Postal Unions & Maine AFL-CIO Creating “Postal Jobs Bootcamp” for People Interested in USPS Union Jobs
As anyone who has ever applied for a federal job can tell you, it can be a long, complex and arduous process. It can be difficult for people to understand the questions on the application, especially for people for whom English is not their first language. For the US Postal Service, wait times to be accepted can be anywhere from forty days to nine months. There are also strict deadlines and many ways to make mistakes during the process. Meanwhile, there are numerous open positions in the USPS, which means existing employees have to pick up the slack, causing stress from overwork.
“I’ve worked for the Post Office for eight years now and at no point in my career have we ever been properly staffed,” said Cody McDougal, a steward with the National Postal Mail Handlers who works at its Scarborough distribution facility. “Right now we’re about eighteen positions short in my craft alone.”
That’s why the Maine AFL-CIO’s Peer Workforce Navigator and postal unions — including NALC, APWU and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union — are in the process of creating a new “Postal Jobs Boot Camp” to introduce job seekers to all the career opportunities for great union jobs in the USPS and guide them through the application process.
The idea is inspired by the pre-apprenticeship model we've been using in the construction sector. At the bootcamp, applicants will meet with representatives from each postal union to learn about their trades, what jobs are available and what it means to be a part of a union. After that, the instructors will take applicants on a tour of the Scarborough distribution center followed by an application clinic where they will guide job seekers through the application process on computers. Instructors will inform applicants about the importance of meeting deadlines and how to jump through every hoop.
“We want to help people get good union jobs as well as well as help fill vacant positions at the post office because everyone there is stressed out and over worked due to understaffing,” explained Maine AFL-CIO Peer Workforce Navigator Leslie Torkelson. “The program will help the people who are already there move into new positions and also help workers get out of that low-income job rut so they can get off public benefits.”
McDougal says he sees it as a staff retention program because current employees aren’t necessarily aware of other career opportunities in the facility. He says management has been very supportive of the program, which the team aims to launch in late September.
"Management has been very receptive to us in answering our questions and letting us know what we can do,” said McDougal. “Even managers who haven’t had the best relationships with unions so far have given this project two thumbs up."