Latest / United We Scan / Happy New Year 2024, Updates and Announcements

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Happy New Year 2024, Updates and Announcements · United We Scan

• 0:17
  Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
• 0:21
  carriers. For rural carriers, the views
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  expressed in this podcast do not reflect the views or opinions of
• 0:29
  the United States Postal Service or the National Rural Letter
• 0:32
  Carriers Association. We ask that you please consult
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  leave a comment or question for us below.
• 0:56
  Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
• 1:00
  United We Scan podcast. Happy New Year's, everybody.
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  Guess what? This is Season 2 episode one,
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  the very first episode coming out for 2024, and we have
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  everybody with us today. How you doing, Josh?
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  I am doing good, hoping for a better year this year than last
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  year. Hey.
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  That's all we can all hope for. I wouldn't mind a few more days
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  like I had on Wednesday, clocked out at 12:30 on my 48K.
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  Wow. I had two days this week of 130
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  on my 45 K You're doing better than I am.
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  Well, there was like nothing. I have one tray of GPS for the
• 1:53
  whole route. Like no flats.
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  Parcels were really light so I just pulled down, you know, I
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  pulled, did a hard ripple on that tray, bundled up the for
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  the CB US and then for the curbside I pulled down my parcel
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  markers and lats and spurs into it.
• 2:23
  Hit the street, you know. Ended up having to circle back
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  and take the long way around to get back to the office to hit my
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  blue box on my way back. It was not much.
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  It was only a few minutes later than I'd normally hit it at the
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  very beginning of the route. We, we, we, we don't mind days
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  like that after the holidays, that's for sure.
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  It was a mixed bag for me. I had Tuesday.
• 2:54
  We had no Amazon, so I was back at.
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  I don't even know what time it was.
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  Tuesday wasn't too bad mail. I mean, all the mail was heavy.
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  Parcels were light. Wednesday was, AI don't know, an
• 3:11
  average day. Thursday was pretty light.
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  Again. I was back at 1:30 on Thursday
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  and then of course I had as a new regular, had to redo my
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  fingerprints and background check Thursday after I got back.
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  Yeah, fun, fun, fun and. Then they do that.
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  That's online, right? That questionnaire online, yeah.
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  That's yeah, yeah. Luckily it only goes back five
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  years, so that for me, it was really simple, easy.
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  I think the only thing I really had to look up to put in there
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  was the address of my high school.
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  So other than that, that. That that was more than five
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  years ago, prior to me going to regular, so I didn't have to
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  worry about. That yeah, no, I they still
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  wanted it. But you know, but other than
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  that, Friday was a fairly average day.
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  Saturday like yesterday. Like I said, I was back again by
• 4:00
  1:30 yesterday. So I'm not going to complain.
• 4:03
  I'll take it as it is. We do have a new sub hired for
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  my route. I have a shadow day scheduled
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  for the 10th because he's going to orientation on the ninth.
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  Other than that, it hasn't been too bad.
• 4:15
  James, how was how was your getting through the holidays?
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  Through Christmas the IT was pretty good overtime every
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  single day ended up being in overtime on Friday.
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  So I cased and set up my entire route and then the supervisor
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  comes over and goes. You can hand off half of it to
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  the RCA and I'm like really. And so I ended up handing off
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  half my route. So that took three hours off of
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  me for the route. But I still got a bunch of
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  overtime for the week as it was. And I did let him know that next
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  time ask first before telling you're going to do that.
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  Because then you can actually get concurrence on that.
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  And there's less likely a chance that they'll be upset about it
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  and file agreements, stuff like that because we're entitled to
• 5:01
  that overtime. So he said, OK, I won't do that
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  to anybody else, but you know, yeah, and I'm like it, but I'm
• 5:07
  one of those that I'll take the early out, if I can get the
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  early out. You know, I'm still into
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  overtime anyway, still into overtime anyway and I'm, I'll
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  start my three day weekend early, you know.
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  So that was pretty good. And then this past week, Monday
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  was pretty heavy. I didn't get done until an hour,
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  hour and 15 after my evaluation. And Tuesday.
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  Yeah. Why'd you work an hour and a
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  half over Monday? Tuesday.
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  It felt like a Monday. It felt like a Monday.
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  Dumb ass. But no Tuesday.
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  But yeah. And then Wednesday was extremely
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  light. I only had 36 scans on Tuesday.
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  And mail. I had three trays of mail pulled
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  down into my DPS. Everything. 3 trays.
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  It was crazy. And then Wednesday was also like
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  Thursday I started picking up again.
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  I guess people started using their gift cards from Christmas
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  and things like that. And then Friday was a normal,
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  normal day for me. And then we got to here.
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  And even though it's New Year's Eve that we're recording this
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  Happy new Year to everybody as you're listening to this on New
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  Year's Day or after our first episode for 2024.
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  And it's going to be a big one. So stay tuned.
• 6:31
  Bill, how's the last couple weeks been treating you dear?
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  Well, first of all, I'd like to rip the colon out of everyone of
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  you BIG48K routes getting done at 1:30 in the afternoon because
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  I'm still working the five 6:00 and I don't understand what the
• 6:49
  hell y'all doing but on Monday. Oh no, no, it wasn't Monday.
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  It was Tuesday. We had seven carriers call out
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  out of 18 routes and. Yeah, you called and told me
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  about that. That's pretty crazy.
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  And and the the supervisor came around, they asked him for
• 7:09
  volunteers and I said hold on, you threatened us on Friday
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  about Saturday and then you need our help on Tuesday.
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  I said go around the corner and look, see if you find any
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  because you're not getting any here.
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  And the the our local poom, who I call a little bit of a name
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  because he's short and he was in the office and you know, he
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  wasn't happy about it. So on Wednesday he decided that
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  no regular carriers are allowed to help on any vacant routes for
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  the rest of the MOU. If that's fine by us, you know,
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  I don't give a shit. But no, I mean, yeah, I've been
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  coming into a hamper and a half of parcels, the two hampers
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  every day, my mail's down to four to five trays of DPS flats
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  are basically non existent. But I mean hell, my parcels are
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  still up there. I mean, you got everybody using
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  their gift cards, everybody using their returns.
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  And you know, funny because I I've seen more Christmas cards
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  in the mail this week than I did the previous three-week.
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  Yes, I have seen a lot too. Yeah, it's just.
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  I feel like yesterday, but yeah. I mean, yeah, I'll, I'll get 30
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  or 40 large parcels, but then I have 15 trays of spurs every
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  day. So I don't understand why you
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  guys are dropping off so much. You must live in a poor
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  neighborhood or something. I don't know.
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  More rural area, yeah. Yeah, no, I I'm happy.
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  For you. Tuesday, our truck was an hour
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  and a half late Tuesday, didn't get there till 8:45 and we all
• 8:57
  got there at like 7:30. We had no Amazon Tuesday, no
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  drop for Amazon. And yeah, I think we had
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  carriers that were climbed up and was dusting off the top of
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  their cases. My daughter texts me as I was
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  playing Monopoly. Go going, hey, you're supposed
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  to be working and after I was causing her to go bankrupt or
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  something. I don't know, but yeah, Tuesday
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  our truck was an hour and a half late.
• 9:27
  It was crazy. Supposedly they made him wait
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  for DPS where a lot of the area offices didn't get DPS but we
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  did. Wasn't too bad though.
