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It’s Time For The Postmaster General to Go, and The Inspector General as Well
BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE
It’s Time For The Postmaster General to Go, and The Inspector General as Well
The time has come for postal employees to start flexing their political muscle. The record is clear. The United States Postal Service has been abusing, bullying, and robbing their employees blind all over the country for years now, and with complete impunity. So it’s time for both Postmaster General John E. Potter and Inspector General David C. Williams to go. By overlooking the blatant corruption that has been clearly evidenced on their watch, they could both easily be charged with malfeasance at the very least.
The U.S. Postal Service is, literally, running a ”plantation“ under Potter. They’re forcing some of their employees to work as much as six hours a day without pay, and others to work without lunch or breaks, then their official government clock rings are being falsified to reflect that the employees took three hour lunches. Thereafter, if the employees report the abuse to the Office of Inspector General, instead of investigating the matter (Time Fraud – a federal crime which carries a 6 year prison sentence), the OIG not only turns a blind eye to the crime, but goes so far as to report the complaining employees to their managers.
This is going on routinely all across the country:
“Washington, DC— Today, Congressman Paul Hodes called on the United States Postal Service to present a plan to fully reimburse postal workers for the wages they have lost as a result of managers manipulating their timecards.” The congressman went on to say:
“It has been weeks and the hard-working employees at these post offices are still waiting for answers,” said Congressman Hodes. “The USPS should immediately present a plan to ensure that workers are immediately reimbursed for their lost wages, and that appropriate disciplinary action is taken. Those individuals responsible for cheating New Hampshire families out of hard earned wages must be held accountable . . . In May of this year, I wrote to USPS Inspector General David Williams requesting that his office investigate claims that the United States Postal Service had altered letter carriers’ timesheets on an electronic time system for the last six years. “
Arbitrator Sherrie Rose Talmadge said in her December 2, 2009 decision that “Management’s violations were so egregious over a period of many years that punitive damages were awarded to deter the service from further clock ring violations.”
So the record is clear. The Office of Inspector General, politicians, and in some cases, many union officials have been turning a blind eye to unconscionable crimes against middle-class and minority workers. That doesn’t bode well for the American worker, because it shows that the government has now embraced the effort to lower the standard of living of the American middle class – an effort that’s been promoted by private corporations for some time now (The Role of Minorities, Poor, and the Middle Class in the New World Order).
As pointed out previously, the unions are a mixed bag. Just as in postal management and the population as a whole, there are many people within the unions who bring a dedicated, ethical, and conscientious attitude to the way they approach their jobs, but there are still far too many who are content to benefit from their members’ union dues while they snuggle up with management. That’s one of the reasons this situation exists.
With that said, it becomes incumbent upon us to mention how delighted Ms. JoAnn Snow is with the way that President Larry Brown of Branch 24, NALC has stepped up to the plate. Ms. Snow said the following in that regard:
“It took a little fence-rattling, but I’m very happy with the way President Brown stepped up to the plate when he became personally involved in my case. I also want to thank Anita Guzik. She created a legal document on my behalf that looks like Johnnie Cochran came back and wrote it.
“But we have a way to go yet, because the postal service was willing to pay me $8000 to drop my case, but they’re trying to protect their system of corruption by protecting the people who conspired to steal from me, and I’m not going to let that happen.
“If an employee picks up a coupon from waste mail that’s been thrown in the trash, that’s a removable offense; but managers can steal thousands of dollars from their employees’ earnings and the postal service fights to keep those manager in place. That’s got to change – and I intend to personally see to it that it does.”
These crimes are so easily accomplished by the postal service because the employees and unions have been trying to address them administratively, if at all. Grievances go on for ever, and that places time on the side of the postal service. The time involved allows the PO to harass potential witnesses, and create hardships for the grievant.
The victim of time fraud shouldn’t even have to grieve it. Time fraud is not a contractual issue; it’s a federal crime. So if the postal service was as pristine as it claims to be, all the victim would have to do is contact the OIG and they would take it from there. The OIG would simply investigate the matter, and if the allegation was found to be valid, the victim would be reimbursed and the perpetrators would be fired – and possibly prosecuted and jailed. But unfortunately, justice within the postal service is only an illusion.
But there is an upside to the ledger. Postal employees don’t have to beg for justice – they can demand it. They have both the law, and the numbers on their side. There are 600,000 postal employees in America, then when you add all of their family and friends, that’s a formidable political group. In addition, in today’s political environment up to 76% of the American people are unhappy with incumbents. So postal employees can very easily pull together to make a politician’s willingness to fight for workers’ rights a litmus test in order to be elected – and that goes for your union officials as well.
