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Who is the union · United We Scan

0:34
Hey, welcome to the United We Scan podcast.
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Just a quick disclaimer here that any of the views and
0:39
opinions expressed by the individuals are not that of the
0:44
USPS or the NRLCA. This podcast is for
0:49
entertainment purposes only and if you are in need of any
0:53
assistance, please contact your designated union representative.
0:58
Thank you. Welcome back, everybody.
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Episode 143. And we're kind of going to go
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into some more union discussion tonight.
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This will be it'll be fun, you know, purpose of a union, why
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it's important and all that good stuff.
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So how was it your week Josh, and your Christmas?
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My week was it was a week's office.
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Not as bad as some people I've seen on the social work webs,
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you know, but was a week at Christmas was good.
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I got it, upgraded my phone, finally got new headset or
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headphones, so that's a beautiful thing.
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Now I got to play the game for the next week and a half of what
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was my login for every app I open.
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How about you mail? How was your week and Christmas?
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My week and Christmas my week. I I guess the low of my week was
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probably Monday. Monday was probably one of the
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worst days of delivery that I've ever had in my almost 11 years
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of working at the post office. Now, I had 319 scans and Tuesday
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was more of a reprieve, but we have like full coverages.
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So it was kind of like a balance between, you know, what I'm not
2:21
really used to with the post office during Christmas overtime
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period, but made made it through.
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But yeah, so Tuesday had some full coverages and then
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Wednesday, Christmas Eve, finally chilled out a little bit
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more and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel or the
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light at the end of the parcel. Palooza.
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So I I'd say that this Christmas overall wasn't the worst one
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I've ever dealt with. But given that my route has
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growth and some days of my parcel volume, it wasn't the
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best. But I've seen like people across
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the country had like no parcels or they're saying it was the
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easiest Christmas they've ever had.
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So I think it just depended upon the area that you were in.
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So my Christmas was good, my kid and like it's, it's, I think as
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I get older now, like it's, it's good seeing like my kids
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reaction to Christmas and like the excitement and him to get
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his presents and just the joy of like seeing my family and even
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him like getting excited to see my family or our family and, and
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all that jazz. And Santa brought him what he
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wanted. So that's what's good.
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But and then it was nice to have that reprieve.
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Even though it was Christmas, it was just nice to not be at work.
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And it was in like have the relief of knowing like, OK, we,
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we did it. And like that fear, you know, of
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when you're delivering the parcels of oh, are these all
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Christmas presents? Like is this the only Christmas
4:18
present this house is ever is going to get?
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Like not the not knowing. And like that stress that it
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just felt like a weight lifted on Friday.
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So Friday was real. I think it was Oh, whatever it
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was like more of a normal day or like a Monday.
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I'd probably say male volume wise.
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But then on Saturday we came in, they changed our start time back
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to 8:30 and we had no DPS. So our DPS went to the main
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office and they decided they were going to send it back to
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the plant instead of the city carrier who was on their way
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there to grab our DPS. And my office posts the end of
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run because I've gotten it ingrained to them.
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They'll post the end of run report and the radar report and
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the volume. I only had like 600 pieces, but
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so now I don't I get to play the game tomorrow of is it going to
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get ran through the DPS with the rest of the DPS for tomorrow or
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am I going to have two runs? So that's the that's the
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$1,000,000 question for tomorrow.
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So but I don't know Overall I'd say like I I feel like the week
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was good, but the too long didn't read the week was good
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after getting over that hurdle of Monday.
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So how was your week, Kristen? Oh, Monday was hell.
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You know, we were. We were short of regular carrier
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Monday, so we had no Subs available for assistance on
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other routes. So I was not in a very good
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mood, let's put it that way. But Postmaster did come in and
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she actually did give some assistance to my route, knowing
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that the other two could handle second trips and still be back.
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About time I'd had to be getting back.
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So I, you know, I thank her for at least doing that.
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It helped. And then Tuesday mail wise was
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super light. I mean, it was down to tray of
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DPS and I think I had a tray of pull down and Tuesday kind of
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was like no packages were a little still heavier.
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And then come Wednesday, you know, it was normal paper day
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and whatnot. It was packages wise, it was
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almost like a regular day. It was the first time I was
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actually just under just under evaluation for like the past
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month. So I, you know, can't complain
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about Wednesday at all. My Christmas was good.
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Unfortunately, my youngest did have to go back to her dad on
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Christmas Eve to take the travel out of state to meet up with his
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brother and all them for this weekend and whatnot.
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So it was just Ruby, little man, Eric and I and it was a, it was
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a nice little Christmas, you know, with the weather, my
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parents couldn't make it up and my son was having some medical
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issues. So and then Friday, well, I
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called in Friday because there's a couple of viruses going around
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one at respiratory and 1 intestinal and I was the lucky 1
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to pull the intestinal card. Let's just put it that way.
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Yeah, yeah. So you know, 4:30 in the
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morning, that abrupt wake up going, yeah, heck it hold
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supervisor, I'm not coming in today.
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And come to find out due to the ice storm that we're we got late
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Thursday night and Friday morning carriers didn't go out
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to the street anyways. So I was like, OK, I guess I
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didn't miss anything. I don't know what kind of mess
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I'm walking into tomorrow and if we'll even be hitting the street
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tomorrow given the whether the crazy stuff that Michigan is in
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the midst of right now. Anyways.
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So yeah, that's, that was my week in a nutshell.
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Not over excitingly, but nice at the same time, except for
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illness and being just feeling ill the rest of the week.
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So weekends that's where I'm at waiting to fully get over this
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and feel better and no more belly flopping around.
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But yeah. And then we got another short
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week this week when New Year's coming up.
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So we shall see what? Happens.
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I can't wait to chill. I can't.
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Wait to chill. I know, I know.
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I just, I, I'm afraid to see what kind of mess I walk into
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tomorrow and what the weather is going to be like.
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That's that's my, my hang up. I mean, they're with across the
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Great Lakes. They're saying 20 to 30 foot
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waves and well, half my routes along Lake Huron coastline and
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25 foot waves. Yeah, we'll see how that works.
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And being that the other half my route, secondary roads and
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there's no school, those won't get touched either.
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So I don't see much happening Monday.
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We'll see what happens, if we even get trucks up.
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I know Friday our truck was an hour and a half late, so I had a
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friend of mine call me and give me the scoop of what was going
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on. I'm really.
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Curious to see like the the hours that that carriers work
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this Christmas that it might like, you know, be if it was
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under or over or like which one, which in which direction.
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Yeah, I know. I was I.
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Think the consensus is under. I know I personally was over the
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first two weeks of Christmas overtime by five, 5 1/2 hours
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each week. I'm pretty sure I didn't go over
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this week, but yeah, I it'll be interesting to see.
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But the overall was on that because like I said, like you
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said before, you know, it's some of these carriers saying, hey,
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this has been light. This has been, you know, our
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offices weren't even, they had significant help and so they
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weren't allowing them to get overtime or going get near to
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overtime. And, and then I've seen the
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other way around where, you know, carriers are working
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overtime, overtime, overtime. So we'll see.
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We'll see what the numbers actually say when they come out.
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Yeah, like if it'll balance it out.
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I know we can hear you. OK, well when Kristen was
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pausing earlier, I was there. I forgot that my postmaster,
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depending on how it gave us, in my opinion, one of the best
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Christmas presents, told us as of January 10th, the one zip
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code and the three world routes in my zip code, our start times
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are going from 8:30 to 7:00. That's going to suck the first
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week, having to get up and out the door that early, but that'll
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be a beautiful thing for getting done in the afternoon.
