Survival of the Fittest

Times are changing. You have read my articles before; change is the one constant variable that you can be assured of that is going to happen – sort of like breathing air

and paying taxes.

Charles Darwin’s theory of the survival of the fittest in the animal kingdom holds true today as it held true when he first hypothesized or presented it. Those animals that survive are the strongest, the fastest; the best equipped, etc. Those that normally die are the weakest, the slowest; the least equipped.

Those that adapt to change survive and evolve.

So true is this theory of survival in the business world. Those that survive are the best at what they do; provide the best product or service at an affordable price; flourish when others falter, see hard times as challenges and opportunities; adapt to change and evolve.

We all know the recession we are in and the global economic crisis the world over is facing. I have informed you how of how the Postal Service and the Union has been affected by this crisis. No one is exempt from this world-wide crisis that we are in.

After all the finger pointing, after all the sly remarks, and after all is said and done, we must all do what we can to make sure that the Postal Service survives … and that we have a job to come to, not question about it.

This does not mean that we must compromise what we believe in, agree to “givebacks”; break the contract or bend the rules; look the other way; not file grievances; or not request money remedies for contractual violations; or allow management to treat us unfairly in any way. 

What we need to do is change the way we do business with each other … and how we interact and communicate with one another. We must change decades of distrust, degradation, and exclusion … and take a pro-active approach to this crisis by changing our company policies and how we treat our employees, otherwise, we will all be doomed and out of a job. God knows if we allow management to continue doing what they have been doing, we are sure to be on the unemployment line. 

Somehow and someway, we have to convince management that their way of doing things will not work, have not worked, and is one of the major reasons that we are in as bad a shape as we are in today. The problem with management is that their heads are too big for their bodies; they think that they have all the answers; that we are all just idiots and that they are smarter than us.

The truth of the matter is that a majority of managers don’t have any answers and are clueless of what is going on or what to do to make things better. If anything, they are part of the reason why we are in the situation we are in today. Many of them have such big egos that their egos overshadow what ever intelligence that they do have.

The fact of the matter is that too many of our managers could never make it out in the private sector. Most would be fired in their first week of employment and few would make it past thirty days if they did in the private sector what they do in the Postal Service. Few of these types of managers possess the people and humanistic skills that are necessary to deal with people or have little knowledge of our job and what our job entails.

Notice: TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN BUSINESS – become a Postal Service supervisor and do just the opposite of they do. Sad but true in many instances.

I have been with the CEO’S of some of the most profitable companies of the world and these CEO’s cannot believe how the Postal Service treats its employees; they literally think that I am making it up or that I have to be exaggerating.

Equally as sad, those that do have answers and can contribute to the betterment of or Postal Service are silenced and afraid to speak up – afraid of ridicule and the consequences that come with speaking up. 

For those managers that are not idiots, that don’t think that they are better than thou or treat people like garbage, you are not clumped with those same idiots and misfits. I suggest that you rally together and collectively take on those that are idiots and misfits. In the long run, if you do nothing, you will be out of a job anyway. Wouldn’t you want to go down fighting?

In these difficult times, we all need to come together and become one. We need to set aside our philosophical differences and our individual interests and work for the betterment of our company.

Companies that survive bind together in difficult times … and that doesn’t mean giving the store away or closing your eyes to what is going on. There is a need for change – drastic change – for the Postal Service and its employees. It can no longer be business as usual.

What we need to do is once again change the direction of our company and to have made that change yesterday to fight the challenges we face today.

We need change our company to one that encourages participative leadership;

employee involvement; and excellence. A company that puts in a system that rewards

and recognizes its employees for excellence and for attaining realistic goals - both on an individual level and as a team.

We must do a better job in communicating and disseminating information to our employees by taking the time to inform them of what is going on in the Postal Service; what are goals of the Postal Service are; and more importantly the “why” we are doing the things we are doing and how it will better our company.

We need to include our Unions and our employees in part the decision making of our company and never lose sight that it is management that bears the final say of what goes on and what doesn’t … and that management must be held accountable for their action and final decisions. Craft employees can have a say, give their input; but, it is management whose gets paid to make the difficult as well as the easy decisions.

In reality, we must all be held accountable for what we do and what we get paid for. Those employees who do not wish to work for a living or work within the rules should not work for the Postal Service.

We must live up to our contract and what we agree upon. Those that do not, must be disciplined, removed from their position, and ultimately be removed from the Postal Service if need be.

My list could go on for some time - there are just so many things to list - to correct decades of mismanagement, to end the cloning and promoting of the incompetent and dictatorial managers, to stop rewarding and covering for those that don’t deserve to work for the Postal Service, etc, etc; etc.

Some managers and letter carriers think that by not taking a lunch, skipping their breaks, cutting corners on safety, fudging the figures by deception, or trying to make themselves look good by calling something different than what it is, doesn’t help the service one bit. In the long run, in fact, the Postal Service pays dearly for this help.

We have to put things in perspective. This is a job. We all have a job to do and we get paid for it. We provide a service and we get paid for that service.

As long as we provide rewards and incentives for management to achieve goals at any cost, we will have the same type of abusive and dictatorial management style as we have seen in the past decade or so.

Look at the fear in our managers, they run around as if they are chickens without their heads on their shoulders. When someone visits our office, it’s like the second coming of Christ. No one should act the way that they do.

Our supervisors act as if we were delivery the ingredients for a nuclear bomb and that our world was in danger of being blown up if we make a mistake or don’t deliver a letter that day; that everything is a life or death situation.

Local management is now treated unfairly, ruled with fear and intimidation. It’s not so pleasant when the shoe is on the other foot, now is it?

My mother told me a long time ago that money is the root of all evil … and I believe she said that the more that you have, the worse that you are. Boy was she right!

I believe that there are a lot of things we must change in order for us to survive. I may not have a crystal ball; but, I know one thing for sure, if we keep doing what we have been doing, the results will be the same and that is not good for any of us.

If we don’t change, we will certainly fail. It’s like having cancer and self-destructing from within. Catch the cancer early and you may be able to keep it from spreading or even cure it. Wait too long and there may be nothing you can do to stop the spreading or find a cure for it. Do nothing about it and you eventually will die from it.

Joseph R. Palmerson, President

NALC Branch 2128 Toms River

April 25, 2009

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