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A Pathetic Way to Treat a Public Service
(This article first appeared in the January/February 2010 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)
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On this page there is a picture of a building that hosts a Contract Postal Unit, a certified vendor of United States Postal Service products and services. If you’re like me, your first reaction is: “What the heck?”
Or is it: “What the hock?” Whatever ... there is definitely something wrong with this picture.
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but when it’s a picture of a USPS retail-operation facade, what else is it worth? What does it represent? What does it symbolize?
Being Pawned Off
Until I saw that image – sent to me by a concerned APWU member — it had never occurred to me to equate postal services with pawn shops. All pawn shops are not alike, of course, but let’s face it: The “hock industry” does not have the best reputation. This brings up the issue of whether postal customers should have to go to a pawn shop in order to mail packages.
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Does this picture portray a Postal Service literally “in hock?”Or does it represent management’s attitude that the average customer should go “in hock” to buy postal products at rates that subsidize outrageous corporate discounts? The rates for large business-mailers are tailored exclusively to their profiteering ways — and always at the expense of customer service.
Anyway you look at it, this is one pathetic picture. I hope there aren’t too many examples like it. (If you see something similar, please let me know).
Re-Issuing CPU Guidelines
The “Guide to Contract Postal Units for Postal Service Employees” (Publication 156) was issued last April, and then withdrawn after union inquiries about the language and the substance of the guidelines.
Well, the Handbook is back.
Apparently the April edition was not regressive enough and needed stronger language to more effectively assail our livelihood. Handbook 156 is an attack on our jobs, a guidebook to contracting out our work. The APWU will be fighting such subcontracting efforts at all levels.
The following are two examples of language changes in the new (October 2009) version of Publication 156.
The first is the very definition of a CPU:
The second deals with the maintenance of a series of PO boxes:
Both these changes are intended to give management more latitude in its attempts to contract out your work. What would make this funny (if it were not so serious) is their characterization of the new version of the guidelines in their formal-announcement letter to the APWU: “Publication 156 is not subject to Article 19 review and discussion, as it does not directly relate to wages, hours, or working conditions.”
Again, I guess it’s all in how you look at it. From our point of view, however, it’s pretty clear that it is an attack on our work. It has everything to do with wages, hours, and working conditions.”
Get Involved (Or Else!)
To help prevent the shut-down of even more stations and branches – and their replacement with CPUs such as the one you see here — you must get involved, and now !
Get involved with your congressional representatives: Build relationships, and make your presence known now! Even if your office is not targeted at this time, it may be targeted down the road: Assume that it will be. Get involved by volunteering with your local — you may have to be the one to make sure that your local gets involved!
Here is a simple principle to use as a guide, your own personal Anti-Publication 156: Postal Service rates are supposed to cover the costs of sorting and delivering mail. The rates are not set up to provide profits; they are to pay for services.
As postal management contracts out more and more of our work — whether indirectly through rate discounts or directly through outsourcing of transportation or the establishment of CPUs, a greater and greater portion of the rates go to profits for private companies rather than into service for the American public.
The only way the Postal Service can survive with the income that is “left over” from rates is to cut service. YOU ARE THE SERVICE.
The struggle continues.
The Challenge of 2010
The new year will be filled with union activity. In 2010, the APWU will conduct our election of national officers, hold out biennial National Convention, and begin negotiations over the next collective bargaining agreement.
These events are of great importance. But we must also take a good hard look at yet another picture, the Big Picture: The 2010 Congressional elections.
Your local and you personally need Congressional allies to help sustain your livelihood, to stem the tide of consolidation of mail-processing facilities and the closing of stations and branches. These elections are an opportunity; a chance for you and your local to work for and with individuals who can help preserve your jobs.
Seniority, wage increases, and grievances may all seem insignificant if the Postal Service is able to simply contract out your work.
Make 2010 the year that you and your local become best friends with your U.S. representatives. Contact APWU Legislative & Political Director Myke Reid and Assistant Director Steve Albanese to see how you can help make this happen.
They know, as do we all: The struggle continues.
New Diseases Associated With Agent Orange
Those of you who served in Vietnam should know that the list of illnesses that the Veterans Administration is accepting as possibly being related to exposure to Agent Orange is growing. B cell leukemia, Parkinson’s disease, and ischemic heart disease are among the diseases that may have a service-related connection, according to a study by the Institute of Medicine that shows an association with the use of the herbicide during the Vietnam conflict. Veterans with these diseases may be eligible for disability compensation and additional healthcare benefits. To view the entire list, visit www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange. |