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Oh, it's 7:00 now it's 7:30. Yeah, I've been.
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Wow, there's no way in hell that we could.
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Start. You'll be.
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That early our truck doesn't even isn't even scheduled to get
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there till quarter after. But that might be an don't.
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Know what time the truck starts coming in?
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Yeah, yeah. And he's like I said, it's only
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doing one of the three zip codes and then the three of us rules
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because most of the rules are already in the other zip code.
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And then he's going to give it on to see how well it goes with
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us. And they'll look at moving one
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of the other two zip codes over to 7:00 from 8:30 to 7:00.
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After that, I can get it. He he's like, if I can get the
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mail up five out of six days for 7:00, all to bring in the other
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zones, you know, in earlier. And then he's going to leave all
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the news, all the new zip codes as they start coming to, you
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know, transition into the building.
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They're going to stay at 8:30. And he's going to have everyone
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staggered over, you know, over a period of time with all the
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offices just coming into the building.
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Yeah, that'll be, that'll be pretty interesting to see how
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you'll have to let us know how it goes, like if, if they're
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able to, I know every area is different, but if if you
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actually have like 80% of your mail when you get there, then
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that's good. Yeah, I think, I think also like
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your office having that parcel sorting machine really does help
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negate like having you guys. Come in later.
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Because they don't have the handsome.
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Right. And like I said, I I was told
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that what the clerks take 5 to 6 hours to do in labor hours, that
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machine does an hour, hour and a half.
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Yeah, it's crazy. Somebody was telling me that
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they were saying that we might get replaced by robots or AI or
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something. And I and I said, yeah, is the
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is the robot gonna sit there and decipher out all these really
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bad numbers for Christmas cards that are sent each year?
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You know, like. Right, the IAS.
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Yeah, the I the insufficient addresses the no such numbers
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the. The the ones.
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Or no that. Haven't lived there in four
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years. Yep, and know that they're on
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the road right next to you now. Oh yeah, I, I've got, I've got
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one of those and I, I was nice at 1st and I'm not nice anymore
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because now the house is actually sold and not running it
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out anymore. And so I just send everything
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back. Yeah, I usually like put a
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sticker on there that says, hey, you're lucky we found you,
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notify the sender of your correct address.
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And when you're getting repeated stuff, it's like, OK, yeah, now
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we're not. We're not.
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No, no. I gave you the warning and now
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we're. We're not.
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Yeah, I. Saw something I saw something
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somewhere between 5 and 10 years ago where a patent request put
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in by the Postal Service for robotic arm in the back of the
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vehicles. So it would actually be.
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Interesting. Grab the parcel for you and
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bring you know. You have like the load, like the
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package look ahead and then like, like, could you imagine
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maybe in 100 years from now, not right now, but 100 years from
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now, There's like a, the scanner is like connected into the truck
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and it knows the GPS coordinates and the robotic arm grabs the
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parcel and brings it to you, to you so that you can grab the
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parcel from the robotic arm to just get out and deliver.
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Well, with the with the NTPS they suppose of the.
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One of the things they were talking about is having a
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docking station that you could use the look ahead and with this
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upgrade to the with the look ahead right there, the scanning
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that and still scan with the look ahead.
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Oh, I could see it working. You know, I could see that.
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Yeah, but then like I mean they can't even afford right now to
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there's fight over the US getting the new vehicles, let
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alone what do you mean? You want to put a robotic arm
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inside of the LOVS and the NGDVS, you know.
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But. Hey, we can wish we can.
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It's an idea. We're just trying to be more
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efficient. That's what we.
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It'd be nice, but I want to know how much, how much is that going
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to take credit wise away towards our value?
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You wouldn't get the your what was it your preliminary and
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concluding activities that credit would probably decrease,
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but not all the way because you still would have to shut off the
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engine and then you'd have to shut off the wow.
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This let's get real meta here and then I'll get that back on
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focus, but let's shut the vehicle off allow the robotic
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arm to still grab the parcel and then you still have to lock it
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because you have to secure the vehicle.
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It could be it's. Automatically be off of a
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secondary battery source. Oh, OK, I could see that.
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You know what I'm saying? Yep.
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It's probably not gonna, it's gonna probably gonna be running
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off of a secondary battery source, not the alternator or
16:30
change and. My my PowerPoint in my truck
16:33
works with the off so you know I could see something like that.
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Oh OK. It have its own battery so like
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a it have the battery for the vehicle, but then the arm would
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have its own battery source that could that can also charge the
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scanner and connect it. I don't know that's how it just.
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Sounds like I'm just saying that it could.
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It could, you know one of those things where it just run, Yeah,
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has its own power source that could be recharged the same as
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the alternator. The battery gets recharged by
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the alternator. Yeah.
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In your OK, same type thing where it recharges you know the
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burning vehicle to potentially work for recharging it or
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keeping it charged. Right, Postal people that are
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listening to this we're we're copywriting this right now.
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No this. Is this is not something that's
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coming out? It's just it's no.
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Yes, you may have heard it here, but no, it is not happening.
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Yeah. Non existent.
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They can't even fix the Lovs let alone get a robotic arm that
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that couldn't do this. But anyways, yeah, OK.
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Let's not get started on the MG DV's right now either, so.
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Yeah, so, so I thought tonight, since last week we talked about
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joining and like why it's beneficial to join the union.
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I thought we could get, you know, even a step back from that
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and get kind of more meta and talk about what even is a union.
18:20
There's a lot of people who put blame on the union and I don't
18:26
want to say it online, but it's mostly online.
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But I don't want to say everything that people are
18:33
saying and like finger pointing and blaming the union.
18:36
It should be blaming the post office.
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I mean, it's, there's things along those lines, but anyways
18:45
that I thought we could get a step backwards and actually look
18:48
at like the definition of a union and why it's beneficial
18:55
for us as postal workers to be a part of a union.
18:59
And we are industry and us working at the Postal Service,
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we're probably one of the one industries that are mostly all
19:08
unionized compared to, you know, big box stores like, you know
19:15
like Target or Walmart or retail.
19:17
They aren't typically unionized. And there's been a long history
19:24
to get us to this point where we've have the ability to do
19:31
this. And I know Kristen has talked
19:33
about like us doing a, you know, maybe more of a history thing.
19:38
And so this will kind of like bookend that.
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So a union, let me find it. Let me pull it back up.
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I'm sorry. So a union like the basic idea
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of a union and they exist across all kinds of different
19:56
industries and each different union have different contracts
20:02
that are that can vary widely. And us as postal workers, we
20:08
have more of an established union, our unions and we have
20:13
more of an established negotiation that happens with
20:17
the Postal Service because of how old our union is.
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So a union is an organization of workers who are seeking to
20:27
improve. Their working conditions and
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because workers create value for their employer, the union
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workers can create leverage over their employer.
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And one of the main ones like that would be strike, which us
20:45
as post workers cannot do. And there's the history of the
20:49
post, the strike of 1970, the Post Reorganization Act, all
20:53
those sorts of things about why we cannot strike now.
20:56
But in the overall sense of a union, that's one of the the
21:01
leverages. Bosses have little to no trouble
21:06
replacing a single worker, but it is a huge headache to replace
21:11
an entire work workforce. So a union is run by the members
21:18
of that union and I'm going to repeat that again because a lot
21:21
of people just go your union or finger point and a union is run
21:29
by its members and the and that is the workers.
21:34
So almost every single person that are a part of the NRLCA are
21:40
role carriers with the exception of like some of the employees
21:45
that work inside of the office building and like contracted in
21:50
and such. And decisions are often made
21:53
democratically at like membership meetings.
