September, 2008 - Does your Supervisor attempt to motivate and inspire you to do a better job? Or do they only know tactics of intimidation, bullying, retaliation, deprivation and write-ups? Joy Goldberg, a union steward with the APWU in Brooklyn, NY, has written a thesis on stress in the USPS workplace. Ms. Goldberg includes real examples from her job at the New Lots Post Office in Brooklyn.
Read Joy Goldberg's thesis on job-related stress at the USPS
August 30, 2008 - A former postal employee suggests management at the St. Joseph Post Office in Missouri is forcing hard-working employees to retire or quit amid a difficult work environment.
John T. Burton, Ph.D., posted a response to an anxious USPS letter carrier writing to the Office Politics web site. The letter was written in 2005, but since then things have become worse, and not better, for many postal employees.
Visit the Office Politics web site to read the letter from "Anxious Postal Worker"
November 22, 2008 - Arthur Prouse, President of the APWU in Albuquerque, told Eyewitness News that he has never seen working conditions as bad as they are now for postal employees.
If you are a union steward, you are familiar with USPS management representatives attempts to stall, stonewall, and when you persist, to tell you they don't care if you file a grievance. You have probably filed repeated grievances on the same issue over and over, each time including copies of all the times you've won the grievance before. You've shaken your head over the blatant disregard of clear language in the National Agreement, Domestic Mail Manual, Employee and Labor Relations Manual, and other written postal policies and procedures. You've listened to management scold window clerks about getting those extra few dollars from the customers while they spend grievance and arbitration money to the tune of thousands of dollars on issues the APWU has already won. If you know what I'm talking about, make sure you read this news story.
November, 2007 - A fired worker was awarded $258,000 after suffering verbal abuse from the Postmaster of Medford, California.
May, 2008 - A group of postal workers picketed against a Supervisor who, they allege, has long abused and discriminated against his underlings, behavior they describe as “obnoxious” from finding ways to punish fellow postal workers he dislikes to claiming certain colleagues are “disrespecting” him.
Every year, Working America runs a national competition for America's worst boss--and it’s tough competition. Familiar stories about hard work, bad pay, no benefits and no respect come flooding in.
Bad Boss Contest - www.workingamerica.orgFor more information about stress and combatting the symptoms of stress, please click the link to visit the Tri County First Area Local #3800 online Library.
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