Editorial: USPS Financial Crisis, Self Inflicted?
Filed under: APWU, Articles, postal, postal finances, postal news, usps
Can USPS Management Be Trusted to Repair It’s Own Damage?
The article below was written several months ago but it’s still a timely.
There are some very simple factors and a deliberate unspoken agenda that explain everything that is going on with the financial “crisis” and proposed “cures” at the US Postal Service today.
First the United States Postal Service should be understood for what it was intended to be and how exactly it came to be. The Second Continental Congress named Benjamin Franklin as the nation’s first Postmaster General on July 26, 1775.
Our United States Founding Fathers mandated the creation of an Army, Navy and Post Office in Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which states,
“The Congress shall have Power…To establish Post Offices and Post Roads …To raise and support Armies,…To provide and maintain a Navy…”
But nowhere does the US Constitution require the Army, Navy or Post Office to “make a profit” or even to “break even.” America’s Founding Fathers simply did not include this stipulation when they wrote the actual words they set forth in the US Constitution. Read more
USPS changes: How they’ll affect the 2012 campaign
Campaign consultants who specialize in direct mail might not admit it, but some of them are surely thrilling at the latest U.S. Postal Service cutbacks to first-class service. For years, their challenge was getting a quick look from a voter who might also be juggling freshly arrived love letters, holiday cards, or bank statements. “I knew I wasn’t necessarily competing against my opponent,” says Richard Schlackman, who began producing mail for California Democrats in the 1980s. “I was competing against all the mail that’s coming that day. What’s going to make someone open this mail?”
The swift disappearance of most bills and handwritten envelopes from what mailers call “the postal stream” over the last decade has abruptly improved the odds. “Think about how many times you go to the mailbox and there’s nothing there but catalogs,” Peter Valcarce, a Utah consultant who works for Republicans including Scott Brown and Scott Walker, observes with unusual cheer for a man who makes his money off of mail. As our most meaningful, urgent communication continues to move online, the U.S. Postal Service has been forced to end next-day delivery on first-class mail. More than ever, the only competition a political mailer is likely to face on its inevitable path from mailbox to the trash is from other, less civic-minded junk mail.
It’s the next possible step in postal cutbacks, however—to a five-day delivery schedule—that most frightens political mailers. For years, a likely voter’s mailbox on a Saturday before an election has been among the most contested public spaces in American political life, and the disappearance of that one day from the calendar could trigger a series of subtle but important shifts in the tactics of last-minute campaign communication. “When you get close to Election Day you’re just running out of days to communicate, and that Saturday can be really critical, especially if you’re using direct mail as a tool for response,” says Anil Mammen, a mail vendor who works with Democratic candidates and causes. “This makes us even weaker when the speed of response is ever more vital.”
Read More: USPS changes: How they’ll affect the 2012 campaign - Slate
APWU: The Threat of Privatization – From Within
Postal workers are under constant attack by the forces of privatization. Unfortunately, this group includes the Postmaster General, members of the Board of Governors, some members of Congress and others.
Privatization is a clear and present danger — facility by facility, operation by operation, and job by job. Read more
Editorial: FERS & CSRS Disability Retirement – Defending a Necessary Benefit
Filed under: Articles, Benefits, CSRS, FERS, postal, postal news
An exclusive article to PostalReporter.com written by Attorney Robert R. McGill
Does the Emperor receive his standing because of his hereditary anointment by the gods, or because of his superior governance abilities? Or, by giving generously to the lords and vassals and currying favor among them, does he retain power? Or, by giving lifetime gifts to the masses? Fear the emperor who consolidates power by doing the latter; for mob rule knows no boundaries, laws, or heavenly dictates. Power by lawlessness is indeed the origin of the reign of terror. – From, The Shadows of Machiavelli
Article 1, Section Eight, Clause 7 of the U.S. Constitution specifically empowers Congress to “establish Post Offices”, and to that extent, it is always important to recognize that the U.S. Postal Service is not merely a convenience or a Federal mandate which merely exists because some Senator or Congressman decided that it would please his or her constituents; rather, the Founding Fathers recognized the necessity of establishing a network of interstate commerce and communication between the various states, and the importance thereof.
As a Constitutional creation, the Postal Service deserves a special place in the budgetary process and decision-making deliberations during these times of debt-reduction efforts, of political conversations and debates. Where it is a Constitutional creation, the employees of such an entity should be provided with a compensation package which is commensurate with its status as a recognized and vital part of the Federal government. Federal Disability Retirement should remain a part of every Postal Worker’s compensation package, for reasons which are Constitutional, pragmatically justifiable, and because it is a progressive paradigm of cost-savings. Read more
Burrus: From Here to there – Focus is now turned to the hiring of PSEs
Filed under: Articles, postal, postal news, postal support employee, usps
My opposition to the new national agreement is well chronicled as I voiced my opinions about the significant changes that would be made to postal employment but the ratification process is now history and focus must be centered on its application and to the issues of the day. Contrary to the opinions of nonunion members, the decisions of the union do make a difference and sticking your head in the sand will not make them go away.
