The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1920-05-13
National Federation Of Post Office
Clerks

Clerks
"Save the Postal Service" Is the
slogan adopted by the National Fed
GRAFTON Of Post Office Clerks in its
national publicity campaign to &C.
quaint the American people with facts
concerning the threatened collapse of
the Nations postal facilities
According to the estimates Of the
national officers Of the postoffice
clerks organization, the public is
heavily penalized by being forced to
use telegraph and special delivery ia
cilities for the transmission Of mail
matter that should go by the usual
channels. The decline in postal ef-
ficiency, it is stated by Thos. +. Fla
herty, secretary treasurer of the Ma
tional Federation of Post Office Clerks
is directly due to the large number
of designations of trained employees
and the inability of the Department
to recruit the working force to its
proper strength because of the low
wages and general unattractiveness
of postoffice employment.
. 1T takes years to train expert mai mail
when any number of these postal
workers leave the service, as they are
now doing, it is reflected in slowing
up of the mails and the large num-
Ger of missent letters and papers.
Unless the rresent exodus is stepped
the service efficiency for many years
to come will suffer. Which means
that the public, will be asked to pay
for service and get in return only
the present demoralized make-shift.
much is said of the Governments
liberality as an employer and the
great number of super1fuous clerks
on its payroll. This does not apply
to the Postal Clerks. The Govern
ment CAN NOT secure clerks enough
to properly man it's postal service
at the prevailing rates of compensa-
ton. And rates of pay for substi-
tute employes-sixty cents an hour
are higher than the hourly rate of
the experienced employees. Thus it
happens that the skilled,
veteran employees receive less COM
pnsation than new entrants. No won
der service morale is broken and the
labor turnover is large and expensive.
"The Government, through various
agencies, frequently points out desir-
able Industrial reforms for private
to institute and follow. But
the Government itself makes no at
tempt to modernize its postal labor
policies. We find in the Postal Serv-
ice all the evils that cause industrial
unrest in private industry; namely,
low wages, long hours for many
groups, insanitary working environ
ment, speed-up systems and no rec
ognized avenue of approach to those
in authority.
"The postal workers are protest
ing in the only way open to them
by petition to Congress, which has
the power to apply the remedies, and
by quitting singly to accept more
agreeable employment. Our desire is
to get early action from Congress so
that the expensive labor turnover will
he minimized and the services of
skilled, trained men retained to in
sure a restoration of service eff
cheney.
1T is difficult to arouse public in
terest in the postal labor problem
The average mail patron views the
service as an automatic machine that
functions without human labor. Very
few people realize that seventy-five
per cent Of postoffce mail distribu-
ton as done at night by men who re-
ceive neither a wage or time differ
entail for the admitted hardships of
night work. Moreover, these man
must study distribution schemes at
home, after office house, without COM
pensation.
"The base maximum pay for post
office clerks and city carriers was
fixed at $1,000 in 1907. It has not
been permanently changed but the
Congress has granted bonuses from
time to time, averaging about thir-
ty-four per cent. Postal wages, it'll
can be seen, have Jagged far behind
living costs. A Commission appoint
ed by the 65th Congress is now in
vestigating this subject of postal
wages with a view of a readjust-
ment.
THE employees feel that if the peo-
pie knew all the facts concerning the
serious service impairment the Com
missions report will be sustained by
public sentiment, provided it meets
hQ s%e