Late yesterday, we received a letter from the office of Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, who kindly sent a letter out to the United States Post Office after reading numerous letters of complaint from post office workers in the Post Office series.
This letter is being published here in its entirety.
This series has become a national one, and now includes letters from numerous states all sharing a common theme: the abuse of United States government workers by managers at the post office.
Please read this letter.
Within it, the manager offers a New Jersey contact for customers with complaints and also the information about the post office's complaint process.
The letter notes that the winter offered many weather related problems for the post office, and Steven Hernandez, district manager for the northern New Jersey United States Post Office, said in part "every effort was made to deliver the mail to the 15,842 deliveries in the West Essex area where it was safe to do so."
Read this letter in its entirety.
Also, please note: every letter sent to this publisher did come with a name and phone number or location of the employees place of work, with the exception of 2 letters.
A follow up piece will be published here in a day or two, once employees read this letter and this reporter calls the district manager with a few questions.
Thanks to Congressman Frelinghuysen for taking the time to open up this dialogue. Thanks to the district manager who replied.
However, with issues of abuse reported from numerous states, this is a much bigger issue now.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE SERIES. There are over 25 new letters and complaints ready to be published in addition to these previously published letters from employees. Please note: allegations are exactly that, and not proven.
March 28, 2014 (received via email late yesterday, April 8, 2014)
Honoroble Rodney Frelinghuysen United States Congressman
Dear Congressmon Frelinghuysen:
This responds lo your Morch 17th letter about mail delivery in the West Essex area and the related articles in The Jersey Tomato Press.
lt has been a challenging winter and every effort was made to deliver the mail to the 15,842 street deliveries in the West Essex area where it was safe to do so. Any interruption of mail deiivery over the last few months was weather related. Local postal managers monitor mail delivery on a daily basis with a focus on safety, efficiency and delivery impacts. Safety and service are treated with equal priority. Therefore, the declsion to curtail delivery is only made ofter careful consideration and oniy as a last resort.
We share your interest in the level of service and were also troubled by the anonymous customer and employee reports published in The Jersey Tomoto Press. A review of official records simply does not support the claims. Nevertheless, we would be glad to work with any customer or employee to resolve their respective issues if they would contact us directly.
lf any resident in the West Essex area has a concern, a comment or a compliment, we invite them to call the Postal Service's Northern New Jersey District Consumer & Industry Contact Office at 732-819-3260. Every call will be documented and appropriate action taken to strengthen service.
While we strive to create a positive work environment for the 95 employees of the West Caldwell post office, we recognize differences of opinion will arise from time to time. When informal communication between an employee and their manager does not lead to an amicable resolution, the grievance-arbitration process, the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEC) complaint process, and the alternate dispute resolution mediation program provide viable outlets for resolving workplace differences.
Any employee who may feel overwhelmed can also seek support through our employee assistance program (EAP).
You may be assured we will continue to monitor the situation in West Caldwell. Please feel free to contact Northern New Jersey District Marketing Manager Tommy Fung at 732-819-3689, if there are ony additional questions about this matter.
