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Mid-States Recap....Wow what a show · United We Scan

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Now here are the hosts of the United We Scan Podcast.
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Welcome back everybody. This is episode 72, James and
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myself and toasty. We toasty still in transit on a
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layover but James and I are home now from mid states.
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Bill is back from his vacation. How was your vacation bill?
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Oh, it started off as a disaster and ended fabulously.
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You want details? Well, just the ones you're
1:41
willing to share. OK, my my wife, we went to the
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Cayman Islands like we always do.
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My wife booked a a a villa. It's like a little secluded
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group of housing there with its own beach and everything.
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Had no air conditioning, had no TV and had no warm water.
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The hot water, you know warm water it had and after two days
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being down there in 85° weather and then the the 60 mile an hour
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winds that go across the North Point, we said F this I found
2:14
the place and my wife says it's another $2000.
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I said take it out of my account, I don't care.
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And we went to this place on on our old stomping grounds, ranic
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countertops, coffee pot, Keurig machine, espresso machine, brand
2:28
new appliances, air, everything and it was phenomenal.
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So we loved it and you know, we, we, you know, like I said, the
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first couple days were rough. After that it was smooth sailing
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Peaches and cream and OK rum and coke.
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Awesome to hear. I'm glad you were able to get
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your vacation. And though we did miss Ave. as a
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guest with us at Mid States, but we.
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Understand. Yeah, we.
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Understand. My my wife was like, don't even
3:02
think about it. I thought, hell no, I like
3:04
living too much. And people understood as well,
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you know. Does he hear?
3:10
No, But we have his T-shirts, so and they they were going pretty
3:15
good. Ruby took control of that when
3:17
we got there and she pulled them all out and folded them all up
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special and arranged them by sizes so people could just find
3:24
their size and take one off the top.
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It was great. She she handled that pretty
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well. Well, and I'll I'll get the
3:31
National Convention T-shirts made-up.
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I'll probably go like 250 of those at least.
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Yeah, I was pricing ones. I had some people ask me if I
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was going to have T-shirts at National too.
3:41
So I got to check the expenses there, but I'm I'm hoping to
3:46
have T-shirts at National. Well, I'm going to make up the
3:50
one T-shirt that you gave me. Yep, that will have all all four
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of us, yes. Yeah.
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Yeah, I get them for about $5 a pop.
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Delivered. Did you, did you like the
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quality of the shirt and all? Yeah, they're great.
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And like I said, well, I'll bring these out.
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I pretty much got talked into driving to Reno to transport
4:11
stuff, so that's where we're at at the moment is I am planning
4:16
on driving and doing all the transporting of all the goods.
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OK. Just put that out there so if I
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come home with another box of T-shirts on my porch, I'll know
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what they're for. Well, I'll see if they can
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direct ship them this time. That drive for me is a it said
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one day, nine hours. So it's probably about a good 34
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to 35 hour drive for me straight through, and more than likely
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I'll be by myself. You're pulling up with, you
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know, 58 empty Starbucks cups in the back of her Jeep there.
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And I'm fine. I'm fine.
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I don't have too much caffeine. No, I don't drink the star that
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we it would take me a lot longer than me and coffee do not get
5:06
along on the road. It would probably be like 2
5:08
cases of Monster Energy drinks or something to get me through.
5:12
But no, I'm just going to put in for more time, at least another
5:17
day ahead of what I normally had.
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That way I can leave on Friday, either Thursday evening or
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Friday, so I can be there by Sunday.
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Julio. Yeah, James, how was your week
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prior to going to mid States? Well it was a normal week at the
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post office just gearing up for mid States and working on social
5:42
media. When I get home and trying to
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make sure that any statements made and and anything that I put
5:50
out there that I've heard from other people is at least
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verifiable of something that was actually said.
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So that way things don't go get misrepresented in any shape,
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way, shape or form because that's been called out by
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several people in in recent times on other people's posts,
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especially in other groups that I don't have access to.
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But getting a mid states was pretty easy for me considering
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it was much closer than the last two.
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And then getting a hotel room was easy.
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Thank you Kristen for reserving that for us.
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Hey. Not a problem.
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Got to meet up with Toasty again.
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So that was a. Good time and bunked with him.
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I give him a roommate score of eight out of 10.
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He was asking for that. Even when you guys.
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Yeah, no. Even when you guys as I had just
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got into bed and I get a message because Toasty needed his pants
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hemmed up and they got some Hemming tape.
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So I was just head laid down into bed.
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Hey, we got to get these pants hemp.
6:57
OK, I'll be right there. So they were in the room next to
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me. So I'm like, sorry guys, I'm in
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my Jammas, but here we go, breaking out the iron in the
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ironing board and get the pants to the right level.
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But they it turned out perfect. So that worked out, Yeah.
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And then had a wonderful time at Mid States.
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I appreciate meeting all the people that listened to us on
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here and gaining new new listeners that are now listening
7:24
to us for the first time. It's just a whirlwind of an
7:29
advent for a lot of things, but very, very well organized, well
7:33
laid out, and they don't mess around on the timing either.
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It it just flows from one thing to the next and it's a ton of
7:42
information download. Some people get overwhelmed with
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it, but as Josh says, if you get overwhelmed, take a step back,
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take a deep breath and step back in.
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All in all, it was a good, good weekend for everybody.
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It was nice to have a chance to talk to several of the national
8:00
board members and have good conversations with them about
8:04
things. I think it was well really well
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attended for all the states that are involved in the mid states
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region plus those that were from other states like Toasty.
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Really it just now it's time to unwind, to go through the notes,
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make sure I know what everything was talked about, because this
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is information that every rural carrier needs in these
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conferences. So getting in there and
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listening to how everything is talked and how people word
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things and the phrases they use and the changes in the words
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that they use between different sections of talking about the
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same topic really gives you insight into how they think
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about it. How is mid states for you
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toasty? It was a lot of fun.
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I actually enjoyed it. I really want to go back again
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rather than go to my own, but probably go to my own and then
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always make plans to go to Mid states.
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Weather was beautiful the week before.
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Work was pretty easy, nothing too terrible, just a couple of
9:12
political ads as usual. Flight up.
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Not too bad turbulence on the second connecting flight.
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I had a great time this weekend and roommate score of eight
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really did. You wear your thong.
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Oh, that's why my bad. Yeah, there you go.
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Your fault. I mean you you can't carry a
9:30
pink thong off like I can, but at least you could have tried.
9:37
And then I would have gotten you up to a nine at least.
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Yeah, I mean, you know, at least take your tighty whities and
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wedge it up there. I mean, what the hell?
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OK, I'll bring him to Reno. Don't worry.
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All right, So mid states Bill, it was a lot of fun to talk with
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you on the way back about everything that happened.
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But Oh my God. I I really want to get toasty
9:57
talking about his first time and the stuff that he learned going
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to mid states compared to SWAC. You mentioned it earlier, just
10:05
basically the the case that they were going at, they had a lot
10:09
more snacks. They were really neat, clean,
10:12
organized. I didn't know that you all had
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like a spirit award of who brings the most, which state
10:18
brings the most people in. That was fun to see.
