Don’t Let Them Take Your ‘Postal Pulse’

The APWU and USPS are facing off over management’s latest scheme: The Postal Pulse, a new employee opinion survey.

“The APWU vehemently opposes Postal Pulse – and any other employee opinion survey – despite management notices that say otherwise,” said President Mark Dimondstein.  A Feb. 19 USPS announcement says the APWU, along with other unions and management associations, supports the goals of the program. A Feb. 26 News Break repeats the assertion.

The union filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Feb. 25, protesting management’s false claim.

The APWU has a long history of opposing employee opinion surveys because management uses workers’ responses against union members during contract negotiations.  The timing of management’s notice to employees, Feb. 19, was especially insidious, Dimondstein said, because it coincided with the opening day of contract talks.

Management first cited employee survey data during bargaining in the 1990s. The APWU 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.

“Don’t let management take your pulse!” Dimondstein said. "Our voices are more powerful when we raise them together, through our union, than when we speak individually with management," he said.

Vice President Debby Szeredy said,  “Remember, management cannot force you to complete the survey. It’s addressed to you.  I suggest you throw it away and/or notify your steward.  By turning it back uncompleted, you risk not knowing what was done with it.  Remember, management provides incentive awards to their supervisors for getting the forms filled out.”  

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