completely voluntary. We were allowed to opt out of the study at any time and there would be no problem with our decision. At the same time we would be test-delivering all of the mail in a bag to each address. I was a carrier technician so I volunteered to do it on the routes where I had park and loop.

I believed that if this was a successful program then it would be worthwhile to be involved with it. It could save time and money in order to further improve the business.

In the office we would sort all of the mail (DPS, Flats, and circulars) into a plastic bag and then pull the route down or band it out in sequence and head to the street with it.

We loaded our Segway onto a little ramp that was attached to the mail truck and off we went. When we got to our relays on the street we would load our Segway and then deliver the mail.

On the street there were a few problems to start off with. It was very hard to keep the mail in order because the bags kept sliding around the container that the mail was in. It started raining and the water was pooling up in some parts of the Segway. The route I was on had approximately 600 possible deliveries, so I added twelve hundred additional steps up and down to my route. I had to get on and off the Segway at every delivery. The batteries were supposed to last for approximately six hours but my first battery died after two hours. I went through three batteries that day.

The first day of my Segway test I was very surprised that the post office thought this process had even a small chance of success. When I returned to the office that night I had used an additional hour and forty five minutes above what I would have done if I had not used the Segway or done the bagging of the mail. I told my boss that I did not want to continue with this test because I felt that it was not going to be a success. I was told by my boss that I had a very bad attitude about this and I should reconsider. I said that I have seen enough and that there were so many problems with the test.

The bags were poorly constructed and fell apart. Customers were encouraged to return the bags back to the mail box but didn’t. The water pooled up in the Segway and over time that would have damaged the vehicle. The office time increased tremendously. The street time wasn’t any better overall.

My boss told me that I would be walking less and that was a benefit to me. I said that I was taking an additional twelve hundred

steps up and down. I don’t mind walking on flat land but the steps is what tears my knees up and stresses them the most.

My immediate supervisor said that I wasn’t giving the test a fair chance and that over time I would improve my ability to work with the Segway. I said that the Segway wasn’t my problem with the test. There was not enough research put into the whole process before it was rolled out for the testing phase. What types of bags should we use? What type of apparatus should we use to hold the bags when we load the mail into them at the case? Should the case be reconfigured in order to make the most sense ergonomically? What type of containers should we use to load and hold the mail while we deliver it on the street? Is the Segway properly designed to work with our needs? Do we see any physical restrictions that might hurt the carriers?

None of these options were explored prior to the postal service buying all of the Segways and other equipment. This program was destined to fail because the planning wasn’t thorough in the beginning. As far as giving a fair chance to succeed I don’t recall a manager telling me that when I ask for more time to improve my skills as a letter carrier. They always tell me that I am a professional letter carrier and I should be able to adapt and pick up new challenges on the fly.

When management does training on PM collection box jobs they typically spend about five minutes instructing carriers how to do it and then if something goes wrong the carrier is disciplined for failure to follow instructions. The manual for how to complete PM collections is 34 pages long. How do you summarize a 34 page manual in five minutes then expect success? This is typical though for our business. We spend five minutes training and require professional service. I believe that for a business to be successful we need to emphasize the basics and do it well. We must include proper and thorough training. We must expect smart business decisions. We also need to work together in order to achieve success. Oh, I haven’t seen a Segway since the twelve week project was over. I wonder where the Segways are today?

Let’s be sensible.

Stay the Course

The recent elections have told us that America has called for a change in leadership. Those of us in the Postal Service have several challenges ahead of us in order to ensure the viability of our business.

With the changes in the House and Senate, we as union members have a tougher battle ahead than most. In the last few years there has been a concentrated effort to dismantle collective bargaining agreements and the working middle class. We see this attitude working its way through the American ideology.

It has made its way into our daily working life at the post office. When we come in to work we now get these Plan 5 safety talks and they don’t have a lot to do with safety.

Our supervisors tell us that we need to bear down and concentrate on our jobs. We are told to make sure we scan MSPs, to ensure we only spend five minutes in the office in the p.m., and to be out of the office before 9.

They tell us that we don’t have any mail today; we need to be mindful of that and to hurry up and get gone.

Our new class of employees (CCAs) are being told not to listen to the veteran carriers when they say to be professional. CCAs are being told not to check Change of Address cards, or to just put a PS Form 1571 on mail they bring back.