10:21
Just the just the way it was organized, you know it was
10:23
similar to SWAC whether you have the sponsors coming in at first
10:27
talking about you know, Tessel Tree, Aetna benefits plans,
10:31
Apcu, everyone coming in the first day basically doing that.
10:35
Unfortunately Devin couldn't make it, so he wasn't able to do
10:39
OWCP. Yeah, it's just straight up all
10:42
right you know we're we got 10 minutes for the next for the
10:45
next thing. All right, 10 minutes is up.
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Boom, we're moving into this boom go.
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So it's fast-paced. It's 8.
10:50
It makes it more digestible and doesn't kind of drone on and on.
10:55
Like not to be rude, but the Auxiliary went on and on at
10:58
SWAC, but she was at a time limit this time so it actually
11:02
went really smooth for mid states.
11:04
And what Tosi's talking about is Mid States Conference has a
11:09
traveling trophy and of course the host state is ineligible for
11:15
the trophy. So it's up.
11:17
Michigan usually tends to win it when we're on the road because
11:20
we normally have 40 plus people that show up.
11:23
We we travel, Michigan travels. What can I say this year?
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Who got it this year? Was it Ohio?
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I don't. No, I I don't know if it was
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Ohio. I don't remember either.
11:34
I didn't that wasn't that was eating at that point.
11:37
Yeah. But what it is basically is, is
11:40
the state that whatever state is traveling to, the hosting state
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that brings the most members to go, then gets the trophy.
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And so it does sometimes get moved around like like I said,
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Michigan's had it for the last few years, but since we hosted,
11:57
we had to give it up this year. So and it's kind of cool.
12:00
Yeah, it's kind of a little rivalry like it.
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And we have a rivalry obviously Michigan and Ohio.
12:06
So when they had the lanyards with the name badges and stuff,
12:11
they had two U of M lanyards for Ohio's current president and
12:18
former president. They were, yeah.
12:22
So you know it. Was dirty.
12:23
Yeah, it was. But it's, you know, it's the
12:26
friendly rivalry. It it really is.
12:28
And yeah, we we try to make it fun.
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That's how US Midwesterners know how to throw it down.
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That's what I all I can say on that.
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But yeah, it was a good time. I'm glad you really enjoyed it.
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Yeah, and it was nice seeing like more than to SWAC.
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It's just four states. So it's Texas, Oklahoma,
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Louisiana and Arkansas. With mid states it's 12 states.
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So you get Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois,
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Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North
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Dakota, Minnesota. Yep, Minnesota.
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Yep. And so, yeah, so it's a little
13:00
bit bigger crowd. We had 78 first timers.
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I that is just awesome. 78 first timers.
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Wow, it sounds like people are starting to participate.
13:11
Wonder why? People are hurting, and when
13:14
people get affected by things in a negative way, they're more
13:18
likely to pay attention. And when people aren't
13:20
listening, they want to come and find out why the people who
13:24
should be listening aren't listening.
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Well, I I'm really disappointed that I couldn't come there, but
13:30
since we already delayed the vacation once, I wasn't going to
13:33
risk my wife's wrath. I may be stupid, but I ain't
13:36
dumb. I wanted to ask you guys what
13:38
was with all the speeches about things like Michael Gann and
13:43
President Mastin, Vice President Pitts, Director of Labor
13:48
Relations Bridgette Poziak and Director of Stewart Operation
13:53
Shirley Baffa. What were some of the pointers
13:56
that you think carriers should know about that they talked
13:58
about at Mid State? You're gonna have to take start
14:01
that off, Kristen. And let me pull up my notes, but
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I will say that for all of our Academy instructors and OJ is
14:10
that listen out there, the updated material is in the
14:14
works. The electronic version was
14:18
submitted to our National Board and Vice President for final
14:22
approval and they are hoping that it will be going to print
14:26
and coming out eventually. So it is in the works guys that
14:30
I I do know and it's a lot better than what it was.
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That was definitely a good thing to hear.
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Not. Bad to get it out in less than a
14:40
year of working on it. Yes, it it has gone back and
14:44
forth let. Me.
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Well, good job was not to do to do that.
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That that is the vice president. Oh OK, here we go.
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I have my notes training material.
14:55
There was 22 corrections just to the table of contents alone.
14:59
In the original version that the post office gave us.
15:01
There was 7 reviews. USPS redesigned the RX manuals,
15:08
then they updated the RX training.
15:11
USPS said no. The final came down in January
15:15
for the quality review. Then it was paused, submitted to
15:19
the printers. No specific date.
15:22
Two days ago this, so this was Saturday.
15:26
So two days prior to Saturday was Thursday is when they got
15:31
the electronic version to, which includes an OJI manual to do the
15:37
final final. OK, let's go and get it
15:40
submitted to the printers. That's going off my notes.
15:43
Which which is funny to me because of the fact that you're
15:46
you're an Oji, right? We've never had one in my office
15:51
in 26 years. They're just, you know, the
15:53
subject just tossed onto a route.
15:55
This is what you're going to train on.
15:56
Da da, da, da da. And that's it.
15:58
So you're going to learn from somebody who does the route in
16:01
their fashion versus the way they should be doing it.
16:04
And I say that because after years, you know, people develop
16:07
tendencies and you know, little cheats and cutting corners and
16:13
stuff like that, that they shouldn't and they're passing
16:15
them on to new people. As an Oji, I'm thrilled about
16:18
having a new Oji manual, obviously.
16:21
But yeah, it's so yes, the new training material is in the
16:26
final stages of getting it submitted and then out to all
16:30
the Academies and Oji's. So that was actually A+ to hear
16:34
that. Really.
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Really. I was very happy to hear that I.
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Was too. I was happy to hear that after
16:41
over five years of not updating the manuals, they're finally
16:44
updating them. You know, I had AAAI had a
16:47
pretty decent conversation with Vice President Pitts after hours
16:53
on Friday and, you know, and he agrees with me.
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He and I, we're quite similar when it comes to Rcas and
17:00
training and then being really the backbone of the rural craft.
17:03
We we really do have a lot of things in common and how we feel
17:06
about that and and training and whatnot.
17:09
And so we were discussing that little bit and I told him I was
17:12
going to be running against him and he smiled and welcomed it
17:15
completely. So it's, you know, I I I like
17:18
that acceptance in it. It was it was pretty cool.
17:20
I think he was happy to see, you know, some people step up.
17:23
How about you, Toasty? Do you have any notes that you
17:26
wanted to share with everybody? Ripped them out.
17:28
We'll pick out the bag. Remember, one of the big numbers
17:32
that I remember what's the notepad in the local place was
17:36
what was it, 25.6% of rural routes are overburdened and the
17:40
adjustment process is only starting to begin with those
17:44
that are capable to do it. So in other words, if there's
17:46
enough in the office to do these kinds of.
17:49
And some of that with the route adjustments even comes down to
17:53
if you have an office that is primarily overburdened routes,
17:57
it depends on the size of the office.
17:58
Are you going to have room to add more equipment and add more
18:01
routes? I mean that's definitely one of
18:03
the factors in the cutting of routes right now is it, can the
18:08
office handle adding more routes to it physically have the space
18:13
within the office to do that? Run the trailer that that's no
18:17
excuse. I mean, if you have severely
18:19
overburdened routes that are, you know, in this the 6070
18:25
range, they need to be cut because those people aren't
18:28
getting paid for the duties that they're performing day in, day
18:33
out, weekly, monthly by the year.
