I am sure most of you know that I spend a lot of time online. Sometimes I believe my husband forgets I am here. We are in the same room, but I am usually so engrossed in what I am doing online that he says I don’t even hear him when he talks.
In all of this time I am online, some of my time is spent on Facebook. And if you are on Facebook, you know that Facebook is rife with all the things in the world people are outraged with and other causes they seek to get attention for. From Chick-Fil-A to abused animals to injustices across the realm. I am not saying some of these causes are not important, but I also want to know where are the outraged posts about what is being done to dismantle your livelihood?
There are a few people who work very hard at trying to get the truth out there about what is happening to the USPS, but I don’t see many every day working postal workers showing their outrage for the dismantling of the USPS..
Have you decided that we cannot win? Have you given up? Do you feel helpless? How many have taken the time to tell your Congressional representatives how you feel? How many of you spread the truth of the USPS to dispel the lies being spread by others? Do you think your job is safe no matter what? How many of you realize that who you vote for affects the USPS and your job? How many of you know how your representative thinks the USPS should be “fixed”? Have you taken the time to read their website to find out if they have an opinion? WHERE IS YOUR OUTRAGE for the dismantling of the USPS as we know it?
It is past time that we all become OUTRAGED by what is being done, but I am not seeing the outrage I have seen with other issues. While Chick-Fil-A and abused animals are important, the dismantling of YOUR LIVELIHOOD should be just as important! Tell your non postal friends the TRUTH! Tell your postal friends that don’t know the truth. If we don’t do it, nobody will. We certainly can’t depend on the media or Congress to do it. If not US, then WHO?
We all seem to act like we are outside looking in. We are right in the middle of it, and what happens to the USPS, HAPPENS TO US!
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PT, you are right, we should be outraged, but my outrage is directed in a little different direction than yours….. in short, w/o going into much detail here, I just feel like we are David and they (USPS) are Goliath, but David doesn’t win in my scenario…. after all the past reductions in time standards and what they plan in the future, and the recent arbitrator decision, I just feel this craft is doomed for continued losses no matter what we do. I wish I could be more optimistic and I think our folks should call, etc, but I’m not sure what difference it will make in the ‘long run’. Frankly, I do feel “helpless”. ALSO, I’m ashamed of our carriers booing the PMG even if they disagree…. that’s kind of mob like, if you ask me and it didn’t serve any productive purpose.
Thank you for your artical, it is indeed timely to consider that most Americans do not get outraged on the behalf of USPS, and try to help to win the battle, David in the bible had to go alone, he did not get much support either but knew who the enemy was not honoring God, and did get outraged to take it on himself, on a one to one basis this is the fight in USPS , and it the employees will bind together it might mean a fighting chance. I think that few know of the USPS or the history in this county, and that can be found free online, at google books which is called The Post Office, it past record, its present condition and it potential relation to the new world era, 1913-1917, in that era which was before labor laws so uniions were just begining and few take the time to understand much in our society, that without unions they would not have social security, medicade , minimum wage or any benifits. And they do not understand that Congress had taken lobby money to destroy the USPS, which is under the constitution and if that is destroyed then we dont have much of country, I am not sure if this was part of the wall street bailout to force the country into dire straits and make the currant mode of not caring or being apethetic or ignorant on the entire situation in the destruction of the USPS. As for fighting back, my husband was a former marine, who worked for the USPS for 17 years,after his death his own union wrote a false report on him, stating he had never been understaffed, never had overtime and never called his union as steward, I am not quite sure what the union representation on the death of USPS letter carier was covered up, in odere to assure others got their retirment while he was overworked and ended up dying with a heart attack , the fact that it barely made it off the job, after again being short staffed illigally, and denial of a legal grievance that was undeer supreme court law, was also made, so that a union steward could be put in his place for daring to follow a contract, well then you can go to what happened after the paea, to see wwww.postalmag.com/joygoldberguspsstress.pdf or AWPU 3800 library stress in the workplace artical of the president and pmg potter breaking the paea law while enforcing the rest of the mandate of the prefunding on usps. Then continue on to http://www.billburrasjounral.org -misc to read on the phoney exucses to divert usps revenues, or to ALEC/Koch Cabal The privitizaiton of USPS for ups and fedex , and also Tim MCCown artical in examiner.com on behind all the schemes and lies of the privitization of the USPS and go to http://www.savethepostoffice.com , but even if you tell people and friends, they still dont get it that your husband died because he worked for the usps mainly because he had to pay in extra to his retirment fund in 2000, 2001 to help balance the deficit only. Then had people who are connected to different companies, from state farm, att, and bank of american, lobby along with the koch brothers, 10 years before to tell congress to make a new retirment fund for postal employees , out of the proiftis of the usps that every letter carrier helps to earn, and make sure to have connections with the Alec group in the labor dept as well so that they can still give orders to understaff in the usps , allowing more people to be overworked and die. I really dont know what to say to those who think this is all about politics rather then human rights or dignity in the workplace . I cant express how i felt knowing that a death of letter carrier did not matter to his own union, nor the understaffing due to having to take on congress who did all this in the first place. As far as booing the PMG , he is basically just a front man who was given a bonus under the paea, as the former pmg was also, and in the meantime still wants to reduce staff delivering the main, why the whole workforce shouldnt fight that , I couldnt tell you other then saying boo to him . As far as productive , my letter carrier as only carrier was told to imporve production like he was part of an assembly line and somehow it was his responsiblity for all the mail in the offfice with 2 retirments not replaced and one perm. injured as last man standing to legally do the mails, and he was suppose to improve production rates and accused of slowing down, due to being exhausted, enough to fight on grieavance over staffing issue due to having not one but two overfunded retirment funds, and then a 3rd being added on top of that, as one man taking on the goliath of stupidy that congress threw his way, he managed as a marine to always hold to professionalism, it too bad his union did not honor his death or care about staffing issues after his passing because they want to negotiate with congress on the postal service, and tell the letter carrirs to fight , as a mob to get congress to listen, funny that was going on in 1913 also when congress would not listen to the letter carriers then about working conditions in the uspo, and here we are in 2012, also almost what 100 years later doing the same thing. The definition of insanity is dong the same thing and not learning from the expereince and repeating it over and over again. Apparently congress wants to not have a postal service or a united states. And they certainly dont want the usps workers to have benifits or decent paying jobs, like they have. The original founding fathers were a mob also who fought tyrany of a goverment and formed a new country, but congress does not recongnize the commitee of samual adams and benjamine franklin for forming the usps, they only see the $igns from corporattions not we the people. As far as what happens to the USPS, it already has happened to my life in the loss of my letter carrier spouse , i hope it does not continue to happen to any one else, at congress hands. ( but then we can look at stephen spencer in gastonia, or ms joanne snow in los angeles or at chicago for 3 letter carrier deaths in april of 2012 which ironically the near date of the battle of bunker hill, for the revolutionary was or the death in birmingham , alabama or the death in mousouri of a letter carrieer calling in sick to the post office but being told to come in anyway and dying on the routes)
by the way it is also interestring to note, that in texas post office in 2000, one man wanted to donate in memory of 911 , the sayng on our money to display in post offices, ‘ In God we trust’ and was refused to place that in post office, around the same time is when all this started to happen.
I have often thought of how much money would it take to run a huge article in the big time newspapers to let them know how the PO is really ran when it comes to us rural carriers.