Latest / United We Scan / Hurricanes, a story and more!

Transcript

Hurricanes, a story and more! · United We Scan

0:15
Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
0:18
carriers for rural carriers. The views expressed in this
0:22
podcast are of the presenters and the presenters only and do
0:25
not represent the views, opinions, or strategies of the
0:28
United States Postal Service or the National Rural Letter
0:30
Carriers Association. We ask that you please consult
0:33
your assigned union representative for guidance in
0:36
your local area. Please like this podcast, share
0:39
with your fellow rural carriers, and subscribe to be notified
0:42
each time a new episode is uploaded.
0:44
Please leave a comment or question for us below.
0:47
Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
0:50
United We Scan podcast. Welcome back, everybody.
0:54
Episode 92. Wait, we keep creeping up on
0:59
that 100. We're going to have to plan
1:01
something special for that. It's just me and James.
1:04
Tonight. Bill was pulled away by his wife
1:08
for a getaway, so I hope he's enjoying his time.
1:13
And how was your week, James? Oh it was quite interesting.
1:19
I had to take a couple days off for family matters Tuesday and
1:24
Wednesday, but Monday, Thursday and Friday were pretty normal at
1:30
work. I did have a ride along of a new
1:32
RCA on Thursday. Did a shadow day and very quiet
1:39
individual. Didn't talk much, which
1:42
obviously I'm here, I talk a lot, but I didn't talk much with
1:47
him in the in the truck, just little bits here and there, but
1:52
normal heavy political mail, of course.
1:55
And then we had the monthly shoppers for Friday, you know,
2:00
scheduled day off the next day. And of course I get the box
2:03
holder. But everything's good with the
2:09
family and weekend's been pretty nice.
2:13
A little cooler weather wise, but the winds have been picking
2:16
up pretty good. Not as much as some have gotten
2:19
in past few weeks, but hopefully that that signals the changeover
2:25
from summer to fall for us. But we know how that is.
2:28
We'll get that Indian summer here coming up shortly.
2:30
But other than that, how was your week, Kristen?
2:34
It had its ups and its downs this week.
2:38
Monday was the normal crap show. Tuesday was the normal next to
2:45
nothing because Monday was a crap show.
2:48
I called in for Wednesday. Thursday was Amazon catalogs.
2:54
Friday was normal day. I worked my K day yesterday and
3:00
I had a box holder AWSS. Thank you to the car dealership
3:05
that's approximately 45 minutes away.
3:10
So I got home Tuesday from work and I can't had a medical issue.
3:18
Unfortunately the closest emergency vet is over two hours
3:23
away and I was not willing to pay the the amount that they
3:27
said it would cost because she's 15 years old #1 And so Wednesday
3:33
morning, that's why I called in Tuesday afternoon.
3:37
Wednesday morning we did take her into the local vet in our
3:42
land. Yeah I know, 15 years old she
3:46
was. And they said it'd be about 5
3:48
days for her remains to be returned, cremated.
3:52
And they called me Friday and said she's back.
3:57
And I'm like OK, so Ruby went and picked her up and now
4:01
overlooking Ruby's room right next to Sapphire, my Husky that
4:05
we unfortunately had to put down going on four years ago.
4:09
This cat had a long life. She was a year old when I had my
4:14
youngest daughter. She got to welcome in my
4:17
grandson a couple months ago. She outlived 3 dogs.
4:22
She's had a long, long life full of love.
4:26
So she definitely is missed and she's still around.
4:31
I can see around the corner of my eye from the side.
4:33
And then, oh, got a new hot water heater installed Friday,
4:38
so that's nice. No more having to go relight the
4:41
pilot once, twice, three times a day sometimes.
4:45
Hey, is there hot water? I don't know.
4:47
Let me go check. Yeah, I only got a new hot water
4:50
heater. You know, adulting those things.
4:52
We we get excited about hot water heaters.
4:56
Next month's a new clothes dryer.
4:59
Let me know if you need any help, I've got experience with
5:01
my own. Yeah, right.
5:05
And we starting to get the Halloween decorations out and we
5:11
always make it bigger and scarier each year.
5:14
So I was having fun with the machete earlier.
5:19
We have couple trees in the far back that have been overtaken by
5:24
a very, very old Concord Grapevine and which doesn't
5:30
produce hardly anything at all. In fact, the few grapes that
5:33
were up there were the very small size of berries.
5:36
So we I was pulling vines down or, or Halloween decorations.
5:43
Yeah. You know, the wind was blowing
5:45
it one way. I was pulling the vines out of
5:47
the trees the other. It worked to my advantage today.
5:50
Yeah. Yeah, not, not too much going
5:53
on. Everything is otherwise normal
5:57
for the most part. Oh, I I forgot to mention, just
6:02
Friday was the last day for my Unicorn postmaster.
6:08
She was retired. Yeah.
6:11
Yeah. So now we get to see what what
6:13
we get, whether we get a Unicorn or we get an abomination that
6:18
gets buried in paperwork. One of the two.
