Don’t Let the Postal Service Take Your Pulse!

It is that time of the year when the Postal Service wants to take your pulse!  Like previous years, the 2018 Postal Pulse survey showed the USPS what we already knew: Your work environment is not good; your supervisors treat you poorly and morale is low. The mean score changed by less than one-tenth of a point—suggesting nothing has changed at the Post Office. One statistic that trended in the right direction in the APWU’s opinion, was employee participation in the survey.  It went down from 46% in 2017 to 42% in 2018.  The APWU’s goal is a zero-participation rate.

The APWU implores you once again:  Do not participate in the 2019 Postal Pulse Survey.  You are probably being flooded with emails, postcards to your home, stand-up talks, posters on time clocks, and other tactics to try to get you to take the survey. 

So, what has the Postal Service done in the last year? Have things improved since the survey was first put out and found that the USPS ranked low in every category? The reality is, the steps the Postal Service took to make the workplace “more engaging” are meaningless. You still have difficult supervisors and you are having more demanded of you, putting your health and safety at risk. Staff is being reduced, people are being excessed and morale is being decimated.

And now, in 2019, the survey is being pushed immediately before the APWU will begin interest arbitration with the Postal Service to establish a contract.  There is more than a good chance that the results of this survey will be utilized, as has been done previously, in interest arbitration against you. 

The Postal Pulse and any initiatives to get you to participate are not in your best interest. Participation in these programs will not fix the issues. Postal management has not listened to your direct pleas to your supervisors, either in your grievances or in meetings at the local, area and national level. Only collectively, demanding compliance of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and speaking in one voice, will we force management to change their ways. Stand united – and do not be fooled by these "wolves in sheep’s clothing" initiatives created to divide us.

Management may also ask people to join focus groups and participate in management-initiated events to make the work place more “engaging” or more “efficient.” These are not sanctioned nor approved by the union. They were not negotiated and use of them violates the union’s right as the sole representative of the bargaining unit employees under Article 1. Don’t do it!

We have a negotiated grievance process and a negotiated labor-management cooperation process to address workplace issues. Management needs to start following our contract, dealing with the grievances already filed and making sure the hostile frontline supervisors are dealt with. Your union knows the “pulse” of those we represent. If a local supervisor or manager cannot see the problems without a survey, then they are part of the problem.