The Postal Inspection Service’s Safe and Secure Initiative continues to educate employees on avoiding violence in the workplace.
Postal Inspector Robert Diaz — the initiative’s program manager — said Inspectors will visit approximately 400 postal facilities over the next two months to address the issues of workplace violence, employee security and carrier safety.
Inspectors will hold face-to-face discussions with employees and distribute safety brochures about violence prevention. Key points include:
- Take every threat seriously and report it immediately.
- Behave in a way that promotes a positive work environment.
- Act in a professional manner, even if you’re having a bad day.
- Report all threats to management officials, your Threat Assessment Team or the Postal Inspection Service.
The Safe and Secure Initiative is a key element in the Postal Service’s zero-tolerance policy for workforce violence. Employees who feel threatened also should contact the Employee Assistance Program — which provides crisis counseling, referral and short-term counseling — at 800-327-4968 (TTY, 877-492-7341).
via USPS News Link
Postal employees are losing faith in the Postal Inspection Service’s stated intent to address violence in the workplace. The perception is that this “Initiative” is just another program that is designed to give just more lip service to the MYTH that the Postal Service is serious about workplace violence.
If this “Initiative” was any more than just an administrate “check-off,” the Inspectors would conduct their “visits” and deliver their 5 minute lectures to craft employees without their supervisors being present. Does anybody within the Inspection Service really believe that a craft employee will talk openly to a Postal Inspector while his supervisor is scowling at him from across the room? When the Inspector who “visits” asks those in attendance if there are any questions, they are sure to get silence…and they did.
The problem is that after all of the programs and safety talks and videos, the net effect is ZERO…Workers are expected to tolerate their supervisor’s “Bad moods” ridiculing, harassment, threats of termination, sexual advances, retaliation for reporting safety issues and abusive or inappropriate treatment. They are made to feel like whiners for reporting incidents. The only Zero Tolerance is towards the employee’s eventual reaction to all of the above. I am the Chief Steward in my office at the Nashville P&DC and I receive complaints all the time from employees who can substantiate their claims. When I have contacted the Inspection Service EVEN AFTER A REPORT OF A DEATH THREAT, I did not even get the courtesy of a return of my call. For my efforts, I am called “Terrorist ” by my department head. Employees come to me when they have concerns and I listen to these complaints with an intent to resolve the issues. When I present these issues to the appropriate supervisor, I am labeled as a “Trouble Maker.”
An even bigger joke is the “Threat Assessment Team.” at my office. These two investigators (women) wouldn’t know a threat if they walked naked through a cell block at a male prison. These people are not there to investigate, they are there to assess the damage…to find out the plaintiff’s side of a story and give their bosses a heads up on what is to come. They are the same two who “Investigate” EEO complaints. I have not seen the slightest hint of proper credentials to conduct an investigation. For example, at my office, there have been two complaints of a supervisor exposing himself to a female maintenance worker. To date that supervisor is still working as the employee’s direct supervisor. This just screams how little concern is given to the employee’s complaint. There was a credible complaint backed by numerous witness accounts, and this employee is still required to work under the supervisor? I realize that the burden of proof lies with the accuser, but after almost two years of “investigation” there is no resolution? The same supervisor who also made the aforementioned death threat, has on at least eight occasions forged the names of 35 employees on safety documents and has been observed stealing postal property from the workplace on numerous occasions. My office is literally run by a den of thieves. Postal funds have been used to contract out work to friends and relatives of managers, Contractors were paid tens of thousands of dollars to repair equipment that was not defective. Completely functional mail processing equipment has been discarded to make room for the exact same piece of equipment. Another piece of equipment was “upgraded” at cost of thousands of dollars after a craft employee demonstrated that the upgrade was unnecessary and could be fixed with a 6 inch piece of copper wire to provide a proper electrical path to ground.
The Postal Service isn’t going broke because it has too many craft employees or because of declining mail volume. There have been over two hundred thousand postal jobs that have been cut through attrition in the past few years.The Postal Service is going broke because it is being stolen blind by hundreds of managers who think they are the only one who is stealing or receiving kickbacks from contractors. A recent purchase of new radios at my office which have a retail cost of over 700 dollars each is completely unnecessary when an adequate product is available from the same company for less than half of this price. Additionally, there are 30 postal owned Ford Focus’ in our parking lot that are grossly under utilized. At any given time, there are never less than 20 of them in the lot.
This is clearly fraud, waste and abuse of postal funds, but any mention of the obvious is met with anger and denial by postal management. This is a brief description of what is happening at only one office. When one thinks of what may be happening at hundreds of other offices, the amount of fraud has to be staggering. There are many employees who are disgusted at what has happened to the Postal “Service” within the last few years. We discuss solutions every day. When these are brought up to Postal supervisors, those employees are ridiculed. There is a growing sentiment that supports going to local media to report abuses of personnel and postal funds. If the Inspection Service or OIG continues to turn what is perceived to be a blind eye to these abuses, there will be a lot of questions from the public about what is happening.
It is hard to believe that the mismanagement isn’t intentional. If the appointed watchdogs of the Postal Service do not take action, someone else may conduct investigations and I believe the results of that investigation will be devastating to the public perception of the organization that was once perceived as above reproach.
I don’t know if there is anybody who will read this that has the will and the integrity to take an honest look at what I have described, but I have laid my case out. If someone wants to contact me, I will give names of witnesses, details and evidence to support what I have described.
This comment began with a complaint about the Postal Service’s half -hearted attempt to address concerns about violence in the workplace. Somewhere, along the way, I just had to clear my conscience about my perception of why tensions are building. Threats and intimidation towards employees who are trying to make a better workplace should be addressed. As conditions escalate, I can only document and report. I would like to believe that the problems that I have described will be addressed before there is a serious incident at my office. Too often, threats are ignored. Warning signs are not seen until there is an “incident.” Hopefully, someone will read this and take it with the seriousness with which it was written.
There is a phrase that I learned while serving 10 years in the U.S. Navy. That phrase is “Moral Authority.” If a Postal Manager is a liar and a cheat and a thief, he has surrendered the moral authority to demand that his subordinates shall not lie, cheat or steal. What is broken at the lowest levels of the Postal Service is a reflection of what is occurring at the highest levels. If someone can turn this back, there is hope. If not I have wasted my time. May an honest person receive my plea and may God hear my prayer.
What a laugh ! Of course this only applies to the employees, Management and Supervisors are exempt. I could list several examples but why bother? This is laughable.