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Safety First! By Sandra Munoz, HR Director/OWCP Specialist & Hollywood Steward South Florida Safety... VPP, Joint Labor and Safety Health Committees, Ergonomics Risk Reduction Team, PEG, and Safety Captains make the USPS sound very safety conscious. They are so safety oriented, that on August 25, 2005 when South Florida was expecting a direct hit from Category 1 Hurricane Katrina, they told management to close the window section at 3 p.m. and to have all carriers off the clock by 4 p.m. In Date and Broward County we started to experience wind gusts between 4:30 and 4:45. I am one of the closing clerks at the Pembroke Pines Branch, which means my end tour is normally at 6:30 p.m. In my office, management told all employee who wanted to leave early that they were allowed to do so, as long as they took annual or leave without pay, but that they were not going to pay "Act of God" or "Act of Nature" leave. That is better know to us in the postal world as "Administrative Leave." There are plenty of employees out there that need the money and chose not to leave. To try and put a little pressure on them, I told management at my office that I would not leave early. Hoping that they would make the determination to close the building and allow us to leave. When I told them this, they looked at me as if I was crazy. Not because they were concerned with our safety, but because they would have to stay in the building with us until we left and there was a hurricane coming right at us. As a steward I had already make up my mind to stay in the building until the last clerk left. This occurred at 5:10 when the last employee finished her tour. It is important to keep in mind that as we all well know there are plenty of employees that live at least 30 minutes to an hour away. As it turns out both the last employee and I live 45 minutes to an hour away. As I was driving home at 5:10, my car was blown all over the road by the hurricane force winds that we were already experiencing. I was also informed that the plants were left open until y p.m. that same night. I personally feel that management took this position because last year the post office closed for two full workdays. We were under a threat of two different hurricanes at that time. Unfortunately our brothers and sisters in North Florida were not that lucky. I understand that it was very expensive for the post office to close for business, however, I would like to know if our safety and our lives have a price on them. If management thinks that they do, I would like to know what it is as I do not understand why they would have kept their employees so late on Thursday. On Saturday, when management saw the force of the storm and subsequent damage, they decided to approve Act of God leave to any employee who had worked on Thursday until 4 p.m. but did not complete their end of tour. I feel that each of you should take a good look at management's action and ask yourselves "Does management REALLY believe in SAFETY?"
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