18:36
They need to be cut now. Not just the ones who are over
18:40
48 K and meet in the evaluations, but the ones that
18:43
are taking two and three people to handle them on a daily basis,
18:49
like in Sonora, CA. Speaking of that, he did
18:52
actually talk about that in the first section when he was doing
18:56
the presidential address. He actually said I want my route
19:00
cut. That's all he said was I want my
19:03
route cut. And then we get past the break
19:06
and get into the national officers Q&A.
19:09
And he actually turns around and says more about it in the fact
19:13
that there are so many routes overburdened in there that they
19:16
can't fit enough equipment in there for the vacant, the vacant
19:20
routes that would be built off of the overburdened routes in
19:23
his office. And I know we hear from all
19:28
kinds of people about these things going on it it's it's a
19:31
problem across this entire nation.
19:34
And to be honest with you, the thing I'm looking at most of all
19:38
is that with all these overburdened routes and the
19:42
Delivering for America plan pushing for these SNDCSI think
19:47
they're gonna hold off on those specific routes, offices that
19:51
are too small to handle the amount of mail that is flowing
19:54
through them to try and get them into an SNDC where they can add
19:59
as many routes as they need. To fill that space and pull all
20:04
these carriers at least 20 to 30 minutes away from where they're
20:08
currently working to work in this SNDC, because according to
20:12
Maston, the SNDC distance is a 30 minute drive and they're
20:19
talking. So somewhere around they still
20:22
have like 5572 or 86. You couldn't give us a straight
20:25
number on that, but there's currently 60 SNDCS running.
20:30
It's a possibility that that's another way that they could be
20:32
doing it. We are speculating this is not
20:34
fact, just want to put that out there.
20:37
But considering all the stuff that we've heard from all
20:41
different sides on this, we talked about how at the last
20:46
SWAC he was talking about the resolutions they take forward
20:50
and he specifically said we take about 20 to 30, but closer to 20
20:55
is better. He actually stood up there and
20:59
explained the resolution process for negotiations.
21:04
He said out of the entire National Board, day in and day
21:08
out is negotiating in the collective bargaining agreement.
21:13
It seems never ending and the Postal Service is exhausting to
21:17
talk to. Out of the 420 resolutions, we
21:22
gave them all a look on which ones to go forward with.
21:25
It has been taken out of context how it works.
21:28
As they as they say, about 100 or so of the resolutions were
21:33
the same thing. Now, it doesn't mean 100 of them
21:36
were exactly the same resolution.
21:39
It means that 100 of them matched other resolutions that
21:43
were already put forth by the delegates.
21:46
Ones that sound great but only benefit a few, that are good
21:51
resolutions that may affect 100 to 500 carriers, Should they be
21:56
affecting that little when they can affect just the majority,
22:01
the Postal Service? Like for example, the resolution
22:03
for the Postal Service to build roofs over CBU units to protect
22:09
carriers from the sun and inclement weather.
22:13
What would be the cost? It'd be in the millions of
22:15
dollars. So he hopes we understand why
22:19
they don't take all resolutions forward.
22:22
Bill, your thoughts on that? OK.
22:24
You take 420 that are passed by the States and forwarded to the
22:28
national board. They have a committee that turns
22:30
around and sorts through them and picks the best one out of a
22:33
certain category and forwarded to that throws the other nine
22:36
away. Like you said, there's about 100
22:38
or so that are, you know basically duplicates.
22:41
That still leaves you 300 of them, 300 of them, which
22:44
represent the craft who have put the time and effort, got the
22:49
resolution through state forwarded the national board for
22:52
consideration. And the national board is going
22:56
to nitpick and cherry pick the solutions they want to take
23:01
forward because it affects the greatest amount of carriers.
23:05
You aren't representing the greatest amount of carriers on a
23:09
resolution. You're representing all carriers
23:13
every day. So if it affects 15 or if it
23:18
affects 1500 or 15,000, I don't give a damn.
23:22
You put it forward and you sit there and you argue if it's got
23:27
the value and you've have the arguments to back it up.
23:30
You argue that for the contract, those people invested their
23:35
time, effort and union dues to be represented, then do the damn
23:39
job you were elected to and represent them.
23:41
You want to sit there and tell me it's going to take endless
23:44
hours? I'm sorry, is there anything
23:46
more important in your life right now than to represent the
23:49
craft that you, you were elected to represent?
23:51
Is there something better that you know on your docket than
23:55
that? I don't care if I don't see you
23:57
at a regional meeting. I I don't care if you're sitting
24:01
24/7 for three months straight in negotiations represent the
24:06
craft, the entire craft, and Iran.
24:09
Oh no, we're gonna, we're gonna keep that going.
24:11
But I agree with you on that these resolutions were put forth
24:15
as a bargaining tool, and you should have every tool in your
24:21
toolbox when you go into these negotiations.
24:25
Yes, some of them are very similar, some of them have
24:29
different wording, some of them have a little bit different
24:33
result or a different way to get the results you want.
24:38
That's a little bit less beneficial than the best one you
24:42
have. But when you go into a
24:44
negotiating room, you go in with your best resolutions first, but
24:50
you have the ones that slowly come apart a little bit from the
24:55
best one down to your worst one. That's still a great benefit to
24:59
the craft and I'm not calling it a the worst one, but I'm going
25:03
to use my resolution that I put forth at National last year
25:08
where Rcas become career Rcas at 2080 hours or two years.
25:17
There was also a resolution where it was just straight two
25:20
years there was a resolution where it was just 2080 hours.
25:25
There's many different ways you could have put that resolution
25:28
forward. Having each of those resolutions
25:32
there would have actually benefited the craft.
25:37
If you turn around and say, well, this resolution matches
25:39
that one, so we'll throw it out, you're cutting your nose off in
25:42
the negotiating room because, oh, you don't want to do the
25:46
2080 in two, two or two years. Fine, we'll do the 2080 hours.
25:51
Oh well, you don't want to do the 28 hours.
25:53
Fine, we'll do the two years. There's your negotiated
25:56
negotiation. Now you've had three chances to
26:00
make Rcas a career position. And I'm not talking about making
26:03
APTF. I'm talking about RCA Career one
26:07
guaranteed the the scheduled day off of the route that they're
26:10
assigned to and any days that their primaries available, plus
26:16
any days they can cover a route under the order of
26:18
consideration. But yes, like somebody said in
26:21
the chat, least best for the situation.
26:24
You need to have a way to ensure you put forth as many of these
26:31
resolutions that your brothers and sisters of the craft have
26:35
told you they want you to take to the negotiating table and
26:39
ramp. I have more.
26:41
There were times that it was said that Rex was great.
26:45
There were times it was said that Rex needs improvement.
26:49
There were times it was said that everything that you need is
26:53
available to use like the in the run report as an accepted way of
26:57
verifying numbers. The AFSAS FM 100 numbers are
27:01
accurate. Scans are 5 to 6% of your
27:04
evaluation. Mapping can fix your coverage
27:08
factor. Machine reports on the radar
27:11
report are pretty accurate because the national board
27:15
apparently evaluates every single radar report to the
27:20
machine count, to the end of run reports and so on.