CFS numbers have increased. Carriers are being pressured for time and are being told to be back by five or they will have to explain their reason for not making their ordered instructions regardless of what mail they have.

Carriers are getting frustrated with other carriers because they feel that they are not doing what they are supposed to.

Management has increased the number of scan points in our office from 12 to 15 even though we are getting brand new scanners that will ping 16 times a minute.

In the last few years the Postal Service has forgotten why we are the most trusted federal agency in the country. We used to push customer service as the most important part of our job. Now we’re told to just leave the parcels at the door without bringing the mail up.

We have carriers that don’t read the mail for each address and say that they don’t have time to do so. There are carriers that take shortcuts and rationalize it by saying that the boss will be mad if they don’t get back in time.

Management pushes numbers and aren’t very fair about it. They will ask carriers for Form 3996s (request for auxiliary assistance) and then tell them they don’t need the time. Supervisors will tell a carrier that they are light today and should be able to get back on time but they will not tell them that they have a lot of mail on a given day and that they should be really late.

Managers are giving carriers pre-disciplinary interviews for reasons such as missing an MSP, clocking in three minutes late, a carrier calling in sick for the first time in eight months, among other things.

When we’re in the grievance arbitration process and doing informal and formal A meetings, stewards are constantly being told that the reason front line managers violate their contractural responsibilities is because they are being told that they are supposed to do it and if they don’t follow their orders they will be disciplined.

With all of these things happening to us right now it’s easy to understand how we can become frustrated and get caught up in taking short cuts, getting upset with co-workers, and being told that we just need to give more in order to fix the problems.

My problem with what’s going on is that in all of what we are being told our managers aren’t concerned with giving our customers the best possible service. No one in the Postal Service or Congress has sat down to talk with the frontline carriers, clerks, maintenance workers, or mail handlers to find out what are some of the things that can be done to improve service and increase productivity at the same time.

It’s hard to swallow a bitter pill and have absolutely no input as to what’s going on.

We hear all of these great plans that the Postal Service wants to implement and most of the frontline people don’t understand how they will fix the issues plaguing us. We have made several attempts as a union to have good input and help fix our problems but they have fallen on deaf ears. Doesn’t a business improve if all people are heard?

It’s hard to listen to a supervisor tell us that we need to be better and that service doesn’t matter.

We have safety talks that simply put us down. We work with new guidelines imposed by managers and told that the contract has to be broken in order for the business to work. I have personally heard supervisors say to me things such as “You don’t want the USPS to work because you can’t be flexible.” “You don’t understand what I am being told to do by my boss.” “You don’t want to be a team player.” “Why can’t you get with the program; it works for us and the contract has been outdated for years and has no place in the USPS.” “You are trying to ruin this business by following your (notice the word your and not ours) old and outdated rules.”

Where in any of these statements does management say we need to work together? Or where do they say “What do you think about improving service?”

Again, it’s important that we try to be professional and do our jobs as we are trained to do. We need to also have a voice in how to fix the business with the issues we are facing. We need to support each other and help carriers understand what our job is and how to cope with the stresses and the daily issues that face us.

We still need to voice our opposition to Congress in order to fix the bad legislation that has been passed and that will come to the forefront in the near future.

We need to stay the course so our business can be viable for the future.

The Working Middle Class

Back in the 1950s there began a push to increase wages for working class people in an effort to stimulate the economy. Businessmen figured out that if they were earning more money for their products then they would increase their wealth. This theory certainly makes sense.

One way they could do this was by increasing the prevailing wages they were paying people working in the private sector. They knew that if the workers for private business could earn more than they were currently then those workers would spend more and stimulate the local economy.

They knew at that time it would be risky to propose this because most business people didn’t want to pay their workers more. The majority of business owners wanted to keep their labor costs down in order to keep more of the profits for their products. So in order to put this plan into effect this small group of private business owners proposed a radical plan at the time. They made a concentrated effort to increase the prevailing wages for government employees. In doing so, there was a big push for unions and the structure they provided for the working middle class.

By pushing for these public sector employees to have a better wage and benefit package, private sector employees could ask for an increase in wages and benefits too.

For the majority, this theory paid off big time.

As a country, we saw dramatic gains in our way of life. The immense growth of unions created a stable and viable working middle class where people could thrive and succeed in life.

