The name remains the same, but the profession has been transformed
LONG ago, the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) was a male-dominated environment, but over the last decade or so, the establishment has witnessed a steady influx of female postal delivery clerks – all broadly described as ‘Post Men’ – irrespective of gender.

This is so, to the extent that there is now a scarcity of male mail-delivery persons with 80 percent female ‘Post Men’ employed at the GPOC as compared to 20 percent male.
And incredibly, this can augur well for the success for the meaning and intent of International Women’s Day which promotes the empowerment of women so that they can be placed side by side with men in the work environment.

But, “Call us what you will, conditions are right and the pay is good. We are treated with no less dignity than our male counterparts and contrary to what persons might think, training is offered and so there’s scope for promotion or upward mobility. ” This is the view expressed by Lashana Harcourt, a proud Postman II, employed at the Ogle Post Office, East Coast Demerara.

Lashana has been employed with the GPOC, covered by the United Postal Union, for the last several years and finds her job interesting. Despite a few challenges such as attacks by dogs, whose owners fail to keep them behind locked gates and flooding of vulnerable areas around Georgetown whenever it rains heavily, for the average Postman, they are able to cope. “In fact, I’d say that a good day is when you can go out in good weather and have 100 percent of your mail delivered. Then we know that we are providing the kind of service that is expected of us, and that’s a good feeling,” she told the Pepperpot Magazine.

And testament to the veracity of her claim about training and the scope for upward mobility, is the fact that the person who now holds the portfolio of Area Manager and Manager in Charge of Post Offices around Georgetown, Donnette Heywood along with Public Relations Officer (Ag), Tiffani Ferrell who also spoke with the Pepperpot Magazine, both entered the Corporation as a mere ‘Postman’ several years ago. But they applied themselves with diligence, hard work, stellar academic performance and the determination to succeed, making it to the top.

The surge of female appointments to the 64 odd post offices around Guyana began around the 1980s, with Donna Alleyne being the first admission. On admission to the GPOC, Postmen do not perform exclusively the job of distributing mail, Ferrel outlined, but are trained in the various aspects of the corporation’s operations and specific types of mail, such as Express, Overseas, Ordinary, Registered Mail, filling the Pillar Pox and Customer Notification, among others.

Asked about qualification requirements, wages and working conditions for ‘Postmen’, Heywood said that applicants need to have a minimum qualification of five Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects. They are paid an attractive salary per month and depending on competence displayed they may be given further training which will place them in a good position for promotion.

As far as possible, the corporation ensures that working conditions are right and that protective clothing is made available to the employees. The package includes trousers and tops; a hat to offer protection against the sun; a bag in which to carry the mail, a motorcycle (provided free of cost ) for males and bicycle for females. Meanwhile, women who are pregnant on the job are not allowed to ride bicycles, but in their best interest are encouraged to walk- which is considered the safer means of conducting their jobs, Heywood said. Umbrellas are optional and not a part of the package.
Meanwhile, rights to time off and maternity confinement are honoured as any other public servant.

When asked why more young men who have graduated from school and are seeking employment are not taking up postal jobs, the response was that with the ongoing need for young soldiers and policemen, a now-female-dominated environment would not be their first option.

Albeit, the officials expressed concern about the practice whereby residents leave their dogs unchained, resulting in vicious attacks being made on postal workers. “Even the dogs that are usually found wandering about the place are a threat to postal workers, and it is known that dogs generally do not like postal workers and so the minute they see them they begin snapping,” one officer observed. They recalled that on numerous occasions, ‘Postmen’ were viciously attacked by dogs and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.

This development has led to the GPOC launching a ‘Mail Box’ campaign, urging citizens to make use of mailboxes which could be accessed from outside the gates.