27:24
They are getting scanning exception reports from
27:29
management and he told the story of 1 carrier who had 171 box
27:36
holders or something like that a. 118.
27:39
And 118. Thank you and 118.
27:43
And my thought on that was, you know, when these scanners go
27:46
have a mind of their own and they just go randomly hitting
27:50
stuff and you're not touching it?
27:51
Yep, that was my first instinct as soon as I heard that.
27:55
And he was talking about how that 100 and 117 extra box
28:01
holders just put that route from an H route to an overburden 48
28:06
K, even though it could have been a scanner error.
28:09
Or carrier discretion. But I do agree with him in
28:13
saying that we need to be accurate on this because if
28:17
we're not being accurate or we have scanner issues that cause
28:21
inaccuracies, we need to get that fixed.
28:26
We need to be honest in what we're doing to get an honest
28:29
evaluation. And of course he showed us
28:32
percentages of time for people under over evaluation and on a
28:40
bell curve, his favorite tool to determine whether things are
28:45
good or bad. Apparently carriers are about 50
28:51
minutes under their evaluation daily.
28:53
I have it's. Less than old system.
28:56
No, the the average well that was the mid state average.
29:01
Mid states average, Yeah. Mid states average was about 5
29:05
hours under evaluation for the week, yes.
29:08
Well, that's because it's cold and you only get the hell at
29:12
home. And then he did admit that the
29:17
union could have done better in training carriers on the scams.
29:22
More than just putting it out on the website and posting blurbs
29:27
about it. Kind of too late.
29:29
Smart, in my opinion. But then he went on to say I
29:32
said it's not until they get evals back that they'll see.
29:37
They'll realize how bad it is. They'll realize how much they
29:42
need to do for their routes. Well, our here's my problem with
29:46
people's situation, James, is that, again, management's
29:51
getting the free pass on this. The onus is on them for training
29:56
and since they haven't trained their own supervisory staff,
30:00
then how can you turn around and put it on the carriers who are
30:04
required to be trained by management?
30:06
That or why are we not sending these stewards and AD Rs and D
30:11
Rs into force management to train carriers with grievances?
30:17
Why are we not getting these people into these offices and
30:21
saying, hey, this manager needs to sit down and have a training
30:24
with you? If your manager does not sit
30:25
down and train with you in a week, call me.
30:27
We'll set up a class action grievance and we'll go after it
30:30
that way. Things like that could have
30:33
prevented the travesty of the very first mini mail survey
30:37
where 66% of routes went down. And what's funny is we haven't
30:41
gotten a report of how many routes went up in the second
30:46
round of evaluation. We did get a report in the third
30:51
one, because it was only a small amount that we're doing a little
30:54
bit of changing after that, but we need that middle part where
31:00
people rebounded after the devastation of the first mini
31:04
Mail survey. And going on with the training,
31:06
if I remember right at mid States last year, James, you
31:10
brought it up to Central Area Manager who was there about the
31:14
training. It was also the same manager who
31:18
was present this year who is now my district manager.
31:24
Temporarily. Temporarily my district manager
31:28
for my district. Yeah, and he did get asked about
31:32
that training thing. Yes.
31:35
Again, not by me this time, but he got by asked by somebody
31:38
else, are we, are we going to do anything about training these
31:41
carriers on the route grout cuts?
31:45
And how is it that last year you said that you can't train some
31:50
of them because they won't pay attention or they won't do this?
31:53
So how can you assure us that these managers know what they're
31:56
doing when you said you can't even train them yourself?
31:59
And he had no answer. Well, I did find out because he
32:02
did say he met with all the postmasters in the district.
32:06
And I do know that my postmaster being it's my district, the main
32:11
discussion that he had with the postmasters, which was within
32:15
the last two weeks, I don't remember exactly what day they
32:19
went for that in my area. The main focus he had on was RCA
32:23
retention. Yeah, RCA retention on his
32:27
numbers was like, what was it, 700 people?
32:31
779. 779 people. And then Masten gets up there
32:40
and was talking about all this stuff and he goes, you know 779
32:46
RCA is not enough. We are 41,000 relief carriers
32:51
short and one sub per route is going away.
32:56
Possibly. It's change.
32:58
It's change. We're not against this, he says.
33:02
It will help this business. And he said the word business.
33:06
We are a service Sir, not a business.
33:09
And then he said either accept the change or get left behind.
33:13
And they says I don't say anything, I won't stand behind.
33:18
Oh, this is from a gentleman that he has 34 years as a rule
33:24
carrier and technically he's in the craft, but hasn't been a
33:29
rule carrier on his route for over 20 years.
33:32
Well, either accept the change or get left behind, Bill.
33:35
Oh, OK. I think that that you.
33:42
You really don't. Be the change he needs to
33:44
accept. You don't want me behind you,
33:47
James, do. You think that the people should
33:51
tell him that he needs to accept the change or get left behind.
33:56
No, definitely like like a change of address to Sonora, CA.
34:03
I'll I'll help him move. So he then then went on to say
34:07
we need to do something different.
34:10
Oh my God. He turned around and also now
34:14
this is I talked about this a little bit in the pre show, he
34:18
says. He does interviews with many
34:21
different news agencies and he has been misquoted a lot.
34:26
But there was a post that was made about him that was 100%
34:33
factually incorrect, like terribly bad, even.
34:38
I thought it was a terrible post.
34:40
Do you agree on that, Kristen, on that post?
34:43
I yeah, I do have to agree. Especially when the carrier
34:48
brought his phone up to the stage and said here, read this
34:52
and yeah, it it was definitely incorrect.
34:57
Yes. And so he has.
35:00
He has gone on to pit publicly say that the he is looking, he
35:06
is actively looking to engage in litigation for misquoting him in
35:13
that aspect and for those who misquote him, they will come
35:16
after them legally now. And he will use the full force
35:21
of the NRLCA to do that. He will use your dues to do
35:25
that, yes. But I do have to caution on this
35:29
as somebody who has worked in copyright libel and slander
35:36
previously with another agency. When you are an elected
35:41
official, whether it be a government elected official or a
35:48
union elected official, there is a different standard for what
35:54
constitutes misquoting, libel and slander versus the general
36:01
public. So you have to also be careful
36:03
of that minefield. But that post that was made
36:07
about him in that aspect definitely comes to the
36:10
qualification of a misquoting and could be subject to legal
36:16
ramifications. Yeah, it was bad.
36:19
So I just want. I just wanted to definitely put
36:22
that out there. So just so you guys are aware,
36:26
we, we are aware of those statutes and laws that pertain
36:30
to that as well. On this podcast he was talking
36:33
about his route being adjusted and things like that.
36:36
And to be honest, you can speculate all you want on it,
36:41
but management will choose to cut routes wherever they want,
36:46
however they want, as long as they do so within the contract.
36:51
And of course, if they don't, they'll do it anyways until you
36:53
just file a grievance, and then they'll settle for language.
36:56
Seasonal routes are a work in progress seasonal.
36:59
Routes are are a tough one, yes, seasonal routes, because of the
37:03
changes in volume and things like that.
37:06
You're going to have to be overburdened in your low period
37:10
on top of your high period in order for a route cut to happen
37:14
now. But if you're overburdened in
37:17
your high season but under burdened in your low season,
37:20
they're probably not going to cut you at.