Private sector employees were making huge strides in their quest for parity with public sector employees and in turn, their lives were flourishing as well. Businesses were seeing tremendous growth and were prospering at an astonishing rate. It was a win-win situation for all parties involved. The competition between the public and private sector was healthy and created competition for qualified workers. This theory also created stability in our economy by stimulating spending which in turn created growth.

Then business owners and the wealthy took stock in the profit margins and decided that this didn’t benefit them. The wealthy decided that this theory that had been in place for so long was robbing them of their ability to earn more and keep as much of their profits as they could.

As a group, they started to lobby Congress and had laws enacted that were more business owner and wealth oriented.

The shift was subtle at first. There were proposals for laws that seemed to benefit all at first, but down the line they paved the way for more restrictions on the working class.

Eventually, laws that were constructed to restrict the middle class, would stifle the majority of the working class.

I was recently at our national convention in Philadelphia where there were some really good speakers who attested to this policy shift in our country. In one way or another, they pointed out some of the policies enacted and tactics used to silence the middle class.

The media reports what they’re instructed to because the money that controls business wants it that way. Certain media outlets are out to destroy the collective bargaining process because of what it does to help the middle class.

These wealthy owners of the business class have the most to lose by allowing the middle class a voice. Since 2008, 95 percent of the new wealth in this country has been made and is held by the top five percent of wage earners.

Unemployment figures are improperly measured and quoted by our politicians. They say that unemployment is at its lowest in six years, but the truth is that more people have been removed from unemployment. When someone has exhausted their ability to collect , they are no longer counted on the rolls.

Half of all jobs pay less than $27,000 annually. What do CEOs of major corporations make?

The prosperity the working middle class has seen has benefited the majority of Americans and has made the wealthiest people in America more money during this time period than ever before in our country’s history.

The retirement plans of the working middle class has given us the ability to prosper after all our years of hard work and has enabled us to live better in retirement. The benefit plans of good middle class jobs promote stability in the workforce. This in turn creates loyalty among employees to their employers.

As a society we have seen what happens when the upper class controls all aspects of a business and its wealth. Remember Enron when the executives stripped all of the infrastructure out of that company? They reported on every penny and paperclip in the building in order to increase profits for management. Then, when there was nothing left to run the business efficiently, they bailed out with their golden parachutes.

There’s no benefit in trashing the working class. We’ve heard that when you earn money it spends seven different ways in our communities, spreads the wealth and creates growth in our economy.

Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, stripped all but three unions of their collective bargaining ability while leaving the three that supported him unscathed. When Walker was asked how this action helped Wisconsin through their rough financial times he said that it didn’t. I wonder how long it’ll be before the three remaining unions will be attacked and realize they’re working for peanuts? We have seen how these kinds of policies limit the opportunities of America’s working class and how it is counterproductive to a prosperous America.

As members of a good union, we need to stand up for the future of our families and for America. We need to support working class issues. We need to show how good wages and benefit packages help increase the wealth of local communities and promote financial growth and stimulate spending. This in turn stimulates the economy.

We need to show how good retirement plans promote longevity and help reduce the cost on our society for the elderly. It gives the elderly the ability to pay their own way through their senior years and it alleviates the need for us as a nation to rely heavily on social services in order to take care of our elderly.

By promoting job stability for the working middle class we achieve an economy that promotes growth, security, and a viable democracy. It also helps stimulate the financial cycle that creates stability in our society.

We as union members need to help others achieve this and to spread our message when the people of differing opinions try to silence our voice through money.

Let’s all speak about the benefits of the working middle class.

A Brave New World

I was recently reading a white paper put out by the OIG that was requested by the USPS. It was on leave benefits and changing our leave over to a new type of leave system called PTO (Paid Time Off).

The USPS wanted the OIG to explore the possibilities of transitioning the USPS over to this new system which lumps all of your leave into one category and it doesn’t really matter how you would take your leave.

For instance, if you wanted to use leave for a doctor’s appointment it would be pulled out of your total leave pool. The OIG used a survey done back in 2010 that explained the options and how they were used. The OIG admitted that they did not know if the facts in this survey were actually verified by an independent agency or group (the accuracy of this survey was not verified by anyone before it was put out and relied upon by the OIG).