6:21
Right. Well, we got A at least a month
6:26
left because she's got leave. She's got to burn up before she
6:29
does that, but so we'll have an OIC for a little bit.
6:33
We met him. He's a former girl carrier
6:35
turned postmaster. We'll see how that works, but
6:38
that's for a month. See if he remembers where he
6:41
came from. And hopefully my postmaster told
6:44
him, hey, make sure you leave them alone because they're fine
6:49
as long as you leave them alone. But if you start messing with
6:51
them, they'll bury you in paperwork, right?
6:55
Yeah. So hopefully that'll work out
6:58
well for us. But so we have a few updates on
7:03
things in the hurricane. You know, we did have the post
7:08
about the mailboxes going around and stuff like that, but we
7:13
posted that on the groups as well as the page so people can
7:17
actually go and join and donate mailboxes to help victims in the
7:22
hurricane disaster area. I saw you posted that, Kristen.
7:26
Yes, I did. I thought it was an awesome,
7:28
awesome thing. It is.
7:30
And also I got in contact with a carrier at the Boone Post office
7:38
where those mailboxes were going in that post by our union on
7:42
their Facebook page, and they said if you could send some
7:47
supplies to the General Delivery at the Boone Post Office,
7:51
that'll help out too. Just put on their Boone Post
7:54
Office General Delivery hurricane assistance so they
7:58
know that it's to help. What kind of supplies are they
8:01
looking for? Did you get that?
8:03
I did not get that yet but as soon as we get those supplies we
8:07
will post it on our page and in the groups.
8:11
Unfortunately when I contacted the carrier it was Saturday
8:13
night when I finally got a contact in that area and haven't
8:17
got an update yet. But they're working with the
8:21
mailboxes people as well. You could also contact them and
8:25
see if they want to help with anything else as well.
8:28
Plus, there are a lot of organizations out there that can
8:31
help with this. The Red Cross, Salvation Army,
8:36
as as well as plenty of others out there.
8:38
Just be mindful of who you donate to, make sure you verify
8:43
the source you're donating to, and don't forget, because there
8:46
are. We also have perf as well.
8:49
Yes, and we also have perf. If you want to help, you can go
8:52
to to the Postal Relief Fund and if you need help you need to
8:57
apply for the Postal Relief Fund.
9:00
And I do know that the two executive committee people that
9:05
are in that relative area or represent that relative area,
9:09
they are also collecting supplies and AD Rs and D Rs are
9:13
helping them distribute as well. Yes, and don't forget it's not
9:17
just North Carolina, it's Tennessee, South Carolina,
9:21
Florida, Georgia. All those areas got hard hit by
9:25
the hurricane. So we're not just donating to
9:27
just one area. You want to make sure you you
9:30
want to help help them all help anywhere you can in any of those
9:34
states because they're they're going to.
9:36
It's going to be years before it's back to any some semblance
9:40
of actual normal. It is, and you know my thoughts
9:45
and prayers and well wishes go out to the carrier that was
9:48
paralyzed due to a tree falling on the truck.
9:52
That's another one I'm going to. I have a the GoFundMe link for
9:57
that. I'm sure you might have it too,
9:59
Kristen. I've seen it.
10:01
I haven't shared it at all, but I have seen.
10:04
It I just, we, we could share that as well.
10:08
And I know that I've talked to several individuals in the union
10:15
on that and they've said that they actually are OK with them
10:18
doing the GoFundMe because you're not supposed to fundraise
10:20
for net federal employees. But this is an extenuating
10:26
circumstance and they have actually verified it's OK.
10:30
So yes, definitely. Yeah, it will be at least a year
10:34
before highway is rebuilt. I just read something about the
10:38
Blue Ridge Parkway is closed down indefinitely at this point.
10:44
Yeah, it's it's a mess. It's my heart goes out to
10:47
everybody that's been affected. And even though one's over with,
10:51
we do have another one on the way.
10:55
Expected arrival time for tropical storm force winds in
11:01
the Florida Keys and Florida coastline is between Tuesday
11:07
evening and Wednesday morning. Right now, with the forecast as
11:12
it is, that is subject to change.
11:15
But we have another hurricane coming and most likely will
11:18
travel across the Florida peninsula.
11:22
So all our carriers that are in that area monitor the storms.
11:25
Evacuate when you're told to evacuate.
11:28
If you feel it is unsafe, don't do it.
11:31
Look at what's happened in all these areas from the last
11:35
hurricane. Don't become a statistic,
11:38
please. All right, James, what do you
11:41
got next? So now that we've gotten the
11:44
Hurricanes out of the way, the next thing we have is the
11:49
adjusted routes in the mini meal survey, how routes that were
11:54
overburdened prior to this mini meal survey got cut, got
11:59
surveyed again and their routes are overburdened again.
12:03
I'll let you touch on that first.
12:05
And this kind of goes hand in hand with the new routes that
12:09
were created at the same time that dropped as well as those
12:14
that were cut and went back up to an overburdened status.
12:19
The main reason behind that is because there was not 52 weeks
12:24
worth of data for those adjusted routes.
12:28
So the route that was cut, the 52 weeks data going back was
12:33
what was primarily the data of that route prior to being cut.