This contract was finalized at a time when forces beyond the collective bargaining arena are shaping the USPS’ future in ways far beyond the contractual restrictions. Negotiated provisions will be inapplicable to the resulting impact on workers and the American public. As I shared in my perspective “Will the Postal Service Survive” it will be the Congress of the United States that will write the final chapter governing postal employment and postal services. Read more
Editorial: Does USPS Workplace Bullying Exist?
A recent article from Government Executive reports that federal job discrimination complaints have increased in 2010 over the previous year. “The federal government should be a model workplace,” said Dexter Brooks, director of EEOC’s federal sector programs. “We are concerned that retaliation is the most common basis of discrimination alleged and we caution all federal agencies to make sure that reprisals do not become the usual response to complaints of discrimination.”
President of the National Treasury Employees Union said “Generally, EEO complaints are filed when employees believe the merit system has let them down or when they feel they are being unfairly targeted by managers.”
The report continues and mentions “of the Cabinet-level and large federal agencies, the U.S. Postal Service was a significant contributor to the total number of discrimination complaints and investigations in fiscal 2010, the report found. Postal employees make up 18.6 percent of the federal workforce, but the agency accounted for 40.2 percent of counseling incidents, 31.2 percent of all complaints filed and 28.9 percent of completed investigations.”
In their recent book The Bully-Free Workplace Dr. Gary Namie and Dr. Ruth Namie created a working definition for workplace bullying. “Workplace bullying is the repeated, health-harming mistreatment of an employee by one or more employees through the acts of commission or omission manifested as: verbal abuse; behaviors—physical or nonverbal—that are threatening, intimidating, or humiliating: work sabotage, interference with production; exploitation of a vulnerability-physical, social or psychological; or some combination of one or
more categories.”
These experts also point out that bullying is still legal in the United States after all these years. They said “hostile work environment, sexual harassment, and racial discrimination are all illegal for everyone. Employer policies are designed to comply with federal and state laws governing discriminatory misconduct. Similarly, if state or federal laws do not address misconduct, employers need not create policies to prohibit it. That’s why so few employers do anything about bullying.”
I believe bullying is a very big problem and it creates a hostile environment to work in. Reports to senior managers in my experiences result in no action being taken and the perpetrator continues to target employees and pile up multiple complaints and after a large number of written complaints are logged, then the bully might be moved to another location where they can continue their unprofessional tactics.
The problem is that there are no laws against bullying, and local union and management representatives don’t see any guidance in the labor agreements or workplace policies and the issues are disregarded until there is a distracting workplace episode. Employee Assistance Program (EAP) specialists could probably be a valid resource to gather data and propose educated solutions to our managers and executives. Bullying truly does prevent the real work from getting done.
Is this a problem for the United States Postal Service? Chime in with your management or craft thoughts in the comments section and tell us what you think about workplace bullying, and what should be done about it.
Ronald Williams, Jr.
APWU Welcomes Postal Support Employees to Union
Filed under: APWU, Articles, postal, postal news, postal support employee, usps
In the 2010 contract negotiations, the American Postal Workers Union was finally successful in eliminating both the casual employee workforce category and the Transitional Employee workforce category. They were replaced with a new category of worker, covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, called Postal Support Employees (PSEs). Read more
Editorial: USPS in the Year 2020
The organizational tectonic plate is shifting as we explode deeper into the 21st century. With my wild imagination travel with me at the speed of thought as I get verbally-optical forecasting a future via Novus Postal Ordo Seclorum (New Postal World Order) in the year of hindsight 2020.
My mind’s eye uncorrected is aligned with the year 2020 as seen through an artificial optometry refractometer substituted for a Hubble-like telescope. In the future problems still exist and are smartly tackled like scientists and mathematicians do as a question for inquiry. The postal flag and Eagle icon remain the ultimate symbol of delivering customer freedom and an everlasting influential United States Postal Service. The supersonic bird got a smaller footprint and a much bigger heart. Read more
Editorial: USPS! Something About The Blues
Editorial by Ronald Williams, Jr.
I’m taking a moment to use my pen as an exhaust pipe to vent my view about a controlled combustion inside this mail industry engine. If you don’t follow the PostalReporter news on a regular basis you might not understand the intended pun to follow in this article. Read more
Burrus: The Biggest Threat to termination of door to door mail services is Washington politicians, Congress
“Senators, Carper, Collins and Coburn hold the future of the United States Postal Service in their hands”
Part 4 – Will The Post Office Survive?
I have written this series to address the uncertainties of thousands of APWU members who are concerned about the long term survival of the Postal Service as a continuing place of employment. Postal employees of this generation have witnessed the demise of the manufacturing and auto industries and have legitimate concerns about the future of the Postal Service which has offered career employment to millions of families that have depended on postal wages and job security.
News reports are abundant, predicting a postal melt down for a variety of reasons with consequences that do not bode well for future employment. Most employees get bits and pieces of news but their lives are full of personal challenges and since there is little that they can do to influence events they listen with half an ear and hope for the best. This series is intended to put the different circumstances in context from the eyes of 53 years of postal experience and explain from my perspective, the challenges and the solutions. Read more