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CHEVERLY, Md. – It didn’t have to happen. That’s what postal workers are saying about the shooting death of letter carrier Tyson Barnette in Cheverly Saturday.
“It appears someone walked up and shot the mailman,”Local 142 President Robert Williams says.
Dozens of postal workers in Landover Local 142 say they have been complaining for months about late start times and understaffing there. And they say it cost their friend his life.
” We’re going to have hundreds of letter carriers deliver mail in the dark tomorrow. The routes are twice as big as they were five years ago, and we are understaffed. It doesn’t have to be,” Union leader Kenneth Lerch says.
Union leaders say Barnette had already finished one route and was finishing up a second one when he was gunned down.
All Your TSP Belong To Us ! says carriers weren’t out this late in the past on a regular basis, as is the case now. That is what led to this, plain and simple? Really? So what do we do about the crazies upset at whatever that decide to shoot the carrier at 1:PM? In your oversimplified world what do you propose to do about that? Blame the PMG? What about the carrier killed by drunk drivers or by the jilted lover? I don’t see anything in your blog disproving what I say. Bottom line is that unions have to have a bad guy otherwise who needs em? No bad guy? Create one. No issues? Create one or jump on the bandwagon of some other issue. That’s a fact jack. If things are so bad and desperate with the current usps administration then I say run the place yourself! I would love to see the usps run by the employees and unions. That would resolve everything that bothers you and others on this blog. Life would be grand…a sort of postal utopia right? Just look at the in-house fighting that takes place within unions themselves. It’s easier to point fingers at someone or something else and it will always be that way because it has to be in order for unions to exist. To quote Al Pacino in Scarface: “You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your f….g’ fingers and say, “That’s the bad guy.” So… what that make you? Good? You’re not good. You just know how to hide, how to lie.”
Have the district manager make the rounds with a few of the carriers. I know the district manager won’t. Its to much danger for them. Come on district manager are you chicken. It’s easy for you to sit in your office and say your sorry. GET OFF YOUR FAT ASS AND DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The family has my deepest sympathy.
Rudiger sounds like some of the guys in my branch who’ve been there decades but because they will not get involved in their own union at all except to pay dues and expect me to bail them out when they do stupid shit like drive down four lane roads and eight lane intersections with their doors open and no seat belt on. They also probably text all day too. It amazes me how ignorant so many of my carriers in my branch are so ignorant of their rights. They know absolutely nothing about the contract and won’t take the time to read any of it, not even Article 16, which every carrier should know. If you don’t know what it is, get off your lazy ass, go to nalc.org and download the JCAM or newest National Agreement.
There is no excuse for what happened to this CCA. None whatsoever. Management will not admit responsibility, you can bet on that. Now is the time for all carriers to call their legislators, NBA’s and anybody who can put pressure on management to do something sensible for a fucking change.
rudiger, you are so wrong. This was a cca, they have no choice but to do what they’re told. Management abuses the hell out of these carriers. He wasn’t doing a second route, but was doing forced ot on another route after having already completed the assigned route for the day. Cca’s are not eligible to sign up for the ot desired list. They are newbies forced to carry anything and everything management dumps on them, and in most stations they are abused like slaves!
BS enuf. Fact of the matter is, carriers weren’t out this late in the past on a regular basis, as is the case now.
That is what led to this, plain and simple. Not your bs stories.
Truth hurts doesn’t it ?
There is no winning in the PO. NALC union is actively involved in route adjustments along with USPS. We all should grieve for the family of this carrier. Crime and murder occurs in daylight hours also. Dispatch of mail to the associate offices happens when all the mail is up at the distribution plants. This takes place at anywhere from 5-6 am sometimes earlier depending on distribution schemes and personnel on hand. It doesn’t make sense that maneement would be dispatching at later hours in Tour 2 when there is no more mail to dispatch. This would mean they are hiding the mail somewhere only to be caught doing so by the OIG? OIG doesn’t give a crap about manager’s schemes or hidden agendas that seem to pre-occupy the paranoid on this blog. There is no need to hire additional bodies. If the sick, lame, lazy, worthless, malingering overtime mongers that “go slow for more dough” (which is their mantra)would do their jobs (this includes clerks & mailhandlers who are the only mail-processing employees). After 45 years working in 7 stations in 4 states I can honestly say this. You won’t like it but the truth hurts. The unions disgracefully exhibit their self preserving wishes for more bodies because more bodies mean more union dues in their coffers which only they get to enjoy. Rest assured that the unions prey on sad situations like the murder of this carrier for their own gains. It doesn’t make a difference what the issue – the heat on a particular day, the cold, the rain, crime, old fleet of trucks, new fleet of trucks, dispatch times, daylight savings time, the flu, a lightbulb that may be off in a corner of the building…it doesn’t make a difference. Neither snow, sleet, wind or rain will stay the union from demanding new hires and their dues! The truth hurts doesn’t it?
Says the guy was shot doing a second route after finishing his primary. My guess is he was on the overtime desired list and loving all that gravy double-time.
Looks like the carrier he was covering for picked a good day to call-in sick, too…
Not only was this preventable, it was also inevitable.
Not only are all postal eas/mgmt liars and thieves, they can now add “murderers” to their resume.
Rot in hell to them all.
I FULLY AGREE WITH DRIVER 8 , LATE SCHEDULES ARE DUE TO MANAGEMENT TRYING TO SQUEEZE AS MUCH TIME OUT OF THE CARRIERS AS POSSIBLE. SAME AS ON SATURDAYS, WE START 30 MINUTES LATER FOR NO GOOD REASON OTHER THAN MANAGEMENT KNOWS WE WANT TO BE WITH OUR FAMILIES AND WE WILL SKIP LUNCH AND BREAKS TO GET OFF ON TIME. DISPICABLE BEHAVIOR TO SAY THE LEAST, THIS YEAR MORE CARRIERS THAN EVER WILL DIE DOING THEIR JOB IN THE UNSAFE DARKNESS, AN PEAK DRIVING PERIOD WHEN OTHER PEOPLE ARE RUSHING HOME AFTER WORK……
DRIVER 8, RIGHT ON…SHAME ON YOU POSTAL MANAGEMENT…BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS MAY YOU ROT IN HELL!!!!!!!!!
Shame on you post the management!
First you change truckdrivers schedules so they get the mail to the post office later in the day. Then use that as an excuse to not have carrier starting early enough so that they complete their routes before dark. You make the claim that we can’t get the mail around to the carriers in time. The reality is you have purposely made the mail arrive later and later so that you can justify not having the carriers start early. Move the semi drivers back to their old schedules and then you can move the carriers and the clerks back to their old schedules and everything will be hunky-dory again. But no, postal managers you don’t want that, you just want to make life miserable for many people as you can. Not because the Postal Service needs these later schedules, but simply because you as a manager can make a decision to make them later in an effort to prove what an important decision maker you are. You upper level postal management scum have blood on your hands!!!!!!
Shame on you!