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  But other than that, yeah it was it was a fairly I don't know our
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  week was kind of light kind of not light just depended on the
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  day. All right James what was that
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  you you had a good topic you wanted to discuss about holidays
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  and scheduling in order or consideration.
• 9:58
  Well, let's start off with that one.
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  All right, so I've had a few people actually reach out to me
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  online, and I'm always open to talking to people online.
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  And their biggest question came about holiday scheduling and who
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  is actually supposed to be forced into work out of regular
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  carriers because the holiday leave is a different force in
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  than standard because you have the holiday, which for us these
• 10:30
  past two weeks was on Monday and the designated holiday being
• 10:35
  Saturday. People were getting upset
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  because they were forced in both Saturdays.
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  And so I wanted to bring up the topic and actually specifically
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  explain the part of the contract that deals with this and why
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  it's just a little bit different compared to normal call
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  insurance for forcing people in. So the biggest part of it is, of
• 11:03
  course, Article 11 Holidays section Two Payment, which is
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  subsection B. When a holiday falls on the
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  relief day of an evaluated carrier, the carrier shall be
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  granted the preceding work day as the designated holiday.
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  When the primary leave replacement is unavailable on
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  the carrier's designated holiday and other leave replacements are
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  unavailable in accordance with Article 30.2 dot D, the regular
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  carrier may be scheduled to work on the designated holiday.
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  For the purpose of this section, a leave replacement is
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  considered unavailable when he or she is assigned to work on
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  any regular or auxiliary route. A regular world carrier required
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  to work on a designated holiday shall receive the daily rate of
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  pay for such day, in addition to holiday leave pay to which the
• 12:02
  employees entitled. A regular rear carrier is
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  required to work on the designated Christmas holiday.
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  Such carriers shall receive 1 1/2 times the daily rate of pay.
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  In addition to the holiday leave pay.
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  There is a section C that talks about getting a credit for an
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  annual leave since 2023 Presidents Day holiday.
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  We already had talked about this in a previous episode of the
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  credit for that and things like that.
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  But the key there is when the relief carriers are assigned to
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  work any regular or auxiliary route.
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  So if they're assigned to an auxiliary route, they're
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  considered unavailable on a holiday.
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  So what? What does that mean to you guys?
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  What does that section? Mean.
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  OK, first of all, we'll we'll use a regular office where most
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  people have Saturday off. If you have a carrier that chose
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  Monday as a relief day and the holiday falls on Monday, their
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  holiday reverts back to Saturday.
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  It's cheaper to bring them in to work their observed holiday than
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  it is to bring in a carrier on the RDWL at time and 1/2.
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  Except in the order of see you talked about the RDWL.
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  They have to bring in the RDWL first.
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  This is forcing carriers in after you've gone through.
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  It not on their holiday. A holiday order consideration by
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  itself does not include holiday carriers.
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  It's cheaper for them to work a holiday carrier than someone on
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  their relief day, so they're going to work the holiday
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  carrier first. But if you read section 9 of the
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  Order of consideration, it says select a regular rural carrier
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  to work in accordance with article 8.5 A.
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  Select carriers on the release day work list in order of
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  seniority on a rotating basis to work the relief day.
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  Then B if the need exists, the employer will accept volunteers
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  from regular carriers not on the list before requiring carriers
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  not on the list to work the relief day.
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  Such requirement will be by juniority and The only exception
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  listed here is any regular carrier may be bypassed from
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  working a relief day if the hours worked would cause them to
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  exceed 2080 hours for the guarantee year or 56 hours for
• 15:02
  the week. Right.
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  That's the way. Of mind that designated holiday?
• 15:09
  It's still your regular work day.
• 15:13
  Yes. Yes, that's the caveat to that.
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  It's still your regular work day.
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  It's not your relief day. Your holiday moves, not your
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  relief day. Your relief day stays the same.
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  And the key to that level is, and they talk about forcing by
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  juniority, it starts with those that their relief day is on the
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  actual holiday. So if your relief day is Monday
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  1st, the people who normally work Saturday are the ones to be
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  forced in. Then once all those people have
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  been forced in, then they go to the people who have the Saturday
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  off. And this gets a lot of people in
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  a tizzy in offices because people that have 20 years in as
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  a regular could be forced in on the Saturday designated holiday
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  because they have Monday off over the guy who only has two or
• 16:15
  three years in that has a Saturday relief day.
• 16:21
  But that's the way it's supposed to be.
• 16:25
  Yeah, you're going to work your holiday before over somebody's
• 16:31
  drop day. You're relief day, yes.
• 16:33
  Yes, so. That's that's like I said
• 16:38
  before, if you're a mail carrier in my office and your relief day
• 16:42
  is a Saturday and that becomes the carrier's Monday, K day is
• 16:48
  now holiday is Saturday. You're going to stuck working so
• 16:53
  they can use your sub to cover that person's holiday.
• 16:56
  Yeah yeah. But anyways, side note.
• 16:59
  But that would that would be a grievance.
• 17:01
  And what are we doing when something is violating the
• 17:04
  contract bill? We file file and file mile.
• 17:09
  Yeah, even if we are on the work relief day work list, yeah,
• 17:14
  yeah, yeah. That's my management is pretty
• 17:16
  much said if you're on the relief day work list, you're
• 17:19
  volunteering to give up every relief day to work.
• 17:21
  So yeah, we're not going to go there right now.
• 17:26
  There there is a caveat to you being forced into and that is if
• 17:29
  you have a annual leave sick leave for an X day scheduled
• 17:34
  adjacent to their to your relief day.
• 17:37
  You will not be required to work your relief day even if forced
• 17:42
  in if even if they're forcing people in unless you volunteer.
• 17:51
  So we just, I just wanted to, I just wanted to cover that
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  because it there are so many people that don't understand
• 17:57
  that process and designated holiday versus actual holiday,
• 18:04
  it's a lot easier when the holiday falls on a Saturday
• 18:06
  because everybody just gets Saturday off, yeah.
• 18:09
  Yeah, yeah. All right.
• 18:10
  Yeah. All right.
• 18:11
  Party. But that was the bigger that's
• 18:20
  why holidays falling on a Saturday are a great thing,
• 18:22
  because even people who have to work six days a week get
• 18:25
  Saturday off. This is true, yes, yes.
• 18:30
  But so yeah, that's the big biggest thing that a lot of
• 18:33
  people have is who gets forced in first.
• 18:36
  And they actually have to ask from seniority down through
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  everybody before they force. And that includes both the
• 18:47
  people that have a Saturday and a Monday relief day.
• 18:50
  So they literally start at the most senior to the least senior
• 18:54
  person asking if they want to volunteer and then juniority on
• 18:59
  people Saturday 1st, then juniority on people with Monday,
• 19:05
  juniority with people on Monday 1st for a Saturday designated
• 19:09
  holiday and then Saturday people after that.
• 19:12
  I misspoke. Yeah, so you know, and with the
• 19:20
  Christmas overtime season ending on the 22nd.
• 19:25
  Sucks. That and being the fact that I
• 19:28
  went regular November 18th, that means I'm not on the relief day
• 19:32
  work list, so now I'm baking X days.
• 19:39
  Well, I have two. I have sounds.
• 19:42
  Like you're about to have a sub though.
• 19:43
  I am I Well, I will have a few banked X days until we get that
• 19:46
  sub up and going. So I'm up to two so far.
• 19:50
  Yeah, yeah. And.
