Postmasters League President Speaks Out On Pay Raises

October 30, 2008 by
Filed under: postal, Postmasters, usps 

Update  NAPS and Postmaster Organizations Say “No” to Pay Concessions

Postmaster, Supervisor Groups Reject Pay Freeze (PDF)

 we cannot agree to either forego or defer the upcoming NPA payouts scheduled for January 2009. The attorneys with whom we have consulted on this issue believe that the Postal Service does not have the right to demand that we  re-open pay consultations or change the pay agreement in any way

Rumors and Pay Raises

Postmasters, supervisors and other postal employees have had their own reasons for concern. Rumors about pay raises being stripped away and massive layoffs of postal employees created another climate of uncertainty. Postmaster General Jack Potter recently inferred that, although layoffs were a possibility and were being considered because everything is being considered, they certainly weren’t imminent. That brings us to Postmaster and supervisor raises.

Postmasters, by and large, give tremendously to the Postal Service. They take seriously their position in the Postal Service as well as their standing in and responsibility to America’s communities. They have taken ownership of their post offices and assume full responsibility for what goes on in their office. They are totally committed to the success of their post offices. In spite of the acute shortages of resources (employees, equipment, support and budgeted work hours) Postmasters are out there somehow making it all work. They impact the bottom line of the Postal Service first by their revenue generating efforts, and cost cutting, but also by the thousands of hours that they labor ‘off-the-clock.’ They have sacrificed much of their family and personal life and often their health suffers under the tremendous burden they’ve taken up. So often, at their sides, enduring much of the same pressure are their supervisors, perhaps the least appreciated of all postal employees (except, maybe, our PMRs). It was to these employees that the Postal service came to ask to give up their general increase pay raises.

It is a serious error to believe that Postmasters and supervisors don’t care about the Postal Service and are unwilling to sacrifice. I’ve established above that the sacrifices are being made. Postmasters have labored for the last year with the promise of a small raise at the end of the year. If things were lined up just so for them and they put in even more effort, they might have even earned a bonus. After a year with possibly the tightest budgets yet, and many working under the lash of micromanaging districts and areas, the Postal Service, in an effort to cut losses for FY 09 asked, through the management associations, Postmasters to give up their small general increase. It did not help that this year the craft employees received their largest COLA (something EAS employees were forced to give up years ago) in history.

While the management associations are committed to helping the Postal Service find its way out of the predicament in which it finds itself, taking a pay raise away from Postmasters and supervisors is not the right thing to do. It is the position of Naps, Napus, and the League that the U.S. Code prevents the Postal Service from unilaterally opening pay consultations, and we have informed Postal Headquarters of our opinion. I absolutely don’t foresee Postmasters and supervisors giving up their raises.

read remainder of message from National League Of Postmasters President Charley Mapa

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Comments

No Comments on Postmasters League President Speaks Out On Pay Raises

  1. Need a tissue on Thu, 30th Oct 2008 1:44 pm

    2. Cry me a river.

  2. Anonymous on Thu, 30th Oct 2008 4:39 pm

    3. I can mandate you

  3. trim on Thu, 30th Oct 2008 7:58 pm

    4. cue the violins and trim the fat…..from EAS…..all that croneyism, nepotism, yes person mentality and butt kissn gone to waste, poor babies……you aught to be worried about your jobs, much less a freakin raise considering the vast mismanagement of the post office!

  4. MoreBloatedManagament on Fri, 31st Oct 2008 2:13 am

    5. Fire 50 percent of these a&&holes. Wouldn’t make a difference on any operations.

  5. sharon gregory on Sun, 2nd Nov 2008 6:19 am

    6. Obviously these comments are being made from craft employees. Funny as a level 15 PM with 20 years of service and having been a carrier and SCS, I would have never thought I wouldn’t even deserve, a believe me, tiny so called bonus.
    Maybe I should have stayed a carrier and sucked up OT then I could have made these comments too.
    Guess you should really think before making comments since you have no idea what lower level PM’s do. And remember management does not get COLA or OT

  6. Jackson on Sun, 2nd Nov 2008 11:44 pm

    7. It’s crazy to hear how one thinks of another in consideration of craft vs. management. I just got out of craft and now in management. I went from customer service to p&d. In the economic termoil we all face currently we all need an extra dollar/50 cents just to make it. And the conflict of opinion between craft and management will cont.until we all act like professionals and communicate like HUMAN BEINGS$$$!

  7. PO Sux on Mon, 3rd Nov 2008 4:47 am

    8. Management shouldn’t even get a paycheck. Postal “management” is a freaking joke. My Stupidvisor sits and eats all night watching us work. And then she waddles her 400 pounds out the door.

