NRLCA Withdraws from QWL-EI

Once heralded as a shining example of labor – management cooperation in the Postal Service, the USPS-NRLCA QWL-EI program has outlived its usefulness and the NRLCA National Board has notified the Postal Service that it will withdraw its support from QWL-EI effective January 1, 2009.

From its inception, the parties QWL/EI program depended on the commitment of the USPS and NRLCA to work toward improving the “quality of work life” for rural carriers and their managers. Our collective goal was to find solutions to problems, to make rural carrier jobs more satisfying, effective, and above all to enhance the work environment for craft and managers alike at all levels of the organization. QWL/EI was intended to instill in the parties a sense of trust, respect, dignity, and ownership in a truly joint, cooperative venture between USPS managers and rural letter carriers. Our stated goal was to work together to solve problems and facilitate change in a wide variety of situations. Given its interest in the QWL-EI process, the Postal Service agreed to fund all QWL-EI activities.

Unfortunately, for several years now we have seen the QWL/EI process headed in a different direction – a direction previous National Boards did not envision. We have concluded that the Postal Service’s commitment to improve the workplace environment has been pushed to the bottom of the list of concerns. More and more, the Postal Service has insisted that the QWL/EI process work exclusively on issues that support its corporate goals. We have seen postal managers refuse to spend funds on QWL/EI unless they could realize a return on investment or otherwise guarantee a financial benefit. At the same time, we have experienced how difficult it has become to get managers to invest their own time and energies in the QWL/EI process.  

The QWL/EI process was designed to have rural craft and management leaders meet face to face to work on issues and, through consensus and team-building, find solutions to many workplace problems. Now the Postal Service is reluctant in many places to have those face-to-face meetings; rather, we are encouraged to have teleconferences or Webinar meetings. The National Board firmly believes this is not and never was what the QWL/EI process was all about. We have seen scheduled trainings and meetings cancelled without the consensus of the affected DJSC’s. These actions fly in the face of the whole notion of jointly working together.  

Finally, the QWL/EI process was designed as a national program, with involvement at all levels of our two organizations: District, Area, and National. In our view for the QWL/EI process to be successful, all parts of the country must be participating - and at the same level. Sadly, this is not happening. While QWL/EI is alive and thriving in parts of the country, in other parts of the country, it is for all practical purposes dead in the water. For the past several years, we have time and again expressed our concerns to the Postal Service over direction of the QWL/EI process in some places.   Yet, despite our best efforts it appears that many of our concerns have fallen on deaf ears. Most recently, in meetings between NRLCA President Cantriel, PMG Potter, and COO Donahoe we expressed our concern that the QWL/EI process no longer had the support in the field that was necessary for the process to remain viable. We did not see any tangible results from our special interventions.

Therefore, for all of the reasons stated, it is the unanimous decision of the NRLCA National Board, that effective January 1, 2009; the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association will be withdrawing all support for the QWL/EI process. This means that the NRLCA will no longer sanction QWL/EI meetings at any level of the organization. Discussions will be held at the National level to determine how any duties that remain the responsibility of the QWL/EI process will be handled next year.

We are saddened by this turn of events and will not close the door on the QWL/EI process forever, but as we inform you of this news, the joint, cooperative spirit that led to so many worthwhile projects over the years simply exists in too few places across the country.