[extropy-chat] why do we stop laughing?

[Gina Miller]

There were issues in the work environment, lousy contracts, low wages, over stressed working conditions (doubled up work loads), and health care benefit issues.

Apparently letter carriers have had physical injuries due to being weighed down by what used to be just a load of mail in their satchel, but now also includes carrying extra mail on their arm, while on longer routes but with the same pay. They are also required to continue these walk routes no matter what the winter weather happens to be and have suffered frost bite etc. in hours of below zero temperatures. 

There are also stories of workers being stood behind by management, who time them using a stop watch while sorting the mail or while on breaks. Some supervisors have been reported as (and admitted to) spying on route carriers in unmarked cars or simply following them to make sure their route is eight hours long. If you do bad on route or in the mail room you get written up and followed more, if you do well you are given larger loads. Supervisors have been told to be strict on workers for small infractions and routinely call workers "bodies", this and other behaviors cause workers to feel they are treated as less than human. There is even a story where a woman's house was on fire, the supervisor was called and told, but did not notify the woman until her route was finished, her father died in the fire. Apparently the supervisor didn't want anyone to take her place, because he would then have to give the replacement carrier "overtime" wages, so he wanted to keep her. 

Workers often experience repetitive motion injuries as well as the mental numbness and back troubles. This has become a larger problem with the jump in the amount of mail being processed. 

Gina "Nanogirl" Miller
Nanotechnology Industries
http://www.nanoindustries.com
Personal: http://www.nanogirl.com/index2.html
Foresight Senior Associate http://www.foresight.org
Nanotechnology Advisor Extropy Institute  http://www.extropy.org
Tech-Aid Advisor http://www.tech-aid.info/t/all-about.html
Email: nanogirl at halcyon.com
"Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future."


> > At 09:24 PM 9/8/2004 -0700, Spike wrote:
> > 
> > >Has anyone an explanation of why postal workers were going
> > >postal there for a while?
> > 
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