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So like in this instance, it would be the district, the
22:03
county, the local meetings, the state meetings, and then, you
22:07
know, regional and national conventions.
22:09
And typically the people who are running it are elected by the
22:17
workers or by the union members. In the process of formulating
22:22
demands as a group and negotiating with the company is
22:26
known as a collective bargaining.
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And that's what our contract is. The outcome of the collective
22:32
bargaining process is a union contract AKA collective
22:35
bargaining agreement and then this is a written contract which
22:40
governs all terms and conditions of employment.
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The agreement specifies things like pay, benefits and working
22:47
rules. It is a common misconception
22:52
that union dues cover union benefits like healthcare or like
22:59
our retirement or pension. And in our case that's not
23:04
that's obviously not the case, but the union negotiates with
23:07
the company and forces them to provide these benefits.
23:12
Though the union may have a part in overseeing the administration
23:17
of the benefits, Union dues cover the cost of running the
23:24
union and that would include like the office building,
23:29
printing expenses, legal expenses, hiring staff and then
23:35
union staff to assist in organizing, research and process
23:40
grievances, IE our union stewards.
23:43
So and I think the NRLCA and I don't think they're alone in
23:47
this, but I think a majority of the cost that the union has is
23:52
processing these. So no union funds less people to
24:00
less. Let no no union funds less
24:02
people, less power to help us with our grievances.
24:08
In most instances, you join a union by getting a job at a
24:11
unionized company or like the Postal Service, the Postal
24:15
Service has the clerks have their own union, the APWU, and
24:23
then the city carriers. In the NALC, there's the Mail
24:26
Handlers Union and then the National Association of Postal
24:31
Supervisors, NAPS and the National Postmasters Managers
24:38
Union. I think.
24:39
Is that right, Josh? Did I did I lose you?
24:41
Josh, too? They lose everybody.
24:44
The National Association of Postal Supervisors.
24:48
OK. And then you also have the.
24:51
The mail or the postmasters? Yeah.
24:54
Have their own. OK, Yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't
24:57
remember that one that. But the Postal Service, because
25:02
of the fact that it was established as like a branch
25:07
inside of the government, we had the ability to like unionize and
25:13
then we kind of got it ingrained with the Poster Reorganization
25:17
Act of 1970. We are lucky in the sense that
25:20
we have these established unions within the Postal Service.
25:26
I think I mean, I, I used to work at, what was it like my
25:32
first job that I ever worked at was Little Caesars.
25:35
And when I worked there, it was ran by, it was, it was a
25:41
franchise and it was ran by like like a mom and pop shop.
25:48
And then they had their adult children running it.
25:52
And if there was issues inside of their like there was such
25:57
stupid, petty things that would happen.
26:00
Like and I worked there for like 5 years, but I apparently one
26:06
day I didn't wipe the flower off of 1 of the walls.
26:12
And so they gave me a write up for it and like tried to
26:19
emphasize the severity of it. And there was no due process.
26:24
There was no investigative interview.
26:27
There was no questioning what had happened.
26:31
They just went immediately to it.
26:33
And in the Postal Service, they have to have the due process and
26:40
the unions emphasize that and having the ability to even to
26:45
not agree with the discipline and filing your grievance
26:48
against it. And that was one of the number
26:52
one reasons why I joined the union because I was like, oh,
26:55
OK, now there's people who can if there's some stupid thing
27:00
like that where. And they had cameras, like there
27:04
was a lot of of evidence and things that they could have
27:09
presented and showed me. OK, you misremembered.
27:13
Instead of just jumping to that and having a union that's going
27:19
to back you and protect you in those instances is so like, I
27:26
value that more than a lot. Like it's just it's such a good
27:30
thing. And granted, I'm not leaving
27:32
flour on the I'm throwing flour, you know, in my mattress on the
27:36
walls, you know, to do that. Game on you.
27:40
But yeah, throwing flour on the walls, but knowing that like if
27:46
there's something that happens and there could be a
27:49
constructive conversation about it because without that I would
27:55
just have to go to the National Labor Relations Board as an
27:58
individual and try and fight for it that way.
28:02
Versus like having a union and the process as of that to go
28:08
through. So any worker in any industry
28:13
can have the ability to form a union if they wanted to.
28:18
And that's why, you know, back in the early 1900s and we can
28:23
kind of go into this later on the in the early 1900s, they had
28:29
just started rule free delivery and row carriers were realizing
28:35
that they weren't getting, there was benefits that they were
28:38
getting shorted on. And like one of the big things
28:40
was EMA or cost for them to buy hay for their horses to help
28:49
them deliver the mail. The the EMA maintenance of
28:54
maintaining horses and horse and buggy for them to deliver this
28:59
mail and so and. Then that's why it is equipment
29:03
maintenance allowance, not vehicle maintenance allowance.
29:07
Equipment, yeah, yes. So, you know, that's like one of
29:12
the very early examples of what we needed as rule carriers to
29:20
function. And when you're talking to, you
29:24
know, people in my state and then your state and realizing,
29:27
oh, OK, we're all collectively having these same issues and
29:33
each state formed their own organization and then came
29:37
collectively together in Chicago and formed the NRLCA as a whole,
29:43
then, you know, that's how we actually came to be.
29:47
And even though I know that people will, there's, there's a
29:52
lot of debate between whether or not is it the postal service's
29:56
responsibility on certain things or is it the unions.
30:00
And I, I, I, I partly brought this topic up because there's a
30:05
lot of blame that gets placed on the union.
30:09
And like I've said before, people forget that they, that
30:13
you are the union and when you have ideas that are brought up
30:20
and you're, you know, like today I saw one that was why don't the
30:25
RCA's get holiday pay? And people were commenting like,
30:30
write a resolution, bring it to a union meeting, like get it
30:34
passed so that we can get it negotiated, get it passed the
30:38
local, the state and national level so that that the national,
30:45
the board can negotiate that into our contract.
30:49
And you can say things on Facebook.
30:52
And I know sometimes it's cathartic for people to say
30:55
things online and just get it off of their chest instead of
31:00
getting like, you know what, no, like I want to be constructive
31:05
in my vent. You you can voice that concern
31:08
there, but that isn't the official Ave. inside of a union
31:15
to get that idea across. So that's why you have meetings
31:21
and you collectively have union members come together and go.
31:27
This is the pinpoints of ideas that we want and that's that's
31:33
why you have those meetings. That's why we, you know, we've
31:37
talked about the National Convention is like the big
31:40
kahuna arena of a lot of this and there's a lot of time and
31:45
energy that's put into it. But once they come together with
31:50
the Postal Service and have to negotiate, it takes a lot of
31:54
time and information to negotiate certain things.
32:01
And we mean, we always don't get everything we want.
32:05
I know that there's, there's been things that I've seen past
32:09
that have not gotten it put into our contract that I wish would
32:13
have, but that doesn't mean that like I'm not going to continue
32:18
trying and knowing the correct outlet to voice those concerns
32:25
and talk with other union members and carriers who aren't
32:30
union members. And, you know, try and get more
32:34
people's input on it too, so that we can all as rule carriers
32:39
come together and push that bar forward just like they did with
32:44
EMA. I mean, that's like the most
32:46
simplest example of it. But without those rule carriers
32:51
who were lobbying for more money to feed their horses, we
33:00
wouldn't be what we are right now, you know, And so you just
33:04
have to collectively keep pushing that that bar forward
33:09
with that. Now.
33:10
Now, if we still had Bill around, we could ask him what
33:13
that time was like. Yeah, yeah.