• 19:51
  As long as you don't run them off like the last couple of
• 19:54
  them. I don't think so.
• 19:56
  He seems pretty excited for this job.
• 19:58
  I did a little social media sleuthing on who it is.
• 20:01
  So I had an idea of what I was working with you know being and
• 20:07
  so we'll we'll see what happens. I'm I'm we'll we'll see.
• 20:10
  I'm. I'm very optimistic.
• 20:14
  Let's put it this way for this time.
• 20:16
  Whether or not their longevity in my particular office will go
• 20:19
  past a year that I don't know. But.
• 20:23
  We're optimistic at this point, so.
• 20:27
  What you're saying is you're keeping your fingers crossed but
• 20:31
  not holding your breath. Exactly.
• 20:34
  Yeah, I that's all I can do. I definitely don't hold my
• 20:37
  breath in my office one bit for anything.
• 20:41
  Oh, that brings me. That brings me back to Tuesday,
• 20:43
  because when we had our seven open routes, one of our Subs
• 20:47
  walked out. Oh boy.
• 20:49
  Yeah, just said fuck this, I I can't take this anymore and just
• 20:54
  walked out. We have a regular carrier in my
• 20:57
  office that's pretty close to that at this point in time too.
• 21:01
  Oh, I'm like that every day. You get, you get in my face.
• 21:05
  I'll pack up. Go go.
• 21:07
  Well, you can retire at any time you want too, so.
• 21:12
  Retired in the past four years, but you know, my wife makes me
• 21:14
  work. Those of us are just starting
• 21:19
  our career. Yeah.
• 21:25
  That's what I'm saying, just starting our career at the ripe
• 21:28
  old age of 45. So yeah, I've I've got some time
• 21:32
  to go. Still, so now I want to talk
• 21:37
  about what our plans are for this year with the podcast.
• 21:42
  So we do have a bit of things lined up already that we're
• 21:46
  working on. Tentatively, we have a schedule
• 21:50
  of special guests that we're going to be bringing in, as well
• 21:54
  as looking for an RCA or two or other members that wish to
• 22:01
  actually step up and join in the fray of conversation here.
• 22:07
  You know how fun we have it? And we are.
• 22:10
  Exactly. And you know, on a revolving
• 22:14
  basis is fine if you don't want to do it every week ever.
• 22:16
  You know, you don't have to. If you want to just come in and
• 22:20
  say your piece and be done, one and done, you're more than
• 22:23
  welcome to. I'm actually probably going to
• 22:26
  do a Google form and I'll post it in the group and on the
• 22:30
  Facebook page and whatnot. That way people can sign up when
• 22:34
  they're available. We normally record on Sunday
• 22:38
  evenings at 7:00 PM Eastern Time, so or start.
• 22:42
  It's about time we get on and we actually start recording closer
• 22:45
  to 7:30, but that way, you know, people can sign up, We can reach
• 22:50
  out to you ahead of time. There will be a little vetting
• 22:52
  process going in on that too. But yeah, we do.
• 22:56
  We're, we're trying to move things along as we come into
• 23:01
  this new year. Go ahead, James.
• 23:03
  Sorry to cut you off. No worries.
• 23:05
  I mean it. It's there's a lot of stuff
• 23:07
  we're going to go on. And the other thing is, is if
• 23:09
  you have a story you want told out there, you want to tell us
• 23:14
  your story of something that happened to you you've heard
• 23:18
  happening in other places, and you want to tell your story and
• 23:21
  get advice from us and actually talk about it on air with us,
• 23:25
  we're willing to do that as well.
• 23:27
  There's so many opportunities for different ways this can go.
• 23:30
  But the biggest thing is, is we want to make sure that we are
• 23:34
  here answering your questions and stop helping you to get
• 23:39
  through whatever it is you're dealing with.
• 23:41
  I can point you in the right direction on where you need to
• 23:44
  go to further rectify a situation if needed.
• 23:48
  Yeah, and I'll I'll insist that if we have stories, I would
• 23:52
  prefer them to be first hand and not second hand.
• 23:56
  Correct. Correct.
• 23:58
  Just so that we get a more honest perspective in regards to
• 24:02
  the accuracy of the story itself.
• 24:05
  Yeah. And another another big one that
• 24:08
  I wanted to have talked about and something that I get
• 24:10
  contacted about. A lot is on the job injuries,
• 24:15
  workman's comp. We're actually going to be
• 24:17
  bringing Ron Speakman from Fed up into the mix and having a
• 24:23
  conversation with him about going through the process of on
• 24:28
  the job injuries, OWCP and things like that because he is
• 24:32
  very knowledgeable in that stuff, a lot more than a lot of
• 24:35
  the people that we've talked to. And so we're going to actually
• 24:38
  pick his brain about the whole process and what it can mean for
• 24:42
  rural carriers as well. Absolutely.
• 24:46
  Ron's the good guys. I see he's listening in right
• 24:48
  now, but. Yes, we have big.
• 24:51
  Plans coming up for 2024 and I I'm excited for this year guys,
• 24:58
  how about you? Oh, I'm really excited.
• 25:02
  It's it's going to be a quite an interesting lead up to both the
• 25:06
  rest of the year as well as International Convention this
• 25:09
  year and that's the big push we're going for now and getting
• 25:14
  there so. Absolutely, absolutely, yes.
• 25:19
  National Convention. Oklahoma.
• 25:22
  Oklahoma. Yeah.
• 25:25
  What's going on in Oklahoma? The Western states.
• 25:28
  Oh, what is that not? Western What is it?
• 25:31
  Southwest. Southwest.
• 25:33
  When is that one? It's in February.
• 25:37
  Oh, we'll see. Maybe I might be able to join
• 25:40
  you. I I might a.
• 25:42
  Lot of votes there. There is I I.
• 25:46
  You know what? Let me look at the dates and I
• 25:50
  may be able to join you on that one.
• 25:51
  We'll see how it goes with my RCA.
• 25:54
  I'll be more than happy to give him some hours.
• 25:55
  Like I said, I got some bank decks days coming up.
• 25:58
  I I mean, I've looked at Zach, but Zach is more informational
• 26:03
  than you know open mic type opportunity.
• 26:08
  So I'm a little, I got to make up my mind by the 10th January
• 26:11
  10th on that one. But yeah, the Southwest I
• 26:14
  definitely want to get to. OK.
• 26:16
  What about mid states in May? Where's that at?
• 26:21
  Muskegon, MI. Yeah, who the hell wants to go
• 26:23
  there? I was to say you can make it an
• 26:28
  extended vacation because the following weekend I do believe I
• 26:32
  have to double check the dates. I do believe the following
• 26:34
  weekend is my daughter's graduation.
• 26:36
  Oh, OK, yeah, I look. Forward Dick.
• 26:39
  There we go. No, that that one's also under
• 26:43
  consideration, as well as the Western states too.
• 26:46
  Yeah, and like I said, let me know if like I said, I want to
• 26:49
  get this RCA trained and give him some hours so I'm more than
• 26:52
  and use up some X days. So let's see what we got going
• 26:56
  on. So Bill, do you want to tell
• 27:00
  them why you're going to be attending all these regional
• 27:03
  conventions? Let's see.
• 27:05
  To spread the message. To spread the word.
