It’s day 3 of the America’s Work Force Union Podcast’s “Best of 2023” coverage. Today we’ll feature the May 8 conversation with the President of the American Postal Workers Union, Mark Dimondstein. Dimondstein spoke on how the American Postal Workers Union was dealing with staffing issues on the retail and delivery side of postal work. He also discussed some of the fundamental issues that needed to be fixed in order to improve working conditions and ways the Post Office could improve banking access for millions of Americans.
Postal workers across America have been facing a major staffing issue. Despite efforts from management to alleviate the shortage, the retail and delivery sides of postal work have been unable to fill the open positions. With a turnover rate of 60 percent for new hires, Dimondstein pointed to hostile work environments and safety issues as the primary causes.
To improve the situation, Dimondstein believes management needed to consider making changes at the fundamental level. Complaints against supervisors for bullying, intimidation and sexual harassment had increased. However, Dimondstein said the way these complaints were handled was to relocate the supervisor. Changing the punishment to a zero-tolerance policy would be an example of a fundamental change Dimondstein believes could make the workplace better.
Finally, Dimondstein talked about issues with the financial system in America and why individuals were looking for other options. With between 60 million and 80 million Americans with no access to banks or limited access to basic banking services, Dimondstein and the APWU wanted to bring back a system similar to the United States Postal Savings System. This system would provide basic banking services to all Americans without the predatory rates of the private sector. It’s a process that would take time, Dimondstein said. Still, he hoped there would be a pilot program available to test the services available before legislation is needed for full-scale implementation.
Listen to the entire episode above to learn more.