June 27, 2007
Mr. William Burrus
President APWU
Washington D.C
Dear Mr. Burrus,
My name is Timothy Neilan. I am the APWU Director at the Dominick V Daniels P&D Center in Kearny, NJ. I serve as an executive board member for New York Metro Area Postal Union. I am writing to you because of a negative situation I have been put in due to actions initiated by NY Region NBA Frank Giordano. This negative situation has compromised both the Union’s and my own integrity and credibility with my 800+ union members domiciled at DVD.
In February, 2007, I was at Mr. Giordano’s office and during our discussion he mentioned that he belonged to a new program, a Joint Intervention Team. He explained to me how the team has gone into different postal facilities that are experiencing problems with abusive supervisors. Hearing this I explained to him about an abusive supervisor at DVD who has caused many problems for our senior female members. Frank explained that for the team to intervene he would need about a half dozen letters from employees that have experienced a problem with this particular supervisor. I am aware of several employees that have been taken out of the facility by ambulance due to high blood pressure episodes and stress. Some members filed stress related OWCP claims due to this supervisor’s abusive and provocative behavior.
After talking with Mr. Giordano I returned to my facility and held a meeting with my shop stewards. They then went to the employees in the area of the abusive supervisor and returned with more then the requested amount of letters. These letters were hand delivered to Mr. Giordano in March, 2007. Since then I have tried in vain to get a response on what the next step would be. My local president, Ms. Clarice Torrance, members of my staff and I have all at one time or another spoken to either Mr. Giordano or Ms. Powell. We never received an intervention date as promised or any other response from the national.
On June 22, 2007, my assistant Director, Sharon Tyrrell, attended the New York State convention. She inquired with Ms. Powell about the above mentioned subject. Mr. Giordano was called over by Ms. Powell and at this time he informed both women that because management refuses to participate the Intervention Team will not addressing our problems at DVD. Upon her return Ms. Tyrrell informed me of this conversation. As of this date neither my local President nor I have been officially contacted about the denial of assistance.
In the May/June issue of the APWU national magazine Mr. Jim Burke wrote an article entitled: “Abusive Supervisors Plague the Workplace.” In this article he states that in the Eastern Region’s Eastern and Capital Metro Areas, APWU has participated in a Joint Intervention program. The program is for facilities where there have been widespread complaints that management treats employees in a hostile or demeaning manner. The article further explains how the intervention team performs. I posted this article for all APWU members to see firsthand that the union is fighting to address any supervisor who demonstrates abusive behavior towards our members.
I am now faced with going back to these members and telling them that because management does not want to have the intervention team come to DVD neither the national or local union is able to help you. I do not know which is worse, the fact that the union at the national level is turning their backs on the members who are truly being abused both emotionally and mentally to the point of ambulances arriving to transport them from the facility to emergency rooms, or that no one at the national level even had the courtesy of explaining to my staff or me that there will be no intervention and we are on our own.
I look forward to your immediate response regarding this letter. Thanking you in advance for your cooperation regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
Timothy Neilan