Postmasters to boycott “Voice of the Employee” survey
The following is said to be a copy of a message from League of Postmasters President Charley Mapa to his members, asking that they refuse to participate in the US Postal Service’s Voice of the Employee survey. The survey, which all employees are asked to complete once a year, has been the subject of a boycott by postal unions since the USPS attempted to use favorable survey results in contract negotiations.
Dear Leaguers,
Recently your National Board met and decided that the League would no longer support the VOE survey. While the intent behind the survey may be good, the fact of the matter is that the work situation for Postmasters continues to deteriorate. In so many districts dignity and respect for PMs have ceased to exist. The Postal Service deliberately does not staff in order to pile work hours on to Postmasters. Reports and logs continue to proliferate, thereby stretching a long day into a longer day. Discipline for trivial reasons continues and micromanagement reduces Postmasters to mindless robots. You may not be suffering personally from any of these situations, but thousands of Postmasters nationwide are. I urge you, in support of Postmasters everywhere, to simply not fill out the survey. This is one report that you are not required to complete. Please spread the word; the more of us who refuse to participate, the louder our voice of the employee will be.
Respectfully,
Charley Mapa
President
National League of Postmasters
October 13th, 2009 14:45
Now this is REALLY FUNNY. APWU has been saying this for YEARS! I’ll bet the vast majority of the PM’s fill them out anyway. They are just so used to sucking up. How do think they got their jobs to start with?
October 13th, 2009 15:41
poor pms. whinny bunch of useless losers!
October 13th, 2009 16:56
Does not matter….i never filled them in the first place.
more propoganda
October 13th, 2009 16:59
The PM’s I know (myself included) pushed for the survey’s completion because PM’s don’t get COLA like the unions do, only a “bonus” based on all kinds of weird data points chosen by HQ. One of these data points was the percentage score of your office in filling out the employee survey form!
Now, for the past few years all of these ‘data points’ have become impossible to achieve which was most likely the plan all along. So, since there’s no upside to filling it out PMs are now saying, “why fill it out?” My guess is that the unions would still fill it out, but HQ senior management being stupid as usual tried to use the results as a club in contract negotiations.
Talk about dum de dum dumb!
October 13th, 2009 17:13
hell it was my postmaster I complain about in my VOE!
October 13th, 2009 17:33
hey,
Sounds like a job action, can ‘em all !
October 13th, 2009 19:09
gee the postmasters didnt complain too loudly when management used the V O E on the clerks and carriers contracts 12 years ago
October 13th, 2009 20:02
Three cheers for Charlie Mapa. When will the other two management associations advise their members not to
participate in this farcical endeavor? The Board of Governors, top postal management and the OIG have little or no concern for the employees of the postal service.
October 13th, 2009 21:21
goodnight!!!! now the pms might know how they have been treating craft for years! freaking get over it. for you to get a bonus off the backs of the craft is ludericious!! where else could the pm go and make 100,000 for what they do?? they ALL need to be FIRED!! as for disipline for trivial things, look at what you do to craft!! bunch of cry babies!!!!!! get a real job.
October 13th, 2009 21:48
What in the world would a PMs voe say? Yes Yes Great Great. Who’s ass do i kiss?
October 13th, 2009 23:23
honestly,when will they realize they are sharing the boat with the crafts? higher management doesn’t care any more about them than they do us. just another means to their ends. we’ve been their cash cow for so long they don’t know anything else
October 13th, 2009 23:31
This is a joke, right? “dignity and respect for PMs have ceased to exist”. Since when does a postmaster even know what dignity and respect mean? “The Postal Service deliberately does not staff in order to pile work hours”. Huh, kind of like not staffing routes properly and letting mail back up? “Reports and logs continue to proliferate, thereby stretching a long day into a longer day.” Boo hoo, they can’t run out and do their shopping, eating, drinking and certain other unmentionable activities on the clock. “Discipline for trivial reasons continues and micromanagement reduces Postmasters to mindless robots.” How does it feel to be on the receiving end, postmasters? Seriously, this must be some kind of joke, but it’s actually pretty funny when you think about it.
October 14th, 2009 05:29
“Discipline for trivial reasons continues “…………………yeah, but that doesn’t stop THEM from handing out the same crap to the carriers and clerks. We’re just lazy pieces of sh#t and we all deserve it, right? Hypocrites !!!
October 14th, 2009 05:35
Glad to see they feel loss of all respects…Now other craft unions need to follow threw and handle our workroom floor issues based on the information put in front of us…
October 14th, 2009 10:58
Your long day wouldn’t be longer if you would stand up to your POOM and tell them you need your clerks to do their job. Instead you send your clerk home and spend your whole day and lunch period sorting bulk Mail. Duh.
October 14th, 2009 13:16
Are they still employed? YES! Do your job!!
October 14th, 2009 13:49
This is amazing. As a carrier that retired in 2006 I am fully aware of how Postmasters, and other management treated craft employees…..like dogs, to be kicked to the street because we are all worthless, lazy bums. Now they are crying about not getting respect. If you want respect, you earn it, and that has never been done.
But everything being said, it is the morons in D.C., the slackers sitting on their fat behinds that are the root of all Postal problems, and it is they that should be tarred and feathered and driven out of town
October 14th, 2009 16:46
Waah! Waah! So the Postmasters feel that they’re being treated mean by their bosses. It’s good for them to get what they’ve been dishing out to us carriers. If all the postmasters quit and no replacements were ever hired, there would not be any deterioration in the mail service. Then the Post Office could give the REAL workers a good raise.