33:17
Love you, Bill. I wish we had to throw that out
33:19
there. Yeah, No, you know there there
33:23
is so many and yeah and you know, but I get the same time I
33:29
have seen resolutions that have gotten passed on the convention
33:33
floor as we were going into negotiations and seen that come
33:37
to fruition in the very well the most recent one contract with
33:43
the incentive for converting and right hand Dr. doubling.
33:49
So I mean that one, I mean that one came off the convention
33:53
floor in what, 20 242324 and you know, it's and that starts at a
34:02
local meeting and moves its way up.
34:03
So, you know, it's that's why we, a lot of people say you are
34:09
the union. We are the union.
34:11
The union isn't the officials that sit at the head table.
34:14
Those are elected by the delegation, which is elected by
34:19
you if you choose to vote again, we're coming down to you.
34:23
We, we, we are the ones, we are the rank and file that have the
34:28
say starting from the ground and moving up.
34:31
And that's, you know, what's why we've gone over resolutions in
34:34
the past last few years. You know, when it gets well,
34:38
we'll probably cover it again as we're coming in an annual
34:41
meeting season again after the first of the year and getting
34:44
closer into March and April and whatnot, you know, going over,
34:48
you know, resolutions again and why they're important and why
34:51
language is very, very important in resolutions.
34:55
Yes. One of the big things lately?
34:57
That I've seen, as you've seen a resolution that the concept was
35:02
great, but the way it was worded was not so great and it failed.
35:07
Yep, had it been worded differently it probably would
35:10
have passed. You know, I've had some of mine
35:13
pass at the gavel and then, you know, of course, it didn't go to
35:16
fruition when it came to negotiations.
35:18
But guess what? We're going to be heading into a
35:21
new negotiation cycle. So it's time to get those
35:24
resolutions that you still feel wholehearted about that didn't
35:28
make the cut last time. Let's get them back out.
35:31
Let's make sure they're worded properly and start passing back
35:34
up the chain again. Yep.
35:36
Yep. And the more, and if you have
35:39
more locals, more states passing the same resolutions, I mean
35:44
that has a lot of bearing when you're sitting on a convention
35:46
floor and you can see that 45678910 a dozen states all
35:51
submitted the same resolution or something similar.
35:54
And that's where wording comes in, an interpretation of them.
35:57
Well, and the big thing that I've been seeing and I've had
36:00
somebody more local talking to me about, you know, cuz he's
36:05
getting more involved in the union.
36:07
And the big word that he's been pushing with it is solidarity.
36:12
And I think you seeing those resolutions like that with, with
36:17
multiple states shows us standing together like we all
36:24
like are having the same problem.
36:27
And we all can see that this is the solution.
36:30
And there shouldn't be infighting.
36:33
There shouldn't be it should be constructive conversations to
36:37
come to a consensus together and go, OK, like this is what we
36:42
need and showing, you know, the national board and the entirety
36:49
of the union being solid together.
36:53
And I I'm not some people would be like, yeah, that's real, real
36:57
easy to be all kumbaya And you know, but but that's ultimately
37:01
like what that's the purpose. Like that's that is our entire
37:06
purpose is coming together collectively so that we can
37:11
better our selves, our families, our craft, like all all of us.
37:19
And I I think sometimes it gets lost in translation a little
37:22
bit. I I have to agree.
37:23
I said, yeah. And in general, making our our
37:26
union more solid. Yeah, you know that that's that.
37:30
I think that's the biggest 1, you know, yeah, we do have quite
37:34
a bit of divide amongst people within the union.
37:38
And I'm not going to say it's because of one side or it's
37:42
because of another or it's one way of thinking or it's not what
37:46
it there. There's a divide there, is it?
37:49
It's obvious. I mean, I, I'm one of those
37:51
people who likes to see and hear both sides of the table.
37:55
And I'm going to make my own decision.
37:57
I'd like to understand why where you're coming from on an issue,
38:02
if you may not agree with something or why you feel
38:05
passionate about it, even though it may not be the best idea.
38:12
I want to know. So maybe there's a happy middle
38:14
ground where if it's something that, OK, you're passionate
38:17
about this, we understand where you're coming from.
38:20
It may not be the time now. So maybe the last cycle wasn't
38:24
the time. Let's reintroduce this and bring
38:26
it back in. Maybe now is the time.
38:28
Yep. Yeah.
38:29
So you know, that's yes. What would I like to see what we
38:33
put forth to the post office and what the post office puts forth
38:36
to us and, and what we they say no to them on and what they tell
38:39
us absolutely not on during negotiations.
38:42
We would all love to be able to see have that type of
38:45
transparency, but unfortunately that's not possible at this
38:49
time. I mean, I, I do and listening,
38:51
like I said, listening to both sides, I do kind of understand
38:56
where the one, you know, where they're coming from and not
38:58
releasing that information to us.
38:59
But at the same time, they could give us an idea rather than
39:04
saying, you know, is absolutely not, you know, yeah, you know,
39:08
especially if it's one, hey, we put forth this, this, this, this
39:11
and this and they immediately shot them down for this reason.
39:15
Okay, That's, that's all we, you know, we would like to see.
39:18
Okay. They shot it down for that
39:19
reason. All right, That gives us an idea
39:21
of, OK, they shot that down for this particular reason.
39:24
What if we went back and reintroduced it under this
39:27
reasoning with this language, Maybe they may open their eyes
39:30
up to it. I think, yeah, something like
39:33
that type of transparency would help us.
39:36
Yeah. And moving forward and maybe
39:39
showing the doubters that OK, they are working for us.
39:43
Yeah. And I think one of the big
39:44
things to, you know, in and I, I've been trying to kind of, I
39:49
haven't had time lately because of Christmas and everything, but
39:53
is seeing the differences in different union organizations
39:58
and their contract negotiating stuff to see the differences
40:02
from them versus rule carrier union and I guess post office
40:06
unions in general because we, we as post orders because we've had
40:13
a. It's been put.
40:14
What has it been said to me? We have a mature negotiating,
40:20
sorry, I shouldn't, how do I put it?
40:23
We've, we've been negotiating with the Postal Service for
40:26
since 1970, well since the beginning, but since 1970 has
40:30
been like the big push for how our collective bargaining is and
40:36
the stuff with the Fair, Fair Labor Standards Act.
40:38
We're very ingrained in those sorts of of back and forth that
40:45
there needs to be something to change, I guess in there versus
40:49
like, you know, like Starbucks right now is a big example of of
40:54
how they're more recently become unionized and same with like
40:59
Amazon and those sorts of things.
41:02
And they're, the Postal Service also needs to see it that we're
41:10
not like against the Postal Service either, you know, like
41:14
there's some of those resolutions that we have that
41:17
would help the post office. Oh, absolutely.
41:20
And they're not and they're not just they're, they're there's
41:26
working rules, there's financial stuff that yes, us as rural
41:30
carriers want. But there's resolutions out
41:33
there that are just simple, like, hey, here's an idea for
41:37
you because we are out there on the ground level seeing this
41:42
every single day. And this would help.
41:45
And I think if they saw that more because sometimes, I mean,
41:49
I even say things to my managers just like a simple thing like a
41:53
scanner fix. We us talking about a robotic
41:57
arm in the, in the vehicle, you know what I mean?
42:00
Like some of it could be crazy ideas, some of it could be
42:05
really useful, like different little things on our scanners.
42:09
I bet you somebody told the Postal Service, hey, you should
42:12
put the load, the look ahead and the scanner function right
42:17
there. And they finally did it.
