Video: BIU Statement On Post Office Matters
[Updated] Bermuda Industrial Union President Chris Furbert is holding a press conference today [Jan 14] where he is expected to address the post office matter, and you can tune in live below.
Yesterday, the Government said, “The Bermuda Post Office [BPO] wishes to advise residents of HS01 and HS02 that there will be no mail delivery whilst we await the resolution of an ongoing labour dispute with the Bermuda Industrial Union that has also halted delivery to residents of SN01 and SN02.
“The BPO regrets this inconvenience but asks residents in HS01 and HS02 to collect their mail from the Crawl Post Office, whilst we await the resolution of this labour dispute. The BPO wishes to thank the public for its patience, support and understanding in this matter.”
Update 3.10pm: A document detailing some of the workers concerns is below [PDF here]
So basically the Union fought vehemently against furlough days and put forward the option of a hiring freeze to avoid the former.
But now they want to get rid of the hiring freeze as well.
I still don’t understand why it is so hard to transfer one existing employee to another sub-office? I mean it was stated, and not argued, that the BPO was overstaffed by approximately 100 staff.
Can someone please explain as to what prevents staff, say from one of the shut down sub-offices, from being moved to one’s that are understaffed because of recent retirements?
Why does everything in BDA have to be so confrontational and difficult.
Simple solutions to simple problems.
Bermuda has to realize that this Government and almost every Government and employer around the world wants to, eradicate organized labor so they can employ cheap labor, abuse their power , exploit employee’s and enjoy a BIG profit margin.
My poor Asian and Third World brothers are the 20th century slaves.
BIG profit margins to be exploited in delivering the mail, k!
- Onion Juice, Chief Economist
Sadly, Bermuda has to realize that we can no longer afford the high cost of pay and benefits for such a large civil service because we ran out of cash a few years ago and are sinking further and further into inescapable debt. Make no mistake, industrial action such as this will slowly but surely lead to even less people using our postal service, and that will result in more of our postal workers inevitably losing their jobs. This is NOT a matter of Government wanting to eradicate organized labour. It is a case of Government NOT having the finances to go on like this. To suggest that Government is exploiting its employees in order to enjoy a “BIG profit margin” in simply ludicrous.
We need to do everything possible to cut costs and improve efficiency because failure to do so will be catastrophic for our civil service.
Well as a former Postal worker who was once a delivery person I fully understand the dilemma my postal colleagues are face with; how to maintain a credible delivery service in the face of a postal administration that has embarked on a policy that is in fact to down size the post office by reducing the staff. That was the impression that I got in every general staff meeting in the remaining years I was a member of that staff before retiring. The statement of the president of the BIU and Postal Divisional president is correct; you need a certain level of employees if you expect to maintain a credible postal service and no matter how much you boast about how much money you are saving by embarking on this path of reducing the staff and maintaining a hiring freeze; that also will include a reduction of the service. Now the government and post office administration have not told the people of Bermuda that they can no longer expect a postal service as they have known it and it will be up to the people to decide if they will accept this state of affairs; which I have no doubt is heading in the direction of the end of home delivery postal service.
By failing to deliver mail for weeks on end they’re showing how unnecessary they are.
Shouldn’t staffing levels be tied to the volume of work just like any other service/business?
The postal service has always been hit and miss anyway.
Well they certainly don’t need 100 extra staff! How hard is it to sort and deliver mail…really?!
Does that include management too?
Of course. But aren’t they union as well?
Ok, lets start with the Post Master General.
Why don’t the UNION buy out the Post Office and run it at their own cost?
Go for it. See what I’m driving at here?
the postal service is losing money because folks now use email to pay their bills .the post office has become not important any more
they are not going to hire more people.
show up on time and do your dam job a lot of folks can’t get a job
if you loose your furby will still have a job
Consolidate post offices and transfer staff of closed post offices to other locations.
Problem solved.
Seriously. It’s hard to believe that the volume of mail being generated in an age where virtually everything is sent electronically justifies the current size of the postal service.
Wow, I am amazed that people are still writing letters, sending cards etc. Who knew? I thought everything was emailed, fed-ex etc. Who knew?
Not everyone has a computer and people still have bills sent in a letter form to them.
