Gett ingToge the rPOLfTJCAt OJtGAN OF ( WOR KUCN

Countries Want independenta, Nations Want Liberation, People Want RevolutionVo l . V I l l , N o . 6 P.O. Box 26229, San Francisco, CA 94126 J U N E 1 9 7 7

layoffs, speedup, unsafe conditions

Postal Service'reorganization'

increases exploitationCurrently, the management of

the U.S. Postal Service is engagedin a massive nationwide reorganization of the system as a pari of aplan they have been trying toimplement during the past ei^tyears. This reorganisation isseverely worsening the conditionsof the 500,000 postal workers(hrouf^iout the U.S.

The reorganization measuresbeing conducted under therationale of making the postalsystem more "streamlined" andmore "efficient." In actuality thismeans that the management istrying to squeeze even more fromthe workers, having no regard forthem at all.

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The postal system is run nodifferently than any other. capitalist enterprise. One of thebasic methods the capitalists useto make their enterprises piore"efficient." i.e., more profitable,is to'increase the exploitation ofthe workers . The Pos ta l Serv i ceh a s d o n e t h i s i n a n u m b e r o f

ways.Increased Work Loads

Vastly increasing the workloads is one way the Serviceintensifies its exploitation.

During the past eight years,the Se rv i ce has e l im ina ted ove r50,000 jobs and shifted 4hew o r k l o a d o f t h e s e v a c a t e d

positions over to the remainingworkers. Thus, many workers arerequired to do twice the amountof work they iiad to do justseveral years ago. For example, insome facilities many maiihandlerpositions are being terminatedand their work given to thec l e r k s . T h e s e c l e r k s m u s t t h e nload and unload heavy mail sacks,move mail and equipment fromfloor to floor or area to area, aswell as carry out their originaitask of sorting their daily load ofletters and parcels.

A clerk in a large facilitycommented to Getting Together:"They hold the mail untildispatch lime at the end of thenigjit. We are sent off our mailsorting stations to work in otherareas of the building until the endof the night. Then they bring usb a c k o n t o o u r s t a t i o n s a n d

expect us to work all the mailthey have delayed the last twohours of the night." Many sortingc l e r k s m u s t n o w a l s o l e a r n a n dw o r k t w o a n d s o m e t i m e s t h r e eschemes (sorting assignments)w h e n f o r m e r l y t h e y w e r e

responsible for just one. Oftentimes the mailhandlers are forcedto work long hours of overtime ifthey are unable to dispatch themail in their areas.

The reorganization is increasing the work load of postalworkers not only at the biginstallations but also at the smalllocal facilities. For example,12,000 small post offices arebeing closed dow'n. The workersa n d m a i l f r o m t h e s e a r etransferred to larger centers,creating chaos, since these centerswere not designed to handle theincreased work,

The mai l carr iers, too, arcsuffering greatly increased worktoads. Rather than hiring newcarriers to fill vacancies, management i s t r y ing to ge t theremaining carriers to take upexpanded delivery routes. Theconsequence is that mail carriersare burdened with on increasinglyheavy sack of mail, resulting in ahigh degree of foot, back andheart problems. The proposedfive-day delivery, instead of thepresent six, will also significantlyincrease the loads of the carriers,handlers, clerks and all otherpostal workers.

Dangerous Machinery

T h e P o s t a l S e r v i c e i n c r e a s e sthe exploitation of the workersby introducing large amounts ofmechanization as part of- thereorganization plan. This machinery has in no way lightened thework o f t he worke rs bu t i ns teadh a s m a d e i t m o r e a r d u o u s ,dangerous and oppressive. Undercapitalism, mechanization isalways used to further theexploitation of the working class,such as by tremendously speeding

up the work of the workers as inthe postal system.

The best example of this is thenewly built Bulk Mail Centers(BMC). 21 of these modemcenters have been built at greatc o s t a r o u n d t h e c o u n t r y t ohandle large parcels. Thesecenters have already earned thereputation of having one of thehighest industrial accident ratesin the country.

The workers at, the BMC'swork- in a highly mechanizedassembly line type situation withcomputers checking the amountof work done by each workerunder a quota system^ The quota— volume or weight of parcels —is the most important thing, and' t h e r e i s n o c o n c e r n f o r t h e

workers. For example i t iscommon to have workers injureddue to sacks of parcels weigliingup to 175 pounds.