• 27:09
  To spread dissent. To get my face out there in
• 27:13
  front of people, get their input, Let them know that we
• 27:17
  have a better future if we get the right delegates selected for
• 27:21
  the National Convention. Promote the craft over the
• 27:25
  union. Damn.
• 27:27
  Let's see. You know what else do I want to
• 27:28
  do? Just generally, generally star
• 27:31
  shit. But why?
• 27:35
  What is the ultimate goal you want to achieve out of all that?
• 27:40
  So wasn't there something else? I I I would like, I would like
• 27:44
  to be the president of the National Rule Letter Carriers
• 27:47
  Association so that we can have true representation of the craft
• 27:53
  on the national board and so we can get rid of the gang of Nine
• 27:59
  that's been ruling our board for the past 20 years to their own
• 28:02
  benefit and not for the benefit of the carrier.
• 28:07
  You heard it here, folks. Bill May is running for
• 28:11
  president of the National World Letter Carriers Association.
• 28:15
  You're the 1st to know. I mean, besides us, of course,
• 28:19
  but you're the 1st to know that Bill is going to be running for
• 28:23
  national president. So we need everybody involved.
• 28:26
  We need people out there on the streets getting people to run
• 28:30
  for delegate, getting people to vote for delegate, getting that
• 28:33
  happening because Bill is running for president.
• 28:37
  And I could tell you this from knowing him these last year and
• 28:42
  a half, two years. He's a great guy.
• 28:46
  He's a great guy and he cares about the craft.
• 28:50
  He cares about participation. He wants to take care of this
• 28:54
  craft because he may be an angry old man sometimes, but that
• 29:00
  passion he has for it shows and how he does things.
• 29:07
  Well let let let me just follow up on that for those who don't
• 29:11
  know me personally, I could have retired four or five years ago
• 29:17
  easily. You know I I've done well in the
• 29:20
  market and everything. My wife is 6 years younger than
• 29:24
  me, so I'm kind of waiting for her to catch up, you know, to
• 29:27
  the Social Security and all that.
• 29:29
  But what drives me is the stuff that I see every day in my
• 29:33
  office and address the, the social media pages that I, you
• 29:38
  know, peruse through and sit there and go, How can this be
• 29:41
  happening in the office? How can how can this be
• 29:44
  happening in our steward system? How can this be happening at the
• 29:47
  national level? Where are the people that we've
• 29:50
  elected to represent us? Why aren't they out there
• 29:56
  pounding the bricks, saying no more.
• 30:00
  And the the the whole reason of it is they're not there for out
• 30:04
  of concern for us. They're they're out there to
• 30:06
  milk it till they get to retirement and then they'll be
• 30:09
  gone and they're they're just passing the torch down down the
• 30:14
  ladder, you know, as we have seen over the past 5-6 years.
• 30:18
  And there's no concern for the carriers.
• 30:21
  I mean, let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, I I I am
• 30:26
  passionate. I I and I do get angry because
• 30:28
  of the fact that I see how everybody's treated and and then
• 30:32
  I get jealous when I see people who have great postmasters.
• 30:36
  We have a national steward system that should have our
• 30:39
  back. And guess what?
• 30:43
  We don't have a national steward system for us.
• 30:48
  We just pay them. And I want to put some teeth in
• 30:51
  the steward system. Yeah, I agree with you there.
• 30:57
  I agree with you there, Bill. You know the, the thing about it
• 31:01
  is I have talked with stewards across this country.
• 31:06
  I've talked with AD Rs across this country.
• 31:09
  I've talked with district reps across this country and I've
• 31:12
  talked with carriers across this country that tell me the
• 31:16
  downfalls within our national steward system.
• 31:21
  The communication line in our steward system is broken.
• 31:26
  There are issues all up and down the chain.
• 31:30
  I've talked about this before. I talked with an ADR who's not
• 31:33
  only working his route all the time, he's also spending his off
• 31:38
  time away from the route, away from work, doing steward work
• 31:43
  and he's done 100 plus hours a week as Aadr working for the
• 31:49
  craft. That's the type of people I like
• 31:52
  working as AD Rs. It's the people that are willing
• 31:54
  to get down and do the work as hard and passionately as I I do
• 31:59
  for the craft and how much we care about the craft.
• 32:02
  Those are the type of people we need working for our our system.
• 32:06
  And then I hear from others who tell me they contacted their ADR
• 32:11
  and they haven't heard back in a Week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, a month,
• 32:15
  things like that. Or they get a mess, get a send a
• 32:18
  question to somebody and they get a response back up.
• 32:21
  Let me look into it. I'll get back to you.
• 32:24
  Things like that. And they never get a response
• 32:26
  back. Our system is so broken up at
• 32:29
  the top that we have our Director of Labor Relations
• 32:34
  operating the steward system. Our Director of Labor Relations
• 32:39
  doesn't even know labor laws, and yet she's trying to run the
• 32:43
  steward system instead because that's where her Forte more lies
• 32:47
  is in the steward system. So in order to fix this, we need
• 32:52
  somebody who's going to turn around and tell these stewards
• 32:56
  and AD Rs and D Rs they have a specific time frame to get back
• 33:01
  to their carriers. We need somebody in that
• 33:03
  position who's going to set up people to investigate when
• 33:09
  that's not happening. We need somebody who's going to
• 33:12
  find out where our deficiencies are in our steward system
• 33:17
  because we have stewards out there who give different answers
• 33:21
  across the board. I can go ask 2 stewards in one
• 33:25
  state, a simple question and get two different answers and that
• 33:29
  should not be happening in this system.
• 33:33
  And so because of that, I'm letting everybody here know also
• 33:38
  that I am going to be running for the Director of Stewart
• 33:41
  Operations because our steward system is the most important
• 33:47
  protection for our craft. Our stewards are there to be the
• 33:52
  defense attorneys for our craft against management.
• 33:59
  And without a good steward system, the contract is useless.
• 34:06
  Management, we found out, won't defend the contract.
• 34:10
  Management won't follow the contract.
• 34:13
  And we have stewards out there who would rather be friendly
• 34:17
  with management and settle for language that already exists
• 34:24
  instead of taking care of our carriers.
• 34:29
  And one of the biggest things I'm going to do is I'm going to
• 34:33
  make it known to every steward in the system that settling for
• 34:38
  language only occurs at the national level.
• 34:44
  Because if the language already exists, you shouldn't be
• 34:47
  settling for it in the 1st place.
• 34:52
  So you. Heard it here guys.
• 34:57
  From now, from now until National Convention, I'm asking
• 35:01
  you guys. Let me know how your stewards
• 35:04
  are. Let me know what deficiencies
• 35:07
  you have. Let me know if you have good
• 35:08
  ones too. Because I would gladly shout
• 35:13
  from the rooftops about the good ones.
• 35:15
  Gladly put their names out there because they deserve the
• 35:18
  recognition for defending their carriers.
• 35:23
  But I also want to clean up the problems in the system.
• 35:28
  Now you can do it, Kristen. All right, here we go.
• 35:32
  Hey you guys, you have heard it here first, Bill is officially
• 35:36
  going to be running for NRLCA President this year again.
• 35:43
  James is officially going to be running for Director of Stewart
• 35:48
  Operations 2024 National Convention in August in Reno,
• 35:56
  NV. If y'all want me to run let me
• 36:01
  know. I am open to running.
• 36:02
  My mind at this point is not completely made-up, but I it's
• 36:06
  definitely not off the table so I have not made.