Obviously, you are out of touch, Somerset Girl. I find mail in most post box most days. I even got a Christmas card yesterday from the U.S.
Hahahaha, you actually just said that?? You said you actually got a Christmas card YESTERDAY??? You do realize that Christmas Day was 20 days ago??? Now seriously, are you getting the real picture yet???
I wasn’t going to point that out to her but that was funny!
Christmas card yesterday??? Better late than never I guess!
The UBP/BDA/OBA sent out Christmas cards …. Must have added tons of work for the post office and trash collectors . Trust and believe that , that card never made it inside the house !
Only three weeks late Laverne. Yep, I’m getting stuff posted in November as well. Whereas the other direction the recipients in the US and UK, all received theirs before Christmas. You see the pattern Laverne?
You have become conditioned to Bermuda Service. Things are delivered late, yet you are for some reason delighted.
Wayne smith, or as all you civil servant haters like to refer to him as, postmaster general, is very liberal with the truth. With regard to the Southampton post office, this man knew in april 2015 that the post person was retiring, and he did nothing, contrary to union advice. In crawl post office he had 6 weeks notice, again he did not act. The memorandum of understanding stats, ther willbe no replacement of staff in the result of early retirement, not termination of work.
Damn Surrogates
I just read the list of BIU complaints in the Devonshire Post Office. It appears they have a manager, a sub-coordinator (wtf is that anyway?), two CSRs and an occasional mail handler. And they’re still complaining that they have to service 800 post boxes, ‘process’ packages, work the counter and answer phones, all the time dealing with their personal calls. Whew, what a lot of work for five people. No wonder they’re so grouchy all the time.
And a CSR gets six weeks vacation? Seriously? Where can I sign up for a job like that?
Top heavy, simple as that… postmaster general.. 154,000, processing manager, 113,000, sub post office coordinator, 113,000, quality assurance manager, 113,000, corporate service manager, 130,000, IT manager 113,000, facilities manager, 113,000 per year, anx the island, and this government are lookin at the little man, like delivery persons. Please, someone ask your premiere about his plans for the post office and the people who work there !!!!
That’s an awful lot of ‘manager’ positions for moving a declining number of letters over 21 sq. miles.
All of them taking home less than Furbert though.
If the weather forecast is mostly cloudy with showers I am guaranteed no mail delivery on that day whether the showers appear or not. What do the mail carriers do all those days they decide not to make deliveries?
You know you’re lying, “Comfortably numb”. That’s why you won’t use your real name.
Nah. He’s right. If my mail is ever delivered, it’s always a small batch about every two weeks. The idea of daily deliveries is a myth in Bermuda, has been for years. And if it’s rainy, forget it. No idea what those people do on rainy days.
Sadly, Laverne, I am not lying. Furthermore, you are living proof of the falsehood that only posters who use pseudonyms struggle with the truth.
I honestly feel sorry for the janitors because they have to deal with these homeless people issue. I mean it is illegal to pee in city properties and putting urine in a bag and leaving it in a strange people?! I really hope Bermuda really do something about that problem.
No sympathies from me. Too many post offices in the first instance. Close down a few more and redeploy staff!
To many spoonfed people posting comments. Let BPO employees work in a decent environment and make some money for their families.
Before there was email, before there were fax machines, before there was telex, before there was Fed Ex, before there was UPS, before there was any of that stuff & the GPO was in the old Magistrates Court building, how much mail was handled then & how many staff were handling it, without the aid of computers & scanners?
My guess is that today the staff numbers are the same, or more, & the mail & package volume is far less.
The postal service is very ripe for outsourcing
My Christmas mail from around the world arrived one the same day with an elastic band around I mean beyond believable ?,!.,
Is this the same post office that the sage commission said was eighty percent over staffed? So there’s nobody to fill in? They are even more pathetic than the taxi business – our other embarrassing trade. Must be pathetic lazy party members.
No visits by management? Where are they?
In meetings, on sick leave, or on vacation.
People still getting paid to like and dislike in favor of a certain groups agenda? AYE BIE I TELL YOU!!! Or maybe now they do it for fun?……………………….
The UNION says that (25) twenty five people have retired so why is the Post Office still LOOSING $7MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR.