October 14th, 2009 19:43
When I was a Postmaster, I never completed the VOE, the list of questions did not allow me to “grade” the District manager or the Area VP, or HQ, rather I was limited to “grading” my immediate boss that being a POOM/MPOO. His level (25)was one higher than mine, and I knew that “grading” him would not address the real issue that being HQ, AREA and DISTRICT, thus I refused and was very clear in my comments to my DM and POOM that I will not participate in this joke they called VOE.
I applaud Charlie in his stance, lets see if the other two management organizations follow the actions requested of those League members. the VOE at one time might have had true value, instead HQ has used it as a weapon, yes I said it a weapon against its employees.
October 15th, 2009 20:25
I have no pity. Discipline, lack of dignity and respect; please, craft employees have carried this burden for many years. All I can say is man-up, that’s what we’ve had to do.
October 15th, 2009 21:28
Most letter carriers were too stupid to fill out a VOE survey and management were the only ones who could understand it and fill it out right. I think the “fill in circles” through the carriers off.
October 16th, 2009 12:19
“through” (threw) and you say carriers are stupid well yes some of them are but its the dumb hr that hires them.
October 17th, 2009 12:28
I love VOE survey day…our PM brings in bagels and fruit! ROFLMAO!! How stupid do they think we are that a few eats and all is well. What good comes out of those, seriously! They don’t REALLY what to know what’s going on, they just want it to look good on paper.
October 17th, 2009 13:46
During the 70’s,80’s and 90’s postal rates were inflated to justify the implementation of mail processing equipment.Lower level maintenance employees were required to perform higher level work,sometimes dangerous work,under threat of termination and without training.The post office has supplied private companies with the equipment used to process the mail,now they are closing mail processing facilities and letting the full time clerks and carriers go.Put the managers and postal officials on contract along with the mass mailers who deal with advertising mail.If they can’t make a profit terminate the contract and get some new managers.Put the post office on the stock exchange and let the clerks and carriers be the primary stock holders along with the public.
October 17th, 2009 13:59
Why do you continue to bash management? They have a job to do, just like craft employees do. Craft employees have no idea of the work load of management. I have done almost every job in the Postal Service. I have been a Rural Carrier, a Letter Carrier and a Clerk. I have also been a Bulk Mail Clerk. I am now working as a 204-B. I did my job in every aspect of the Postal Service. I am proud of how I handled myself in each and every position that I have held. I and only I can make my job better. My attitude and my selfworth. I have done every craft job except Mail Handler, and I could turn around and do those same jobs today or tommorrow. Can the same be said of craft being able to do management’s job? I will gladly change jobs with anyone of you any day. Just make sure that everything that I must do each and every day is done before you go home, and by the way, you only get paid for 8 hours even if you are here 12. I take pride in the job I do. Yes, I am here to make money, but I am also here to do my job, whatever that job may be. I am here soon after the first person who comes in is here and I am always here until my carriers are back from the street. I know for a fact that there is not a single person in my office that is here longer or works harder than I do. If all of us would give 110% than there would not be the issues that I keep reading here. Don’t think I am bashing craft because I am not. Almost everyone in my office is the same. They come in and give 8 hours of work for 8 hours of pay. Then they give more if needed. We help each other and we try to make everyone’s day a little easier in whatever way we can. However, 1 or 2 people can ruin it all, and has. That 1 or 2 people can be management or they can be craft. Once again, it is the PEOPLE that make the difference, not whether they are management or craft.
October 18th, 2009 01:14
VOE is used just like every other statistic in the Post Office. All thay want is the “good” numbers to show how well they are doing when compared to other districts. That’s all we ever hear from the results is we have the best VOE stats in the SE Area, blah, blah, blah. We even have to be counceled or watch a video from the DM before we can take it. I’ve never heard of a single issue addressed on a VOE that has led to a change in anything. The VOE program rates right up there with the Mystery Shopper Program.
October 30th, 2009 12:05
I guess I will also have to stop completing the surveys of my employees who refuse to do theirs. I was getting tired of completing all those surveys every year anyways.
November 2nd, 2009 09:46
I agree that the VOE is a useless piece of paper. For 15 years, I have never seen one ounce of change come from anything written in those surveys. Money could be better spent elsewhere than paying a company for this service. As far as dignity and respect, craft people have NO IDEA how their PM’s get treated. If we treated you like we are treated, you would be filing EEO complaints, grievances, asking for employee interventions, all the tools you use to get back at management when you are told to “do your job”. I have been witness to my PM getting berated on telecon’s, sworn at, called useless, called a horrible PM and been given direct orders to discipline supervisors who did nothing wrong but “just because someone has to take the fall”. And most of the time, when the truth came out about what the POOM believed were the “numbers” that my PM was being berated for, the numbers were incorrect. When the PM tried to give his side of the story as to why the numbers were skewed, the POOM would just tell him he was making excuses and refused to listen. This is typical, all the time. And the POOM will NEVER say they were wrong.
November 8th, 2009 09:23
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l47Xxq3GGt4
Watch the video the PMG doesn’t want you to see.
November 18th, 2009 17:44
oooh someone call the waaaaaaambulance! Finally some justice. You PMS shove the voe down craft throats to get your bonuses. When we dont fill it out u whine somemore.
About time u sorry slugs r getting some of it. Quit shorting parcel counts, volumes, and street times to make your quotas. Harassing TE’s n PTFs into the ground bringing them lunches so they will work through theirs, intimidating clerks into working faster. S___ flows downhill, so now pms are getting it, the craft will get browbeaten next.
November 19th, 2009 20:40
pencil pushers……they need to do a minor route adjustment on them….