As one worker put it: "Mailfalls onto a slide and because-of 'its huge size and wei^t, hits therail and then jumps over smashinginto ,me. Postal managementconstantly gives lip service tosafely but in actuality theyencourage huge parcels to be sent'through the machinery whichcauses injury to workers whojmus t l i f t i t and to o the r worke rs '

' in the building who must handlei t . "

Other serious injuries occurjdue to the dangerous equipment.;The limbs of the workers are)constantly threatened by thesurrounding conveyor belts, railsand moving lines. In one BMC, aworker lost his toes after they|were run over by a 2,(X)0-paundparcel conveyor.

The noise level is so loud thatpeople have to shout to their

fellow workers to be heard on thefl o o r . T h i s c a u s e s w o r k e r s t oleave the building with ringing intheir ears that lasts for hours andc a u s e s s o m e t o h a v e c o n s t a n theadaches.

Because the noise level isalready so loud due to themachinery, to signal the startingup of the tow line (which is anautomated system pulling bigparcel containers around) a loudbell system is used which has adecibel level far exceeding eventhe government's establishediiealth and safety standards.

Most workers must constantlywork in extremely dusty anddirty conditions, even in thesenew plants. At times it is so badwhen loading or unloadingtrucks, one can't see because thedust is so thick.

T h e i n t r o d u c t i o n o l m a c h i n

ery into the old Postal Servicebuildings also has deterioratedthe existing working conditions.In one facility, for example,management has brought inseveral large letter sort ingmachines. The old buildingalready has poor ventilation,heating and lighting, as well ashigh levels of dust and noisepollution. But the large sortingmachines have just worsenedthese cond i t i ons . T l i e no i se andheat produced by the machineshas created sweatshop-like conditions in mafty facilities.

All of this of course has madethe working conditions veryh a z a r d o u s t o t h e h e a l t h o f t h ew o r k e r s . T h i s i s w h a t " e f fi

ciency" means to the capitalistclass.

" S u b w o r k e r s "P o s t a l S e r v i c e a d m i n i s t r a t o r s

arc "streamiining" the system bytaking away many of the rightswon in the past by postalworkers. Through struggle, postalworkers had won certain jobsecurity and benefit rights,including the establishment of aseniority system based uponlength of time employed in thepost office and the right to bidon a specific job in a designatedarea with regular days off. Butth is i s t rue fo r fewer and fewer

postal workers.The administrators are doing

this by hiring more and more"sub " and " casua l " wo rke rs whor e c e i v e n o n e o f t h e b e n e fi t s o rr ig lUs o f the "permanent "workers. Casuals are temporaryworkers who can be hired for no

more than 189 days a year. Theycan be laid off at any time andfor any reason. Many casuals arehired and fired year after yearwithout ever getting any benefitso r a c l i a n c e t o b e c o m c i ' a"permanent worker."

"Sub" o r ca ree r pa r t - t imeflexible workers are supposedlyhired as long-term workers, butthey are put on a constantlychanging and part-time basis,with no assurance of steady hoursor work schedules. As one subremarked to Getting Together, "Inever know my schedule fromday to day, some weeks I miglitwork 4 hours and the next weekI'll be forced to work up to 10hours a day. Since 1 have no

permanent bid position when Ido work, I'm moved all over thebuilding doing 4 or 5 differentjobs without adequate trainingwhich only causes the mail to bedelayed." Generally the only wayto become a "permanent ,"though, is to labor in the "sub"category for months or eveny e a r s .

The whole purpose of the" c a s u a l " a n d " s u b " w o r k e r i s t oreduce costs for the managementand create a workforce which canmore easily be hired and firedand moved around. The result, ofcourse, is hardship for the"casual" and "sub" worker whois actual ly only marginal lyemployed.

ResistanceThe reorganization measures

a r e e x t e n s i v e a n d t h i s a r t i c l ecovers only some of the mainones. While the management ofthe Service urgently wants topress these changes, it faceswidespread opposition from theworkers. The anger of theworkers is causing concern in themanagement. Tliete are frequentacts of sabotage of machinery,d e l i b e r a t e s l o w d o w n s a n d o t h e rforms of resistance. Increasinglythe postal workers are unitingwith each other and developingan organized movement tooppose the massive "reorganization" of the system.

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