42:18
You know, and I know things take time, but I think once the
42:22
Postal Service sees that instead of us as just demanding and that
42:29
we also want to see the Postal Service succeed, that maybe
42:33
there could be something in, in that regard, I guess.
42:37
Yeah, it it's like we're not trying to work against each
42:41
other. We're trying to work together
42:43
for the future in general, not just our crafts, but for the
42:48
future of the post office, for those of us that love our job,
42:51
that that love our union, that want to see a positive future.
42:56
You know the the best information and the best
42:59
research you can do is with the people that actually have their
43:03
feet on the ground, that are in the offices, that are in the
43:06
plants that are doing the manual Labor Day in and day out.
43:10
Yeah. And I think that also I think
43:13
that gets lost with some of like it's just your union and blah,
43:18
blah, blah, blah, blah. And there's just that negative.
43:22
And it shouldn't be that way. It should be.
43:25
We should be working together for the betterment of all of us,
43:29
you know, to to keep keep us functioning.
43:32
So absolutely, I don't think if I had anything else with that,
43:37
yeah, the the ACT or fact of joining or being joined,
43:40
especially in a political context.
43:44
And the other thing too is like the Postal Service or other and
43:48
other union entities like or other companies they have like
43:53
CEO's and usually there's like appointed positions and those
43:57
sorts of things. But the union aspect of a union,
44:02
being inside of a place of employment helps bring upon that
44:07
democratic process of the union members, your peers voting for
44:13
you into these things. And I think, you know, we have
44:20
union officials who are who are elected into these positions.
44:24
And I think sometimes that even gets forgotten some, you know,
44:27
that people are like your union, but it's like they were all
44:31
voted in to be here guys. Like it's not just what is it
44:39
our new PMG, but our, our PMG was voted in by the Board of
44:44
Governors, I think. Yeah.
44:47
But yeah, he was. It's an approval.
44:49
It's an appointment and then an approval.
44:51
But yeah, it's, you know, it's literally it's somebody who's
44:55
going up there putting themselves out there it to get
44:58
votes. I mean, Meow and I can both
45:01
attest on how grueling that is because we've both been there.
45:05
Yeah, and, and intimidating it can be at times as well.
45:09
But but at the same time, you know, and I get where a lot of
45:13
carriers, because other crafts do have one member, one vote.
45:17
And if that's something that you would want to see on the rural
45:21
side, then that's something that has to start in the form of, of
45:25
a resolution and constitution change, a constitutional
45:30
resolution, as you would say. For those that are wondering
45:33
what's the difference? You know, something like that.
45:37
That's that would have to start with those of us writing that
45:41
stuff for our annual meetings to pass up the chain.
45:45
It's not going to change because you're whining online about it.
45:48
It's not going to change because you're, you know, shooting off
45:52
because you're upset to your case mate.
45:55
You know it's going to change by putting the ink to the paper and
45:58
submitting it and getting it to pass through.
46:01
And I also, I know, like, I know personally, like lately, these
46:06
last few weeks, I've I've been exhausted.
46:08
But over the last couple days, even though with, with
46:12
Christmas, I've been like turning my head more into that
46:15
realm of like resolutions and what is it going to take for us
46:19
to improve things? And but then, yeah, I see
46:23
comments online like, why aren't the RCA, you know, like blaming,
46:28
blaming things on different people.
46:31
And there's the back and forth and the confusion.
46:35
And I'm like, is this person even a union member?
46:39
Is this person like there's, I know that there's people that
46:45
listen to this podcast that aren't union members.
46:48
And I know like in the beginning, what was it?
46:50
There's people who were mad about this podcast because there
46:54
there was a fear of non union members getting information.
47:00
But I also view the value of everybody should know this
47:04
information, but also like, I'm gonna be like, you still should
47:08
join the union, you know, like still there.
47:15
I lost my translate, my soapbox there for a second, but I don't
47:20
know. It's just it's, I think some of
47:22
it just gets lost in translation.
47:24
And I just think that there's an importance of acknowledging that
47:29
we could not have any of that. We could not.
47:31
There's things that the unions negotiated like the RCA is
47:37
having health insurance or the RCA or US having more PTF
47:44
positions or how many days, how many days of annual or holiday
47:49
leave that we get, I mean. That's right up in there.
47:53
We wouldn't, Rcas wouldn't have annual leave.
47:56
Now the RCA insurance, a lot of that came down with the
47:59
Obamacare stuff, but we won't get into that.
48:01
Yeah. But yeah, RCA is having now
48:04
getting annual. Leave.
48:06
Yeah. Now most recently that, yeah, I
48:09
know it's three years in, but now they actually get a step, a
48:12
step increase after three years where we never got that before.
48:16
You know. It was just going to say that,
48:18
you know, bringing it up to most recent, you know what just
48:22
happened that three that dollar after three years.
48:25
Yeah. And how many years have we all
48:28
been asking for that, you know, and they finally, they finally
48:31
got that. I mean, it's still not perfect,
48:33
but it's, it's a step in the right direction of getting,
48:38
getting us closer to that, you know?
48:40
Exactly. And I I know talking at a
48:43
function at a union convention with like it's a step in the
48:50
right direction and it's baby steps.
48:52
Yep, and I think in. Now that we have it, we can
48:56
build on that. Yep.
48:57
I think that there's people forget that I'm and I'm kind of
49:04
like that too sometimes, like I want to find an answer to
49:06
something like immediately and I'm online a lot more than I
49:11
should be. But but I, I see, I, I know it
49:17
is cathartic to just vent online, but it's, I would rather
49:23
see something instant. But that's not how it works.
49:28
That's not how I mean, even if you were in a private, even like
49:33
let's say if you worked at Walmart and you were like,
49:37
Walmart needs to give me another day of annual leave.
49:42
And you just wrote that on Facebook.
49:44
I mean, there is no ability there for you to use a union to
49:51
or to be a part of a, you know, to collectively bargain with
49:55
Walmart in that sense. You know, like in and I think
49:59
that that gets forgotten somewhere out there.
50:02
You know, nobody's going like I think some of the Amazon workers
50:06
have unionized, right? Am I right in that?
50:08
Yeah, some. Some of them, not all of them,
50:10
but they're not like Jeff Bezos, like writing online.
50:14
Jeff Bezos needs to give me such and such, you know, and go in
50:18
the stupid union didn't give me this or something like that.
50:21
And it's like, no, you need to go to Jeff Bezos and that's Jeff
50:25
Bezos. He owns Amazon, you know, And so
50:29
us having that ability to collectively come together at
50:33
union functions and meetings and construct good ideas in
50:38
resolutions and, and vote, it's just I, it's invaluable, you
50:46
know, like it's, I'm just, I'm, I'm grateful that we have that
50:51
ability. I'm grateful, you know, I know
50:55
the Fair Labor Standards Act and there's all those sorts of
50:57
things in, in the grand scheme of all of that.
51:01
But I'm on a history kick a little bit too, which is what
51:08
partially why I wanted to talk about this, because I know that
51:12
there's been people who have come a century ago who not even
51:17
just rural carriers, like there's, there's people across
51:20
the entire country who would fight for workers rights.
51:24
And we can't forget them. Like we, we like they push the
51:30
bar forward for us to get to where we are.
51:33
And yes, we still deserve more. And I think we can get that.
51:39
I think that there's more that we can get and that we deserve
51:43
rightfully. And but that starts with each
51:48
one of. US absolutely does.
51:50
So. I kind of want to address one
51:54
thing in the listener chat real quick though.
51:56
Where, where, where I get where you're coming from.
