Carriers at the Redondo Beach Main Post Office [California] last week filed approximately 70 grievances against management for what union leaders are describing as a hostile workplace.
Many carriers have continued to deliver mail well after dark and sometimes as late as 10 p.m. in the wake of a round of consolidations that reduced the number of routes in Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach from 113 to 85. As a result, carriers now have lengthier routes and more deliveries to make. Though they are not required to work after dark if they feel unsafe, carriers who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described a tense work environment in which they are pressured to complete the new, longer routes and frequently disciplined for not finishing earlier. (The USPS does not allow its employees to publically criticize the postal service)
“The clerks are getting blamed for the fact there is so much mail, and they are just doing the best they can,” said APWU local vice president Dave Gordillo. “It’s mismanagement – that’s the reason. They don’t want to hire more clerks, and when the job doesn’t get done, the supervisors get blamed by middle management.”
“We need help,” a carrier said. “I don’t know where we are going to get it from. You just can’t do it – your back is going out, you are tired. This has been going on for two months. I mean, how much can you do? It wears on you. Somebody in Washington D.C.must like FedEx or something, because they are destroying the Post Office.”
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In Chino Hills we have the same problem. Postal employees feel that they do not need to not perform their job duties as expected, predicated on sketchy safety issues. When I was a teenager I work the night shift at 7-11 and had safety concerns. However, I didn’t file a grievence, as it was my choice to work there. I ended up quiting that job, going to college and learning a marketable skill. Based on my experience working in union shops in the past, I found that unskilled laborers are likely to file grievences when layoffs were pending. I think their logic is that they may not be layed off if they have a union grievence pending. Also, when I complained about the mailman not doing his job, I was paid a visit by Federal Postal Inspectors incinuating I threatened the mailman.
My advise, go with Fed-X, DHL or UPS. Their employees aren’t afraid of the dark.
this is specifically concerning anyone who worked in Vacaville post office with a supervisor named Julie O. I won’t comment too much about some of the incidents that have occurred with her and me but am interested in any carriers and clerks opinions on her and the reason she left vacaville? A number of carriers are very much interested in any info on her and have heard all sorts of rumors- which you know how valid most rumors are . Anyway any help on how to deal with this interesting person would be much appreciated…
The NALC local(branch 1100) has 10 VP’s on payroll and probably none have carried mail in years.
With so many executives at the local level, one would think that members would be very Well served, but apparently not.
Shameful.
I understand everyone feeling as tho Union leaders are out of touch with the everyday carrier, but remember that the national leaders represent 150,000+ people. Your dues go to pay for stewards’ lost time and expenses. It’s not cheap being a steward/officer, and they shouldn’t take a financial hit to be a Union rep. Arbitration is not cheap, either. A portion of your dues are returned to your local to pay its’ expenses.
I have been to 2 State, and one National Convention and have spoken to Pres. Rolando a couple of times. I ran into him at a State Convention (IL) outside the Convention Center and he called me by name, even tho I’d only briefly spoken to him at the previous State Connvention. I am a Trustee in my local, and how many people does he speak with in a year? The National Officers have to do an awful lot of “massaging” the egos of all of the politicians (national, state, and local) that they come in contact with. It is a rather thankless responsibility to bear, esp. in these very trying times.
Unlike some companys the postal service has alot to hid?
The House Republicans criticize the White House all the time.
Maybe it’s time for postal management to grow up and play nice? As woody would say.
I work 1000 miles from LaEnfant Plaza, but I have to deal with their dictates everyday. The american public can now see, the idiotic think that oozes out of that place. The PO. says employees can’t criticize, FINE. The public sure can.
I would like to thank postmaster Donahoe for announcing a plan that on its merit alone, makes him look like the biggest horses’ ASS in Washington DC.
Considering the number of horses A,,,, there, that is a true achievement.
National Union agrees to New route adjustment process, and the carriers are just expected to live with it. What the hell are we paying dues for? So Management and union bosses can sit on their cozy chairs in their offices, and talk about how lazy we are.
Your Damn Straight Justin Case! I was told by an APWU NBA that national unions dictate who gets to run for President of the union. That’s how Cliff Guffy got the job. Despite James McCarthy’s wishes to run for President, he was told it wasn’t his turn yet. If you go against these peoples wishes, they will turn on you. And they het real evil.
No one will ever be able to save the good men and women of the NALC, the leadership is too entrenched. If they were honest, they could tell you who their successors will be for the next decade. It is nothing but a smoke and mirror show, just look at region 12- what a joke!
I tend to agree with the thought that the upper levels of the NALC are out of touch with the workroom floor. So many of them haven’t carried mail in so long or suffered under the hands of sadistic incompetent supervisors and managers that they have ceased to even care about workroom hostilities. I expect us to fail in efforts to stop five day delivery, and also expect to get royally screwed with the contract. Meanwhile the JIRAP program, which was so highly touted when it first came out, fucks up our routes worse than the old count system ever did! I have a route that was evaluated at 8 hours and 10 minutes, but the JIRAP team in August added an hour and forty-five minutes to it because they used one day in July as the representative day, and it was one of the lightest days I’d ever had. The NALC side never contested it. What the hell are we paying for this kind of incompetence for? Better raise hell in Minneapolis, that’s all I can say.
In 2007 the Upland Ca. 91786 postmaster discriminated against me and asked federal agents (OIG) to investigate me, my children, and my wife without cause… She said that I was an EEO advocate and that I was friends with other EEO advocates.
She gave my job to her son in law who still works in Upland today.
Because of her discriminatory actions, I got sick and when out on “stress”. On or about October of 2011, we had a 54 year old Upland postal employee die of what I believe to be in part “job related stress”. That’s how bad it is at the Upland post office.
An EEOC judge ruled that the Upland postmaster discriminated against me. Look up EEOC case Nos. 480-2007-00497X, 480-2008-00026X, 480-2008-00145X.
Well I guess it is a good thing you are paying dues so you have somebody on your side to look out for you. BUT WAIT! I keep forgetting, the union management folks only care about what takes place in Washington and getting photo ops with the big guys. They are much tooooooooo busy to worry about us as carriers. They don’t even have time to arrange a free picnic for us with all that dues money we pay every 2 weeks. I believe it amounts to over $5.2 million dollars every 2 week pay period. That is a whopping amount of money and exactly, WHAT DO WE GET FOR IT? We get propaganda mailed to our house with photos of union leaders with politicians. They say they don’t get involved in delivery operations, WELL, we do. We don’t want all that O/T pay, it is killing us and we are not going to make it to retirement. We do have families and we do have homes and yards that we would like to be able to see in the daylight.