Did you know that all of the Carabbean from Florida to Barbados have “ZERO” delivery postmen as all mail has to be collected from the “CENTRAL” post office.
We are still borrowing money at $7MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR to keep these Blood-Suckers paid.
Stop borrowing money and “INCREASE ” all taxes on everybody to pay these Blood-Suckers.
Loosing $7Million dollars per year and Mr Furbert advises that there are only 57 workers there now.
That is costing the TAX-PAYER $123,000.00 per year per employee.
It is time to close up and FREEZE these worker out as we cannot afford
$123,000.00 per year per employee “SUBSIDY”
Could you stay in Business by SUBSDIZING each worker by $123,000.00 per year besides them getting paid and benefits and retirement.
Pandering to non eloquent….
If I hadn’t heard the rubbish coming from Chris Furbert’s mouth I would never have believed the story. How much more of this lazy entitled behaviour do we need from paid Government workers. Do your jobs!! Mail delivery is not demanding and we don’t need to hire more delivery persons when we use technology. This is another illegal strike. Unbelievable!
Mail volume is down significantly, the courier companies can sort and deliver (within 48 hours usually) almost the same volume that the post service delivers with about a quarter of the staff; hmmmm this seems like an easy decision for the government – privatize the postal service.
Some of those concerns are probably valid, some are just laughable and filling paper to make it look good. A few examples:
Mold in kitchen – 15yr old issue but unsure if it’s been reported to H&S. Umm, report it to H&S perhaps?
Concerns over air quality? Has that been reported?
Staff do not have the necessary tools. Such as?
Staff is learning each others routes. Is they? Why is that a problem anyway?
Currently leaves at 5.30 but used to stay until 6.30. So, you’re working less? Is that really a problem?
One staff member refused to be redeployed. Should be greatful they actually have a job.
A leak by a mailbox has been fixed but not yet pained. Whaaaat??? Let’s strike!!!!!
Air quality was tested but showed no issues. Noooo!!!! Let’s strike!!!
Had no water for one day, but we now have it again. Let’s strike!!!!!
Floor has been fixed. Noooo, let’s strike!!!!
Parcel Post & letter handlers – seriously, where do you start???
Paget Post office – surprised there are so many concerns given that it closed months ago.
There is always two sides to a story and then the truth. I wonder what the other side has to say regard the BIU press conference.
Shut all but 3 post offices , keep one in Somerset one in town and one in St.Georges, gut all the others and put boxes in, charge a nominal rent like mailboxes, and go pick up your mail. Packages wil be distributed between the three post offices. Done!
Amen!
You just saved the country $5m a year, plus we could probably sell the property that the post offices sit on for a few million. What should we do with all that money?
Well first I think we need an education fund to help redeploy the postal workers who lost their jobs. There are currently 161 workers, and we may lose 100 jobs. If we gave each worker $30k for education we would still have $2m left over. We could then offer 67 kids $30k annual scholarships for college.
Does this sound sensible or should we continue to spend $7m a year deploying an army of people to deliver junk mail.
Oh , dear Annie , that sounds all well and nice at first blush but the postage paid is supposed to deliver mail to our actual location. Not a PO box 8 miles away from our house .
What about invalids who have no transportation and can’t afford to pay TWICE ? Once for the actual delivery of their mail and then for an inconveniently located PO a box ?
Everything on this damn island is already grossly overpriced , there is not the money around like there once used to be . People need to get that drilled into their heads .
Certain people need to think a bit more deeply before making posts on these boards.
ok – If you want post delivered from one of the three Post Offices to your house, you pay a private company to do it. If you are invalid or over 65 the government pays the private company for delivery to your door. Happy now?
That’s still paying twice.
Do you like paying twice for everything ? Do you have money to throw away ?
StrangEly I received a whole bunch of Christmas cards from all over the world yesterday. Mostly posted mid December and mostly from the USA.
Amazing how they all arrived the same day. No they do not deliver on a rainy day.
Got a whole bunch of xmas card on Friday Jan 15th. The postal service leaves a lot to be desired. At this stage it is becoming more and more irrelevant. Glad Wayne Smith is attempting to shake the dinasour up a bit. It needs a total overhaul or privatization.