Just an overview of the letter below:

The Walnut Creek (CA) Post Office changed 16 mail processing jobs of the most senior employees to window/distribution clerks (Sales, Service & Distribution Associates). The employees were told after becoming senior bidders on the re-posted duty assignments that passing window training will be a requirement in order to retain their jobs.

The fired employee was not awarded any of the re-posted duty assignments as the senior bidder until two days (November 20, 2009) after she was given a “Notice of Removal” on November 18, 2009 for failing to meet the qualifications of her position. She attended window training during the week of October 19-23, 2009.

Briefly Postal Employees are scheduled for window training if in part: (1) Employees are PTFs (2) Full-Time Regular senior bidders on duty assignments with window duties. None of the aforementioned reasons applied to this employee. The employee according to the contract was still considered an unassigned mail processing clerk with no requirement to pass window training.

Management has taken the position that employee “volunteered” for window training and failed so her removal from the Postal Service effective December 20, 2009 still stands. The employee’s 27 years of service means nothing but a number.

The letter below is from Postal Employee Surbjit Khatkar:

In the beginning when my supervisors xxxx and xxxx asked if anybody wanted to go for window training , nobody volunteered. As no one wanted to go, I volunteered first, and they agreed to send me for SSA window training. That time I had no bid assignment and never received any notification that I was a senior bidder on any bid assignment. I started my training on Oct. 19, 2009 while I received my notification for bid (MO-50B) assignment on Nov. 20, 2009.

No one explained that if I did not pass the test, I will be removed from Post Office. If I had known such a harsh consequence of not passing the exam, I could have waited for my turn (I was the senior of employees awaiting window training).

I did not know that taking the window exam required a sufficient computer knowledge. I’ve worked in mail processing my entire postal career. I had to ask for help from instructor to show me how to use computer/ mouse to write my answers at appropriate places, while my clock was still ticking. Shockingly, I did not pass the exam, absolutely due to lack of computer knowledge.

Most shocking and disgraceful thing is that after performing my job in an excellent way for 27 years, I did not get even second chance to pass this exam; while in the past, 6-7 people in my facility had been granted second and sometimes third chances to pass the window training exam.

I volunteered to help management and this is how they repay me?

Thanks!

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