Is this 1920?

indmorcoffee · Dec 1, 2016

First off I am a female and out of 7 subs I am number 2 in seniority, I have been at my office for 6 years now. We have always had 3 managers (all men) for some reason. Well one of them transfered and one of our city carriers became the new 3rd manager.

This new manager is in charge of the RCA scheduling. And unfortunately he is also best friends with the guy that is right below me in seniority, in fact he got him the job about 3 years ago. This sub is the worst, he has gotten in so many accidents, 2 totaled out LLV's, but he never got any discipline he always blamed the other guy.

Our office runs Expresses so it's an added job for us. For the 3rd time in the last 2 months I'm not on the schedule at all this week but this guy is on it for express 3 times. I've complained to this manager every time and he just says oops sorry. If I have an extra day of express he gives it to one of the male subs (we have 3 female subs 4 male).

I'm at my wits end. I've looked at our union contract and it only says that we can do expresses or any other extra work. Nothing about how it's dished out. Am I going to have to just live with it if I want to keep working here? Am I missing anything? These guys are chauvinist pigs, and have no qualms about letting it known how much they can't stand all these females. Being a female I've gotten use to being treated like dirt, I was just hoping the post office would be different.

btdtret · Dec 1, 2016

indmorcoffee -- Have you expressed your frustrations to the Assistant District Representative?

-- Totaled 2 LLV's! Someone must be really good at explaining away things. Unless you have access to the police reports ( assuming there are some ) or the USPS accident report, could be it was the "other" persons fault. But I'd be surprised that someone at District didn't notice the loss and wonder what's going on.

-- When someone seems to be getting away with things, sometimes that person "knows where the bodies are buried" and manglement doesn't dare "rock the boat".

-- Doubt if there is anything thing specific about "sharing" duties in the contract, but if the males get more opportunities than the females, that might be a case of disparate treatment and worth a grievance if the ADR concurs. "oops sorry" doesn't cut it. Although not required, ask manglement to establish a list for Express Deliveries -- hopefully to ensure there is a rotation of personnel.

-- If you can cite specific "chauvinist pig behavior" that violates the USPS code of conduct or other postal policies, file a grievance. Consult the ADR.

Good luck.

indmorcoffee · Dec 1, 2016

Thanks for the reply. No I don't have any specific situations, just little things that make you think twice about whats really going on. I do like the idea of making a list for Express deliveries.

Once again I really thank you for taking the time to answer my post. I don't fly off at the handle, I'm very quite lets just say I'm a slow burn, unfortunately I've probably let things slide to not ruffle any feathers. But I'm going to start a paper trail and start making copies of the schedule.

We had representatives from EAP talk to us a while back. I may go talk to them too just to clear my mind. The only thing keeping me at this job was the money if they start taking that too. I don't know.

EthelAnne · Dec 1, 2016

As @btdret said, contact your union rep, and discuss "hostile work environment" with them. Not technically a union/contract issue, but your rep will be able to give you some guidance if you choose to pursue this. Document what you observe and experience---even the "little things." Hang in there and good luck!

btdtret · Dec 1, 2016

indmorcoffee -- If you consider your work place "stressful", there is the Employee Assistance Program ( EAP ).

The "hostile work environment" is a tough one. Apparently enough rumors filtered up to District about my old office that a two-person team showed up one day when the problem member of manglement "just happened to be off on detail". Carriers and clerks literally stood in line to "discuss" things with the District team. Some delayed getting to the streets while others waited after finishing their route. The District team came back for a second day of note taking. About 2 weeks later, the team returned, the supervisor called for a stand-up and one of the team members spoke. The first thing out of his mouth was "you don't have a hostile work environment." The silence was deafening to go along with the stunned look on everyone's face. As he continued his report, carriers just drifted back to their cases.

EthelAnne · Dec 1, 2016

Regarding the hostile work environment, we had an investigation in my office as well, that resulted in an employee (not a supervisor) being suspended for a week, so take that anecdotal evidence FWIW.

I have to say that as bad as I feel the atmosphere is in my office, I can always come here and read RuralMailTalk and find someone who has it a lot worse. Hoping you get some relief for your situation, @indmorcoffee

hunchback · Dec 2, 2016

indmorcoffe

GOOGLE Publication 553

This is the USPS " Employee's Guide to Understanding, Preventing, and Reporting Harassment"

As far as Government documents go, this is pretty thorough, and should be helpful.

indmorcoffee · Dec 2, 2016

Thanks everyone for the replies and the support. I love this board. And luckily I had this week off so I didn't go and do anything foolish and allowed myself to cool off a bit.

I went in and made copies of the last 2 schedules for my records. I will read Pub. 553, and definitely look into talking to EAP. I think I will talk to my Union Rep too just to give him a heads up in case I need to take some action in the future.

If any thing else happens I will let you guys know.

12345 · Dec 4, 2016

I worked in a office with a hostile work environment. The postal service flew in a so called expert from out of the district to investigate. I happened to get access to the official report; which stated the environment will not change unless one of the parties involved leaves the office. No one left and nothing changed.