This unverified survey compared eight different companies and certain components of the programs. Not all companies reported all of the components relied upon so the collected data is incomplete and slanted to benefit the individual company and their position on the issue.

The first thing that I noticed was that all of the companies who implemented this plan had severely cut back on the leave amount that was granted up to the point of changeover.

The second thing I noticed was that the companies had also changed the amount of carryover leave. We are allowed to carry over 55 days of annual and unlimited sick leave. The most carryover allowed from these companies was 36 days total. Four of the eight companies allowed less than 10 days carryover.

The third thing I noticed was that these companies tightened the restrictions on their short term sick leave usage and how it’s applied. This was done to protect the companies from paying out sick leave for employees who had a substantial buildup of leave.

The fourth thing I noticed was that the companies restructured their leave rules so they were limited to what they had to pay out to separating employees.

The fifth thing I noticed was that short term disability programs were frozen or severely altered to protect companies from more large payouts during the transition phase of the leave program changes.

The survey in which the OIG referenced compared the USPS employees to companies where there is much less of a physical demand on the employees. The companies were in the Aerospace industry, educational institutions, energy distribution, and one postal support industry that is heavy in administrative functions. The demands on the body for postal service employees is much more than any of these other jobs (which wasn’t considered).

When I started in the USPS I was told that I had 13 sick days which I could save forever in case of injury or illness. It was touted like an insurance policy to cover me. And I was told I should save it as a buffer so I would get paid in case of illness or injury.

I have saved my sick leave and have been very cautious about that in case I do need it. Four of the eight companies in the survey do not allow for carryover of sick leave. What happens if I need an operation from years of walking a mail route and I don’t have any sick leave because I can’t carryover but three days of leave? What if an employee wants to have a child and doesn’t have leave to cover maternity leave?

In this PTO system holidays are part of the time you are allowed. So how would that work with holidays when the postal service is closed? Do I have to take PTO? That would certainly limit the time I could take off through the rest of the year since my leave would be cut back. Would I have to work holidays when the USPS doesn’t deliver?

In the OIG white paper, they warn the USPS of some of the pitfalls in trying to implement this PTO plan. They tell the USPS they would have to be strategic in their approach. They recommended a legislative approach which would circumvent their collective bargaining requirements. That way they could change the leave benefit programs without the need to bargain for them. This strategy is counterproductive to a bargaining period let alone in good faith.

This PTO plan would be used for all employees. Bargaining unit employees comprise about 90 percent of all USPS employees. The OIG remarked that the USPS would only have to confer with the other employees but could impose the new rules on them. Now I understand why supervisors and postmaster groups (NAPUS and NAPS) have petitioned Congress over 80 times in the last 30 years to unionize.

In short, the USPS is trying as hard as it can to take away our collective bargaining rights and to strip us of our benefits any way it possibly can. I urge everyone to stand together and protect our collective bargaining rights that countless letter carriers have fought for and still are. Given the chance, we may not have them for much longer.

Stand up with your union brothers and sisters and make your voice heard. Our union is an open shop and we are 92 percent organized. That says a lot about how important it is to stand together and form an alliance to protect the working middle class.

Necessary ?

Necessary, according to the Webster’s dictionary, is an indispensable item. Lately I have seen people in the postal service make themselves necessary by any means possible. I have noticed that supervisors are doing a lot more paperwork and postmasters are on more teleconferences. In our post office there are a lot more visitors that make their way into it. I see more government license plates showing up in the parking lot than in the past.

I see our supervisors working more and getting more frazzled with their responsibilities. When I approach my supervisors with any union requested work I am told frequently that there is no time for what I am coming to them about. I hear excuses like they are being tasked with more reports due and more restrictions put onto them as far as what they are allowed to grant in the way of steward time. I have been told that a carrier is not allowed to see their steward because we are down four routes today and the mail must be carried (although they create the four down routes by not bringing in any ODL carriers to work them). I have heard from them “you just don’t understand what I have to do” when requesting interviews or grievance meeting with them.

I see our postmaster sitting on more teleconferences when I request time to ask him to fix the fact that my supervisors won’t meet with me before I actually file an article 17 grievance. I am told that he doesn’t have the time to meet because he is being tasked with a new telecon to explain why carriers have more than 8 minutes of vehicle load time and other assorted reasons. The postmaster will tell me that district has set up more goals for our office to reach and he has to explain why we do not reach them on a frequent basis. He also has more reports to fill out due to being unable to reach those goals.

