New Year - Same Crap

I hope you all had a great holiday season. Time spent with friends and

family is pure gold to most.

Now with the new year, we will be running into a number of thunderstorms.

A new president and congress. Neither one is overly friendly to the USPS

and government workforce. There are some great people in Congress that

have supported workers’ rights over the years. These are all friends of the

NALC and the working class. Unfortunately, with the new administration

comes strong headwinds with us in their targets. The Postmaster General

has continually tied to undermine the SERVICE that we provide. He hides

behind his alleged mandate to be a profitable organization. This is

impossible as we are mandated to deliver to every address in the country

as well as in our U.S. territories. This PMG has raised the price of stamps 7

times over the past couple of years, at the same time cutting service. This

is the quickest way to implode the service. This is why President Trump

had him moved to the head of the class, at the 11th hour, when the board

of Governors convened a few years ago to pick a new PMG. He has done

nothing for us or the country since he got here.

Under his watch he has put together a monstrosity of management levels.

This PMG and his cohorts have cut, cut, and cut some more. Most of the

people affected are the only actual ones that do the work on a daily basis.

He has added hundreds of jobs at the top level down in Washington while

cutting craft workers across the board. This man is almost single handedly

bringing this institution to its knees. And With President Trump back in

office, I’m not sure where we end up.

As we move forward, I want to let you know what is coming in the ensuing

year.

First off you need to know that the USPS has implemented another half-

assed project. It is called “CRDO Safety Engagement. Once again, the

ones sitting behind a desk have decided to implement a “safety” program

that attacks the carrier craft. A quick oversite of the program as I read it: the

service is putting teams into the street to engage with the carriers. They will

be watching you and getting ready to catch you violating a safety rule. If

you are “caught” doing something that violates a safety rule or regulation,

expect to be severely disciplined. If you leave your tuck running

unattended, if you leave your keys in it unattended, if you fail to have a

seatbelt on, if you fail to have the proper uniform on, if you have

unauthorized footwear on, etc. You get the picture. If you are observed

violating any of these issues, you may and probably will be disciplined up to

an emergency placement in an unpaid status. Listen, I understand that

safety is important to all of us. You come to work safe, and you want to go

home that night safe. The issue I have with this entire program is that it is

intended to harass and punish carriers just trying to do their jobs under

tremendous pressure from an incompetent management. Some on the

“safety” teams are misfits and downright horrible managers who have been

moved from one job to another to hide their gross incompetence. It seems

like every time we get a manager on the hook for some egregious action,

he or she is moved to another site in another position. It reminds me of

another organization that spent years moving their accused people from

state to state and site to site in a never-ending attempt to hide them from

justice. In the end, it almost brought that organization to its knees. The

USPS is on the same wavelength as that organization. This company is

filled with too many vile employees on the management side. I do not know

how to straighten it out. I guess it may take a number of lawsuits and media

coverage to actually make them stand up and take notice. It is frustrating to

see members sexually harassed, threatened, berated by these people with

very little consequence. Hopefully, we will see light at the end of the tunnel

before it is my time to retire. I have been fighting these issues for almost 40

years now. I win some but lose too many. We need to keep writing

grievances to keep pressure on them.

The USPS and the union are still trying to iron out a joint route inspection

process. It is difficult to do unless the contract is ratified. Until it is or is not,

the service will be going to do unilateral route inspections. Be aware, all of

the carriers running routes and not adhering to safety rules will pay a price.

Management is looking to take out as many assignments as they can get. I

have tried talking to members about the right way to do things only to be

told they do not care and just want to go home. With this attitude many of

you are in for a rude awakening. Routes will be abolished and condensed,

and some carriers will lose their assignments and others may be excessed

to other offices. Management is looking at all of your data as we speak.

This goes back to before the summer. Once I have been informed of the

offices to be inspected, I will set classes to explain to you the nuances of

route inspections. Take my advice, make sure you attend a class if it is

given for your office. If you don’t, please do not complain and blame the

union for your failures to protect your job. We can tell you how to do so but

we cannot do it for you. Please work safely and smartly every day.

Remember, this is just a job and there is no need to cut corners to get done

and put your safety and health in jeopardy just because some ignorant

manager is telling you to do it. Article 14 is the safety article and clearly

states that management may not give an order that violates a carrier’s

safety and health.