37:22
Least not anytime soon. At least not anytime soon,
37:24
according to our president. But again, management will
37:28
mismanage when management can get away with it.
37:31
Oh, he did tell us that other than the 1 carrier, he had a
37:35
long conversation with me. Yeah, most postal routes have
37:43
lost mail volume, have lost flat volume, and parcel volume has
37:48
gone up slightly according to his statistics.
37:52
And I actually wrote these down as accurately as I could.
37:55
Letter volume is down 60%, flat volumes down 40% and parcels are
38:03
up 17%. And this is nationwide.
38:07
This is not. Nationwide, this is not.
38:09
This is his bell curve. Yes, this is a a a nationwide
38:13
percentage. It's not an office route
38:16
specific, area specific. This is a nationwide average.
38:21
So if if you have evidence that your route has not lost those
38:25
specific numbers, or has not lost more than 10% of its letter
38:31
and flat volume, comment on this, on this episode on social
38:35
media, let us know that you're you're one of those that didn't
38:39
lose as much volume like I did. I didn't.
38:42
I've only lost 9% of my volume on my route from the 2018 count
38:47
on on DPS, I've lost 11% on flats and I've gained 30% on
38:54
parcels. Sounds like somebody.
38:56
'S name? The Captain Obvious.
39:00
Well, I do know there are carriers that did lose a lot of
39:03
volume. I will admit that there are
39:06
extreme ends on it too. There are some people that their
39:09
mail volumes gone up since the 2018 count.
39:12
And I will tell you, anybody that has an Amish community,
39:17
their volumes are extremely higher than any other region of
39:24
the United States because the Amish use the Postal Service,
39:28
because they don't use e-mail, they don't use cell phones, They
39:33
don't pay their bills online. Postie, you have to leave.
39:37
You got a final thought. You want to give us before you
39:38
get on your flight? Yeah, it's getting loud in
39:41
there. He's good.
39:42
It's getting loud. OK, All right, toasty.
39:44
Well, you enjoy your flight back.
39:46
Let us know when you land and we'll see you on the on the
39:49
other side at at National. Most important delivery of the
39:54
day. So get yourself home to your
39:56
loved ones, all right, So Toasty's out for the day.
39:59
That's OK. He was talking about Michael
40:03
Gann wasn't there talking about the collective bargaining.
40:06
And he says that during the collective bargaining, you have
40:09
to be careful of what is said out in the public.
40:13
Because bargaining never ends in resolutions, priorities are
40:18
made. The labor movement inflections
40:20
can be made towards our contract bargaining.
40:23
The cost of living adjustment is the difference between the UAW
40:27
and US. Most unions don't have that and
40:30
says we have less ground to make up on wages.
40:33
What? Yeah, Michael Gann said We have
40:36
less ground to make up on wages. He just, he did discuss the
40:39
right to strike versus interest arbitration.
40:43
He did say you gotta, you know, you look at GM and Paramount and
40:49
versus the Postal Service in contract negotiations, GM and
40:52
Paramount's president's CEOs make millions and millions of
40:57
dollars versus the postmaster generals only making $500,000
41:02
off the Postal Service. So obviously they're trying to
41:05
say that because the PMG makes less money, we should make less
41:09
money. I guess.
41:10
At least that's what I'm saying. We are a service industry and
41:13
those are shareholder companies, you know, for profit than to say
41:18
something bad. Yes, he did say the Delivering
41:21
for America plan twice in his monologue.
41:24
The most the provisions that they're putting forward in the
41:27
in the negotiating table are for hiring and pay.
41:31
And then he did bring up the comparable law where the Postal
41:38
Service has to pay their employees comparable to the
41:43
private sector and try to explain that you can't describe
41:48
the word comparable. Is it comparable to the private
41:53
industry of UPS and FedEx? Is it comparable to the private
41:58
industry of McDonald's? And like sitting there going,
42:02
but #1 McDonald's isn't union, #2.
42:07
We are a service, so we need to be comparable to the unions that
42:11
do services. So what unions do services?
42:15
FedEx, UPS, those, those should be the ones we're comparing to
42:20
our flight attendants. They just got their record
42:24
contract. We should be comparing to them
42:27
as well because they got they do service too.
42:30
But no, apparently they can't describe what services are, he
42:33
said. That they're continuing to talk,
42:37
which seems to be a theme with all these union leaders, is,
42:41
well, if if they are not willing to negotiate, we'll just go back
42:45
in and continue to talk to them. And then if that doesn't work,
42:48
we'll turn around and continue to talk to them.
42:50
And if that doesn't work, when all else fails, we'll step out,
42:55
we'll step back in and we'll try to talk again, Gann said.
42:58
The Postmaster General is supposedly There we go.
43:02
We finally got it back into the podcast, supposedly committed to
43:06
better pay. Parties are in close
43:09
communication, which to me is if you're in close communication,
43:14
your butt better be sitting in that office with them, working
43:16
on it day in, day out. But it was also mentioned that
43:20
the chief spokesperson does not allow anyone else to speak.
43:26
That is, the USPS chief spokesperson does not allow
43:31
anyone else within the USPS that is present to speak at all.
43:37
He did say we'll see if we have a contract by expiration or
43:44
we'll continue talking. He went on to say striking is
43:47
not in the cards, completely off the table.
43:50
Well, yeah, it's against the law, but yeah, it's difficult to
43:54
hit home runs in arbitration. Our best option to make a case
43:59
as best we can without arbitration.
44:02
It is gonna be for the good of the craft.
44:05
Is it gonna be good for the craft to go to arbitration or or
44:08
just continue to talk? And he wants no arbitration
44:12
during bargaining, as the NRLCA has a 27% success rate in
44:19
arbitration. Sounds to me like you're just
44:21
not putting the right people in arbitration, in my opinion.
44:24
It it seems like Michael Gans is trying to distance us from UPS
44:29
and FedEx and other organizations who deliver
44:34
products. Isn't that what we do?
44:36
We deliver products, whether it be mail, flats, magazines,
44:40
newspapers, parcels, medication, you know, HomeGoods.
44:45
Is that the gist of his argument, that he's trying to
44:50
separate us from that so that we won't expect to get the raises
44:54
they received? You know, I don't.
44:56
I don't know what he was thinking when he was talking
44:58
about this stuff. But to me, it seems like the
45:02
disconnect between leadership and the craft and leadership and
45:08
wanting to make things better for the craft as a complete
45:12
whole is too wide of a gap to be conquered in less than a year
45:20
here. It's too far gone for us to look
45:26
forward to something meaningful and productive in terms of a
45:32
contract negotiation Here, for instance, let me throw this out
45:36
there. The PMG did his discussion in
45:39
front of the Senate Hearing Committee and then give
45:45
meaningful information to senators about how he can fix
45:49
this stuff and how things can be better.
45:51
And I feel that a lot of times that's the information that we
45:54
get from leadership is that it's just enough to let you know that
45:58
something's being done, but it's not enough to tell you how it's
46:02
being done. What is being done in at least a
46:06
meaningful way to show you that the craft matters, that the
46:11
Postal Service that we provide matters if it's being done.
