The Elite Who Run the USPS
I hope you have all had a safe and enjoyable summer. The summer is the most difficult part of the year to work through due to prime-time vacations and understaffing.
I write this article to vent my frustration with the USPS and the elite who run it. Ever since Louis Dejoy was snuck as PMG in at the 11th hour to be appointed by then President Trump, he has made promise after promise to right the ship with no good results. I believe he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He was appointed by the Republicans who have had privatization on their minds and in their heart for decades. Congress back doored the process just as they did when Senator Mitch McConnell decided not to take a vote on a supreme court justice under the pretense that there was an election coming up. An election that was 10+ months away. This is the type of shady deal done in Washington. Both Republicans and Democrats do the same, but this was extremely blatant, just as putting Dejoy in the driver’s seat at the 11th hour was.
Dejoy has put together a 10-year plan to put us in a better financial landscape. What I see is a backdoor plan to put us in line for privatization. He raises stamp prices on a regular basis at the same time he is cutting service to the public. This is a vicious cycle that is unsustainable. The public is already starting to attack the USPS and its employees with a vengeance. As I have written previously, the only real connection the USPS has to the public is the letter carrier. Our relationship with the public is the backbone of the USPS. No disrespect to any other craft but it is the letter carrier who has daily contact with the customers. Customers who feel like many of us are part of their families. The service knows that if we have a great connection with our customers, it makes it harder for them to push their anti-service agenda. I am not sold on this consolidation program. A program at the pinnacle of Mr. DeJoy’s 10-year plan. Moving multiple offices into one installation totally ignores the employees and the adverse impact it has on them and their families and the communities they serve. Here on Long Island, they are moving Greenlawn and Centerport into Huntington Station. They are keeping both the Centerport and Greenlawn offices open. They still must make multiple trips to both offices to pick up and deliver mail. They still must have supervisors or Postmasters in the offices. They still have clerks in those offices. Where are the savings? Where is the service to the public? Not only that, but the USPS is ALSO revamping the Huntington Station office. New bathrooms. New kitchen with amenities. New locker rooms. All new cases and equipment. Freshly painted floors and walls. New lighting. A new parking lot with EV charging stations. At a cost of hundreds of thousands if not more than a million dollars. All of this to move 13 routes from other offices to the new one. Talking about impact on the carriers, both Centerport and Greenlawn have 7:30 start times. Huntington Station starts at 8:45. Guess who must start at 8:45 now? The adverse impact on those employees is tremendous. Management could care less. It is an absolute joke being perpetrated on both the employees and the public.
If Dejoy wants to start streamlining the USPS, he should start and end with the multi-layers of fat in management. I have been on the job for 40 years now and this is the worst management crew I have ever encountered. They have managers monitoring managers who monitor supervisors who monitor other supervisors who then must answer to someone sitting in an office, hidden from public watching a computer screen to see if a carrier has 5 minutes of stationary time. It is an absolute joke. They have people in places who can’t even answer a question or fix an issue with lite blue, bidding and posting. The cherry on top of this pie is that we have CCA’s who could not do or did not want to do the job as a letter carrier, acting as 204b’s. These neophytes, most of whom have no clue what they are talking about, are dictating the action on the workroom floor. Most of these CCA’s and former CCA’s were treated like crap when they carried mail, so they think it is OK to do the same to the other employees. None of these supervisors or 204b’s has any real knowledge of the ELM, Contract, M-39 or M-41. The basis for all rules in the USPS. This is all done by design. Ignorant managers are easier to manipulate. The attitudes and actions of management are creating a hostile work environment. They push harder every day, building stress. Micromanagement is the way of life in the USPS now and I do not see it subsiding any time soon. Unfortunately, we are in a battle with management and this is not good for either side.
The same statement about ignorant supervisors goes to the heart of the carriers also. I have stated this in many past columns. Educate yourself to what your job is by contract language. Look at the M-41, the letter carrier manual. Read Article 41, the letter carrier article in the National Agreement. Read Article 14 for safety issues. Read Article 8 for overtime issues. NALC. ORG has all the information you need. The point is that we have the information and the knowledge to push back when necessary. You also have your Full-Time officers to help educate and guide you. Don’t just listen to management. If they direct you, you follow the instructions given and speak to your shop steward or call your Full-Time office at the Branch if you believe they are wrong.
Education is the foundation to success!