12:38
So from what I have understood is they are not going to recut
12:44
those routes. They're going to give them
12:45
another full 52 weeks to get where they're supposed to be.
12:53
And that goes for the same with the ones that dropped
12:56
drastically that were new routes.
12:59
Unfortunately, you got to deal with the low evaluations, but
13:04
make sure you're doing your mapping, make sure you're doing
13:08
your scans. And it does take a full 52 weeks
13:12
for any evaluations to be at where they should be.
13:15
Yep, 2 surveys which is 52 weeks so.
13:19
And this actually bugs me a little bit because you have all
13:25
of this data to make all these evaluations.
13:29
You'd literally know every single piece of mail practically
13:33
that's going to these mailboxes. You know the volume that's going
13:36
to these mailboxes. You know the carriers are
13:39
stopping at these mailboxes. How is it that we can take all
13:43
that data and not put it into this system and make an actual
13:48
accurate validation of what the counts are?
13:51
I mean, you even know the packages that are going to these
13:53
houses, how many times they've been delivered to the door, how
13:56
many times have been delivered to the mailbox, to the person,
13:58
whatever. You know all of this data and
14:01
yet you can't take that and turn around and automatically adjust
14:07
these routes when you do the cuts for the values that are in
14:09
those those boxes for every box you've added to that route.
14:13
It's all the same system. Why is it that we have to wait a
14:16
full year to get this done when you can literally take a box,
14:21
look at the numbers for that actual box itself?
14:24
Just like you can look at a route and know exactly its
14:28
evaluation, if you move that route to a different office, you
14:31
just change the the distance they drive to that route.
14:34
But the part that they drive on that route still going to be the
14:37
same value once they hit that first box until they hit that
14:40
last box. So I don't understand why this
14:44
system is so convoluted that we can't take the information we
14:48
already have and use it to make a proper evaluation without
14:52
having to wait a year. I have one answer for that
14:57
government, 2 words, federal government.
15:00
But yes, if it makes sense they do the opposite.
15:07
Am I not wrong? Well you're not wrong at all.
15:13
And on top of that they probably paid the lowest bidder to make
15:16
the program and paid the most amount of money for the program.
15:20
That's the most bare bones system they could pay for.
15:23
Well, and in the past and I'm going prior to our Rex, I mean
15:29
you knew basically what your box value was for volume for every
15:35
box. Now the biggest issue is with
15:38
this system, they're taking the the route volume as a whole as
15:44
an average across everybody at the individual boxes.
15:48
And that's where the issue lies in obtaining the proper data.
15:56
You know, when we used to do the the mini mail, the mail counts,
16:01
you know, you would get your evaluation based on the mail
16:04
that was there that day on your route.
16:08
And your route was that and whether your route was cut 2
16:11
weeks before, six weeks before, whatever that mail volume that
16:15
was on your route that day was what got counted.
16:19
And it was easy peasy, quick. And this system was supposed to
16:23
be easier and quicker to calculate the routes than any
16:27
other system, and less people actually working on it, but it
16:30
seems like it's just made it even slower to get an actual
16:33
accurate evaluation per route and.
16:36
How can they routes can get an interim adjustment but no way
16:40
for these routes? The interim adjustment program
16:43
still is not across the country. Yes, that too.
16:48
And the interim adjustment is based solely on your DPM and LTM
16:53
mapping. It's based on your edit book,
16:57
then the number of active versus inactive addresses on your
17:00
route. Everything else is on your 4240
17:05
ones from the mini mail survey. Just your edit book.
17:08
DPM and LTM are the only things that go into the interim
17:12
adjustment. Which again is why it is very
17:16
important to make sure that your edit books are turned in every
17:19
month and that you are sitting down to do the mapping and don't
17:24
let whoever's doing the mapping with you, particularly
17:28
management. I'm saying on this one, just do
17:30
it the quick way. You should be.
17:33
You are. You're supposed to be allowed to
17:35
go through the whole thing every month as things could change.
17:40
You could have a new family move in to a house and you need to re
17:45
plot where you park and deliver a package because of their
17:49
requests or because of their vehicles or because you know you
17:54
may have to go in and change that stuff.
17:56
It happens. I've I've had to do it a couple
17:58
times. You could have a customer that
18:01
you used to take the packages to the front door, but then they
18:04
put a little parcel box right by their garage because they don't
18:06
use their front door. They use the garage to go in and
18:09
out of the house. You don't.
18:10
You want to make sure you go through Plus on top of that,
18:13
because I've caught the system actually turning active houses
18:17
vacant, you definitely want to go through it and that it may be
18:22
true the other way. I haven't seen that yet.
18:24
It may turn inactive houses into active houses too.
18:27
I don't know. I have not personally seen that,
18:30
but it's a possibility with the fact that they're turning
18:32
actives into vacant. So you have to go through the
18:34
map and you have to go through it every month.
18:37
You have to maintain your route. You are required by the PO6O3 to
18:43
maintain your case, your edit book, your labels and now your
18:49
mapping. And if management's not allowing
18:53
you to do that, that's where you're going to be.