46:16
You know, there's a Step 4 on Rex that Bridget talked about at
46:22
this conference. It's still being talked about.
46:25
They got the paperwork from management to continue the step
46:29
four. And at this time, they're still
46:32
verifying the paperwork and verifying the accuracy of the
46:36
paperwork. One of the things that I took
46:39
away most of all from this is the duty of Fair representation.
46:45
Now our Director of Stewart operation, Shirley Baffa, said
46:49
that leadership takes duty of Fair, fair representation very
46:56
seriously. We definitely need to hold them
46:59
to that duty of Fair representation, whether it be
47:03
our national leadership, regional, our district reps,
47:09
assistant district reps, area reps, local stewards.
47:13
We need to make sure they are doing us the service that our
47:19
dues pay for because we will not survive if we don't have a way
47:30
to hold management accountable. And right now I have.
47:34
Everybody in the audience right now put a little hand emoji up
47:38
if they think that management is treating us like we're in an
47:41
important part of the post office.
47:45
I I don't. I don't see that whatsoever.
47:48
Not in my office, not in the offices I talk to almost every
47:51
week. They they do not consider us
47:54
essential or important. We're just bodies.
47:59
Now I will say that just prior to the Mid States conference,
48:07
the National Board, your Director of Labor Relations and
48:13
Director of Steward Operations who are not in attendance for
48:17
this put on the monthly steward training on whether your Co
48:24
worker has a grievance or a gripe.
48:27
And I will tell you one thing. The gripes that the presentation
48:35
presenters put up on the show in front of these stewards failed
48:41
epically. When every single gripe had a
48:44
steward who stood up and put forth language to grieve it.
48:51
That was epic. To have every gripe that
48:57
national office could put up turn into a grievance that made
49:01
me proud to know there are stewards out there that have the
49:05
knowledge and determination to find a grievance no matter what
49:08
the issue is. So those of you who were in that
49:11
meeting and did that, I applaud you and I give you a pat on the
49:15
back because that was awesome. That's monumental there, That
49:19
really is. If every steward out there, no
49:24
matter what level of the national steward system, had
49:28
that type of dedication to fight problems in offices where
49:35
carriers are trying to tell you something wrong, we wouldn't
49:38
have half the problems management's giving us now.
49:42
But our stewards need the support from every level above
49:46
them. Our carriers need that support.
49:49
I hear it every single day. I get messages I get tagged in
49:56
in issues on social media of problems in offices that if the
50:02
steward would step up and actually file a grievance with
50:07
this carrier, help this carrier with their grievance and not
50:10
settle for language, it would solve half the problems with
50:14
management minimum. And we just had a person in our
50:18
chat say my Dr. told me once when I was gonna file a
50:24
grievance that not to bother it wouldn't do any good and the
50:28
poster says also known as I don't care and not gonna fight
50:32
for you. That right there is the issue
50:37
for me. That right there is failure to
50:39
represent. It is failure to failure of Fair
50:44
representation, failure of the duty of Fair representation
50:49
which is a law that the stewards have to abide by.
50:54
And it doesn't matter if your dues paying or non dues paying
50:58
they have to represent you and I know there are people out there
51:03
that go well everybody should be dues paying, everybody should,
51:07
should pay their fair share into the the union.
51:11
I had this conversation at mid States and I asked them, you
51:15
know these people are pulling their dues.
51:17
What's the one thing you would do when somebody told you they
51:20
were pulling their dues, Bill? What would you do if somebody
51:23
told you they were pulling their dues out of the union?
51:26
I'd ask them why? Why don't you see the value of
51:29
being a union member? Exactly.
51:31
Exactly. And that is one question that
51:35
has not been asked by the people who should be asking it.
51:41
The stewards who are supposed to be representing these carriers,
51:44
the leadership that is supposed to be representing these
51:47
carriers instead gets on stage and tries as hard as he can not
51:54
to still calls them a scab just because he was looking for that
51:59
applause and reaction from the crowd.
52:01
And shame on anybody that did applaud him.
52:04
We're all in this together. I say that every episode.
52:07
What's good for one carrier is good for all carriers, whether
52:13
they are dues paying or not. If management gets away with
52:17
violating the contract with that one carrier, you set past
52:22
precedent by allowing them to do it.
52:24
Even if they're non dues paying and choose not to pay, we still
52:29
need to protect the craft. Which James this brings me to an
52:35
e-mail that we received last week and I got permission to
52:39
read this and this is going to fall right into this now and I'm
52:43
going to read this. I of course keeping everybody
52:46
anonymous so no names, locations.
52:50
I received this e-mail five days ago and it starts off with you
52:55
all are the only reason I stay in the union.
52:59
I recently made regular on a 32 hour route.
53:02
It did raise to a 34 hour route after the last survey by
53:07
definition. I'm not calling it an H route
53:10
because it's an auxiliary route according to the standards in
53:13
the contract. To make things worse, we have an
53:16
auxiliary route in our office that has nearly four hours of
53:20
all the addresses that came off my route a few years ago due to
53:24
a previous regular having health issues.
53:27
Sadly, all I hear from everyone from management to the union is
53:32
there's absolutely nothing I can do until management figures out
53:35
how to train supervisors because never in 10 plus years did they
53:40
plan for this scenario. I tried to argue that they had
53:44
no right to allow me to put to allow me to be put on this route
53:49
as a regular since regulars cannot be assigned to an
53:52
auxiliary route. And yet here we are.
53:55
I don't need to tell you how much my paychecks have dropped
53:58
compared to the 50 plus hours a week as a PTF.
54:02
Even worse was before I became a regular.
54:05
The situation was explained to the Dr. and they said there was
54:10
nothing that could be done to stop me becoming to stop me
54:15
becoming a regular unless I passed it up.
54:18
Even better, I stated that I might need to drop out of the
54:21
union just to be able to afford gas to get to work and they
54:25
simply explained how to stop union dues due to hardship
54:29
before my anniversary. They never once suggested or
54:33
attempted to keep me in the union again.
54:36
The only reason I'm still in the union is this podcast.
54:40
I was extremely excited to be part of this union after my
54:43
previous experience in the private sector job.
54:46
This wreck of wrecks has really turned me sour towards this
54:50
union. Keep up the fight and thank you
54:52
for all you do. Glad to be here and.
54:55
This is when we do it because we we need to unite everybody.
55:01
We need a stronger union. And a stronger union does
55:07
unfortunately need dues to put up the good fight for the craft.
55:14
And this is not me getting on a soapbox talking about, you know,
55:18
pay money to this, pay money, this arbitrations cost a ton of
55:22
money. Fighting grievances costs a ton
55:25
of money. Taking care of the craft costs a
55:28
ton of money, but taking care of the craft and making the job
55:33
better for every single carrier in the craft is priceless.
55:41
There is no amount of money you can put on making this this
55:45
career the best it can be for the people that are working it.
55:50
I'm a I'm a correct you there the best it should be.
55:55
Yes. It should be the best.
55:59
And you know, I I can go go back into the day and when I first
56:03
started and I said, Oh my God, this is the easiest damn job
56:07
I've ever seen in my life and we enjoyed it.
56:10
I mean, the first four or five years of my career were just
56:15
like, I want to go to work. And now it's like The View and
56:25
Rick Mayer and whoever that is. You know it.
