Don’t Focus on ‘Postal Pulse’

The APWU is urging union members to refrain from participating in “focus groups” on Postal Pulse employee opinion surveys.

The union opposes the Postal Pulse and other employee opinion surveys because management has a history of using the results of such surveys against workers during contract negotiations and arbitration.

The Postal Service first announced Postal Pulse in February – just as negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the APWU were getting underway – and claimed the APWU and other unions supported the goals of the program. “The APWU vehemently opposes Postal Pulse – and any other employee opinion survey – despite management notices that say otherwise,” APWU President Mark Dimondstein said at the time.  

“This kind of misinformation hinders our ability to represent the interests of the members,” Industrial Relations Director Tony D. McKinnon Sr said.

The USPS notified that APWU on Oct. 13 that it will conduct focus groups with employees to explore alternative methods to administer the survey.

“I believe this is an attempt by management to weaken resistance to the survey,” McKinnon said.  “Participation in the focus group is voluntary,” he pointed out, “so don’t let them take your pulse.” 

Employees who feel they are being pressured to take the survey or who have questions should contact their local union representative.

Management first cited employee survey data during bargaining in the 1990s. The union’s National Executive Board adopted a resolution opposing “the use of surveys, focus groups, polls, audits, as a means of interviewing employees and union officials to evaluate job-related internal issues.” Similar resolutions have been adopted by the delegates to APWU National Conventions since then.