18:55
File, file, file and contact your Adrs, your DRS and get them
19:01
on it. Because there are way too many
19:05
offices out there still that haven't done mapping since the
19:09
initial mapping. Or, you know, and it's one
19:12
excuse after another. It's just management needs to be
19:16
taught the proper way and help to it.
19:18
Yeah. And don't let them tell you, oh,
19:21
we just need to do this quick. 5 minutes and it's done.
19:24
No, you need to make sure it's correct because it's your money.
19:28
And like Bill says, whatever is in that computer goes in your
19:31
wallet. Whatever is not right in that
19:33
computer, it's taken out of your wallet and given back to
19:36
management. Yeah, sometimes.
19:38
I know AMS also will, it's supposed to be the 20th.
19:43
The AMS uploads into the DPM and sometimes they do do another one
19:49
like a week later. I look at it this way, the
19:52
closer to the end of the month that I can do my mapping, the
19:55
more accurate it's going to be with any edit book changes.
19:59
As I have had those instances where I did it at the very
20:02
beginning of mapping time and then ended up having to go back
20:06
in again because it flagged it because AMS changed again and.
20:12
Something got knocked out or didn't show up the first time
20:15
around. Yeah, so and management is not
20:19
going to be kind about doing mapping for a lot of carriers
20:23
because that's a waste of time for them when they could just do
20:27
it in their office while you're out on the route, check
20:30
everything off. They they did it with the
20:31
carrier and move on to other things.
20:34
Their name gets taken off the district list for not having the
20:37
mapping done and they could sit in their quiet office and listen
20:41
to music while we're out there beating ourselves to death with
20:44
heavy packages. We have file, we have file
20:49
grievances and management keeps claiming we are locked out.
20:54
No, they just don't want to do it.
20:55
That's what it is. You know, file a grievance for
20:58
failure to comply on the grievances.
21:00
It once you get a settlement that they have to do the, do the
21:02
mapping, you got to hold their feet to the fire and hold them
21:06
accountable to what they agree to and call your district
21:09
representative. You know, call your ADR, call
21:11
your Dr. and if they aren't responding to it, contact your
21:15
regional officer at national headquarters.
21:19
So last week I teased on the episode that I had a story to
21:24
tell. And this one is actually very,
21:30
very telling to everything that's going on with management
21:34
and everything going on with people having issues.
21:39
But I will tell you this, I feel very, very upset about this.
21:44
And the reason why is at the end of this, everything has happened
21:50
so far. They're still fighting, but they
21:54
resigned their Commission as a local steward because of it.
22:01
You know who I'm talking about, Kristen.
22:04
Yeah, but this carrier has been fighting with management for a
22:11
long time and even file grievances for harassment,
22:17
hostile work environment and stuff like that.
22:20
And the part that irritates me the most is this person has
22:26
multiple years in as a local steward and is a fighter and has
22:32
been actually beaten down by their ADR over it.
22:38
Now I'm not saying like just told to shut up and take it, but
22:43
there was a point where there were 4 grievances filed and the
22:47
ADR tossed two of them out and wanted them to withdraw hostile
22:54
and unsafe work environment. The ADR didn't think it was
22:57
hostile or retaliation and basically said they she thought
23:03
the grievances were gripes. Now as I've talked about
23:07
previously, they had a training on whether it's a grievance or a
23:12
gripe and I praised the stewards that were on there because every
23:16
single gripe that was brought up was turned into a grievance.
23:21
There's a reason they're griping.
23:23
There's a reason they have come to you for help, even your local
23:27
stewards coming to you to help and you're turning around
23:30
saying, oh, it's just a gripe. Especially a local steward who
23:34
knows the difference between agreements and a gripe.
23:39
And this person actually said, I could bring this on the air for
23:44
them and let them let them know that, hey, we're behind them.
23:47
Because this is this is exactly why people have problems with
23:53
both management and the union, because there are union
23:59
officials who are allowing management to do this stuff.
24:05
And this is one of them. I will not name names because
24:08
then that can create legal issues.
24:10
But they know who they are. And I'm sure somebody will
24:14
actually give them this episode to listen to.
24:16
So I'm going to speak directly to them.
24:18
To this ADR, you done screwed up.
24:21
You actually put this union in jeopardy because you are not
24:26
following the duty of Fair representation here.
24:29
They're bringing grievances to you and you're turning around
24:33
and saying that they're gripes. That is a failure.
24:36
And to this person who was a local steward, I commend you for
24:41
having the guts to speak out about it and allow us to talk
24:44
about it on here. I commend you for having the
24:47
wherewithal to still stand up and fight for this craft and be
24:51
the person that this union can depend on to defend it better
24:56
than that ADR is doing. We're I'm behind you on this
24:59
one. I hope every grievance you get
25:01
gets settled for more than just language.
25:03
And I hope that eventually your management will learn to respect
25:09
the contract and respect the employees and treat them with
25:12
dignity, fairness and respect. We need to be together.
25:16
You do have a couple questions in the chat about this too, if
25:20
you can answer any of them. I cannot answer what did they do
25:25
though. That was the hostility.