51:59
I really do with the other crafts that graduate full time
52:02
after two years. I, I, I get that under the
52:06
newest contract, our Rcas can now bid for APTF position after
52:12
90 work days or 180 calendar days.
52:15
So probation's already been limited down to six months.
52:19
So Rcas now depending on the office they're in have the
52:23
potential to be career within six months and possibly even
52:28
regular before a year because of, you know, just depends on
52:31
you. We all know things change daily
52:32
in the offices. But the other portion of that I
52:35
wanted to touch I know is you still have to go back into the
52:39
contract where it says that each route is entitled to a leave
52:43
replacement. Now, yes, we do have a lot of
52:46
formula office now which is opened up for PTFS.
52:50
However, we still have quite a few non formula offices
52:54
available to where we still have Rcas positions or offices that
53:00
wouldn't qualify to be formula due to the amount of Rcas.
53:04
So you would literally have to rewrite that whole sectioning
53:08
when it comes to how the PTF is assigned routes, guaranteed
53:13
routes. And I mean, I mean, we're
53:17
talking what Article 9, Article 30, we're talking several
53:21
different articles that would have to be completely revamped
53:25
in order to open that up for us to convert to career
53:28
automatically after two or two years like the other crafts
53:32
have. And the way that it looks to me
53:34
also in this last negotiating cycle that they did is that it
53:39
looked like they were trying to get there like the other crafts
53:44
have. But I think.
53:45
Something that can change overnight.
53:47
I mean it it's a step forward into that direction, like the
53:51
step increase for the RCA. But a lot of people don't
53:54
realize is that even though it only maybe looks like 1/2 a baby
53:59
step forward, that's more going forward than there was before
54:02
when you didn't have that at all before it.
54:06
A push forward is a push forward that starts the momentum going
54:12
forward for the future. Yeah.
54:14
And I'm I'm wondering if if this next negotiating cycle at that
54:18
that they do do that because we've been wanting that for a
54:21
while too. So we'll we'll see what comes
54:23
around this. I'll have to look at the, excuse
54:27
me, the minutes from the last National Convention because I
54:32
think, I think that was in there.
54:34
I think it's been in there every National Convention that I've
54:37
gone to. Yeah, it's been in a few of
54:39
them. Might have to dig them out too.
54:42
The the PTF position. And yes, granted that you said
54:45
it, it's multiple articles in the contract.
54:50
It would be changing it from a string of 2:00 to 5:00 to 1:00
54:55
to 5:00. And I think with the two to five
54:58
is because working one day a week is not feasible to cover
55:02
the costs of your TSP and your pension and your firm, Yeah, on
55:07
top of paying the career amount for health insurance and
55:11
whatnot. So I mean if you're only working
55:13
one day a week. Agreed.
55:15
That's not gonna guarantee that you're even gonna be making any
55:17
money. You see, the only other option
55:19
with that is eliminating the one to one ratio.
55:24
Yes. Every route, yeah, is entitled
55:27
to a relief carrier, you know a lever.
55:31
So that those are the only would be the only two options or some
55:35
conglomerate of those two options.
55:38
Yeah. And I mean that.
55:39
And I also, I, I mean, I think I hate that.
55:43
I'm going to say that I think about this every single day like
55:45
that. There should probably be some
55:48
sort of position between an RCA and APTF maybe and that they're
55:54
considered career. But then there needs to be
55:57
different provisions and in terms of of them having to pay
56:03
for the career health insurance and to balance that out.
56:07
But I think that there needs to be some sort of an overhaul of
56:14
the RCA position as it stands. And I think the Union, I think
56:19
all of us really know that. I think the Postal Service knows
56:22
that too, because there, there has to be some sort of a balance
56:29
in there to because they're not in a majority of the areas,
56:35
they're not just working one day a week and knowing like having
56:40
the factual data to see how many of them are really only working
56:44
that one day a week versus how many of them are working over 40
56:49
hours each week and seeing that. And I don't know what the
56:55
solution is. And I, we can't solve it.
56:58
We're not going to solve this today, but you know, but we need
57:04
to there be it's, I think it's important to have these those
57:08
conversations though, because I also do not think it is fair
57:13
that the RCA's aren't converted to career after two years.
57:17
But I also don't want them to be financially shot in the foot or
57:22
offices to become forced to become formula or different
57:27
scenarios that could happen with the way that our current
57:30
contract is written. But I also realized like the RCA
57:33
position is not what it looks like on paper.
57:38
It's not what it used to be. It's not what it was when I
57:41
hired in 11 years ago. Yeah, I was literally, I was
57:44
about to say I was like, it's not even what we got hired as.
57:50
No, I mean, and even, and even well, the other day it's I was
57:55
telling Josh the other day like they were helping in RCA and he
57:58
is like, when did they start helping RCA?
58:02
Like during the Christmas overtime period, RCA's helping
58:06
other RCA's, which is fine because some of them don't know
58:09
the route, some of them do. But he's like, when did it
58:12
become like that? And like the understanding of
58:16
that. I know and and I see it in my
58:21
office too, where you have newer Rcas who are splitting their
58:25
routes with other Rcas on the assigned relief day every week
58:32
for months. It's like when are you going to
58:35
let them go free and do the whole route?
58:39
They they should have been able to do the whole route, you know,
58:41
a while ago, you know, set them free and then if they need help,
58:45
send help later. Don't just automatically be
58:48
splitting that every week because you're not helping
58:50
anybody but yourself. Get out of the office quicker at
58:53
the end of the day. Yeah, yeah.
58:56
So they're, I don't know, they're and I, I, and it sucks
59:00
because I want some of those people to come to union
59:04
meetings. So hear their perspective, you
59:08
know, to tie it back in with everything.
59:10
But there needs to be some something, something needs to
59:15
give. And, and then, you know, there I
59:18
have, I work with a clerk who used to be a rule carrier and
59:22
his wife was a rule clerk carrier, but he quit and then
59:25
came back as a clerk because he didn't want to be a real carrier
59:28
anymore. And he, him and I were talking
59:30
about how, and I don't know if I've talked about this on here
59:33
before that there was, there's this period of time also with
59:38
there were Subs before Amazon and then after it like the
59:44
offices have gotten Amazon and they won't know like the that
59:49
middle chunk of what those Subs went.
59:53
Through and I was one of those. Granted, yeah, and granted,
59:58
we're not going to know what the horse and buggy Subs went
1:00:01
through either, you know, there's.
1:00:05
There's differences in that regard.
1:00:07
Yeah, Yeah, there is there, there is differences and and
1:00:11
those that were around pre Amazon days, ones that that were
1:00:15
there that started pre Amazon like myself that were there
1:00:20
during the beginnings of Amazon coming in and in the
1:00:23
implementations of Amazon Sundays.
1:00:27
And and to what we have now is just, I mean, it's, yeah, it's
1:00:32
night and day. Yeah.
1:00:34
And I can still speak on that because I've only been a regular
1:00:37
for two years. So, you know, nearly nine years
1:00:40
as an RCA, I've seen just about everything just about.
1:00:44
I can't, yeah. I've never been through an
1:00:46
implementation of the formula. My old office went formula after
1:00:50
I had transferred out. So that's something I've never
1:00:52
been personally have dealt with. But I did deal with the
1:00:55
implementation of Amazon. I've also been the one that was
1:00:58
on call to run expresses on Christmas and run expresses on
1:01:02
Sundays in other towns and run all over northern Michigan to
1:01:07
deliver expresses during the week and in the afternoons or
1:01:12
running DPS all over the state because it got miss delivered
1:01:15
somewhere. You know, I've done it.
