VAN NUYS : Picketing Postal Workers Voice Grievances

Ignoring winter winds and intermittent showers, more than 50 postal workers who have worked without a contract since November picketed Wednesday in front of the United States Postal Service’s Van Nuys district office and processing center.

Many carried umbrellas along with their picket signs, shouting and singing about a variety of grievances.

In addition to not having a contract since November, the postal service, they say, is management-heavy. The scheduling is nonsensical. Upper-brass values the budget numbers more than people and service.

And through it all, the late mail, higher postal rates and the sometimes poor service is blamed on them.

“The main reason we are out here,” said Jon Gaunce, president of the Letter Carriers’ Union, “is to let the public know that we want to give them good service. We are not the ones deciding to make mail delivery later and we have not seen one penny of that rate increase.”

Calling Wednesday’s action an “informational picket,” the letter carriers and clerks said they are being blamed by the public for the recent 3-cent raise in the cost of a first-class stamp.

The picketers passed out flyers that state: “We are not on strike! Please continue to use the U.S. Postal Service.” (It is against federal law for postal workers to strike.)

“We just want to be able to provide people with the best service we can,” said letter carrier Sandy Barassi. “And we feel our own management is preventing us from doing that.”

Carriers and clerks said that they have been the object of public frustration over the increasing rates charged by the postal service.

Indeed, the picketing postal workers got little sympathy from the public. Mike Richard, an actor from Van Nuys, stood atop the steps shaking his head at the long line of picketers.

“They are all on the proverbial gravy train,” Richard said. “I think they are finding things to complain about because they don’t have enough work to occupy them.”

Terri Bouffiou, spokesperson for the postal service and a member of the management about whom the picketers were complaining, expressed more empathy.

“In a way, it makes sense for them to get the word out to the public, because they are, at times, treated unfairly,” Bouffiou said, trying to be heard above shouts of ‘Hey hey, ho ho, managers have got to go.”

“In general, I must admit, we do have an image problem,” she said, citing a survey of consumers conducted for the postal service by an outside company. “But if you ask people specifically, they love their mail carrier.”

Still, the poor perception, or the perception of poor perception, adds to job stress, union officials say. The workers say they consider themselves public servants--some even carried American flags to signify “the tradition of service to Americans by Americans.”

But, according to David Elliot, a 34-year postal employee, it is difficult to feel good about his job when the Postal Service is run so poorly.

“They are conning the public,” he said of the postal service’s top brass. “They only pay lip-service to service.”