• 36:08
  I'm not making official announcement until I am
• 36:11
  officially knowing that I'm going to run in what position.
• 36:14
  But if y'all out there listening and you would like to see me run
• 36:18
  again, which I did last, well actually be two years now, 2022,
• 36:23
  I did run for Vice President as an RCAI am not opposed to
• 36:28
  running again. But I want to know from you guys
• 36:32
  where you would like to see me whether that's an executive
• 36:35
  committee man, vice president, I'm going to leave labor off the
• 36:43
  table at this point in time. That is not my Forte and I care
• 36:47
  about each and everyone of you. I really do.
• 36:50
  But Labor, definitely. I'm going to be honest, it's not
• 36:51
  my Forte, but. I thought about Labor, but at
• 36:59
  the same at the same time I know that Stewart operations the only
• 37:04
  way Labor can be really beneficial to the craft is if
• 37:08
  the steward system is is fixed up first.
• 37:11
  I I. Completely agree.
• 37:13
  I mean, but I do know I've been talking with several people
• 37:17
  about that. And if you're wanting to step
• 37:20
  up, we're willing, we're willing to announce that you're running
• 37:25
  on our our platform. We will put that out there, yes.
• 37:29
  If you are willing to step up and run for a national office
• 37:33
  and would like to come on and say, hey, I am so and so I am
• 37:38
  running for this office. This is what I believe in.
• 37:41
  This is what I want to do. We will open that up for you.
• 37:46
  Our platform is available for you.
• 37:50
  And don't forget ladies and gentlemen, we're not looking to
• 37:53
  change one or two positions on the national board.
• 37:56
  We want to change the entire national board because that's
• 38:00
  the only way to get effective policy instituted to care and
• 38:06
  protect the carriers dues and non dues paying James.
• 38:14
  Yes. I, as you know, go ahead.
• 38:19
  As the Director of Stewart Operations, one of the biggest
• 38:22
  things that I'm going to ensure happens is that every steward
• 38:27
  follows the law on that because I've heard stories of non dues
• 38:32
  paying carriers being treated differently than dues paying
• 38:37
  carriers and that is against the law and that shouldn't be
• 38:41
  happening. Now granted, as a union member I
• 38:45
  want everybody to be dues paying and supporting the union, but we
• 38:50
  know that's not feasible across the board right now.
• 38:55
  But we will support every single row carrier out there because
• 39:00
  not only is it the right thing to do to protect the dues paying
• 39:04
  members, it's also the right thing to do with the law all.
• 39:10
  Right. So I just had a few people come
• 39:14
  out and say we need AVP. I'll do it again.
• 39:20
  I I I'll do it again. You'll do it again.
• 39:23
  Well. This is my official, This is my
• 39:27
  official announcement that yes, I will be running for Vice
• 39:32
  President of the NRLCA come August in Reno.
• 39:38
  Could you imagine having carriers on the national board?
• 39:43
  What a difference that would make.
• 39:45
  Well, you know, and and that's where I kind of stood as an RCA
• 39:50
  running in 2022 in Orlando. I was still an RCA then I am a
• 39:55
  regular now I am a new regular. However, the Vice President is
• 40:00
  the one that works closely with doing the RCA Academy.
• 40:07
  They're the ones that had that up for the most part.
• 40:11
  You know, everything RCA related, Kurt, pretty much goes
• 40:14
  to the Vice President. I still have.
• 40:18
  I mean, you know, Rcas are important to me.
• 40:22
  You know we've got our new one in the office that we just and
• 40:26
  he's young he's 19 maybe 20. He we I I've taken him under.
• 40:32
  You know I walk up to him. All right.
• 40:33
  I got to have that mom talk with you about this.
• 40:36
  Don't be doing this. This is your official postal mom
• 40:39
  talk. You know it it's these guys.
• 40:44
  You know, even as a regular when they would say hey you know do
• 40:47
  you want some overtime and go help him.
• 40:49
  You don't even. It's to me, it's not about the
• 40:50
  overtime. To me, it's like, absolutely,
• 40:53
  I'm going to go help him. I'm going to go make sure that,
• 40:56
  you know, his first day out on the route, everybody's first day
• 41:01
  alone on the route sucks. We all know that.
• 41:04
  But I'm going to go out there and I'm going to say, hey, you
• 41:06
  know what, give me your packages, head back to the
• 41:10
  office, case up the rest of the mail that you have for this
• 41:12
  portion of the route. I'll deliver the packages.
• 41:15
  You're doing good and it's going to get better because you're
• 41:19
  starting in the middle of Christmas season.
• 41:22
  You know, to keep them going. Rcas are still my heart.
• 41:27
  You know, I I didn't spend as many years as quite a few.
• 41:32
  But giving the turn around we've had, I'm been an RI, was an RCA
• 41:38
  longer than what some of my regular carriers have been with
• 41:40
  the post office total. Am I right, James?
• 41:45
  You were in RCA longer than I've been with the Post Office.
• 41:48
  That's what I'm saying. I was in RCA for eight years, 11
• 41:51
  months, 5 days. Who's.
• 41:55
  Calling I did, I did. But you know and I I know people
• 42:01
  that were RC As for 10/12/15 twenty years, I mean I get that
• 42:07
  I fall kind of right in the middle.
• 42:09
  I mean we've got one friend of ours who was an RCA for 13
• 42:13
  months and went full time. You know that RC as and how we
• 42:18
  can better train them and get them going to where and are
• 42:24
  better treated in their offices. That to me is a passion and I
• 42:29
  think as the Vice President I would work very closely with
• 42:35
  making sure RC as got the proper training from the ground up.
• 42:40
  And let's get the buyback pushed through.
• 42:43
  That is definitely, yeah. For Congress, definitely.
• 42:48
  I mean, we can push that too, I mean.
• 42:50
  That, that and the RCA is becoming career after 2080 hours
• 42:55
  or two years that was passed as a resolution at this last
• 42:58
  National Convention that needs to be put in this next contract
• 43:02
  that our current board is going to start negotiating and soon
• 43:07
  So. And we're going to have to keep
• 43:09
  an eye on that as well because that's probably one of the first
• 43:12
  things that our current national board is going to remove from
• 43:15
  the contract negotiations. No, no.
• 43:21
  So here's the thing people, our contract negotiations start
• 43:25
  soon. Wait, we don't know.
• 43:27
  It's boots on the ground. What date that actually is going
• 43:30
  to start? When it's going.
• 43:32
  To somewhere in the next 8 to 12 weeks.
• 43:35
  OK. So you know we have a rest
• 43:36
  estimate of when it will start, when it ends.
• 43:40
  We don't know if this contract is not settled before the next
• 43:45
  National Convention. The people that you elect into
• 43:50
  office are going to continue those negotiation talks.
• 43:55
  Just remember that and what would you honestly, I think what
• 44:01
  we negotiate, what we've been talking about, what what the
• 44:06
  post office has put out to us, what we said absolutely no to or
• 44:10
  what, you know, I think our negotiations should be available
• 44:14
  to our membership and what we're talking about, where it where
• 44:18
  things are headed, There needs to be some sort of transparency
• 44:23
  in contract negotiations. Yes, resolutions, non binding
• 44:28
  resolutions are that wish list of what we'd like to talk or
• 44:31
  what we'd like to see negotiated of what we'd like to see.
• 44:35
  But what actually gets talked about and negotiated, we have no
• 44:39
  clue until it comes to ratification meetings.