25:27
I do not know the specifics of that.
25:30
And you got to remember this was a local steward.
25:32
So as the legal paperwork of the union says in the policies is
25:38
that you cannot discuss current or former grievances that you
25:44
have dealt with as a steward. And so I did not ask those
25:49
specific details. The NRO should have been called.
25:53
This person did contact higher up in the chain and was working
25:59
on that. But the problem is the ADR in
26:04
this whole situation. So the other parts of it beyond
26:08
the ADR and the Dr. situation I am not sure of.
26:12
But the big thing is we're calling out the bad situation
26:17
that happened, which was the removal of grievances that could
26:23
have been good grievances by just calling them a gripe, which
26:29
is something all the stewards in the grievance and a gripe
26:32
training found grievances for every gripe.
26:35
Now, if it was he doesn't like the color of my shirt, that's a
26:40
gripe. That's not grievance worthy
26:42
unless they were trying to say, you know, the color of the shirt
26:47
is something that somebody else is wearing and stuff like that.
26:50
But if it's something that's disparate treatment like that,
26:53
that'd be different. But if it's, you know, he's
26:58
telling me that I need to do this, this and this, and it's
27:01
completely against the contract and it's creating a hostile work
27:03
environment because he threatened to write me up or
27:06
give me an investigative interview if I don't comply,
27:10
stuff like that, then that is definitely one of those.
27:13
OK, James, I do want to read something, an e-mail that we got
27:17
a while. Ago.
27:18
Go for it. And I have an update to it, so
27:22
Oh yeah, OK. Yeah, you know.
27:26
I know now, OK, so this was sent to me middle of last month and
27:34
I, I kind of want to go on here again, not mentioning names or
27:38
locations, but it says I really appreciate all of you and the
27:43
work you do for the podcast. I didn't find out about it about
27:46
a year ago, and I've been listening ever since.
27:49
I also share the information you provide with carriers in my
27:52
office, ones who don't have smartphones.
27:54
Wink, your commitment has inspired me to get more
27:58
involved. I've always followed union and
28:01
contract information closely, but never did anything myself.
28:05
Now I'm making plans to attend local meetings and I'll soon be
28:09
a local steward for my office. I think it would be great if you
28:12
use the podcast and took an episode to explain on how to be
28:15
a delegate, which we did and we will touch on that again and
28:18
what steps it takes to get there and how the process works.
28:22
Does it cost money to go? Is it all paid for?
28:25
Do spouses go? Do they have to pay?
28:28
I've never met another carrier who's ever been a delegate, so
28:30
I'm clueless, but I'd love to find out so I can help change
28:33
leadership for our craft. And another episode.
28:36
OK, so this is just kind of asking for stuff, even though it
28:39
may have been something we've done in the earlier episodes,
28:42
which I know will a lot of that stuff we may we'll go back and
28:45
touch in on. So I'm going to continue another
28:48
episode on being a local steward or how the steward system works
28:51
would be great. My election meeting is next
28:54
Friday so I'm sure I'll learn a lot on my own.
28:56
But an episode on the procedure, responsibilities, expectations,
29:00
how to go about grievances, What if you file and your Dr. never
29:03
follows through? How to become an area steward,
29:06
assistant Dr. or DRS? Are DRS nominated or elected?
29:11
I know you have touched on these subjects and if you've already
29:13
done full episodes on these topics, I apologize.
29:16
It may have been before I started listening.
29:18
If so, you can tell me what episode?
29:20
Thanks for all you do and I hope you continue doing the podcast
29:23
knowing how much it means to us. So last week, a week ago
29:27
actually, I got an update and that update says update.
29:31
I was elected local steward on September 20th.
29:34
Tonight I went to my regional union meeting and got elected
29:37
president. I wasn't even really attending
29:40
to get elected this time since it was only my second meeting in
29:43
10 years. I was going to get more
29:45
involved, learn more, make connections and maybe run next
29:48
year. Instead, they didn't have any
29:51
nominees and after being asked, I said I wasn't opposed to
29:54
serving but didn't have much experience.
29:56
They elected me president anyway.
29:59
It really is that easy to get involved.
30:02
Yes, it is people. It is that easy.
30:05
And congratulations to this listener on both being elected
30:09
as your local steward and for stepping up and becoming
30:14
president of your region. I thought that was useful.
30:16
That is amazing to hear. And Speaking of stepping up and
30:22
getting out there and getting involved, starting the beginning
30:26
of next year starts all the regional conferences January.
30:30
We have a stack coming up. So you have to remember
30:34
participation in these things is important as well and it does
30:38
give you a chance to possibly talk with the national board
30:42
member in a less formal setting than say a National Convention
30:48
would be. So you want to start planning
30:50
ahead for that. So if you want to go, you have
30:52
to, you know, reserve your room and things like that.
30:57
So keep an eye in in your state papers as well as on the NRLCA
31:02
magazine and website for information on that stuff.
31:07
And then soon after, soon after that, we start state conventions
31:11
again. So.
