Local letter carriers with the U.S. Postal Service are at their “breaking point” as they continue to work through rampant burnout, high staff turnover and a pandemic that keeps punching holes in their ranks, a union president in Utah told The Salt Lake Tribune.
Post offices in Salt Lake City, Provo and St. George are all dealing with significant staffing issues, leaving healthy workers sometimes working 12-hour shifts with only one day off per week as they fill in for colleagues sick with COVID-19, said Phillip Rodriquez, who works at a postal station in Salt Lake City and serves as the Utah president for the National Association of Letter Carriers.
In an emailed statement, the Postal Service said the agency “continues to closely monitor the COVID-19 situation, including reviewing and following practicable guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” such as requiring workers to wear masks.
Postal management is the worst it’s been in two decades. We recruit from thieves, drug addict’s and employees mentally unable to do the job. Is it any wonder why employees are burned out and leaving for the private sector? Who wants to work under the slave like conditions in the Postal Service?
USPS has had employee shortages well before covid ever came. My husband has worked 6 days a week many years. It takes far too long to actually get the job with all the protocols required to do before you can actually start the job. People that need a job do not have months to wait. And in todays world, no one wants to work when they get free government handouts. The other problem is that with the cost of repairs and rising gas prices, those that have to use their own vehicles are barely making $10/hour. Also, Many carriers are… Read more »