Your very first test of that clout should be to contact the number below and demand the firing of the two officials named above, then go right down the chain of command to have anyone removed who has presided over a crime against you. In short, it’s time to tell President Obama and everybody beneath him that this is NOT the kind of change that you can believe in.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson will be holding a Los Angeles Roundtable on postal employee abuse in the very near future. Postal officials, the OIG, and union officials will all be invited. When a firm date is established it will be published in the Los Angeles Sentinel. If you want to change your working life, please attend. But in the meantime, please contact the number below:
Fight Government Corruption!
The document reads, “We the people,” not we the government. This is a covert encroachment on the American middle class that the people simply must repel, or the rights of all Americas will be placed in dire jeopardy. Once the government declares open season on its employees, who’s left to protect us from private exploitation?
This is not just a postal worker issue – it’s an American issue. So fight back now, while you still can.
U.S. House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-5051
Religious bigotry: It’s not that I hate everyone who doesn’t look, think, and act like me – it’s just that God does.
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=32728
Posted by Eric L. Wattree on May 24 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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[...] It's Time For The Postmaster General to Go, and The Inspector … [...]
This answers the question of why my mail gets delivered to everyone else except me.
Neighbors don’t need to chat any more, since everybody knows every other persons bottom line.
I’m for the postal workers’ position but not if this will drive the rest of us to have less on our plate.
Just as I am also for all of the other unpaid workers to get their pay for unpaid hours.
We can start with :
Teachers
Hospital workers including many doctors who put in 36 hour shifts for no extra pay
tudents
Volunteers
Claims adjusters and others who work at home so the corps don’t have to pay for office space and their “real” time
Computer programmers who are “on call” over the weekend with no extra pay except for those weekends that may provide pay for a couple of hours.
Workers who are declared “management class” and are expected to work extra hours for no extra pay
Students who work for close-to free through internships
Reality
When a company has a bottom line problem they first start to cut back:
Already the number of mailboxes have decreased – this affects seniors with no car.
They also have been considering eliminating a day of delivery.
The question is how much more can the American public stand in terms of postal cost increases – money that would be needed to support the postal worker having a 40 hr only work week? Will the current economy be able to support another increase in “postal rates” for more postal workers?
Many have turned to email rather than snail mail or even going to other delivery means.
Also we should be sure that the claims made are true.
If they are true then start first with the elimination at the management level which cause the problem, but don’t bring down the entire tent.
Martha,
The postal service is a prime example of why we should never try to turn a service into a for-profit business. Many people don’t konw that the postal service has not been taxpayer supported agency since around 1970. At that time it was converted into a self-supporting, independent agency, and it’s been going downhill every since. Now the people are getting much less service for a much higher price.
Right on, E! Great post! Keep it going, man!
Your cheering friend, T.
Hey, Tom,
Thanks a lot, man. I don’t know what my swollen head would do without you – and don’t want to find out.
Your Brother,
Eric
If the postmaster is running a plantation, then you better stay on it.
Postal jobs may be the only jobs left standing after the up-coming “crash”.
There are hordes coming into the country and others who dream for something so good.
Look around, you will find the following jobs/industries are no longer needed or not high on the list of jobs available:
Secretaries
Administrative Assistants
Auto Repair Shops
Automotive assembly jobs ~`done with mostly robots now
Cleaners ~ households now have machines that do a fair job of dry cleaning and the country has turn to wrinkle-free clothes
Beauty Shops~many women do it themselves or support the wig industry
What’s left?
Discount stores
Fast foods
Pawn Shops
Speciality Liquor Stores
Well, I don’t have to preach to the choir – mail carriers already know this -after all they see every piece of mail coming out of the chute.
Newsletter subscription has fallen, perhaps due to the mis-deliver on these costly papers.
Banks have chosen to communicate via FAX or email( when legal) rather than snail mail.
The paperless factory idea has caused Americans to think differently – about how they receive information and do business, in fact many:
pay bills online
refuse any mailers – just to be green
and the list goes on.
Of course it doesn’t help much to go to a P.O. box when your mail gets dumped in the box next to yours and those folks who own that box just took a month’s vacation to France.
Some people will continue to try to protect their identity, credit, and personal info by doing less business through mail delivery.
Get a lesson from the newspaper industry.
Keep you postal job but learn another skill.
Like the post above the government doesn’t run this show any more. Like many prison systems are no longer run by their governments – in some states.
Some have said that they could become completely automated with robots.
Scary, yes.
We have come now face to face with automation. It is impersonal and cold but is there another job in the queue waiting?