• 44:43
  I think that needs to change. Yeah, I think putting it out on
• 44:48
  social media of what's actually happening, you know, the current
• 44:53
  national, the current national board believes that keeping
• 44:58
  everything behind closed doors protects their views, opinions
• 45:03
  and strategies. But if you're in contract
• 45:07
  negotiations, you want to put out what you're currently asking
• 45:12
  for. Because I.
• 45:14
  Don't know if I would go as far, and I don't mean to cut you off,
• 45:18
  James. I don't know if I would go as
• 45:20
  far as posting that contract negotiations on social media.
• 45:24
  I think I and I'm going to say this I I.
• 45:28
  Updates on it would be good. I I I'm going to say and I don't
• 45:33
  don't go after me for saying this people, but I think that is
• 45:37
  something that should be on the website and not necessarily on
• 45:40
  the social media. But yes, maybe a highlighted
• 45:44
  high you know points of could be put out there to drive people to
• 45:52
  go look up and see what's been negotiated and what is a yes and
• 45:55
  what is a no and what is is still in talks.
• 45:58
  I get that. And this one is right.
• 46:04
  Yeah, exactly. You know, right on.
• 46:06
  You know the NALC does the rap discussion, the rap talks, the
• 46:09
  rap discussion, whatever it's called.
• 46:10
  Remind me if I'm wrong on that. But, you know they do they put
• 46:15
  that out for the membership. I but you know and one of my
• 46:19
  biggest concerns as is many, is the post office wanting to go
• 46:24
  after the article 30 and this falls in with the MOU stating
• 46:34
  that regulars can volunteer on other routes that MOU that has
• 46:39
  been extended time after time after time since COVID.
• 46:43
  Yes it went away briefly. Then it came back that Mou being
• 46:49
  extended through March as it goes into contract negotiations
• 46:53
  is very much a target for the post office to say, well, you
• 46:57
  have put this MOU out for so long, well, if you want this
• 47:03
  then we're going to take that protection of a regular carrier
• 47:08
  just responsible for their one route away and now they can be
• 47:12
  mandated to cover parts of other routes or whatever else is
• 47:17
  needed and not on a volunteer basis.
• 47:20
  And not in it like city. Yes, exactly.
• 47:25
  The, the problem with your overview, you know, even if you
• 47:28
  just did it on our website, OK, is that you have a national
• 47:33
  board that's going to be trying to protect themselves.
• 47:38
  So you're not going to get the information that you know you're
• 47:40
  looking for that you're entitled to.
• 47:43
  You're going to get what they feed you.
• 47:45
  Exactly. And that's the problem with the
• 47:47
  national board, that there there's no transparency in the
• 47:50
  post office and there's even less from our union.
• 47:55
  And and and guys, I'm just going to put it out there.
• 48:00
  If we were to be elected to the National Board, either one of us
• 48:06
  or all three of us, this podcast would continue.
• 48:11
  Oh yeah. Yep, Because the issues
• 48:18
  surrounding information being disseminated really don't have a
• 48:26
  leg to stand on for the people that have turned what we've done
• 48:32
  here into a problem. As you know, four of us got
• 48:41
  decertified by our national board.
• 48:44
  But for for us, that is the cost of descent, the cost of going
• 48:50
  against the grain, the cost of being different from what they
• 48:55
  envision happening. But it's also illegal what they
• 49:01
  did. So that'll be solved soon
• 49:04
  enough. But until then, we're still
• 49:08
  waiting with bated breath. But we're still going to be here
• 49:12
  for the craft. Because guess what the craft
• 49:16
  makes? The union leadership doesn't
• 49:20
  make the union. Every single row carrier makes
• 49:25
  the union. Every single one of you
• 49:27
  listening to us today, that's a row carrier makes the union.
• 49:32
  Whether you pay dues or not, you make the union.
• 49:36
  You make the craft, I mean we are boots on the ground people.
• 49:40
  We, we have seen it. We have gone through it.
• 49:42
  We have dealt with hostile management in one facade or
• 49:47
  another. We've been through good
• 49:49
  management. We've had bad management.
• 49:53
  We are working our relief days. We have worked other routes and
• 49:58
  gone out and helped. We are people that have
• 50:01
  experienced what has been going on in the last five to 10 years
• 50:07
  of the post office. You know, the biggest, the
• 50:14
  biggest thing we've gone through in the past is the 2008
• 50:20
  recession. That is what caused a lot of the
• 50:23
  problems to start forming within this union.
• 50:25
  Yes, there were problems before that, but they've gotten even
• 50:28
  worse since the 2008 recession when everybody from the Postal
• 50:33
  Service back to GM, Ford and Chrysler, the big three other
• 50:38
  unions out there, they all went to two tier system to try and
• 50:43
  stave off the companies going into bankruptcies and and things
• 50:46
  like that. And that's one of the things the
• 50:48
  unions ended up dealing with, because arbitration gave us the
• 50:54
  two tier pay racks and stuff like that.
• 50:56
  When Jeanette Dwyer, our current one of our current committeemen
• 51:00
  was President of the union. And now it's time for us as the
• 51:09
  UAW, as the Teamsters, as every other union out there.
• 51:13
  Heck, I just read an article yesterday of a Costco in
• 51:18
  Virginia going union. Costco, one of the companies
• 51:22
  that actually takes care of their employees, has gone union.
• 51:26
  So now is the time for unions to step up and negotiate a better
• 51:33
  contract for everybody. And that starts with the
• 51:35
  leadership that's negotiating it.
• 51:38
  And right now we don't have the leadership that has the balls to
• 51:41
  do it. And I'll just put that out
• 51:44
  there. Well, I I'll put the caveat out
• 51:49
  there that if we maintain the current leadership, our next
• 51:54
  contract will look like the last contract and there's not going
• 51:58
  to be any protections in there whatsoever.
• 52:01
  It'll be the standard 1.3% raise, the cost of living.
• 52:05
  Oh, we got you your colas. You know what the, you know, a
• 52:09
  lot of these people say take your COLA and shove it up your
• 52:11
  ass. If I'm being treated like shit
• 52:14
  at work every day, if I'm being belittled, if I'm being
• 52:17
  harassed, you know, they're they're tired of it.
• 52:20
  And and you know, frankly folks, I don't blame you.
• 52:24
  I don't blame the people walking off the jobs that saying, you
• 52:27
  know I don't need this anymore and they don't.
• 52:30
  There's there's there's plenty of jobs out there that you know
• 52:33
  won't treat you like this. And and God bless you if you go
• 52:38
  a different path because you know you don't want to deal with
• 52:41
  it. You know you you have a family
• 52:43
  life that you know has enough problems on a personal level.
• 52:48
  You don't need to take this toxicity home.
• 52:52
  Leave it at the office, go find another job if you have to.
• 52:57
  Thing of it is if you're going to stick it out and let's fight
• 53:00
  and let's fight together. I mean fighting together is what
• 53:04
  we need to do right down from the the brand new RCA to that
• 53:12
  senior carrier who's trying to eventually retire.
