During a November 18 House debate, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-5th) engaged in an anti-union screed that lasted several minutes.

After attacking the pay and benefits of federal workers, she said that they also have too much job security. “Short of shooting up a post office,” Foxx said, “government workers rarely get fired or laid off.”

“Foxx’s statements about unions are factually wrong and her reference to workplace shootings in post offices was tasteless and demeaning to hard-working postal employees,” National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredric V. Rolando said. “Her comments were morbidly disrespectful to those postal employees and their families who have been the victims of shootings.

“Also, it is a myth that poorly performing federal workers—much less those that commit crimes—never get fired,” he added. “But workers facing dismissal or discipline have every right to union representation. The unions that represent federal workers make no apologies for providing this representation and ensuring fairness in the workplace.

“I have written Representative Foxx and demanded an apology, and the NALC will engage the media in her congressional district to expose her outrageous comments,” Rolando said.

The president also encourages members who live in Rep. Foxx’s district to write and/or call her district office to express your concerns over the negative and inaccurate image of federal workers that she tried to project.

The Honorable Virginia Foxx
6000 Meadowbrook Mall, Suite 3
Clemmons, NC 27012
Toll-free (866) 677-8968

via Latest News | Tasteless comments from Rep. Foxx.

Los Angeles, CA – August 30, 2010. A new documentary on violence in the USPS, Murder by Proxy: How America Went Postal, will be screened at two Florida film festivals this September.

The film was written/produced/directed by Emil Chiaberi and produced by Oscar and Emmy winner James Moll.

Murder by Proxy will be shown at the CENFLO film festival on September 3rd at 2:55pm, At the West Orange 5, Theaters, 1575 Maguire Road Ocoee, FL. Two more screenings will take place on September 6th and 9th at Nomadic Tendencies (US branch of Strasburg International Film Festival) located at Muvico Baywalk 20, 151 2nd Ave N, St Petersburg 33701.

In July “Murder By Proxy” was screened for survivors of the 1991 postal massacre in Royal Oak, Michigan, where it was received with a strong reaction from Royal Oak postal workers. Inquiries have been pouring in from USPS employees from different parts of the country asking when they can see the film in their area. Now Florida postal workers who are based in or around St. Petersburg and Ocoee will get the chance to see the film on a big screen.

Murder by Proxy: How America Went Postal is the first documentary to examine the phenomenon of workplace massacre through the lens of the growing socio-economic strains that have swept over this country—beginning in the Reagan era and extending to the present. In the face of an ever changing economy, the film follows the plight of one of America’s working class heroes’, Charlie Withers, a 39 yr. veteran letter carrier from Royal Oak, MI, the home of the films focused incident.

The analysis of work conditions at USPS is central to the film, which sheds light on the toxic postal culture through the prism of catalyst and accountability. And for good reason: the modern, stress-driven, homicidal rampage was born in the postal system—forever changing the meaning of the phrase “going postal”. The USPS presents an ideal case study because it’s been a breeding ground for the same volatile conditions that are now found in most US work environments. “In
many ways, the story of work related postal violence chronicles the erosion of America’s working class”, says director Emil Chiaberi.

Today, the USPS is under intense pressure to reduce spending. As a result, workers are once again experiencing the same volatile conditions that led to the 1991 Royal Oak shooting and other related episodes of violence. “It seems like we’ve learned little from the past,” says Charlie Withers, whose investigation of the hostile conditions in Royal Oak’s Post Office resulted in Congressional hearings. He adds: “I think this film is very timely…hopefully, it can help prevent future tragedies.” With the grassroots uprising of support, already formed by responses pouring from the postal unions, workers are eager to help educate those ignorant or dismissive of the destructive effects of volatile management practices. There is a drought of corporate responsibility for this workforce, as lives are sacrificed and the postal service becomes an increasingly exasperated and toxic culture of greed, and violence.

Following the September screenings in Florida and Germany MURDER BY PROXY: How America Went Postal will be shown in several domestic and international Film Festivals. Please visit our website form more information.

ABOUT MURDER BY PROXY: How America Went Postal
Written/Produced/Directed: Emil Chiaberi
Produced by James Moll
Edited by David A. Davidson
Running time: 76 minutes
Language: English
Release date: 2010
Official Website: www.murderbyproxyfilm.com

ABOUT EMIL CHIABERI
Emil Chiaberi grew up in the Soviet Union and now lives and works in the United States as a
filmmaker and CEO of an emerging biomedical company. From serving in the Soviet Army to
managing a 100+ employee business, his array of personal and business experiences have made
him a keen observer of the connections between cultural phenomenon, psycho-spiritual crises
and their relationship to social violence. Emil’s first film, Murder by Proxy, explores these
connections.

ABOUT JAMES MOLL
Oscar and Emmy winning filmmaker James Moll has been producing and directing non-fiction
films for more than ten years. Moll’s feature documentary credits include Running the Sahara,
Inheritance, Price for Peace, and The Last Days, which chronicles the lives of five Hungarian
Holocaust survivors.
In addition to his work as a filmmaker, Moll established and operated The Shoah Foundation
(currently the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education) with Steven
Spielberg for the express purpose of videotaping Holocaust survivor testimonies around the
world.