  8. Capt. of Titanic on Mon, 3rd Nov 2008 4:54 am

    9. Either one of the above morons up for Vice President? I understand they have 58 looking for another 84. 39% raises for everyone (executives only)!

  9. Dick in NY on Tue, 4th Nov 2008 12:08 am

    10. Supervisors deserve something lets give them a raise and lets reduce the Postmaster Generals pay raise.

  10. Numbnuts on Tue, 4th Nov 2008 1:09 am

    11. Not the stuporvisors I see.

  11. minnesota carrier on Fri, 7th Nov 2008 7:06 pm

    12. We have 3 supervisors and a Station Manager for 44 routes and a window with 3 clerks. they spend most of their day BSing with each other or trying to get out of each others way. One spends most of his day culling the outgoing mail so he can pretend to look like he has something to do. What a waste, we have too much overhead!!!!!

  12. pmlevel16 on Sat, 8th Nov 2008 4:28 am

    13. most of the times i wish i had stayed as a clerk,20 yrs ago..9-10 hrs a day to get the job done with no cola,

  13. ronnie on Sat, 8th Nov 2008 5:52 pm

    14. as a union offical i’m completely disgusted with this article…pay raise ?…i have seen my postmaster do nothing…and i say that out loud…NOTHING to deserve a pay raise…could care less as to what the NATIONAL AGREEMENT means and stands for. problem is they think they are god but the bottom line is they are employees of the postal service just like me. i hear all the time ” i pay you well “…well last time i checked my pay check said u.s. dept of the treasury. it’s not your freakin company or your money !!!!…jackasses

  14. The Facts are... on Tue, 11th Nov 2008 6:54 pm

    15. If you think you have a horrible job and are complaining, go find another job that will pay you what you are worth. Most of us (craft and managers) would not make it in the private sector. The truth hurts.

  15. postmaster on Wed, 12th Nov 2008 4:13 am

    16. I have my arms akimbo, drink coffee and don’t trust my employees, I should get a raise for all these honest work.

  16. Don on Wed, 12th Nov 2008 3:39 pm

    17. What a joke!!!! Makes you wonder why the USPS is in a financial mess.Craft workers getting the work done while the bosses are pulling in the bonuses.Give them a pin or coffee mug as they make way too much already for doing so little

  17. MoJo on Wed, 12th Nov 2008 4:59 pm

    18. It seems this is a time for concessions. The Carreier craft has done this with the interim route adj. process and carrier connect participation. What have the EAS employees done? Have you cut costs by reducing grievances?
    Have you given up any of you bonus? You complain about the carrier cola while you sit on your duff in the office and wait for another message from district about overtime usage. If the carriers have it made, grab a satchel and a route and hit the street. You know we deserve our cola and gwi,so accept your cuts with dignity and save your jobs for the future.

  18. Texas Carrier on Wed, 12th Nov 2008 6:50 pm

    19. Level 18 Postmaster at my office does not SPEND 40 HOURS A WEEK at the office let alone WORK 40 hours a week. Has clerks doing her work and says she cant get mail worked because of her budget.Does not understand that her budget is figured on her working 40 hours a week.

  19. Texas PM Lvl 18 on Thu, 4th Dec 2008 10:01 am

    20. Craft employees you have no idea how good you got it. I carry city and rural, I do so much clerk work that I have little or no time for my own job. I have to agree that my colleagues are not all up to what I would call promotable. The problem is that all you craft folks just want to complain. Not help in any way shape or form. You say that unions have made concessions. No unions have made deals. We all see where this is going. They know if they don’t do something management will just find a new way to terrorize the crafts that isn’t found in the collective bargaining agreement. How do you save 2.5 billion dollars. I agree lets get rid of the managers who do not do anything and unions stop protecting piece of crap employees who only create more work for you. If this was my company you couls bet your sweet roundness I would be on your rear ends everyday. On the street, at your cases, in your box sections, at your windows, or standing by yor machines. productivity would be 150% or you could take your uneducated rumps to Micky Dee’s and see if they got any 40k a year jobs they are handing out.

    I spend all day putting out fires created by inefficient carriers and clerks just to have all thier discipline come back down settled to squat. What this company needs is a pair of big hairy ones that will throw out the waste and bring in folks who want to be here instead of a burden – craft or management.

  20. postal employee on Mon, 5th Jan 2009 4:02 pm

    21. Excuse the complaining but my salary changes every year based on the count. My salary has gone down for the last 5 years. The Cola didn’t bring back the salary lost. I ask who else has their salary lowered/ changed.. every year?

  21. capture some savings!! on Fri, 20th Feb 2009 5:14 am

    22. I think that after every mail count that management on up the line should be cut the same percentage as the carrier was cut. After all if mail volumes are down, everyone should have less work to do. They could save millions!! They could implement a new phrase, “Capture some millions!”