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The Attack on Postal Workers
Adding Insult to Injury

(This article first appeared in the September/October 2007 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

Ever since the second Postmaster General took mail off stagecoaches and put it on horseback (I heard he got in trouble with George Washington for this!) the U.S. Post Office has been seeking ways to improve service and, of course, cut costs.

Postal history is full of service changes, speedups, and budget cuts. In the early 1900s, the Post Office imposed “economies,” which is what “downsizing” was called in those days. In 1914, management targeted injured employees for separation, saying it was because they had “impaired efficiency due to physical infirmities.” Sound familiar? In 1915, supervisors with stopwatches timed postal worker’s output, and windows clerks were secretly clocked by unseen observers. Sound familiar?

So what makes the 2007 “economies” different? For one thing, management does not seem to really care about service. And of course, they do not care about the impact on employees and their families.

Here’s what many of us face today:

Function 4 and Retail

The Postal Service seems hell-bent on moving 40 percent of window services to alternative services, such as Automated Postal Centers. Part of this plan seems to involve computerized Function 4 audits. The so-called Customer Service Variance (CSV) program is gutting post office staffing in various regions.

The CSV program collects data through various Web-based means and filters the results into equations used to establish “retail marketing” benchmarks. By measuring workload, complement, and time elements, CSV allegedly determines “ideal” staffing levels.

The problem? CSV crunches numbers that crunch employees and service! But there are ways to fight back:

• Educate members to make all their clock rings and moves. Sales & Service Associates should record all transactions, standbys, and sign outs. CSV uses recorded work activity to determine staffing needs. Failing to make clock rings can kill your job!
  
  
• Ensure that Function 4 administrative reviews do not just rubber-stamp CSV results.
  
  
• Validate earned workload data. The authorized complement in the COINS program must be validated to square with the actual complement at your office.Work schedules on Form 1994s must be compared to real schedules, along with the Unit Operating Plan. (Do you know your unit plan?)
  
  
• Initiate individual grievances under Articles 3, 5, 7, 12, and the appropriate craft article if there are any discrepancies in the Function 4 review.

The Western Regional Coordinator’s office has developed sample grievances to assist locals.

The Injured Workers

“In view of the fact your services are of little or no value to the office, due to your impaired efficiency on account of …physical infirmities, I regret having to inform you that your name is under consideration for separation from the service.”

– Postmaster Otto Preager, May 1914

Management has declared that it is going to “aggressively manage”workers’ compensation.The reassessment process is all about getting injured workers off the payroll and instead to “vocate” them. (“Vocate” is a new management term for vocational rehabilitation that gets injured workers off the USPS payroll).

When postal managers coldly announce there is “no work available,”we must fight back with everything we’ve got, such as:

• EEO complaints when the USPS violates the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 5CFR 353, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which covers discrimination against employees with known physical or mental limitations;
  
  
• MSPB appeals when the Postal Service violates 5USC 8151 and other laws that grant injured workers placement and resortation rights; and
  
  
• Grievances when USPS violates Articles 2, 3, 5, 13, 14, 19, and related manuals.

The regional coordinator has materials to assist locals, such as grievance templates, document request forms, and educational materials. Use them!

Excessing and Reassignments

“I regret being required to notify you that, based upon a recent investigation, the First Asst. PMG has issued an order directing, as a measure of economy, your services in this office will be discontinued as of this date.”

– An early excessing note (February 1910)

Management brags that it cut more than 114 million work-hours and eliminated more than 95,000 jobs since 2002. Meanwhile, it claims that productivity is up, so more cuts are planned.

In some parts of the country, excessing and reassignments have slowed down. But the problem is still with us, and often, staffing changes make no sense. Here, too, we must fight back — we must also go beyond the contract and grievances, we must take it to the streets:

We must get our communities to help us.We must point out the poorer service and longer lines that will result. Leaflet post offices, churches, schools, businesses, etc.

We must approach members of Congress, no matter their party affiliation. If we have their constituents on our side, they will be more likely to listen to us.

We must use media outlets to get out our message — radio, bus benches, billboards, community newspapers. And we can’t limit the message to job security. We must focus on service — the long lines, delivery problems, etc.

Sometimes the most difficult group to reach is our own members. Management is quick to turn angry sentiment towards the union, so locals must mobilize the workforce to combat this bias! There are more of us than there are of them. Yes, management has billions of dollars, but we have the people: We must convince our members that they are the union! We have to fight back with everything we’ve got! What have we got to lose? Your job, maybe?

Regional Coordinators Liz Powell, Jim Burke, Sharyn Stone, Bill Sullivan, and I stand ready to offer support and resources to locals that are ready to fight back. We can survive if we stick together. One for all, and all for one!

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