The female supervisor, identified as Doris Lloyd, was rushed to Jamaica Hospital where she is treated for her stab wounds. Officials said the male suspect used scissors to attack his supervisor. He allegedly told police he was tired of her busting his chops and he decided he was not going to take it anymore.

The disgruntled worker, identified as David Barnett, 55, was allegedly stopped by a fellow worker who jumped on his back during the fight and held him down until police arrived.

Full story: Mail Sorter Charged With Stabbing Supervisor At JFK Mail Facility | NBC New York.

Supervisor Welk has worked for the Postal Service for 37 years. He has been a supervisor in this Bismarck office since 1985, except for about four years in the 90′s when he was removed from carrier supervision because of complaints about his treatment of letter carriers, and worked in a different facility.

In 1999, Bismarck had an Intervention, apparently with encouragement if not instigation from a Senator and a Representative from Washington, DC, and based at least in part on complaints about Supervisor Welk and his street supervision.

In 2002, as the result of a grievance, “The Postmaster has removed (Supervisor Welk) from routinely supervising the grievant. The supervisor has been instructed regarding behavior during conversations with draft employees. No further action is warranted.” according to the DRT report on that grievance.

While the Step B grievance team found that Welk had violated the contract, it could not agree on a remedy. Arbitrator Jacobs found management’s response to the grievance decision sorely lacking:

Sitting Supervisor Welk in front of a computer screen by himself to watch a video, as the postmaster did, may demonstrate some good faith effort on the postmaster’s part to take corrective action. But it is not effective or sufficient. Much more significant corrective action has been taken in the past and it has not been effective. The recently appointed postmaster of Bismarck testified she did not see any violation. That is an affirmation of Welk’s actions. His mind set when he was told to watch a video would have been that he is going through motions, and he does not need to pay any attention, or to make any change in his behavior.

As a result, the arbitrator’s award began with the postmaster:

Therefore, I order that the postmaster be trained in the theory and practice of effective supervision. Since she acknowledged that she is not very acquainted with the disciplinary process established in the National Agreement with the NALC, I order that she be trained in the administration of discipline, including the concepts of corrective and progressive discipline, under that contract; and trained in the administration of discipline within management ranks.

Only then did she turn to a list of restrictions for Welk:

Since Supervisor Welk has in the past been removed from the facility for 4 years, and has received training before, and has been made aware of poor job performance in the past, to no avail, 1 am not ordering formal training or a change of location for Supervisor Welk, although I suggest both. I am not ordering counseling, because to be effective there must be a recogition that a problem exists. Neither Supervisor Welk nor management have that recognition.

Rather, in relation to Supervisor Welk, I order the following:

Supervisor Welk shall do street observation (including 3999s and brief street observations) no more than two times per carrier per calendar year. On those street observations, Supervisor Welk shall say absolutely nothing to the letter carrier, and shall remain at least 15 feet away from the letter carrier during the street observation. Supervisor Welk’s activity in relation to the letter carrier on the street will be observation and note taking. Anything Supervisor Welk wants to say to the letter carrier will be said to the letter carrier the next work day, in the post office, in the presence of someone in a supervisory relationship to Supervisor Welk (ie, not a fellow supervisor of customer service) and a Union representative. This is intended to give Supervisor Welk an opportunity to assess the whole observation, determine what is satisfactory or unsatisfactory in that whole context, and have a constructive plan for how to deal with any problem.

Supervisor Welk shall be relieved of ‘morning go round’ duties unless he is accompanied by, and listened to by someone who is in a supervisory relationship to Supervisor Welk.

Any time Supervisor Welk mentions to a letter carrier anything similar to the things he has referred to as a discussion, a job discussion, or an official job description, or makes a criticism of the person or job performance of any letter carrier, that letter carrier has the right to immediately demand and get Union representation before Supervisor Welk can proceed with the conversation.

Any letter carrier has a right to telephone or communicate by other means with management or the Union any time that these orders are not followed.

In any disciplinary action against any letter carrier that is initiated by, participated in by, or based on reports or statements from Supervisor Welk, the Postal Service shall not object to a copy of this award being made a part of the grievance packet for consideration at all levels.

I have intentionally not included a time limit on these orders. This is for several reasons. First, prior corrective measures did not work. Second, at the time of this arbitration, management did not see anything wrong with the workplace environment Supervisor Welk created for the letter carrier who work for him. Therefore, the order is intended to limit and control the occasions on which Supervisor Welk has violated the Joint Statement.

Click here to view the full arbitration award.

…Because the mail never stops. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. There’s never a letup. It’s relentless. Every day it piles up more and more, but the more you get out, the more it keeps coming. And then the bar code reader breaks. And then it’s Publisher’s Clearinghouse day. 

Greatest Fictional New Yorkers #12: Newman

Meanwhile, we seem to be either shooting ourselves in the foot when we deal with postal reform in DC, or burying our head in the sand when it comes to dealing with plant consolidations in the field. Why can KFOX in El Paso say that they’ve waited months for someone from the El Paso Post Office to talk to them? Why can Senator Harkin complain that we won’t tell him what our plans are for Sioux City? Why are we letting the mailers, unions, and politicians do all the talking?

