Posted on 12/15/2008 10:54:34 AM PST by smokingfrog
THE ANNOUNCEMENT in late August that the U.S. Postal Service planned to transfer 162 mail clerks made no sense to veteran postal worker Nick Casselli.
With hundreds of overflowing unsorted mail bins blocking passageways at the Southwest Philadelphia processing plant and a yearlong ban on overtime, Caselli said, he knew there weren't enough clerks to process the daily mail.
As a new shop steward, Casselli set out to find out why. Using the "eyes and ears" of co-workers, Casselli was first to uncover the Philadelphia post office's dirty little secret.
"I was shocked," he said.
Senior managers allegedly were ordering clerks to undercount the daily mail volume, reroute trailers of unsorted mail and change the color codes to make it appear that mail was not late, according to a complaint filed by the American Postal Workers Union Local 89.
"Once he uncovered it and brought it to me, the investigation took off," said Gwen Ivey, Local 89 president.
On Dec. 5, regional manager Frank Neri, who the union believes was the architect of cost-saving changes gone bad, was replaced with former Philadelphia Postmaster Jim Gallagher, an operations specialist.
"The management changes in Philadelphia are clearly a result of the Postal Service responding to the Daily News exposing mismanagement," said Ivey.
"Now, they need to stop giving managers bonuses for cutting service to the point that mail can't be processed," she added. "Otherwise, money wins and people lose."
Last week, federal agents from the Office of Inspector General opened a criminal probe, in addition to a mail audit that is expected to take at least two months.
"My sense is that the misconduct in Philadelphia crossed a number of lines," said the union's attorney, Nancy B. Lassen. "Hopefully, the responses....
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
Ben Franklin would be proud - NOT.
“Newman!”
Wow, we need government intervention like this to run out health care system. NOT.
Newman wasn’t working that day . . . it was raining.
ping
Union worker?!!
“Union says hire more postal workers and approve overtime to decrease backlog!”
Whoop-dee-do.
That is probably the crux of the matter. The union, working slowly as usual, let the mail backup to get overtime pay. When it was denied they retaliated. This version of the story is media cooperation with the unions.
Just a possibility?
No sh**, Nancy.
L
who apparently said nothing to no one.
“Newman!”
ROFL!! Now, for sure, he won’t win the trip to Hawaii...lol.
My hubby works for the USPS as a contractor and you’d be amazed at the crap that goes on with the Federal workers.
For instance, the Federal Mail Carriers union is the only entity they answer too, even the post master at a PO cannot tell the employee when they can or can’t take off. My hubby is a rural relief mail carrier who substitutes for these bozos. The unions are destroying this country!
Similarly government agency administrators are known to ask division managers to set their own qualitative and quantitave goals for their divisions. The managers choose easily attainable goals and the managers and administrators get bonuses. Monies is siphoned off to the greedy ones who set goals that were being met anyway. The only people who know it’s all a sham are the line workers, who receive a few extra dollars, while their managers are receiving tens of thousands extra.
You do not want to mess with Postal Inspectors. Their conviction rate is like 99%. Very serious fellows.
The Post Office worked a lot better when it was run by the government. They could move a piece of mail across the country in a day.
They do not receive any government funding. They enjoy a government sponsored monopoly.
I am not a big fan of the postal service. They spend millions on posters espousing customer service, yet they act like retards when you need their help. I have tons of respect for the guys moving the mail—my Dad was one of those guys and I worked there throughout college—but those were the olden days. Today, the service sucks, their attitude sucks, and they are expensive.
I was in our post office a few months ago. It was the middle of the afternoon and the place was empty. I was the only customer for about ten minutes. (Very unusual.) Anyway, there were six female clerks sitting at their windows all talking and laughing. All of a sudden about 15 people came in at once. ALL THE CLERKS DISAPPEARED into the back room except one. There was one long line that just got longer and longer.
Newman: They knew it wasn't me doing my route...
Jerry: How did they know?!?
Newman: TOO MANY PEOPLE GOT THEIR MAIL. Nearly 80%! Nobody's ever broken the 50% mark!
LOL!
****The unions are destroying this country!***
The unions’ slogan should be: “We protect the useless”
To have evidence of this type of abuse - we have to conclude that there really is no such thing as a ‘UNION WORKER’!
Reminds me of the Food Lion smear. I'm still pissed about that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.