The postmaster is told on occasion that he must drive 320 miles round trip to the district office to explain why there was a failed mystery shopper program or because a carrier has failed to make a certain standard imposed by district that isn’t actually in the M-41 handbook (city carrier’s guide to city delivery).

I see the POOM (post office operations manager) come in to our office periodically and make notes about what is going on. Then there is a flurry of activity by our supervisors and postmaster such as more outside postmasters coming in and taking notes or creating changes in the way the office is operated.

Recently we had about 15 postmasters (all Level 22 or above) come in and fill out form 1840s and ride with all city routes. I was told that district was unhappy with our street times and that they believed that we were not being professional in our job responsibilities (although there have been no changes in our routes and no one has told any carriers that they were doing anything wrong from this three day inspection).

I see a retired postmaster (back on the payroll) come in with a clipboard and make notes on the operation of the office. I also see other postmasters come in and spend up to a week watching clerks and carriers alike and make more notes (I don’t see any changes implemented after the visit).

Our supervisors and postmasters have been telling the carriers that we need to improve and show a sense of urgency in our jobs in order to save the post office money and bring it back into good standing financially.

Is it necessary to have all of these things done? How much money do we save when we bring in 15 postmasters for three days to watch us and the end result is that we are working diligent and professionally?

Is it necessary to send in retired postmasters to make notes that we had a piece of third class mail left behind when we curtailed 35 priority mail parcels because someone thought it was a good idea to make telephone calls as a way to attempt delivery of those parcels?

Is it necessary to send in postmasters to seed collection mail boxes with mail in an attempt to catch a carrier making a mistake?

Is it necessary to make postmasters and supervisors drive over five hours round trip with an empty tub to a processing plant to make a point?

Is it necessary to make a postmaster drive ten hours round trip to the district office to explain himself over a situation that district doesn’t like when they already have an answer through an email?

I recently read an OIG report on officer compensation for 2012 (these reports take a while to be compiled and given out apparently) that noted that the USPS didn’t comply with annual officer compensation caps as required by the PAEA of 2006. The USPS paid more out to its top officers than allowed by the very law that they say is hampering us financially.

The same report also stated that the USPS failed to follow its own internal policies and guidelines for leave approval (of managers) concerning coverage of those positions and the way it is supposed to be approved.

I wonder just how much it costs the USPS to implement all of these policies in order to improve the business. How much does it cost to send postmasters around to do these tasks? How much does the USPS pay to cover these managers when they are on detail assignments? Do we have the available personnel to properly run the operations that they are in charge of in their absences?

It seems to me that the USPS has created new job requirements in order to justify their jobs. Management is the only part of the USPS that has actually grown in the last 10 years.

We spend more money on service reviews and back door checks and that is not good for the business. I don’t believe anyone has actually done a report on the efficiency of all of these special task forces created by the USPS.

When management comes into our office we see no changes made that actually help improve our jobs or efficiency (could it be that we are professional and doing our jobs correctly?)

I get a sneaky feeling that management is creating more work to justify their own presence. I just want to ask one question:

Is all of this really necessary?

WHAT?

Did I just hear that?

I recently heard something that didn’t quite make sense. I was home on a recent Saturday night when I received a phone call from a fellow worker who just happened to be driving by our post office at 8:30 PM and saw that there were still seven cars in the employee parking lot. When I went into work on Monday, there were stories about carriers working until 9PM delivering parcels in town (actually it was one parcel). After some investigating I found out that five carriers were told after they came off of the street to wait for the postmaster to return from the plant with some parcels. The postmaster returned from the plant after 8 PM. He then instructed the carriers to grab phone books and start looking up names and addresses on the priority packages so they can call the customers up and ask them if they wanted these packages delivered. If the carriers were not able to get ahold of a customer or they couldn’t find a phone number in the phone book then they were to scan the parcels as attempted.