Why are we wasting our time going postal over “going postal” when there are more important things to worry about?

When a journalist for Germany’s Deutsche Welle network attempted to videotape people queueing up to get their mail, he was told by postal police to leave the premises. He complied, but continued taping through a fence. The cops again told him to stop taping. When the journalist objected, pointing out the lack of signs indicating the area was in any way restricted, he was told to hand over his videotape. When he refused, he was handcuffed. He wasn’t released until he finally agreed to hand over the video.

The punch line?

The reporter says that at least twice, one of the cops told him ”that in the past, I would have gotten away with [filming] but not now with the ‘war on terror’“.

U.S. Postal Service detains journalist, keeping his videotape 

It’s hard to believe an actual postal worker ever thought this was funny- but to see something like this around after last week’s events is pretty sad.

Source: Flickr

A Google news search for ‘going postal’ the day after the incident turned up a large number of hits, but the vast majority came from an Associated Press story that was carried on many sites, often more than once as it was updated with new developments. The AP dispatches mention, fairly deep in the story, that a series of killings in the 80′s gave rise to the phrase.

One version of the AP story says “The term has been part of popular culture since 1986″, which is not true. In fact, it was not until well into the 90′s that the phrase started appearing in print. The first citation I could find was in December 1993, in a newspaper article describing a symposium on workplace violence sponsored by the postal service. A couple of months later, it showed up in an issue of Wired magazine, in the ‘Jargon Watch’ section. That lends some credence to the idea that the first use of the phrase was among techies on the Well, the pioneering online discussion forum, and then spread to Usenet, the loose network of discussion groups that pretty much WAS the Internet in the days before the World Wide Web. (Yes kids, there was a time before the web!) A search of the Google Usenet archives dates the online use of the phrase to February 15, 1994, when it was used to describe a shooting at a Wendy’s. The fact that it was included in ‘Jargon Watch’ is an indication that it was not in widespread use. And it was not a ‘postal massacre’ that made ‘going postal’ a common expression, but the 1995 film ‘Clueless’.

Back to the media: most of the network and cable news reports reviewed were very respectful, and a text search of transcripts turned up no instances of ‘going postal’ or its variants. Instead of rolling out the stereotypes, the reports mostly just accurately portrayed the shock and sadness. Kyra Phillips of CNN closes out one report with “…make a point to honor the five employees that were killed” before reading the names of the employees. Wolf Blitzer says “… our prayers go out. I hope she’ll recover…” after a story on the sixth victim, who at the time was still clinging to life.

There were two examples of postal stereotyping that merit a brief mention- one from a traditional media outlet, the other from a political blog.

The media example is TV station KESQ in Palm Springs. The version of the story posted online starts out:

“Scenes like the one in Goleta bring to mind the pop culture term “going postal.” Just why do our mail carriers kill? NewsChannel 3 went looking for answers about why so many postal employees “go postal.”

And goes downhill from there. No facts, obviously, to support the assertion that “so many” postal employees are killers. (And don’t even bother to tell them that the Goleta incident did not involve ‘mail carriers’.)

The punch line? After a slapdash piece with absolutely no “facts”, frightening or otherwise, the “reporter” reaches the breathless conclusion that “Despite the frightening facts, many postal employees believe the violence has more to do with the individual rather than where they work.”

Imagine that?

There were actually quite a few blogs that had references to “going postal” shortly after the killings took place, but most were from the kind of blogs that make Howard Stern look witty and urbane. The one that surprised me was a posting on TPM Cafe, the companion blog to Joshua Micah Marshall’s Talking Points Memo, a leading liberal blog. Let me stipulate that my political opinions are very similar to TPM’s- however:

TMP’s Matthew Yglesias responded to the cold blooded murder of six innocent human beings with this:

“It’s not really funny, but then again it sort of is funny, when a “former postal employee” lives up to stereotype with a little spree killing action, “killing six people and critically wounding another before committing suicide.” It’s enough to make you wonder if there might be some factual basis to the notion that postal workers are unusually likely to go on a rampage (recall that Newman on Seinfeld explained that this happens “because the mail never stops”). Perhaps Mark Kleiman, the blogosphere’s resident criminologist, can enlighten us. While we’re waiting he has a post on a more serious crime control issue that’s worth a read.”

So six people being murdered is ‘sorta funny’? Can you imagine the convulsions of laughter he must have gone through on 9/11? But never mind those wacky postal people dying- read up on “a more serious crime control issue”.

This from a guy who claims to have a Harvard degree in philosophy, and to have written for the New York Times. We’ll leave Matty with the comment one of his own readers posted: “Matt, there’s a certain variety of humor which works when wisecracking with your friends, but makes you look really, really bad when it is forever enshrined in the google cache. Making light of mass-murder pretty clearly falls into that category.”

Those two glaring, but thankfully low circulation examples aside, it does seem that as Bill Burrus said the other day, “by and large, the press has not used this terrible event to portray all postal employees as violent and that the media has refrained from using the term “going postal” in relation to this tragedy.”

Lets hope it continues.