• 53:17
  You know, we all have to band together and fight together as
• 53:21
  one. You know, that was that was part
• 53:25
  of my platform when I ran for VP in 2022 was, you know, I want to
• 53:32
  hear from the membership. If you have an issue that you're
• 53:35
  not getting through to other people or it's something that
• 53:37
  needs it, you know, to contact. I mean, I had a lot of people
• 53:42
  saying, so you're going to field 1000 phone calls in a day or
• 53:45
  you're going to get back to, you know, I may not be able to get
• 53:49
  back to you right away. But yeah, if you reached out to
• 53:53
  me as a national officer, I guarantee I will get back to you
• 53:56
  within a week. Within a week, you know that
• 54:00
  that's fielding through everybody.
• 54:02
  I'm hoping to narrow that down. But yeah, I would get back to
• 54:06
  every single person that reached out to me personally one way or
• 54:11
  another. If that means I'm up till 3:00
• 54:13
  in the morning typing out an e-mail to get back to somebody
• 54:17
  and setting an alarm for 8:00, you know, 6:00 in the morning to
• 54:21
  make a phone call or, you know, send an e-mail out saying, hey,
• 54:25
  what's the best time to call you to so we can discuss this, then
• 54:28
  that's what I would do. That's the level of commitment
• 54:36
  that's needed to represent 100,000 people.
• 54:41
  You know James James always would like the throw in the
• 54:43
  caveat of all dues and non dues paying members alike.
• 54:47
  You know what happens to one of us, happens to all of us,
• 54:50
  whether you're in the union or not.
• 54:53
  So if you overlook a transgression to a non union
• 54:58
  dues paying member, guess what? They're going to start coming
• 55:02
  after you next. Yep.
• 55:08
  Not on my. Watch and as they As I've seen
• 55:12
  we've heard on multiple different podcasts on multiple
• 55:15
  different crafts, what happens in one office eventually spreads
• 55:23
  to every office and what happens in one craft eventually spreads
• 55:28
  to the other crafts. And one of the other things that
• 55:31
  we want to do is we want open communication between the craft
• 55:36
  leaderships. We want the NRLCA talking with
• 55:40
  the NALC talking with the APWU to see what management is doing
• 55:46
  against us. Because right now, as it stands,
• 55:49
  the leadership that we have is behind the 8 ball when it comes
• 55:53
  to what management's doing, they don't see it coming.
• 55:58
  And especially when it gets to, and I'm going to put this in
• 56:02
  there, the joint statement, the 4:40, if there is something
• 56:07
  going on in an office that falls under a joint statement, then we
• 56:11
  need all of the unions involved on that.
• 56:15
  And there ain't no reason why we can't reach out and talk to the
• 56:18
  other unions to say, hey, we've got this, came to, came up
• 56:22
  through the chain for us about what's going on in this office.
• 56:25
  If you got somebody in near that office to find out what's going
• 56:28
  on from your craft. So we can all get in on this
• 56:30
  together and get this taken care of.
• 56:36
  Yeah, just like pre episode here tonight where you know city roll
• 56:41
  and and clerk people were brought together to address the
• 56:44
  situation in an office. Yeah, by a poom.
• 56:48
  Why can't we have more pooms like that?
• 56:52
  I I was amazed. I you know, kudos to that poom
• 56:55
  to say, hey, you know, don't tell the postmaster, but I want
• 56:59
  to talk to you to to to the floor employees, the clerks, the
• 57:04
  city carriers, the the rural cares.
• 57:07
  I want to know what's going on in this office because this
• 57:10
  stuff has come to my attention. What is going on?
• 57:13
  I want to hear from you. Why can't there be more
• 57:15
  management like that instead? 9 times out of 10, management is
• 57:21
  the exact opposite and they're causing the issue and it's
• 57:25
  coming from higher above and trickles on down.
• 57:30
  Let's take that for us too. OK, Think about this.
• 57:34
  What would it mean to the craft if leadership was stepping down
• 57:40
  to the rank and file and talking with carriers on the street,
• 57:44
  talking with carriers that are dealing with these issues,
• 57:47
  dealing with bad management? How many MOU 20 fives would be
• 57:51
  filed if leadership was actually listening to the carriers on the
• 57:55
  ground, looking at these offices that have extreme amount of
• 57:58
  grievances or offices that have absolutely no grievances in
• 58:01
  seeing what's going on? Imagine how much change would
• 58:05
  happen if our leadership actually listened to the boots
• 58:09
  on the ground. You know, and at one time this
• 58:14
  was working for USPS was a very coveted job.
• 58:19
  There was wait list, there was lines to take the postal exams
• 58:25
  there. You know, even when I first got
• 58:28
  hired in, I got, well, how'd you get that job?
• 58:31
  You know, did you know somebody to get in?
• 58:34
  And that was only nine years ago.
• 58:36
  And today's day and age, we can't even be fully staffed.
• 58:40
  We're working bare bones. We've got regular carriers that
• 58:44
  are so exhausted because they're working six and seven days in
• 58:50
  offices to ensure that the service to their customers is
• 58:54
  done and they can't get a day off.
• 58:57
  They can't get time off for family, they can't get time off
• 59:00
  for anything. And they're working to the point
• 59:03
  that they're walking out the door because they're that
• 59:06
  exhausted and fed up with it. That needs to change.
• 59:13
  Absolutely needs to change. I talked to a carrier who said
• 59:18
  yeah, he's he's take, he takes a nap in his car after he gets
• 59:21
  done with work, before he even drives home because he's so
• 59:24
  exhausted from working so much. Yeah, I mean, I'm lucky enough
• 59:29
  that I only live 3/10 of a mile from my office.
• 59:33
  But you know, I know you know there's many carriers that have
• 59:37
  3045 an hour hour and a half commute into their office.
• 59:43
  You know that that's a long drive.
• 59:45
  If once you get done, if you've worked a 10/12 plus hour day and
• 59:50
  you've been doing it for five, 6-7 days in a row, you know, I,
• 59:56
  you know, I I do know a carrier who once they got married, they
• 1:00:01
  ended up moving 70 miles from their office.
• 1:00:05
  No mutual transfers available. They commute 70 miles to their
• 1:00:10
  route. To to their office to run their
• 1:00:12
  route. There are days where or weeks at
• 1:00:15
  a time depending on the weather, but they get a hotel locally so
• 1:00:19
  they're not home with their family.
• 1:00:20
  After work. You know it.
• 1:00:24
  It's it's. And when you're working that
• 1:00:28
  many hours, you get tired. I mean, I know I'm tired.
• 1:00:32
  I have another carrier in my office who is just wicked
• 1:00:35
  exhausted. You know, these couple holiday
• 1:00:38
  weekends have been a godsend for us, but it's we need more rest
• 1:00:43
  'cause now we're at home and we're trying to catch up on at
• 1:00:46
  home duties and by the time we think we're caught up and trying
• 1:00:49
  to get some rest right back to the grind again, you know, it's
• 1:00:54
  it's not good for the soul and that needs to change.
• 1:00:59
  And the only way I think that can change is if we have union
• 1:01:03
  leadership that's not afraid to go knock on postal headquarters
• 1:01:06
  doors and say, what the fuck is going on and how do we fix this
• 1:01:10
  now? OK, I'm done.
• 1:01:19
  Right, right, right, right, right, right as.
• 1:01:21
  You all could tell we're very passionate about the craft and
• 1:01:25
  passionate about fixing the problems that we see on a
• 1:01:28
  day-to-day basis, plus the problems we don't currently see,
• 1:01:32
  the problems that haven't been told to us yet, The issues that
• 1:01:36
  are occurring in places where carriers are afraid to talk
• 1:01:40
  about this stuff, and that's the biggest issue.