1:01:18
Yeah, those are. Fun.
1:01:20
I just see, I'm just jamming, listening to music, driving
1:01:25
around. But I, but I, I, I just think
1:01:29
that, I mean, and I, I know like other people have said this on
1:01:34
this podcast before too, is that we are in like a period of time
1:01:37
right now with labor and the differences of, of what that
1:01:44
there needs to be a shift and there needs to be something more
1:01:49
positive for workers because we're out there day in and day
1:01:55
out. And I, I could see the RCA
1:01:59
position by itself in general is a example of that, that we still
1:02:05
need, there's still work to be done.
1:02:08
And we can see it, The Postal Service can see it because Dejoy
1:02:13
would talk about it in some of his congressional hearings.
1:02:17
And it was shocking to me hearing him.
1:02:19
I was like, wow, acknowledge it, you know?
1:02:23
Yeah, but something has to give. And those ideas and for the
1:02:31
betterment of that starts with people becoming a part of the
1:02:36
union, coming to going to meetings.
1:02:39
And I know I it's exhausting. Or even if, like you absolutely
1:02:45
can't come to a meeting voicing your concern and telling
1:02:49
somebody you know is going to a meeting to present this or an
1:02:54
idea you have or you know, just or you bringing your sub with
1:02:59
you because, or, or even getting your sub to join the union
1:03:04
because they didn't join the union when they were at the
1:03:07
Academy. There's many different ways to
1:03:11
contribute to that and calling Congress and you it.
1:03:17
I know that we're tired. I mean, I'm, I feel that, but
1:03:21
also like we're we're at that time where like things are going
1:03:27
on in labor and it's concerning. And you know, there's things
1:03:32
like the fair Labor Standards act exists because of, you know,
1:03:37
what was it child labor and all those sorts of things.
1:03:40
And you know, the 40 hour work week needed to happen because
1:03:44
otherwise we would be working non-stop and eight hour work
1:03:48
days and all those sorts of things.
1:03:50
And we have to figure something out.
1:03:53
And I like I said, we can't solve it all.
1:03:56
We cannot solve and solve today. But if you have an idea or you,
1:04:02
you feel passionately about something with it, then write a
1:04:06
note to yourself, like in your phone, like, Hey, I need to
1:04:09
remember to write this down before I forget it and it goes
1:04:14
away. So that, and even if, if even if
1:04:18
you maybe you think it's a stupid idea, you still need to
1:04:22
present it because, you know, voice part of it, you know, But
1:04:27
I think that's it. I think that's pretty much.
1:04:30
Oh yeah, because the case is we could go on forever on the
1:04:33
subject. I could yes yes, but the gist is
1:04:37
joint join the union and I know it's cathartic to vent online
1:04:43
but that is not the way for it to actually change.
1:04:48
No, no, it's not. And even if you have an idea and
1:04:51
you're not sure how to word it or not sure how to present it,
1:04:56
but you know, you know, you have a a friend in the office or you
1:05:01
have friends online. I mean, this is where social
1:05:03
media can be good too. So, you know, reaching out and
1:05:07
saying, hey, would you help me? I have this idea for a
1:05:10
resolution. Would you help me with the
1:05:12
wording of it? Now, there's nothing wrong with
1:05:14
asking for help with that and reaching out to somebody.
1:05:18
Yeah, cuz somebody will help you word it.
1:05:20
Or even even you. I do that all the time too.
1:05:24
I troubleshoot some of these ideas off people you know.
1:05:27
Yeah, I mean, I, I got a text not too long ago from, you know,
1:05:31
a mutual friend of all of ours that said, hey, help me with
1:05:35
this resolution. You know, just that's what we
1:05:38
do. I mean, that's that's the one
1:05:40
benefit I see of, you know, not only being part of the change at
1:05:45
conventions and being a delegate and voting and and being able to
1:05:49
have a word up at the microphone or, you know, being able to do
1:05:53
that. But it's also the camaraderie in
1:05:56
meeting your fellow brothers, sisters from all over that gives
1:06:00
you another somebody to bounce off ideas with.
1:06:03
Not necessarily at convention, but you know, you exchange
1:06:06
numbers or your friends on, you know, social webs and you know,
1:06:11
messenger and you can bounce off ideas, you know, doing it that
1:06:15
way too, or even emails or or whatever.
1:06:18
I mean, and then it's great when you can all get together in the
1:06:21
same room and sit down and go over all the resolutions and
1:06:25
say, I don't like this because of this or I don't like that
1:06:28
because of that, or I like this one.
1:06:30
Maybe they're trying to do this. But so, you know, and having an
1:06:33
idea of trying to get an idea of where people are coming from,
1:06:38
especially when you do know more people from other States.
1:06:40
And it is a platform like state National Convention.
1:06:43
I mean, how many different states were represented at our
1:06:47
table on a nightly basis? Like, you know, after hours,
1:06:50
going through conventions, you know, going through resolutions
1:06:53
at convention, it all gave us an idea to say, oh, yeah, then you
1:06:57
see it's something from your state.
1:06:58
So you can elaborate a little bit more on where that was
1:07:00
coming from. And that's the whole point,
1:07:02
especially even on a National Convention floor is, you know,
1:07:06
the maker and whoever objects to it, they're going to object to
1:07:11
it for a reason, whether it's just not going to work at all
1:07:14
and what the hell are they thinking or how does this get
1:07:17
passed up here or, all right, those language needs to be
1:07:21
tweaked or it's just not, you know, it's something.
1:07:25
And then you do have people that speak clarity as well.
1:07:28
So you do get a little bit of that debate on the floor going
1:07:31
back and forth, which I think is great because then that also
1:07:35
helps other people try and understand both sides of the
1:07:38
fence. Yep.
1:07:39
And I've seen where they've where they've objected just to
1:07:42
get clarity, yes, and then withdrawing their objection.
1:07:46
Absolutely, yeah. I mean, it's is definitely, you
1:07:50
know, it is a process and you know, you get that on the state
1:07:54
level 2 of your state conventions with your
1:07:55
resolutions and whatnot that are passed up from the locals.
1:07:59
That gives you, you know, a chance to speak at the
1:08:01
microphone at your state convention to convince your,
1:08:03
your if it's something that could go up to national that,
1:08:06
you know, a way to say, OK, I brought this up because of this.
1:08:11
I mean, I've objected this stuff at state because I had to remind
1:08:16
the ones that it was submitted by that the one thing that falls
1:08:19
under the entire country doesn't follow.
1:08:21
I think it was daylight savings time and start times and stuff
1:08:24
like that. And it was like, well, you've
1:08:26
got to remember, not every state in the country observes daylight
1:08:30
savings time in the fall back, spring forward stuff.
1:08:34
And you know, if it's something that you feel is unsafe with
1:08:37
start times, that's something that can be resolved at the
1:08:38
local level. So, you know, stuff like that,
1:08:42
it gives you a chance to even then explain to somebody why
1:08:45
this would not work on a national level.
1:08:48
OK, we can, we can wind down now that Josh isn't humming.
1:08:53
Unless, unless you have anything else to add on Josh.
1:08:59
Not that I can think of from what I was able to hear because
1:09:03
for some reason the I could see you lighting up on discord but
1:09:07
my sound box was dead and then when I go to come out and go
1:09:12
back in the audio was coming from the speakers in the top not
1:09:18
through the sound box. You got some setting issues
1:09:21
there. Which meant you would not have
1:09:22
been able to. Yeah, something.
1:09:24
Hey, I made it through two whole episodes last week, so I guess
1:09:28
we can't complain too much. It's.
1:09:31
Almost like a new record for you.
