An Aspen post office clerk has filed an official charge against the U.S. Postal Service district manager for Colorado and Wyoming, claiming that a recent shuffling of weekend operations will be a detriment to timely mail delivery and premium Express Mail delivery on Sundays.
Aspen clerk Hank Gray, director of industrial relations for the Western Colorado branch of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), filed the charge with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board on June 18.
It states that district manager Shelwyn Epperson “unilaterally changed terms of employment by closing the Sunday operation in several offices on the western slope” and did not negotiate the changes with union representatives, which Gray claims is in legal violation of the National Labor Relations Act.
“The APWU believes the Sunday closures will negatively affect customer service,” reads the charge.
The Aspen post office previously had some clerks in the office — and some mail carriers delivering Express Mail — on Sundays. Those duties have been given to the West Glenwood office.
“We have an Express Mail service that people pay a very high premium for,” Gray said last week. “We have people who depend on getting their medications delivered on Sundays. And we have a creed to provide flawless service. This is going to hurt that service and our image.”
Regional Postal Service spokesman Al DeSarro said Sunday delivery will not be affected in Aspen — or anywhere else on the Western Slope — by the Sunday office closures.
“With the higher cost of fuel, we have to look at how best we can economize our costs without affecting service,” DeSarro responded, noting that the post office has adjusted work schedules and office hours to streamline operations. “If there is mail that is intended to be delivered on Sunday, that is still going to happen. The Colorado/Wyoming (district) still ranks among the best in the country in service.”
Gray said the recent changes had particularly raised his dander because they did not come from national Postal Service leadership, but from the regional office.
DeSarro that Gray is representing the interests of organized labor.
“Hank’s got his right to his opinion,” DeSarro said. “But Hank is also a union representative, and whenever there are changes, they don’t want to support them — even though we are still serving our customers.”
But Gray said the issue is not about changing shifts or losing some overtime pay, but about the prestige of the Postal Service.
“This creates a negative image of me and a negative image of the post office,” he said. “It’s not up to a low-level Postal Service bureaucrat to change our creed. I’m proud of my work and it’s my duty as a Congressional worker to expose corruption wherever found.”
Representatives from the National Labor Relations Board could not be reached for comment.
andrew@aspendailynews.com
Comments
Grievance vs. Complaint
Stories like this get picked up by online nationwide newssites, like PostalNews. People everywhere can read it. Therefore, writers like Andrew Travis should be more careful in their writing. The term "grievance" is a specific term in the national labor contract between postal unions and USPS management. What was filed with NLRB was NOT a grievance, but a "complaint" (I imagine). And just because Andrew couldn't get a response from an NLRB spokesman doesn't absolve Andrew of the job of doing research. At least go online to NLRB website and see what the complaint process is and what might be expected from NLRB. The USPS did answer the charges that Express Mail might not be delivered by explaining they would, just from a different location (Glenwood). Yet neither original Union complainer, Gray, nor anyone responded to this answer. Why isn't service from Glenwood good enough, especially if it can be done at cost savings to rate payers?