• 1:01:43
  And like like Kristen said, there's the joint statement
• 1:01:45
  4-40. That's very close to me.
• 1:01:48
  Royal Oak is not far away from me.
• 1:01:50
  Where that joint statement was made after an incident there,
• 1:01:55
  now we I can't describe the incident.
• 1:01:57
  Otherwise we'll get banned from multiple platforms by their
• 1:02:00
  algorithms, but you guys understand what I'm talking
• 1:02:04
  about. You can go on if you have to.
• 1:02:08
  We're trying to step into this craft and prevent another Royal
• 1:02:14
  Oak from happening because this constant harassment and
• 1:02:18
  mistreatment of carriers could lead to that incident.
• 1:02:24
  You hear about them all the time on the news nowadays going on.
• 1:02:28
  We need a craft that's willing to step up and put management
• 1:02:32
  back into being the contract following.
• 1:02:37
  Leave the carriers alone. Management we had decades ago,
• 1:02:42
  right after the 70s, when everything happened in the 70s,
• 1:02:47
  management backed off from carriers for a while, licked
• 1:02:50
  their wounds until they turned around and started realizing
• 1:02:53
  that, oh, some people are here because they're desperate for
• 1:02:56
  the paycheck that they're getting, they're desperate for
• 1:02:59
  the benefits that they're getting, things like that.
• 1:03:01
  And that's when management started putting their foot down,
• 1:03:04
  putting their foot down and changing things in the contract,
• 1:03:08
  against the contract. So it's time for us to put our
• 1:03:11
  foot down on management and the harassment, get people in
• 1:03:15
  leadership that are going to go out and prevent this harassment
• 1:03:20
  from management. And it's time for leadership
• 1:03:24
  that's going to tell management no, that's not happening.
• 1:03:29
  And it's also time and I'm going to put this example with the
• 1:03:32
  RXRX as we call it and educating our carriers and that includes
• 1:03:42
  are non dues paying members of the craft.
• 1:03:45
  I believe that it if it's a system that affects the way that
• 1:03:50
  you are paid and how you are paid everybody should have
• 1:03:54
  access to that information and the same training across the
• 1:03:59
  board no matter what or how you what your stance is.
• 1:04:04
  I don't care if your dues paying or non dues paying, that is
• 1:04:08
  something that affects your pay, how you're paid and everybody
• 1:04:13
  should have the exact same training across the board,
• 1:04:17
  office to office, employee to employee.
• 1:04:20
  It needs to be the same and available to everybody.
• 1:04:26
  It's the same for steward to steward too.
• 1:04:29
  Yes, because well, we all know, as we have been stewards in the
• 1:04:37
  past, we all did not get the same training on stuff or even
• 1:04:40
  the same information passed down.
• 1:04:42
  I mean, there are times where I'm going to put the example
• 1:04:45
  out. James and I are under the same
• 1:04:47
  Dr. He was getting information from an ADR, his ADR, and I had
• 1:04:52
  no clue because I never heard a word from mine.
• 1:04:58
  That type of stuff needs to change.
• 1:05:01
  If it is something that needs to go out to all carriers, all
• 1:05:06
  stewards, then it goes out to all carriers, all stewards, no
• 1:05:11
  matter what. Well, the same way the Academy
• 1:05:16
  should be uniform across the country, so should the Stewart
• 1:05:19
  train. So should this Stewart training
• 1:05:22
  too? Absolutely.
• 1:05:24
  That's Stewart with AD, not a NOT AT.
• 1:05:29
  It is a Stewart, not a Stewart. But if you were a Stewart and
• 1:05:33
  you were a steward, awesome for you.
• 1:05:39
  Let me do it. I I actually, I actually had
• 1:05:43
  somebody come up and ask me, is your name Stewart?
• 1:05:46
  I'm like, no. Well, they told me you're the
• 1:05:48
  Stewarts here. I says I'm the steward, not the
• 1:05:51
  Stewart. Same thing.
• 1:05:55
  No, it's not. And and I think you know,
• 1:05:58
  especially you know and with the, you know with our jobs and
• 1:06:02
  especially with the Rex program, there are a lot of moving parts,
• 1:06:08
  a lot. Isn't it nice?
• 1:06:11
  Isn't. That the rec system was written
• 1:06:13
  in stone and has been changed so many times since that stone was
• 1:06:17
  cast. I know, right?
• 1:06:20
  But I and that and that needs to start from day one with brand
• 1:06:23
  new RC as all the way up to that senior carrier.
• 1:06:26
  Everybody needs the same training across the board.
• 1:06:32
  Does it matter if your office is up at the tip of Maine or the
• 1:06:39
  southern tip of California? Hawaii getting the same.
• 1:06:44
  Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Alaska. You should be getting the same
• 1:06:49
  training. I I have to go, ladies and
• 1:06:52
  gentlemen. My wife's upstairs, She's
• 1:06:55
  suffering from Vertigo and she wants to come downstairs, so I
• 1:06:58
  have to bail out right now. OK and.
• 1:07:01
  Have you have a good new year? Peter.
• 1:07:05
  Go take care of the family. Give her our love.
• 1:07:07
  Well, everybody have a happy New Year and you too.
• 1:07:11
  Remember, you're you're the most important delivery of the day.
• 1:07:14
  Be safe, do your job as professionally efficiently as
• 1:07:18
  you can, and get your ass home to your loved ones because
• 1:07:22
  that's the most important delivery of the day.
• 1:07:25
  Everybody have a happy New Year. You too, Bill.
• 1:07:28
  Carol. Our love.
• 1:07:29
  All right. Will do.
• 1:07:31
  Bye. Bye.
• 1:07:31
  All right. Bye.
• 1:07:36
  So with that, I think we're going to go ahead and wind it
• 1:07:38
  down for this New Year's episode.
• 1:07:42
  Those that want to stay for post show talks, you're more than
• 1:07:47
  welcome to. So Josh, your last final
• 1:07:50
  comments for tonight. Well, it's still dark early.
• 1:07:57
  It's getting cold out there. Be safe.
• 1:08:04
  Don't get overwhelmed. If you do, take a deep breath,
• 1:08:07
  Take a step back. Take a deep breath and step back
• 1:08:11
  in. Have a good week.
• 1:08:13
  We'll see you next time. Go for it, James.
• 1:08:19
  Well, this next year is going to be a lot of fun for all of us,
• 1:08:22
  not only on the campaign trail, but also in terms of what's next
• 1:08:27
  in our year. Just remember, no matter what
• 1:08:31
  happens, everything and everyone here, we're all in this
• 1:08:36
  together. Kristen, your final thoughts.
• 1:08:47
  Thank you. Yes, definitely.
• 1:08:49
  I know some of us have had a green Christmas and it has been
• 1:08:53
  snowing out there. I got to remember I still need
• 1:08:56
  to put the weights in my LLV. I've been getting away with it
• 1:08:59
  for this long. I think it's time that I
• 1:09:01
  probably should do that this week sometime.
• 1:09:04
  But on that note guys, just remember stay safe out there.
• 1:09:07
  Happy New Year to everybody and we look forward to a very
• 1:09:12
  positive and prosperous 2024 and we will see you next time.
• 1:09:32
  I said I should open this and stand outside the case, eating
• 1:09:34
  my popcorn, watching the shit show.
• 1:09:36
  He's like, do it. And I said OK, so I did.