Category: Articles

ACCOUNTABILITY

This is one of my “mad as hell” articles so please excuse the emotion, As a station manager we are told practically daily and sometimes hourly we are responsible and ACCOUNTABLE (key word) for everything that goes on in our station. In the plant, every piece must go every day or else is frequently heard and of course YOU will be held ACCOUNTABLE. A carrier comes back four minutes late and is put in a V time situation and you ARE held ACCOUNTABLE with a LOW, usually in this new post office a notice of removal. I wish upper management would treat us the same as the craft, progressive and corrective discipline, NOT the off with their head mentality which is so prevalent today and generally goes nowhere and just wastes valuable Postal resources, ie time and money as we do the mediation, EEO, M.S.P.B. dance. Anyway, ACCOUNTABILITY, when someone at the District/Area Level allows the casual cap to be exceeded and the Union wins a giant class action settlement in the millions of dollars, Is anyone held ACCOUNTABLE? An active duty military reservist in a LWOP status is removed and it is overturned on appeal, is anyone held ACCOUNTABLE for the million dollar back pay and benefits settlement?

I know someone is thinking right now, arbitration is “A crap shoot”. My question is simply, “Are our feet held to the fire for minor infractions that may cost the service hundreds of dollars for action WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER?” Poor decisions that are excused as “It’s a Crap shoot” are just routinely ignored.

We are all in this USPS situation together. Discipline for the sake of vengeance, PYOA or the naive, will enhance their performance is idiotic. Let us all work together for a better Post Office as we continue to transition into a leaner USPS.

BTW, (By the way) Did you hear the new expression for leaving mail back (and of course not reporting it) “mail does not bleed”.

Folks, we continue to meet the enemy and it is us! Remember, There is no justification for falsification, DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED!

Tommy Roma NYAVP

HERE WE GO AGAIN

For years I have held the feeling that a majority of postal employees don’t appreciate their jobs until something happens that might work to take their job away from them. In cases of discipline, NAPS does our level best to represent you. In the restructurings we have faced, NAPS has again done yeoman work to protect our members.

Because of overstaffing in supervisory positions in the New York Metro area (by postal evaluations), NAPS has been able to get the USPS to offer incentives for supervisors in both delivery and plant operations. Even with the incentives, we are hearing that members can’t afford to leave for financial reasons; kids in college, mortgages and car payments, and such.

So, what happens next here in my region? I hope that our members who are in harms way are ready to move to vacant positions that do exist, even in instances where they may have to move outside of their local commuting area. NAPS will continue our efforts to minimize the impact of change on our members, but the fact is; some of our members will be forced to make a difficult decision, keep a job, move their families or end their careers with the USPS.

I believe that there will always be a Postal Service. But, it most likely won’t look anything like it did five years ago, or even how it looked yesterday. With FSS coming on line and First Class volume continuing to evaporate, we will have to rely on package services and new products and services to increase revenue.

What is now happening is something I never could have dreamed of in all my years of work for the Postal Service. If it weren’t for NAPS, things could even be worse than they are.

Stay Strong!

Tommy Roma
N.E. Regional V.P.
NAPS

A Broken Record

A cliche from my youth was, “You sound like a broken record”. Meaning; you repeat yourself, over and over again. So, I look at the Naps Forum and see the same old problems.

1. You CANNOT be made to use your POV. You are putting yourself into extreme jeopardy unless you have advised your insurance company you are doing street/safety observations i.e. using your car for commercial use and be prepared to pay the increase in your premium. I know you will not be a favorite anymore but does it really matter in the midst of this downsizing? You are not going to get promoted, forget about it.

Stand up for yourself. Have your spouse drive you to work and the car will not be there for you to be a nice guy. In the words of Leo Durocher of Baseball Fame, “Nice Guys Finish Last” or in this case ‘No auto insurance”.

2. DOIS-Time manipulation: Want to get put up for removal, this is the express train to Labor. Better to be written up for failure to perform than falsification charges. Charlie Scialla has repeatedly stated that “MSPB judges take a dim view of these types of allegations”. Think about this scenario, the carrier who you hit out at 1600 hours but is still working gets into an auto accident and is seriously injured or even killed. How are you going to explain he was off the clock and still delivering mail? If you cannot make a return to the office goal, document the reasons why. Print and keep all the threatening e-mails, send same up the ladder plus to your Naps officers.

3. Unprofessional conduct: Screaming, telling, threatening behavior is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Either by you to your employees or by your upper management down to you. Cursing peppered with threats must cease. If you cannot reach detente with the person, move it up to the next level. You do not have to tolerate this type of behavior, we are all under stress. Irrational behavior does not help the situation and in most cases makes it worst. Stay calm and tell the offender that you do not appreciate the tone, content or language that they are using.

Please feel free to e-mail me if you need help, We are all in this together.

Tommy Roma

[email protected]

Tough Love

Tough Love

I call this problem the “Postal/NAPS Paradox.” The vast majority of NAPS members and officers have dealt with it since the beginning of our association more than a century ago. I’m talking about dealing with the poor-performing supervisor in the workplace without compromising your integrity.

You are a station manager and the local branch president. You know the reality of the situation: Your supervisor constantly fails to perform his duties and, even worse, lies to you. Work that you have assumed was completed, e.g., street supervision, route inspection and driver observations, simply wasn’t done. Even worse, you have advised your area manager, “Don’t worry, I took care of it!”

This starts a chain of events that is so predictable it is pathetic. The station manager is called on the carpet by either or both the area manager and postmaster and given the famous “Shape up or ship out” talk (remember, I was in the U.S. Navy). It’s easy to blame your subordinate and throw him or her under the bus. But here is the paradox: The station manager/NAPS president now must write up the supervisor to get off the hook.

What is one to do? Write up the person you are going to represent?

The key is to prevent this situation from ever happening. And, yes, that’s easier said than done! Just as with any employee, communication remains the key. Is there a reason for the poor performance? Personal problems impacting the job? Get EAP involved. Lack of knowledge? Get PEDC involved.

Most people want to excel in their positions; no one starts off the day with the thought of doing a bad job. We need to learn the reason why something is happening. An oil change is always cheaper than a complete engine replacement.

The old days, which were only two or three years ago, allowed you to move the weak employee around and, eventually, to an easy station where he or she could hide. Well, there are no easy stations/tours for anyone to get lost in anymore. The underachiever will drain you, the operation and the branch, eventually taking down other people in the unit.

Do everything you can, both as a manager and a NAPS officer, to help the supervisor before a situation reaches the point of discipline. You cannot serve two masters!

Tommy Roma – [email protected]