31:12
Yeah, room blocks for National Convention typically open up the
31:15
first week of May within that first week anyways, typically.
31:20
So yeah, May 1st somewhere in there.
31:22
Usually, like I said, first week of May in there.
31:24
I've seen them open up after the first on the 1st so expect the
31:29
first part of May. Good.
31:31
Somebody went to their first booster today.
31:33
Yay. Another person says this Sunday
31:37
is our booster. Two weeks from this weekend is
31:41
our state booster which will be fun.
31:45
That's also Miss Ruby's 18th birthday weekend and she is
31:51
already gearing up. She told me I have to bring my
31:53
laptop in because if her posting is up, she will be applying on
31:57
her 18th birthday. Yeah, you, you know, listening
32:05
to me for nearly ten years and she still wants to apply, so we
32:09
will see what happens. You must have a screw loose.
32:15
She is my daughter after all. Yeah, I love.
32:19
I love Ruby. She's awesome.
32:21
Yeah, but Little Man had his doctor's appointment Monday.
32:25
I forgot about that. He is up to £9.12 oz as of a
32:30
week ago. He is, He is.
32:33
He'll be at the booster too, so you'll get to see him looking.
32:37
Forward to that. Yeah, no, I think Ruby would be
32:40
a good addition to the real craft.
32:43
I think anybody that can do the job and and do it well is a good
32:46
addition to this real craft right now.
32:48
We need them so badly. And here and here's this poor
32:51
girl who's already been to every union function this year with
32:55
the exception of National. So she's, yeah, she's got that
33:00
down. And she wants to, she's already
33:03
saying, you know, he's going to start, she gets hired in, she's
33:08
going to be a member and she's going to be going.
33:10
And her name, if she, like I said, she makes it through the
33:14
hiring process and sticks with it, her name will be on that
33:17
ballot for national next year that.
33:19
'D be awesome. Yep, she's.
33:22
Yeah, yeah. And we got to, we're going to
33:24
have to start getting ready because the the state start
33:28
around April, I believe for state conventions.
33:32
Yeah, I believe those one starts, Yeah, I'm starting
33:34
April, yeah. So.
33:37
That's when we. Usually have our.
33:39
Annual meetings for locals. Yeah.
33:42
So keep an eye out, keep an eye on your magazines, keep an eye
33:45
on the website or in touch with your union reps to find out when
33:51
that stuff is. Because if you want to
33:53
participate, the best way you can do is attend meetings,
33:57
because more information flows at meetings than they do even on
34:01
the websites themselves. Yeah, it's waiting for two more
34:07
weeks. We'll see what happens with her
34:10
being us officially. Unless she changes her mind.
34:15
Well, she needs a job, so I can't afford her and the baby,
34:24
you know, barely afford her. Especially on on Table 2.
34:30
Table 2. Step one.
34:32
For another month and a half, yeah.
34:36
Yeah, and there are still no contract updates yet.
34:40
No, there is not. Not for either party.
34:43
No, not for any party. Exactly.
34:46
Exactly. I mean the APW is giving out
34:50
better updates than any other one of them.
34:52
Yep, but that's all I had today. Now there was something else I
34:57
wanted to touch on and I just drew a blank.
34:59
See what happens when I don't prepare a note?
35:01
Right. I just I really.
35:03
Want to get that e-mail out? I've been kind of sitting up and
35:05
I apologize. Yeah, there's.
35:07
So I'm going to go back to the hurricane a little bit here.
35:11
There are some carriers that have been out in the hurricane
35:14
disaster zones in damage areas delivering and being told by
35:19
management to do unsafe things like drive across downed power
35:24
lines, under trees that have fallen, stuff like that.
35:28
Don't put yourself in harm's way if it's unsafe, do not do it,
35:32
please. Every tree that's down could
35:35
come down further at any time. You don't know that what's
35:39
holding it up could fail at any time.
35:43
You know, an electrical wires, even if the power is out in the
35:46
entire area could still hold an electrical charge, could
35:50
actually gain an electrical charge from the magnetism of the
35:55
earth or even a solar flare. Especially since we just had an
35:59
X9 point O3 or something that just came off the sun a few days
36:03
ago. You have to be careful and be
36:05
mindful out there. The same with standing water.
36:08
You don't want to drive through standing water because you don't
36:11
know how deep that water is. Number 1, you know something
36:15
could have been washed away underneath and you can't see it,
36:17
so rushing standing water, don't drive through it.
36:21
James made it. That was just me trying to fill
36:24
in the blanks here. Sorry about that.
36:29
Yeah. And because you got to think the
36:31
roadway is concrete or tarmac, put on top of crushed gravel and
36:36
sand and then on top of dirt and water will permeate.
36:41
That could actually lift the road up.
36:43
I mean potholes are formed the exact same way.
36:46
Water gets underneath the road, freezes, lifts up the road which
36:50
gets damaged by cars driving over it.
36:52
Then when it thaws that pocket where that ice was allows all
36:56
that road bed and road to settle down into it and that's how
37:00
pothole was formed. Same thing can happen with flood
37:02
water. It could have washed away just
37:04
enough Rd. surface underneath it that the road looks fine until
37:09
you put the weight of the vehicle on it.
