Michigan Post Office Investigation Reports Hostile Work Environment

Royal Oaks Post Office was under investigation for allegations that management is creating a hostile work environment. This was the scene of the November 1991 tragedy when fired postal employee Thomas McIlvane — the target of harassing disciplinary actions —killed four workers, wounded four others and then committed suicide. After Sen. Carl Levin forwarded a petition signed by 200 longtime Royal Oak and Madison Heights workers expressing fear that an incident may repeat if something wasn't done, an investigation was commenced.
A survey in the report stated that the overwhelming majority of individuals perceive the climate in Royal Oak as highly charged, borderline hostile, tense and pressure filled. The report went on to summarize that: "... the workplace climate at Royal Oak, while not as bad as in 1991, was deteriorating. Discipline was overused, creating fear and intimidation among the employees. Communications between management and the union and the employees is poor. Limited and light duty employees have been targeted for excessive discipline in an attempt to intimidate. The safety program is not cooperative and positive but negative, and focuses on discipline to get results. Some of the union stewards and some of the employees are not interested in any change and use the tragedy of 1991 as a reason to be uncooperative."
Among the recommendations, it stated that the post master general should learn to how to handle employees more humanely while union leaders not be so adversarial. The friction between employees, management and union leaders has been recognized as a root factor in previous postal shootings.