[Updated & Edited]
Guys & gals, I am sharing this to hopefully provide you with some heads up for what some of you may be facing as an impacted facility for consolidation and/or repurposing of your facility.
After I returned to work after my n/s days, I learned that the Manager from USPS Headquarters made some changes in how we are to process parcels on the SDUS. There is no longer prepping done prior to feeding the packages into the SDUS. All Amazon plastic-wrapped pallets are now being taken straight to the feeders and the parcels that are too large are culled at the feeders. This is both unsafe and highly unproductive.
The last two nights I have worked, the SDUS was ran with 1 feeder & 1 sweeper. This directly conflicts with the instructions we were given by the engineer who trained our people on the SDUS. Our people were told that getting the mail through the SDUS at a rate of 2500 pieces per hour is paramount & if that standard was not maintained, the SDUS would be removed & moved to another facility.
Prior to our 2-day joke of a Function 4 study, we were told that our facility should be sufficiently staffed with 12 clerks, that’s total clerks,, staffing the MPO and out facility. This is despite working Stand-by clerks for 2-4 hours pre-tour most days and other clerks n/s days since 23 clerks & 4-5 maintenance personnel were placed on Stand By time in February of 2022.
So….. why would a manager from USPS HQ come to Cape Girardeau, MO to micromanage a Function 4 survey? Why was our City DPS for Cape Girardeau, Scott City, Benton, Kelso & Commerce today totaling 9,000 pieces when our lightest day averages 30,000 pieces? Wednesday, day two and last day of the 2-day Function 4 study, was more of the same.
A message sent to my coworkers and anyone who will be facing what has and will happen in our facility:
“Edited:
“Guys, I cannot emphasize this too much. You have the right to be angry about what these people are here to do.
As always, the Clerks in Cape Girardeau did not make the decisions that got us here. Other than the [bs] VOE survey, has anyone asked you for your input and thoughts on any of the destruction our workplace has endured since 2013?
In true form, some tyrant from some “high” office sweeps in to make it clear that you are low, useless, wasteful scum whose only purpose is to ruin the mail distribution and processing operation. You are dead weight holding their bonuses down and you need to be in your rightful place. Any chance you get, like our Local President said, put THEM on the spot. Ask why we no longer assign, close and scan placards. Ask them why you are being told you are useless as they ignore the multitude of safety issues throughout the facility that have been in place since THEY removed maintenance and any semblance of a safety program in our workplace. The answer is because YOU are the problem, you earned this.
Never suffer a bully. Ask for a steward. When you are denied, demand a steward. When you are ignored, hit them with NLRB charges over and over and over again. Our local management is powerless against these tyrants who have rotated through here over the years. YOU are not. Be angry and be angry the smart & productive way!”
First Name: Vernon
Last Name: Davidson
Email: beanx4@duck.com
Union/Local: APWU – Cape Girardeau Area Local 4088