56:28
It's a soap opera all day long. You can throw a little Jerry
56:33
Springwood in there, too once in a while.
56:35
He gets raucous on the floor every so often.
56:40
But it's nothing like what I you know what it was when I joined.
56:44
So are you saying these are the days of our lives?
56:48
Not that far back. But yeah, I agree with you it it
56:54
could be so much better if somebody through the system
57:00
finally put their foot down, finally started IMIP process,
57:06
started MOU 25 processes, started fixing management.
57:13
Because the first step to solving this problem is getting
57:17
rid of the toxic and hostile work environments in many
57:22
offices across this country. It's sad when you have to turn
57:27
around and call a good postmaster a diamond in the
57:31
rough, a Unicorn. Why is it that we can't have
57:35
good management? Across this country?
57:39
Everything is standardized for management.
57:44
Why can't management itself treat us in a standard way?
57:50
Like they want us to follow standards?
57:52
They should follow their standards too.
57:55
And until they do, we need to bury them in paperwork.
58:00
And how do we do that, Bill? File, file, file and smile.
58:05
You know, it's funny that we are held to a certain standard in
58:09
regards to our own training with Rex, but yet management's not
58:14
held to any standard of training to get the position in the 1st
58:17
place like my office where we have 7 supervisors of which one
58:24
actually carried mail all the way to the postmaster, The rest
58:28
have never carried mail. Yet.
58:31
They're going to tell us how to do our jobs, They're going to
58:35
try to micromanage us into being city carriers.
58:38
You have to leave by this time. You have to be back by that time
58:41
if you're stationary for more than one period.
58:44
I responded to a a post or you know, Facebook message about
58:49
stationary times and I was questioned about one and I
58:53
turned around and gave them an explanation and then they
58:56
didn't, yeah, really go for that.
58:59
So I gave them a detailed explanation which they really
59:04
didn't want to hear. They will never ask me about
59:08
another stationary item on my scanner again.
59:12
They don't want to hear my explanations.
59:15
And I I also feel for a lot of these postmasters too.
59:20
Even though we are adversaries in a lot of situations,
59:23
sometimes their adversarialness is not because of them, it's
59:29
because they're trying to stay off of their district managers
59:33
list. Because I've heard the calls.
59:38
I've heard the district managers just reaming the postmasters in
59:43
a hostile way. These pooms give P hostile PMA
59:50
run for their money. Considering how they talk down
59:55
to the postmasters that are under their purview, there is
59:59
toxicity throughout the system. There is flaws throughout the
1:00:05
system because there is nobody. At the top that has paid the
1:00:14
handsome salary that they are enough to actually take the time
1:00:20
to learn what their actual job is.
1:00:22
Well, it's funny you bring that up, James.
1:00:24
I was talking to an individual I know in management at another
1:00:28
office and they explained to me that our poom wrote up 11
1:00:35
supervisors and the district manager in PA 2.
1:00:40
That's how much audacity these people have in these positions.
1:00:44
You wrote up a district manager you.
1:00:48
I mean, I hate to say it, James, but this guy he he he might be
1:00:53
competing with you with big ones.
1:00:55
That takes a lot. Whereas you know to to do that.
1:00:59
I mean, damn, you ought to know your limits.
1:01:04
Some of us choose that even when we have that limit the
1:01:08
protection require. The protection of the craft is
1:01:13
worth more than anything else I do.
1:01:16
That is why I get up there. That is why I stand up there and
1:01:21
say the things I do, because this craft means so much to me.
1:01:27
You can turn around and say, oh, I'm doing it to benefit myself.
1:01:31
Hell yeah, I am. Because when I get done, I'm
1:01:35
going right back to my route. So whatever I do to benefit the
1:01:38
entire craft benefits my route. So you're saying it's
1:01:41
self-serving, Is that what you're saying?
1:01:43
In a way, yes. But if it benefits my route, it
1:01:49
benefits the craft. If it benefits the craft, it
1:01:52
benefits my route. I'm not looking to retire from
1:01:57
the national board like certain people up there that said they'd
1:02:00
retire last year. I'm looking to make a difference
1:02:04
for the betterment of this craft, as is everybody else
1:02:07
here, and for us, When we're done in that national office
1:02:11
position, we're going right back to our routes.
1:02:13
So if I don't fix the things that are wrong with management
1:02:19
when I'm in the leadership position, those problems are
1:02:21
going to be there when I get to my route.
1:02:24
Is that simple? I think we're going to try and
1:02:26
wrap this up now. I do want to put out that those
1:02:31
that announce that are running for national board before we end
1:02:37
this the. Updated list.
1:02:41
The updated list that we have as of right now, so those that
1:02:45
announced their candidacy this weekend, we have Rita Clark from
1:02:52
Texas is running from for executive committee.
1:02:55
Jake Edell from Texas is running for Executive Committee.
1:03:01
James Brennan from Michigan is running for Director of Stewart
1:03:05
Operations. My myself, Kirsten Wakeman is
1:03:10
running for Vice President, Laura Burnside is running for
1:03:14
Executive Committee and Mike Marola is running for Executive
1:03:18
committee. And then those that are on the
1:03:21
national board. Currently, Don Maston again is
1:03:25
running for President. Patrick Pitts, Vice President,
1:03:29
Bridget Director of Labor, Director of Stewart Operations.
1:03:33
We have Shirley Baffa and Nikki Phillips.
1:03:36
And course we all know that Bill May is also running for
1:03:38
President. That right now is the updated
1:03:42
list of who we have currently that will be running for seeking
1:03:45
national office in August in Reno.
1:03:48
What does the Executive Committeeman do?
1:03:51
They are the your your executive committeeman are your NR OS.
1:03:55
They are the ones that are technically above your district
1:03:58
representatives. They are.
1:04:00
If you're not getting where you need to go, District
1:04:02
representative, you then go to your NRO and then you move up to
1:04:05
Director of Stewards up after that on.
1:04:08
On top of that, they are responsible for attending the
1:04:12
national board meetings, which includes contract negotiation
1:04:15
meetings to provide insight to the national board.
1:04:19
I'm going to go with Meow's question that they asked what
1:04:23
was your favorite part of mid states Kristen.
1:04:26
My favorite part, oh, mid states is I in a in whole it's
1:04:31
everything for me. It's, you know, getting to hear
1:04:34
our national officers and what they have to say their their
1:04:38
their speeches, their Q&A S the, you know, getting to see my
1:04:45
royal care family from, you know, the Midwest, my mid state
1:04:49
people, it. It it Generally for me Mid
1:04:52
States in a whole is it. It's fully rounded for me.
1:04:57
I can't just pick out one particular spot.
1:05:00
That was my favorite part. I agree.
1:05:02
I agree. And the biggest part for me is
1:05:05
information, information, Information, because that's what
1:05:10
this craft needs most of all is information.
1:05:14
We could have a great banquet, breakfast, lunch.
1:05:19
We can have great times during the breaks talking with people
1:05:22
and mingling and and hearing stories from all different
1:05:25
people across the country. But it's the information
1:05:29
download that is the biggest part for me.
1:05:34
Because this is not only do you have the chance to hear what
1:05:38
they have to say, but for like the national officers, you can
1:05:42
actually write questions that they may answer and you can get
1:05:46
an answer to some of the questions that you have.
