NAPUS: Job freeze is back on
Last August the postal service announced a freeze on EAS (management) positions. Numerous exceptions to the freeze have been granted since that time, but yesterday NAPUS revealed that it had been advised by USPS Headquarters that no further exceptions will be made:
President Dale Goff was notified by the Postal Service on March 10, “effective, March 6 exceptions to the freeze on field positions will no longer be approved.” President Dale will be pursuing this issue with Postal Headquarters.
Also in yesterday’s NAPUS Hotline:
The Postal Service is undertaking an overhaul of the BMEU [Bulk Mail Entry Unit] system as a result of the failure of the processes to comply with provisions of the Sarbanes/Oxley Law (SOX). The “field” and mailers will in the very near future be receiving information on compliance of the BMEU processes.
The Postal Service notified the management organizations at a meeting in Postal Headquarters on Monday March 9, 2009 that because of budget concerns, there will be no Postal Headquarters speakers sent to the state conventions this year.
March 14th, 2009 14:47
True to its modus of operandi, the postal management associations and union organizations will not be informed by the USPS of any significant downsizing or major organizational changes until after the fact. Instead of using the brain trust that is available, absent the large mailers who invariably link their interest to work sharing and flexibility (code for privatization of core postal operations), the USPS will continue to force change downward (i.e., top-down control) without any or very little input from the major stakeholders. Consequently, because of no buy-in and input from the management associations and union organizations, implementation of change management initiatives will likely be ill conceived and tend to increase the debilitating effects of stress and low morale for its employees.
Action to reform the postal culture is necessary now. Postal employees, regardless of rank or position, deserve a postal culture in which the core values of respect, fairness, and validation of dignity, are not empty slogans, but instead are the reality of organizational life.
March 17th, 2009 18:04
From the PRC – USPS Annual Tables FY2008:
Dollar value of labor compensation compared to FY2007
Increase of $112.1 million/Postmasters
Increase of $31.6 million/Supervisors
DECREASE of $527.3 million/clerks
Decrease of $91.7 million/mail handlers
Decrease of $171.6 million/ city carriers
Also of interest:
$13.3 million spent for Relocation
$11.2 million spent for Transfer of Household Effects
Fun Fact:
$6.3 million spent on rubber bands