37:10
Yeah, my heart definitely goes out to those affected and those
37:14
in the path of the newest 1 coming through.
37:17
Yeah, Mother Nature. Definitely a bear.
37:20
I'm really find. What you were looking for?
37:22
No, no, no, I didn't. I will say though, I am very
37:31
proud of a carrier in another office, one that James and I
37:35
have talked about between ourselves who has had a lot of
37:39
issues and is standing up for themselves honorably.
37:44
And I just want to give kudos to the text messages of this
37:48
carrier, really put a smile on my face and I'm happy that
37:53
they're doing what they're. Yeah, you got.
37:55
You got to stand up for what's right.
37:57
If you don't stand up for what's right, what if you don't stand
38:00
up for what's right? What do you stand up for?
38:02
All right, James, anything else that you can think of off the
38:04
top of the head that we can address tonight?
38:07
Yeah, it's been a slow Newsweek for me overall because I have
38:11
spent two days without being involved on social media because
38:14
of the family matter. Yeah, yeah.
38:15
So completely. I'm a little bit behind on that
38:18
stuff. So I, you know, it, like I said,
38:22
it's been an up and down week for me.
38:24
It's just definitely, you know, getting used to not having that
38:27
family member you've had for 15 years, whether they've got 4
38:32
legs or two, they're still family members.
38:36
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you know, getting my baby
38:40
snuggles in every day doesn't hurt, though I'm sometimes I'm
38:44
the only one that can get him to calm down.
38:48
But we just make up this one as a short one this week.
38:52
I'm pretty sure nobody's going to complain about that, right
38:55
James? I don't know.
38:57
That's up to them in the audience.
38:58
Unless you all got questions and you can toss them at us and
39:02
we'll go ahead and answer them for a little bit, we can do that
39:04
too. We, we're always looking for
39:07
questions to answer on on the podcast.
39:10
So if you are out there and do you want to e-mail us questions
39:15
or send us the the page questions to put on the podcast,
39:19
you're more than welcome to do that.
39:20
What's the e-mail, Kristen? Unitedwescanpodcast@gmail.com.
39:26
Yes, a reminder of the dispute date is the 18th.
39:32
October 18th and if I accidentally said December,
39:36
which I think a couple people mentioned while I was reading
39:39
it, I do apologize. It is October 18th for your
39:44
disputes, and each dispute is on its own dispute form with its
39:48
own paperwork trail. So if you've got more than one
39:51
or two, yeah, I got to have that paperwork trail.
39:55
Oh, I do have a correction to make though from last week's
39:58
episode. Yes.
40:00
So I talked about a carrier getting shot over political mail
40:04
in the last episode and I was told it was Wisconsin and I did
40:10
a search for it everywhere I could and the only one I could
40:16
find was in Farmington Hills, MI in the news.
40:23
And I then received a message from another carrier who said
40:29
they believe it happened in Wittenberg, Wisconsin.
40:33
So I am unsure whether one happened in Wisconsin aside from
40:38
the one that happened in Michigan.
40:40
But what I had heard first was it happened in Wisconsin.
40:44
So the one in Michigan is confirmed by news sources.
40:49
I am unconfirmed on any in Wisconsin, so I just wanted to
40:52
make the. I've heard from Wisconsin was
40:55
from a carrier and basically said it was not in the news
40:59
because it was an ongoing investigation still.
41:02
OK, so that's what I heard. That's that's why I wanted to
41:07
put it out there because some people were like I, I didn't
41:09
hear of one in Wisconsin. So I wanted to put it out there.
41:12
Yep. And we appreciate that.
41:14
All right, guys. So somebody said that asked if
41:19
there's an allowance for Helene possible.
41:22
So from what I have heard, the carriers that are in the offices
41:28
that are inaccessible and routes that are inaccessible should be
41:33
getting Act of God pay up and to the point they have an
41:37
assignment for them at another location to do their route.
41:42
Now granted that may just be going in and sorting the mail
41:46
and parcels so that people who live in the affected areas can
41:51
come and pick up their mail, but at this time the only
41:55
verification I have that it is an act of God is through an
41:59
anonymous source at National Offer.
42:02
They did not wish to be named, but I just wanted to put it out
42:04
there that they should be getting Act of God pay.
42:07
They should not be required to use annual pay or annual leave
42:12
to cover their expenses while their entire town is lost.
42:17
So if that is not happening, I would if you can't.
42:22
I would contact. I would contact.
42:24
Your your regional, national, regional officer at national
42:29
office because this is something that carriers have no control
42:36
over, especially carriers that actually live in the communities
42:39
that they work and literally lost everything.
42:43
Yeah, it would be bad for a management to turn around and
42:47
say, well, you may have lost everything, but now you're going
42:50
to lose all your annual leave too, because you have to pay for
42:52
the fact that you're not working.
42:54
Yeah, I would be. Getting a hold of your NRO
42:57
executive committee men, especially if you're unable to
43:00
get in touch with ADR and ADR in those areas.