1:05:48
Unless they don't understand the question and then they get upset
1:05:51
about it. And the one thing I do enjoy
1:05:54
about the area conferences, again I haven't been able to
1:05:57
attend any of the other ones that is still on my bucket list
1:05:59
to do eventually. But for me, you know this was my
1:06:02
fifth mid states. But you know, if you have one of
1:06:05
those questions that's really specific or long, you know, and
1:06:09
a lot of times and we had a few of those to where they said, you
1:06:13
know what, meet us out in the hallway with so we can discuss
1:06:15
this with you in person. You know, you're able to have a
1:06:19
conversation with a national officer whether it be in an
1:06:23
elevator, out on a smoke break in the hallway, You know, you
1:06:28
can have that discussion because you're not rushing for for
1:06:33
business. It's, you know, a little bit
1:06:36
more laid back I want to say in that aspect because it is an
1:06:42
informational conference, it's not a business convention.
1:06:46
And so like I said, you know, I I did.
1:06:48
I had chit chats with with Don Masten in the elevator.
1:06:51
I, you know, spoke to Patrick Pitts out on smoke breaks a few
1:06:55
different times, actually. You know, I said hi and Shirley
1:06:59
Baffin passing a couple different times.
1:07:03
Ronnie Stutz was there. I, you know, I had a little
1:07:06
small conversation with Ronnie as well and got to see the scars
1:07:09
from his back surgery. But he's doing very well and he
1:07:12
looked very good and I complimented him how well
1:07:14
retirement's looking on him so. But yeah, you know it it's that
1:07:19
type of atmosphere to where everybody you can have that
1:07:23
normal person to person conversation.
1:07:26
You know, I took my daughter with me and she was welcomed by
1:07:30
everybody. You know, she's like I said
1:07:32
thinking about joining us this fall when she turns 18, You
1:07:36
know, she, she got the full experience.
1:07:39
She sat through most of everything with us on Saturday
1:07:43
and she really kind of understood and she sees what the
1:07:47
union family and brothers and when we say brothers and sisters
1:07:52
in in the family aspect of it she got to experience that And
1:07:56
she she's why I do what I do and why I do it for the craft.
1:08:02
You know and that even a little bit more got her into.
1:08:06
You know, hey, maybe I, I could be a part of this, you know, the
1:08:10
camaraderie and the family atmosphere in in in instances.
1:08:15
Yeah, same thing as Swack, Me, James and Toastie, we, we all
1:08:21
got that feeling from the people who came up to us and addressed
1:08:25
issues across the board. And it's like talking to your
1:08:30
neighbors, you know, talking to a family member, talking to the
1:08:33
guy down the street. It it's that comfortable an
1:08:36
atmosphere and people open up to you and they express their deep
1:08:42
down misgivings and you can't solve everything for everybody.
1:08:48
But sometimes just having that ear is is a great sentiment to
1:08:54
them because of the fact that they know we really care because
1:08:58
we go through it every day too. And actually I used something
1:09:01
like that in part of my speech Saturday was, you know, being
1:09:06
that ear and that shoulder and wishing that you could do some
1:09:09
more for somebody. And but you know, always being,
1:09:15
you know, but always being willing to listen and being
1:09:18
there and just, you know, unfortunately, like I said,
1:09:21
unfortunately I can't do anything in my position.
1:09:23
But here I am trying to be able to be in a position where I can
1:09:27
do more for the craft. And I think the.
1:09:30
Difference between US and and the people The on the national
1:09:34
board we're more concerned about the people than union.
1:09:40
The people make up the union, but everybody sees that national
1:09:44
board and says, oh, that's our union.
1:09:46
No it's not. It's the everyday carrier who
1:09:49
works next to you, works across town or across the country.
1:09:53
That's us and we know that. We know the trials and
1:09:57
tribulations they go through every day.
1:10:00
Because we're going through it ourselves.
1:10:02
Yeah, you know, you can sit there and.
1:10:06
I just say I'll guarantee you we get on the national board.
1:10:10
None of us will let the other forget it either.
1:10:13
Absolutely not. Yeah, and being able to sit
1:10:18
there and talk with everybody at mid states in a casual
1:10:22
atmosphere like that between events, after events, before
1:10:26
events. I had the the privilege of
1:10:29
having a nice long conversation with President Don Mastan and
1:10:34
even had coffee with him this morning before the the the rest
1:10:40
of the convention started. I had a great conversation with
1:10:43
Vice President Patrick Pitts. I had a short conversation with
1:10:49
Kirby Ricketts. I had a short conversation with
1:10:54
Shirley Baffa and it was all friendly.
1:10:58
I had so many people come up to the table when during breaks and
1:11:03
have conversations with me about things including the podcast,
1:11:07
including things that are going on across the country.
1:11:10
And so many positives came out of this Mid States convention
1:11:15
for me. And I appreciate each and every
1:11:18
person that was there so much because it it means a lot that
1:11:24
we're actually fighting for this craft through these things as
1:11:28
well. All right, guys.
1:11:30
Do we have any other final comments or are we just going to
1:11:33
wrap it up with that 'cause that was a pretty good ending note.
1:11:36
Yep, Yep, Yep. Well, we're all in this
1:11:39
together, no matter what. Bill, anything else?
1:11:43
No, I'm good. I'll sign off 1st and you guys
1:11:47
still have things to talk about, you know, for your past
1:11:49
experience here. So it's good to be back in the
1:11:53
USI enjoyed my vacation thoroughly.
1:11:56
I needed it. My wife needed it and I'm
1:12:00
looking forward to a new week coming up and getting back into
1:12:05
the fight. It's a a pleasure to be here and
1:12:10
with you guys again. I I missed you last Sunday and
1:12:14
I'm sorry I missed mistakes. But there's the upcoming events
1:12:18
that we can participate in and we will and I just look forward
1:12:23
to you know the challenges that you know are coming up because
1:12:26
of the fact that we the craft have the opportunity to make
1:12:32
changes changes for the better. And if we don't take advantage
1:12:37
of this situation then it's on us as a craft.
1:12:43
But as long as you know we we have the will to fight the the
1:12:48
three or four of us that that participate every week on
1:12:51
Sundays we're going to fight. We're going to fight for each
1:12:54
and 1:00 every one of you, and I look forward the opportunity to
1:12:58
be able to do that as the president because that will be
1:13:02
such a a great challenge that I look forward to and fulfilling.
1:13:08
It's not something I take lightly because of the fact that
1:13:12
it can uproot your family a bit, but I think that these people we
1:13:18
talk to and listen to us are worth it.
1:13:21
I think the people I work with, for the most part, are worth it.
1:13:26
With that, I'll sign off with everybody you know.
1:13:28
Have a good week, be safe, do your job professionally,
1:13:32
professionally and efficiently. And be safe, because at the end
1:13:36
of the day, you're the most important delivery of the day
1:13:39
and you need to get home to your loved ones.
1:13:41
Thank you guys. Yeah, definitely.
1:13:43
Everybody have a safe week out there and just remember that,
1:13:47
you know, all together, together we can be that change that we
1:13:50
need and we'll see you back next week.
1:14:12
Lots of rum and coke.