[img]583|left|Eric L. Wattree||no_popup[/img]The United States Postal Service is running a latter-day plantation. It has been documented by Members of Congress and arbitrators that the Postal Service is routinely falsifying employee clock rings, subjecting its employees to harassment, intimidation, and abuse, and forcing many employees to work four to six hours a day without pay. Even though the Inspector General has documentation of the commission of federal crimes in hand, the perpetrators are allowed to walk away with impunity, even being promoted.
Why are you allowing this to happen, Mr. President? Don't you know this more than offsets all the good you're trying to do? While the corporate media hasn't taken an interest yet, blatant worker abuse isn't occurring in a vacuum. The Postal Service is the second largest civilian employer in the United States. It employs 600,000 people, and they all know what you are allowing to happen. So do their family and friends. That is a lot of people, a lot of votes.
What is so curious is your administration seems to be totally accepting of this abuse while you are in the dark about what it' is doing to your image. While you hang onto Glenn Beck's every word, you completely ignore a federal assault on the people who voted you into office. Speaking of audacity, you have your collective lips poked out because workers have the audacity to complain. You are asking your constituency to accept your position — “Okay, so they're destroying one or two families. But we got you some healthcare!” That is not going to fly. We appreciate the healthcare. But what about protecting our Constitutional rights? If you ignore these kinds of atrocities, you are not the man we thought you were. People are dying.
The federal law is clear. 18 U.S.C. § 1001 reads as follows:
“Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully – (1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact; (2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or (3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry; shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.”
I have mentioned previously, that President Lincoln was willing to go to war to end slavery on his watch. You have it in your power to emancipate over 600,000 American citizens with a simple phone call. In spite of repeated White House contacts and extended articles posted on the Democratic National Committee website, you have failed to make that phone call. We want to know why?
I also have mentioned how much pride I took in supporting your campaign, both in my column and through my meager bank account. While the historic nature of your candidacy wasn't lost on me, I did not support you simply because you are Black. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are also Black. I didn't support either of them. I supported you because I was inspired by your pledge to usher in a change I could believe in.Ffrankly, especially in the current matter, I'm not seeing that.
I vote with my mind, not my heart. Having a Black president is meaningless to me if he's not aggressively protecting the interest of all American people.
Here is an example of what I am talking about.
Another USPS Workplace Tragedy
By Dr. Steve Musacco
On the morning of June 2, 2009, a city letter carrier went to work and reportedly fatally shot himself in the head in the locker room at a postal facility in Gastonia, North Carolina. The Gaston Gazette online news report stated that the “Gastonia Police are investigating an apparent suicide this morning at the Post Office. . . . One of the employees is inside dead from a gunshot wound.”
Prior to my retirement from the USPS, there were three suicides within a two-year period in a district where I formerly worked. I concluded the suicides were contributed to, in significant part, by how these employees were treated in the workplace. The third employee, a city letter carrier, fatally shot himself in a postal jeep. He left a letter stating that he could no longer take the job. The night before he committed suicide he told his wife he did not know if he would be able to handle his job anymore. How do I know? His wife told me this one day after his suicide. He was one of the best employees in the office. The District Manager and I interviewed his co-workers after his death. They stated he would urinate in a bottle while on delivery route for fear he would not meet an artificial deadline set by postal management. During the interviews, one of the postal supervisors told the District Manager and me that the day before the suicide she gave a letter to all the city letter carriers in the station, noting that any future overtime used for their routes would be considered unacceptable performance. The suicide at the Gastonia postal facility was the second since December 2005.
Many people have asked: Why is there so much stress and so many workplace tragedies in the U.S. Postal Service? Because the postal culture embraces and reflects core values that center on achieving bottom-line results, with little regard for employee participation, respect, dignity or fairness. Additionally, there is little accountability for the actions of top management in the Postal Service. Many postal facilities consequently have toxic work environments. They can be a catalyst or trigger for serious acts of workplace violence, including homicide and suicide. The associated rewards system for behavior consistent with the postal culture core values, moreover, enables systemic organizational and individual bullying of employees at all levels of the organization.
Defining Signs
A toxic workplace environment is where there is a high incidence of stress-related illnesses. These illnesses are manifested by psychological and physical deterioration. In other words, these types of environments seriously erode employees' health and well-being. The primary factors contributing to a toxic workplace environment are high job demands, low job control and low social support. Low social support generally entails a lack of respect and validation of employees' dignity by their “superiors.” It also often includes organizational practices and methods that encourage the bullying of employees to meet corporate goals.
Steven Spencer, 60, was the city letter carrier who committed suicide in Gastonia, on June 2, 2009. According to his obituary, Steven was married and leaves two daughters and three grandchildren. He was a member of the National Assn. of Letter Carriers and state representative for the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. He was the founder of the National Assn. of Letter Carriers Food Drive for Gaston County. He was v active in Scouting, attaining the highest rank of Eagle Scout. He also was a member of the Order of the Arrow. Steven was a veteran of the Vietnam War, serving his country proudly in the U.S. Navy.
I find it highly improbable that an employee would kill himself or herself in a postal facility or while on a postal route unless it is to send a clear message that a toxic workplace exists and the person can't handle it anymore. Sadly, it also may be a tragic attempt to better the lot of one's co-workers by drawing attention to the tragic event itself.
Two months before Steven's suicide, I was contacted by a relative of an employee at the Gastonia Post Office. She was concerned because of a toxic workplace environment at the Post Office, lack of accountability to address employees' concerns. She feared the situation could lead to another workplace tragedy. Unfortunately, her concern became a reality on June 2. She indicated several employees had resigned because of the workplace environment. They were among those suffering from negative psychological and physical effects because of this environment.
I was told attempts, mostly by city letter carriers, to have their concerns addressed over a two-year period included: filing of discrimination complaints and grievances, unprofessional workplace assessments, town hall meetings, contacts to Congressional representatives both locally and nationally, contacts to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), and petitions to Charlotte Postal District officials as well as to national representatives of the Postal Service and the NALC. She said none of these measures contributed to fully addressing the workplace environment or alleviating its negative impact for the employees at the Gastonia Post Office.
In order for the U.S Postal Service to become a safe and healthy organization and prevent future tragedies, at an epidemic level the past three decades, there is an urgent need for Congressional intervention and legislation to address its toxic postal culture. Dr. Gary Namie and his wife, Dr. Ruth Namie, along with their colleague Dr. David Yamada, have pushed for such legislation for years at the state and federal level. For national legislation to have the intended impact, it would require sanctions to employers or their representatives who are in violation of a new workplace statute that defines workplace bullying as a harmful and illegal activity.
So again, Mr. President, where are you? Where is that change we are to believe in?
Mr. Wattree may be contacted at wattree.blogspot.com or Ewattree@Gmail.com
Religious bigotry: It’s not that I hate everyone who doesn’t look, think, and act like me – it’s just that God does