1:09:34
Yeah. I also mentioned to the search
1:09:36
channel, if you're in our Discord, we do have a Discord
1:09:39
channel for resolution ideas. I mean, that's where you can,
1:09:42
you know, you don't necessarily have to post a whole resolution.
1:09:45
You can just post, hey, I have an idea for this.
1:09:48
And there's a lot of times where some other others will hop in
1:09:51
and, you know, feed off of it and help build it up into a
1:09:55
resolution or say, hey, what, what's the reasoning behind
1:09:58
this? And where can you know how, how
1:10:00
would this affect everybody in the entirety?
1:10:02
That's the one thing you do have to remember if you're writing a
1:10:05
resolution that you want to do to change the craft.
1:10:08
You have to think about the country as a whole and the craft
1:10:10
as a whole, and something that would benefit the craft in its
1:10:14
entirety. Not just your local area or your
1:10:17
state area or your regional area, but something to to cover
1:10:23
the entire country. Right, because something that
1:10:25
would work in your office, Kristen, probably won't work or
1:10:29
vice versa. Yeah, exactly.
1:10:31
All right, Josh, your final thoughts for tonight?
1:10:35
Like I said earlier, the weather's weathering.
1:10:39
You know, like Kristen said that they didn't deliver on Friday in
1:10:43
her office. Both that's made the judgment
1:10:46
call not to send anyone out. Yesterday it was like 75 here
1:10:49
today, the high was 48. When I leave for work in the
1:10:52
morning, it's going to be 60. When I leave for work Tuesday,
1:10:56
it's going to be only 29. So be safe, dress in layers and
1:11:01
appropriately hydrate. Don't get overwhelmed.
1:11:04
If you do, take a step back, take a deep breath.
1:11:07
Step back in now. Well, thank you guys.
1:11:11
I know I kind of ranted a little bit, but I hope it helped.
1:11:15
I'm, I mean, I, I know that it's, there's people that get
1:11:21
frustrated and there's a lot and I know that I, I have my moments
1:11:25
of it too. So I, I, I say these, these
1:11:29
things, but I also just, I try and look at things from the big
1:11:33
picture of it. And I also try and look at
1:11:35
things from the real meta perspective of things too
1:11:39
sometimes. And sometimes I overlook at
1:11:42
things. So, but I hope everybody had a
1:11:47
good Christmas season and that everybody's going to have a
1:11:52
really good new year. Please be safe, don't drink and
1:11:55
drive, be the DD or stay home, you know?
1:12:01
And like I've said before too, I know the holiday season
1:12:04
sometimes gets people down again, the if you need help,
1:12:10
call EAP. The number is 1800 EAP for the
1:12:15
number for you or 1-800-327-4968.
1:12:20
And they can help you guys, like Josh had already said to stay
1:12:25
hydrated. The weather's actually been
1:12:27
warmer here for me than it should be.
1:12:29
And so I've had to remember to drink even more water than
1:12:33
before. But have a safe week, guys, and
1:12:38
we'll talk to you guys next week.
1:12:40
We'll talk to you guys next year.
1:12:42
Hey, I was going to do that. All right.
1:12:47
Kristen, no, thank you, guys. Yeah, I mean, the weather is
1:12:52
crazy, especially in the upper Midwest right now.
1:12:56
Yeah. Be safe, everybody out there.
1:12:59
Like I said, I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow when I
1:13:01
report to the office and it. Yeah, Would it be safe?
1:13:07
Remember, once if you are sent out on the route, once you leave
1:13:11
that office, that safety call is yours.
1:13:13
And if you don't feel safe delivering, turn around and go
1:13:17
back. I know that was a little
1:13:20
discussion the postmaster had with the carriers in my office
1:13:23
Friday is if they did depart to route that they would have to
1:13:26
scan all the packages on the route.
1:13:29
Whereas if they all decided, you know, if they didn't leave, then
1:13:33
they could scan them. Weather delay in the office.
1:13:35
Trust me, I, I, whatever just it is what that is.
1:13:40
I guess I wasn't there. I was home not feeling well.
1:13:44
So, yeah, tomorrow will be interesting.
1:13:47
I'm going to you know, for all of us in the upper Midwest,
1:13:49
especially in the Great Lakes areas, please stay safe
1:13:53
tomorrow. You know, regardless on what the
1:13:56
call is for your office, whether you are going out to the route
1:14:00
or your you know, your management is actually following
1:14:03
safety and it is keeping you in. Just be safe reporting to the
1:14:08
office if you can. Luckily I only have a point
1:14:12
three 3/10 of a mile trip to my office so I more than likely
1:14:17
will make it there without an issue.
1:14:18
But yeah, I, I can't it's pretty crazy where we're at right now.
1:14:24
I know there was risks of tornadoes in the northern
1:14:27
Indiana, northern Ohio, Michigan line.
1:14:29
Just it's crazy out there right now.
1:14:32
I've seen pictures of the storm that was coming across through
1:14:35
Minnesota, Wisconsin before it was hitting the Great Lakes.
1:14:38
And you know, I live literally four blocks from Lake Huron and
1:14:43
half my route is on Lake Huron. So I we'll see what happens with
1:14:48
those waves tomorrow. I'll be interested to see what
1:14:50
they look like coming in. So, but yeah, everybody, please
1:14:54
stay safe. Christmas is over with now.
1:14:58
I know we still have that residual stuff that didn't make
1:15:00
it into the system on time to get delivered for Christmas.
1:15:04
We're still delivering that. It happens every year.
1:15:07
It's nothing new. And you know, we deal with it.
1:15:10
That's what we do. We, we, we easily change and
1:15:15
adapt. Adapt's the word.
1:15:17
I want to try. We, we adapt.
1:15:18
We're rural carriers. We adapt.
1:15:20
And but on that note, yeah, guys, you know, This is why this
1:15:24
whole episode, you know why, why it's important for the union,
1:15:28
what the union is, who the union is.
1:15:31
That union is us. That is everybody with their
1:15:34
feet on the ground. We all have a say.
1:15:38
Whether you realize it or not, or whether you think you do or
1:15:41
not, you do. And the only way to make change
1:15:45
or to try and make change is to use that voice and putting that
1:15:50
ink on paper, writing resolutions, submitting
1:15:53
resolutions, getting them passed up.
1:15:56
And so, you know, we've all said, you know, we have seen
1:15:58
resolutions passed and make it into contract.
1:16:00
We have seen absolutely wonderful resolutions passed and
1:16:03
not make it in the contracts. Now we'll be coming up on a new
1:16:07
negotiation round. I know I have resolutions from
1:16:11
the past that I want to reintroduce and am I going to
1:16:15
absolutely, I'm going to go. I still have them saved on my
1:16:18
computer. So I'm going to go through and
1:16:20
see if there's any re tweaking I can do to it, make it even look
1:16:24
even better and try and get them signed up again.
1:16:27
I mean, that's again, we adapt and that's all about adaptation
1:16:32
and moving forward. And it's not going to happen if
1:16:35
we don't all try and do that collect.
1:16:37
So guys, yes, we'll be back next week and everybody have a happy,
1:16:42
safe New Year this week. You know, I know AAA, a lot of
1:16:47
the area, a lot of local transit companies offer free rides.
1:16:51
You know, use those if you need to, don't go out if you don't
1:16:55
have to. I plan on staying home and
1:16:59
chilling out and probably if I make it till midnight I'll be
1:17:02
surprised and we'll see as I'm getting old.
1:17:07
But yeah, take care guys, be safe and we'll be back next
1:17:12
year. Bye.