I was scratching my head at this moment. After all, in the M-41 (City Delivery Carriers Duties and Responsibilities) it outlines how parcels are supposed to be delivered. It states in Section 322.31 “ For any parcel that does not fit into the customer’s mailbox or parcel locker (when available), an attempt to deliver must be made at the customer’s door.” It even goes on in the parcel post route section to say (63 Delivery of Parcel Post) “ 631.1 Determine if someone is available by ringing the doorbell or knocking on the door”. In the M-39 (Management of Delivery Services) handbook under Section 125.7 Parcel Delivery it states in part “then drive to the delivery point to deliver the parcel and other mail at the same time. It also tells the carrier to determine if someone is available to receive the package which requires the carrier to physically check to see if someone is home to receive the parcel.

There were approximately 40 parcels brought back to the office that night from the plant. The carriers were only able to find five or six phone numbers and out of that they could only get a hold of one customer. They delivered only one parcel that night. The supervisor told me that management did what they felt was necessary to fulfill their obligations to the customers that night. I asked how was it possible to do that when there was no physical attempt made to do so and received no answer. I asked why didn’t the carriers fill out a Form 3849 Delivery notice/Reminder/Receipt as required by their instructions in the M-41 and received no response. The supervisor then suggested that safety might have been an issue but since she was not there she couldn’t be sure. I asked why would she say that? She stated that the last time carriers were out late that a rural carrier was met at a customer’s door and the customer pulled a gun out on the carrier. This was the first time that I heard about this incident. I asked the supervisor that if she was so worried about carrier safety then why wouldn’t she have a safety/ stand up talk to explain what happened so carriers could be aware. Again I received no response(Must have slipped her mind). The postmaster instructed carriers to forego their obligations and responsibilities that night in order to save money. The PM said that he was doing what he felt was good enough. He said he has the right to curtail operations.

Management has checks and balances put in place to insure that misdirected parcels to other offices are delivered the same delivery day. There is a recording office on duty that is supposed to be called when this happens. The recording officer is tasked with coordinating the parcels to their final destination (the customer’s house). There are service review teams that go into offices to insure that all mail is delivered. These checks and balances and obligations were put aside to save money. There is no other explanation. If I was a customer sitting at home that night and went online to check where my package is I would be upset. That customer paid to have that parcel delivered and properly inform them as to its whereabouts by delivery confirmation and tracking. In my office we have on several occasions recently been sent back out after delivering our routes to deliver late parcels from the plant.

Our PM has been in our office for approximately three weeks now. In the first week he instructed our supervisors to re-read Section 112 (General Responsibilities) of the M-41 which talks of efficient Service and Diligence and Promptness to everyone. He called it getting back to basics. He has yet to look at the Local Memorandum of Understanding to understand what his obligations locally are. The PM has instructed supervisors to reign in the office to increase efficiency. The PM does not know many carriers by name. I’m not sure if the PM understands that he is also required to abide by Section 662 of the ELM (Federal Standards of Ethical Conduct). We have carriers that think management are their friends and they only want what is best for the business.

To sum it up I can only say……WHAT?

Hope

I am writing this article with hope in mind. We are at a crossroads of sort in our industry right now. There has been a lot of things said by politicians, the public, postal service management, and of course the rank and file employees. I am hopeful that all the concerned parties came come up with solutions that will satisfy all interested parties especially our customers who are the reason we are here.

We have heard all of the politicians weigh in on this matter and the restructuring of the Postal Service. They would have everyone assume that they have the magic fix to change the postal service and right the business. They have different theories as how to go about it. Most of them include restricting and scaling back services. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has passed his bill through his committee and wants to present it to Congress. I am not sure how many co-sponsors he has but the last bill had two. Mr. Issa has told us all that he is not asking for as drastic a bill as he presented last time. He continues to take services away and still believes that the public is going to like his plan. Mr. Issa has a comprehensive plan to fix the Postal Service. I hope he doesn’t use the same plan he used to get to where he is in life now. There are some issues there.

Postal Service management say they have the answer to fix the Postal Service and it seems to be closely aligned to the plans of Mr. Issa. The PMG has echoed the sentiments of Mr. Issa pretty much to the letter. PMG Pat Donahoe has called for cuts in service and scaling back on the hours of operations and the hours in which we offer our products. He is making a lot of money in his salary. He also has quite a deferred compensation package on top of that. The PMG’s salary is approved by Congress. We all hear how he is trying to fix the problems but he is hampered by the unions and congressional mandates. If I were him I would hope that I could sing the tunes of the people who pay me to. How do you as a leader of a company lose billions of dollars and still have a job? I hope that my bosses are that forgiving towards me if I don’t perform to the public’s expectations.

