Are They For Real?

In some areas of the country, the Postal Service has put cameras in delivery vehicles as well as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) that track every move our carriers make.

We have more surveillance systems in the Postal Service than the Pentagon has. It has gotten ridiculous!

Managed Service Points (MSP) scans, tachometers; office cameras; when is it going to end?

I’m sure if I think long enough, I probably could list a few more of the covert surveillance systems or methods the Postal Service uses to watch and track their employees. I just don’t have the time to give it more thought.

The military doesn’t do what the Postal Service does and they are entrusted with multi-million dollar equipment and weapons that can literally level cities.

It’s a joke. It’s demoralizing, degrading, down-right insulting ... and we accept it; it’s the norm in the Postal Service.

All we need is to have are ankle bracelets and a scan point across our forehead ... and then we would be set. Management can then track seconds and every movement a carrier makes.

We deliver mail; not the formula for the nuclear bombs.

I am all in favor of security measures and to remove employees that are not trustworthy and those that steal; but, this is getting out of hand.

The Postal Service has provided my family and I with a decent living and I am loyal to my employer contrary to the unfair stigmatism union leaders are given.

Let us not smoke-screen what the Postal Service is really saying and doing. Their underlying reason for implementing all this high-tech multi-million dollar equipment is because they don’t trust us ... and they try to get every second of time out of us as if we are machines and not people.

I can voice my opinion and feelings because we do have a union ... and our union allows us to speak up when things are wrong or when we believe that things are wrong.

In the private sector, we would probably not be able to speak up as loudly as we do in the Postal Service; but then again, the private sector would not do things as nutty as we do in the Postal Service and would have gotten rid of the managers that don’t know how to supervise and manage people.

One of the problems we have in the Postal Service is that the same people steering the ship were probably the worst offenders and culprits of “goofing off”, stealing time, and doing things wrong ... and they keep promoting people like themselves – that is one of the reasons things don’t change.

Crazy ideas and covert surveillance comes easy for these managers that think of these ideas because all they have to do is think of things that they have done or would do.

We may not all be Einstein; but, we do have good people ... and hard workers ... in the Postal Service. We’re not all stupid or dishonest.

Those that are in charge can blame all our woes and shortcomings on the global economic recession, the use of the internet, point the finger towards others, etc; but, the bottom line is that they – postal management – have run this service and organization into the ground.

Nothing will change. The Postal Service will continue to promote clones of themselves and will never admit they are wrong about anything. It’s a joke, it’s true, and we all know it; even our managers.

Regardless of what anyone thinks, I work with a good group of managers who, for the most part, try to do the right thing; but, can’t because someone else above them is telling them what to do. Most don’t even believe in what they are told to do.

Unfortunately, not all managers stand up for what is right. I remember what someone told me a long time ago. It goes like this:

When the Nazi’s who were accused of war crimes during the Holocaust took the stand during the Nuremberg trials and when they were asked how could they and why would they kill innocent Jews – men, women, and children – they replied that they were just following orders. Can you believe that ... just following orders?

Now, I don’t equate what we do in the Postal Service to horrific war crimes and devastating tragedies of the Hitler led Nazi Germany; but, just think about this for a while.

If you are manager, think about it. Following orders isn’t always the right thing to do. Sometimes you have to say no and stand up for what you believe in ... and what is the right thing to do. You ultimately have to live with what you do in this world; so be it.

It is not my role as President to defend the honor and integrity of our managers. I represent letter carriers; letter carriers of NALC Branch 2128 Toms River.

I have vented enough.

Joseph R. Palmerson, President

NALC Branch 2128 Toms River
October 3, 2009