Philadelphia P&DC Plant Manager Judy “The Heretic” Herrick recently issued an edict to all employees – Craft and EAS alike (see: Bizarre Memo on Postal Attendance Concerning Philadelphia Papal Visit).

Because of security concerns, the City of Philadelphia and the United States Secret Service are expecting major impacts to vehicular access in and around the city during the visit of Pope Francis September 26th and 27th.

In anticipation of the vehicular access challenges, Plant Manager Herrick has decided to cast aside the Collective Bargaining Agreements of all four Postal Unions and institute a new, interim leave request policy as follows:

“Starting August 24th through August 28th submission of Forms 3971 will be accepted for Friday, September 25th through Sunday September 27th. Single days during this time frame will not be accepted. It stands to reason that if you can make it to work Friday, you should be able to report Saturday and Sunday.”

It stands to reason…? Huh? What kind of bullshit is this? This sort of rhetoric and tone demonstrates complete contempt for the employees.

The new, interim leave request policy goes on to state:

“Leave will not be granted on a first come, first serve basis, rather, it will be based on your ability to report for duty, given the traffic restrictions some of you may encounter. When submitting the 3971, you must provide your home address. This will assist management with granting leave to the fullest extent possible. All 3971s are to be submitted to the ERMS office. You will be notified by September 11th whether or not your leave was approved.”

Ability to report for work…? …must provide your home address…? More bullshit and flagrant violations of collective bargaining agreements as well as intrusion of privacy. Who determines what my abilities are? What criteria are going to be used (other than a map)? And who is going to have access to these home addresses? What if I normally walk or ride a bike to work but live in a traffic impacted zone? It appears Judy Herick and her minions are clairvoyant.

Also, in an effort to stave off large groups of employees in the Philadelphia Metropolitan District from getting Administrative Leave approved, Judy has made it known in the posted memo to all employees that “ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE WILL NOT BE AUTHORIZED” despite the obvious implications that the Papal visit’s impact to vehicular traffic will most certainly meet the criteria for ELM 38 – 519.22 Civil Disorders. The fact that the Herrick has enacted a temporary and unprecedented “emergency action” would seem to further support the impending state of Civil Disorder.  Herrick absolutely implies there is going to be “civil disorders” yet the paradox is she is not willing to grant administrative leave.

Pope Francis

This brings me to ELM 38 – 519.21 Acts of God. The Catholic Church recognizes the Pope as a very Holy person. According to the Catholic Church, the Pope is not God but he is an extension of God (a representative of God) with the same authority as if he were God. So the way I see it, and I’m sure many millions of Catholics see it, the Pope’s visit to Philadelphia is indeed an “Act of God.” Judy Herrick, however, sees it as nothing more than a liability to her performance goals and end of year bonus. Some, like myself, might even say Herrick is a Heretic by her disrespect and discountenance of the Catholic religion and the USPS employees who serve that religion.

It’s interesting to note that Philadelphia is not the only place the Pope will be visiting on his trip to the Unites States. He is also scheduled to visit New York City and Washington DC. So between Philly, NYC and DC we are talking the potential for well over 10,000 employees who should be entitled to Administrative Leave. I haven’t seen Plant Manager memos for the Pope’s visit to NYC and DC yet but I’d bet the ranch there will be similar memos concerning requests for leave.

One last note: The Herrick memo only has a “cc: Unions” at the bottom right side, in a non descript, lower case entry, without even the courtesy of naming the unions. Was this the official notification to the unions as required under the Collective Bargaining Agreements?