Thank you so much for writing this article. Very few people have had the gumption to say those words out loud and in the written word. The United States Postal Service has ceased to be a SERVICE organization since PMG Potter took over. This became even more blatant when Congress had to pass a law to allow him to make more money than the Vice President of the United Staes of America! His total disreguard for the carriers and clerks, actually handle and deliver the mail, has been evident in contract negiotiations and in the speeches he has made in years past. He has no idea what it is like to deliver the mail and what it entails. All he is concerned with are the numbers on a spread sheet. A SERVICE organization cannot be run that way. The USPS is SO top heavy that it has run itself into bancruptsy. It needs to be cleaned out starting from the top down. PMG Potter prefers top start getting rid of the carriers and clerks first BUT they are the ones who DO THE WORK. Anyone with a grain of common sense knows you can’t get rid of the worker bees and still have a company to run! Let’s use some COMMON SENSE and rebuild the Postal SERVICE. And let’s start with getting rid of Potter and the Gestopo first!
Right on Kim!
Kim,
If you ever run for office give me a call, because you’re right on target on every point – and just as important, you’re being applauded by both me, a progressive, AND, my good friend Tom Dillman, a conservative.
I think that just about says it all regarding the post office. There aren’t many agencies that enjoy universal condemnation across the political spectrum. There are two that I can think of – the IRS, and the postal service. But ironically, these two agencies are hated for very different reasons – one for being grossly corrupt and inefficient, and the other for being much too efficient in carrying out its mission. Guess which one is which, and why. Here’s a hint. It all has to do with money, and which direction that money is flowing.
Lessons learned from the past:
The Air Traffic Controllers
Strike’
Qualifications to become a Air Traffic Controller then:
Pass a civil service test and the government would train you.
Median pay today: $106,990.
Libraries will be going to 5 day workweeks in Los Angeles area soon.
[I bring this up since the Postal Service is considering chopping out one day of delivery service.]
However, libraries have groups that supports them when times get rough: “Friends of the Library” which kicks in based on the slightest hint of a problem.
Perhaps there could be also a group called “Friends of the Postal Workers”?
I am not so sure with unemployment so prevalent today, but you never know.
Timing is everything.
Also would the rest of the US households make a mad dash to the Internet- if the cost of the delivery of a letter went up?
If they did that, then that may only leave mostly junk mail for delivery, since most households have long since opted for automatic bank deposit of their payroll and social security checks.
You can’t depend on young folks for much support, since they communicate by talking on their cellphone or text messaging, writing via email and twitting.
Many have chosen postal work as a second career – if that is your case then you have to weigh out future benefits versus present hassles.
It’s a tough call.
Martha,
I can say without a doubt that ALL career postal workers see the postal service as their primary career. Most them are two tired and frustrated to do anything else.
Hey Eric, Your score card (hits) are mounting up. In the Duffster range. Keep up the good work. Passion really works, doesn’t it.
Texas Grunt
TG,
The VT is doing an excellent job of spreading the word through its network, and Rick Owens at the Postal Employee Network is also doing a great job. As a direct result of their effort to connect the assault on postal workers to an assault on the middle class with governmental indifference, we’re rapidly becoming C-Baggers – or, a Citizen’s Party.
After all, since the postal service is a United States government agency, President Obama could bring the misery of the 600,000 postal workers and their families, many of whom are veterans, to a halt with a phone call. So the question is, why is he allowing this to continue? And my personal question is, where is that change that I could believe in that I voted for?
Come on you Postal Workers. Make up a name if you have to, but give Eric some more fodder for his next story. I know you have it. He’s working for you, guys and gals. Give him the support he needs! And don’t be shy. I’ve talked to enough postal workers to know how bad you’ve been screwed. VT will protect your identity (email address).
Texas Grunt.
Thanks a lot, TG.
Eric
The Postal Service is running rapid with abuse, that we know, is anyone is LA going to state what offices are doing it? And how the Postmaster, District Manager of LA is pretending they don’t know about it, because is saves the bottom line. Area Managers protect the supervisors and Managers stealing employees pay because it makes them look good and gets them promotions and bonuses. Most employees are scared because the NALC makes deals with the Postmaster. The Post Office does not care about service, customers, or there employees. And, if there are any good, honest supervisors or managers, they will make sure that they get rid of them. This must be a grassroots movement. You must go to the street and find the carriers and clerks that are being effective. Most of us are scared of the retaliation. You seen nothing happened to the managers you have been writing about. You just tipped the problem. It is prevalent, as you stated. How can anyone change anything? It is sad. I have worked at the following offices, start looking here, Compton, Eagle Rock , Barrington, West Los Angeles, Greenmead, Beverly Hills, Crenshaw, etc. But when all is said and done. It is the executives that have condone this bad behavior with reward and praise.