WASHINGTON (AP)--[red]Worried about the image of postal workers, one union has been urging its members who work in the public eye not to wear the protective gear being provided since the discovery that anthrax was sent through the mail. [/red]  

Workplace guidelines have been modified to allow employees to wear gloves, masks and other protective gear.  [red]But "this is not the visual image we wish to project to the citizens we serve,"[/red] according to a Friday newsletter by the American Postal Workers Union's news service, dated before two postal workers died. The newsletter was posted on the union's Web site Monday.  

[red]Workers in the public eye shouldn't wear the gear, the newsletter said.[/red] It does not address the issue of employees who handle mail, such as those at the Brentwood facility in Washington, the city's central mail processing facility.  Messages left Tuesday for union President William Burrus and spokesman Tom Fahey weren't immediately returned.  

The union is the largest postal union in the world, with 366,000 employees of the U.S. Postal Service who are clerks, maintenance employees, motor vehicle operators, and others who don't process mail.  Two postal workers have died - one Sunday, one Monday -from inhalation anthrax, the most serious form of the disease. Another two men, already diagnosed, were in serious condition in a northern Virginia hospital.  A week ago, the anthrax scare hit Washington with the arrival of a powder-filled letter to the office of Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle.  

The Postal Service defended a delay in looking for anthrax at the city's central processing facility, where the victims worked, and considered new precautions for workers nationwide.  Deborah Willhite, senior vice president of the U.S. Postal Service, said the agency relied on federal officials who advised against testing of all workers. But by Thursday, three days after the letter was discovered in Daschle's office, postal officials questioned that decision and began their own testing.  
[red]"The frequent washing of hands provides superior protection,"[/red] the newsletter said. [red]"So for those employees in the public eye, it is suggested that employees refrain from using the protective gear." [/red]  The newsletter said a [blue]steering committee of Postal Service officials and union leaders meet daily,[/blue][red] and is concerned about "projecting a sense of fear in the American public." [/red]  

The Postal Service's reputation "could be dramatically affected if it is perceived that postal employees fear the product that they deliver," the newsletter said.  (END)

DOW JONES NEWS  10-23-01  12:39 PM- - 12 39 PM EDT 10-23-01

i guess image [b]is[/b] everything!

C'mon, it's not like they are _real_ people or anything, such as members of congress or other important people that are not just lowly citizens.  Sheesh.

pfff! yeah, yesterday, our FL's (feerless leaders) were closing Congressional buildings [i]suspected[/i] of containing the 'thrax, for weeks, to "thoroughly investigate the possibility" of spores. BUT the USPS where we all know has been "germed"....[b][i]business as usual![/b][/i]

No kidding, burns me up...

This is the best part though:



#1 What reputation?  As if people are going to stop using the USPS, oh and if they did - its ok, the gov't will bail them out.

#2 Since when does the general public watch the mail handlers in major distribution centers anyway?

I guess the deli counter folks in the supermarket should stop wearing gloves.

LOL! good point! what rep? you mean the one that gave the phrase: "going postal?" how could their rep suffer more than the new idiocy of sacrificing health and lives to protect the reputation of a service we haven't needed for decades! for fvck's sake! is this what it's coming to?