The rank and file employees on the front lines of these changes that are about to happen have their own opinions too. I hear about carriers who want to do away with Saturday delivery for personal reasons. I heard a carrier say that he would like to have no walk-up deliveries as has been proposed in the new legislation coming before Congress. I heard a carrier crack a joke about carrying wine and beer as if it was a dumb idea. I hear carriers complain about the hours that they work. I hear carriers say that it isn’t their job to educate people because they don’t get paid for that. I hope they understand that the jobs we have along with the benefits were hard fought for by the people who came before us.

The public seems to be under-informed about the changes that will take place sooner than later. The public seems to want a 60-second sound bite to explain what is wrong with the Postal Service. The public is being surveyed with skewed questions to get results that say they don’t mind losing a day of service every week. The public is frustrated with the verbal sparring between all factions who have a stake in the business. I hope that they will learn the true facts and the repercussions of what can take place if all of the planned legislation takes place.

I hope that the people in charge of steering the Postal Service through these turbulent waters will use good sound judgment. I hope that Mr. Issa realizes that you need to dig into the business and go to the bottom line in order to correct the problems. I hope that PMG Donahoe allows the local managers and the rank and file employees to contribute ideas and give input as how to correct the problems plaguing our business. I only wonder why a PMG (who hasn’t been rank and file in decades) and a congressional committee (which has never carried or sorted a piece of mail) who enact legislation without going to the front line employees who ultimately make or break a business?

We have enacted the PAEA of 2006 to ensure that future retirees have healthcare benefits prefunded for the next 75 years as a measure to strengthen the business (Really?). We don’t know what the business will look like in 10 years so we hamper it with a prepayment (no other business does this to this extent) as a wise thing to do. What happens if the business is changed so drastically that we no longer have retiree health care in the current fashion? Does Congress have a 40 to 50 billion dollar pot of money that they can use for whatever they choose? I hope someone planned for that option.

I hope that the public gets a postal service that will actually service them.

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

As I sit here writing this article, I notice that one thing has been constant lately and that thing is “change.”

We’re getting ready to implement a new contract. The national rap session is getting ready to kick off. As a union, we’re moving ahead at a very rapid pace. We’re getting prepared to negotiate a new local LMOU in many installations and are going to get a lot of resistance from management.

One thing we can notice if we stop and take stock of what works for us are the same tried and true methods that have benefited us in the past. We need to stand together and defend each other. We need to perform our jobs in a professional manner. We have a lot of new standards about to be forced upon us. If we band together and defend our contract and our ways of working professionally, then we have won half of the battle.

The new city carrier assistants will learn from us and be well prepared for their assignments. They will be more professional and dedicated to their jobs which will in turn help all of us since they are now the future of our company.

We always see the excuses that our managers give us as to why they don’t honor the contract that they have agreed to uphold. If we as carriers continue to hold up our end of the agreement then we have done our part.

We can work according to the agreements that are in place and the new CCAs will see by example how the job is to be done and preserved. We can continue to work professionally and then management will not have a reason to discipline with just cause. We can ignore all of the excuses that management gives us for violating the contract and diligently police the contract. Then management will be tired of fighting a winless battle.

The strength that we have is our fortitude and diligence for certain. We all have noticed how managers get tired of defending bad policies. We all have seen how managers tell us what is going on in the higher levels of management. We can slowly and methodically tear down the bad policies and decisions of management if we do what is right.

After steadfast determination we can preserve our jobs and give our customers the service that they pay and certainly deserve. If we fight the new gimmicks and tricks that management puts in front of us with the tried and true methods that have worked, we can give that service to our customers. If we continue to educate ourselves and learn how to defend our contract, we can win the grievances that are justly brought forward.

If we train our new CCAs properly and professionally, then we will have a strong base to strengthen our job and our future.

One thing that I have noticed is that the more management changes their tactics, the more we can use the same methods that have worked for us in the past to defend what is right.

Change is inevitable, but what is right stays the same. If we stay the course and do what is right for the business and our union, then we can show everyone that changes can work and that our union can thrive.

We will always have changes in life to deal with, but it’s how we deal with them that defines how we will prosper. If we use the education and the past to deal with these changes, then we will benefit from these changes.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The North Carolina Letter Carrier

Area 1 Report Bill Heidt