Australia Post

From Philsworld

Over the years since 1992, I have made a number of changes in my life to try and avoid Australia Post as much as I can. It has been made easier in more recent times thanks to the Internet, but even so it is mostly not possible. This is because Australia Post still has a monopoly on standard sized snail mail in Australia.

But as an employer - Australia Post has to be avoided by anyone who can't cope with a factory floor atmosphere and/or shift work. Two aspects that fly in the face of an Aspie's social issues and routine (you can't create a routine to rotating shifts).

But even when these issues are canvassed, they take the attitude of "what can you do?". It's a loaded question and they know it because they want an excuse to get rid of you. They want sheep to work for them - and only sheep. You know, the ones who follow orders blindly and so forth no matter what? And do nothing about bullies in the work place.

Whenever I think of the negatives of union controlled environments, I think of the mail centres within Australia Post and of the old APTU. They wanted things a certain way, and someone like me rocked the boat in their eyes. All I was doing was trying to fit in and to do the right thing. But when I sought guidance I got none. I was expected to work it out for myself. That's training?

For example, I did something wrong. There was a weight limit on bags of mail of 16 kilograms to protect the backs of mail officers. This was absolutely right. Now on this day I was behind the other officers and I had to work hard and quickly. The adrenalin I was operating under caused me to tie off three bags too heavy (as I recall all three were about or a bit over 20 kilograms). I was criticised for it, and fair enough as well. But two problems arose from this that shouldn't have.

First, I was accused of working too slow and the other officers were having to pick up the slack. Okay, maybe I was slow, but that was no reason for the others to pick up the slack. All they needed to do was their share, and get off early. I should have had to stay back. Nope, they didn't do it. I have always said that was a mistake on their part - not that they would admit that!

Second, on the first working day after the heavy bag tie off, I was picked up on dragging a couple of heavy bags to be weighed as a check - and accused of being hypocritical. I rejected the notion. I should have added that what had happened was that it was a response to the foul up I made. Up until that point, I set my sights on the 16 kilogram limit. Recognising the adrenalin rush, I set my sights lower as a direct result (to 10 kilograms). That way it would reduce if not eliminate any future adrenalin rushed tie offs. And for the record it worked as well. I never got the chance to explain that fully - they wouldn't let me.

I lost count of the number of times I tried to do the right thing. Sometimes I was okay, but mostly I managed to upset someone. And to this day I maintain it was for no good reason - other than rocking the boat. But how could I avoid that if they wouldn't answer my bloody questions about it? Heck, they were the ones who demanded I work it out for myself, and yet when I did things to try and achieve that I got into trouble!! That's the root issue that Australia Post have never answered properly for.

Here's where Australia Post qualify as an Aspie enemy. A refusal to provide for the traits of someone on the Spectrum. Whilst it was true that I hadn't been diagnosed at the time, there was definitely a problem. I knew there was a problem - I just didn't know what. And even when my treating doctor of the time wrote a report in 1989 that pretty much duplicated the report of the psychiatrist who diagnosed me with Aspergers Syndrome in 1997 (the only difference was that the name was missing), it had little effect. I was trying to adjust and made three transfers to try and find my niche. I never did, or if I did it only lasted for so long. The bullying ended up being too much, and I took stress leave and claimed compensation. That was in 1990, and even though the trigger by itself wasn't much, it was the whole thing that was the problem. I had needs and they were being completely ignored. I couldn't adjust to their requirements because they refused to provide the information I needed to make that adjustment.

The matter ended up before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal - and the final insult was that I was accused of wilful misconduct. They ruled only on the matter of the single incident, which was a mistake because it should have taken into account the whole employment. Despite the diagnosis of Aspergers, the ruling still holds. I tried to get it changed in 2000, but it was ruled by the Federal Court as out of time, and Australia Post to this day will not acknowledge my Aspergers diagnosis.

As an employer, Australia Post have a poor reputation anyway. A number of times employees have shown up on A Current Affair with stories of abuse and discrimination. So I'm not the only one.

If you are looking for a job, and you are on the Spectrum - stay away from Australia Post. They are incapable of training us properly and do not provide a safe working environment for us.

Australia Post is Aspie Unfriendly. They should lose the monopoly on standard mail, so I can finally dump them right out of my life.

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