Branch News
July 25, 2020
Taking the Service Out of U.S. Postal Service If you haven’t noticed already, there are major changes starting in the way that the mail is moved and processed. The new PMG has instituted new protocols and reinstituted some procedures that were supposed to be in place previously. It has become apparent that we are going to sacrifice service to the customer in order to try and run this like a profit making business instead of a Constitutional service to the American people. Instead of running a self-sustaining, not-for-profit service to the people of the United States, our new PMG wants to run a Fortune 500 business. In the process, he may just run us into the ground. There is no doubt that our leader is helping to do the bidding of his friend that he donates large amounts of money to who currently resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. That person has made no secret out of the fact that he wants the Post Office turned into a money making machine that can be cut up and sold off as a private business, not a public service. If anyone wants to actually start changing the P.O. for the better and helping it to come out of from under the debt that it faces, then the first hurdle is getting rid of the pre-funding requirement that no other business is forced to pay. Yet here we sit paying it because years ago Congress decided to pass a bill on the company mandating the payment of benefits for employees that haven’t even been born yet, never mind hired. Of course this isn’t where we are going to start changing things. The first spot targeted for change is transportation. I am not going to argue that we don’t waste a ton of money on extra trips, because we do. A lot of those problems are because of mismanagement such as not getting the mail to the trucks on time, not having the mail done on time, or just not knowing what times the trucks leave. I’ve seen extras called to take two containers of mail to Scranton when a truck left fifteen minutes prior with only an 80% load. Already under the no late truck/ no extra trip policy, we have seen dead birds arrive at the facility via (delayed) Express Mail. Why hold a trip 15 minutes to get the guaranteed next day mail on it? Let’s see, maybe because: 1-the customer paid extra money to have the items delivered the next day, 2- you are going to have to refund the money that was supposedly your profit, 3- the driver could probably make up the fifteen minutes, and finally 4- because the cargo is live animals that need to be fed and not left in extreme temperatures. Did I mention that the customer paid extra to have it delivered the next day? It used to be that we actually provided this kind of service to the customer; that is not the case anymore. You don’t always get what you pay for, and heck, you may not even get it alive. I think a lot of money could be saved if we staffed buildings correctly which would lead to not using so much overtime. A lot of money could be saved if you staffed things correctly and didn’t use 204Bs. A lot of money could be saved if you didn’t have so many higher level management people to count beans and listen to telecoms four times a day about the same bs and then consider that to be a productive, difference-making day. We are in the middle of a pandemic where Postal workers have been an essential service provider while also being hit hard by COVID cases. More people than ever are ordering online and the parcels have been through the roof like it’s Christmas, yet jobs have been reverted, mail is being sent out of the building, and we haven’t hired even up to our MHA limit never mind over the limit as is allowed per the MOUs. All of this considered and I get told that it is the Union’s fault that people don’t show up for work because of the liberal leave policy. Management and Union officials at a much higher level than me negotiated and agreed to those policies. Local management doesn’t want to utilize the overtime though and doesn’t want to hire the excess MHAs because then they have to use the overtime, so it is the fault of the people who have childcare issues and don’t show up for work. It’s always easier to blame the workforce, especially when so many up the managerial chain of command are just nodding and agreeing with the new boss so that they can try and keep their jobs. It’s CYA time for EAS employees. What sets the USPS apart from our competitors is our reliability and dependability under all circumstances six days a week to customers everywhere in the U.S. at a more reasonable price than our competitors. We have always been one of the top, if not the top, rated government agency, even though we aren’t funded by the government. The next few months, possibly the next few years, are going to be very rough on us. Management is trying to make us the U.S. Postal Business instead of the U.S. Postal Service. Upper management is looking at the raising the bottom line, not helping the front lines. Gone are the days of “Every piece, every day”, “We deliver for you”, and “The customer is always right.” They continue to insist that we are overpaid, overstaffed, and inefficient. They are showing that they don’t care about the customers’ needs or wants. Delayed mail, undelivered packages, late bills, less window hours, closed buildings, and dead animals aren’t products of a very good start to the new tenure. We need to unite, to show up for work, to do our jobs, to move the mail, to vote in the elections, to contact our elected representatives, and to continue to provide quality service to the customers in spite of what management at the highest levels is trying to do to the service. Help save the service in every way possible, such as online petitions, the elections, and especially showing up to work. In other news… The Picnic scheduled for August 29th has been cancelled. Bethlehem Township has cancelled all pavilion rentals through August. Congratulations to Ron Miller on his retirement. We thank him for his service and we wish him good health and happy times. The Union Essential shirts have arrived. See a steward or me to get yours. Job bids got messed up (surprise!). If they are not posted timely, we will file. Thank you to everyone who has been coming to work throughout this pandemic. You are all underappreciated, not only by the outside world, but even by the management within these four walls. They always concentrate on those that don’t come to work and they forget about all of the people who are here doing the jobs every day. I can’t grant you OT, but I can say thank you! Stay Safe & Stay United, Stay Strong- Sean |
Branch President
Sean Craig 
Your Union RepresentativesLocal Memorandum of Understanding |