43:03
And somebody said about the dispute paperwork for those
43:06
areas. They don't have an answer on
43:09
that unfortunately. Yeah, because that's that's
43:13
something that would have to be discussed between the national
43:16
office and and national management for those affected
43:19
areas because it's more than one district that's affected in
43:22
those areas. That would actually be a
43:23
national level thing. Is it true that no more DPS in
43:28
New Jersey? Everything is random.
43:30
Machines are being removed at the plant in order to fit
43:33
carriers I the I've. The I've heard rumors of.
43:39
That I've heard rumors, I have heard rumors that it could go
43:45
national. And in fact the small offices
43:48
that are just rural offices, ones that don't have city in
43:52
them, you know, are 123 route offices.
43:56
I do not know like again, that's just a rumor I have.
44:00
I haven't seen anything else other than what has been posted
44:03
on the social webs about it so can't say one way or another on
44:07
that. But if you get what's what's the
44:13
number of pieces again, I can't remember the specific number.
44:16
I know over well, I know I meant for getting DPS raw like that
44:22
and you get your mail raw instead of in DPS form.
44:24
There's AI think it was 126 pieces of DPS that is raw that
44:30
that you get a piece count for and 8127 time 135.
44:35
OK, I've been corrected. It's 135 in the chat.
44:38
So if I'm wrong, it's OK, somebody can correct me.
44:41
Although otherwise 125. OK, wow getting all different
44:45
kinds of numbers here, but but you're supposed to get a piece
44:50
count and 8127 time for casing it by the piece count rate.
44:55
So. Can I get a 115?
45:03
I got you 115. How will we go for 100?
45:07
Yeah, you get one piece of raw, it's it's 8127 time for the rest
45:13
of it. No, but it 125, if it's over 125
45:19
pieces, it gets a raw piece count and you case it all and
45:23
you get 8127 time at the rate for the piece count.
45:28
So I don't have the exact numbers for the piece count in
45:31
front of me. I'm not going to take the time
45:33
to search it up either. You can find it online on the
45:36
union website and get your information there.
45:40
But if management's not willing to give you the piece count on
45:45
it, then we file, file, file and then smile and file some more.
45:50
And like somebody else said, I doubt they'll get rid of DPS.
45:54
They will relocate those machines to a new facility only
45:57
if everybody grieves them not paying the 8127 piece count
46:03
time. Bury them in paperwork to make
46:05
them realize their mistake. Yeah, well Jen says should
46:13
probably contact Dr. about it. My Dr. said that it doesn't
46:17
apply anymore because of Rex. I would argue against that
46:21
because we still have paperwork stating that and I would use
46:24
that paperwork to argue that I should get piece count,
46:27
especially if the amount of raw mail is exorbitantly higher than
46:34
my mini mail survey count. And if they're not willing to
46:37
give it, then when you get to the dispute process on your next
46:41
mini meal survey, you have all those numbers ready for that
46:44
mini meal survey dispute. As to the volume that you're
46:47
supposed to be getting for the raw count that you're actually
46:50
handling and casing in your office.
46:54
Then I would also argue if if you're doing all this raw casing
47:00
that your start times need to be moved back so that you can have
47:04
the time to case longer in the office with all the raw mail.
47:09
So all the mails coming in raw except for bundled flats, but we
47:15
consider those raw anyways. But we at least get that credit
47:19
supposedly in the mini mail survey.
47:22
Any other big questions or anything before we wrap this up?
47:26
Love chatting with everybody in the chat.
47:28
Yeah, it is an interesting direction.
47:30
The post office going, you never know anymore.
47:33
It's one thing one day one thing but I forever changing.
47:37
Well, when you have one manager for every 7 carriers, a lot of
47:41
chiefs and not enough Indians, too many chiefs trying to make
47:43
decisions. Oh, I agree 100%.
47:46
So somebody's roboting? Who's roboting?
47:50
Oh, just frequency is probably because he's in the affected
47:53
areas and can't get good signal because of the temporary systems
47:59
they've set up down there. Yeah, that could be.
48:04
All right, guys, we're going to wind this down.
48:06
And James, your last thoughts heard this evening.
48:10
Just remember everybody, stay safe, protect yourself.
48:15
As Bill says, the most important delivery of the day is you
48:18
getting home to your loved ones, and that includes anybody in the
48:25
affected areas from Hurricane Helene and the ones that are
48:30
about to be in the affected areas of Hurricane Melton
48:33
because by the time it makes landfall, it should be a
48:36
hurricane. So be careful.
48:39
Don't do anything you deem unsafe.
48:43
You are the captain of the ship when that vehicle leaves that
48:46
parking lot. Oh, am I bad?
48:50
Good on my end. Oh, OK.
48:53
Just stay safe, everybody, and hold management accountable
48:58
because the only way to ensure you have rights is to fight for
49:04
those rights. Stand up for your rights,
49:07
because when we stand together, we show management we're all in
49:12
this together. And everybody's just getting you
49:15
loud and clear now, James. Yeah, guys, stay safe out there.
49:21
Again, like I said, my my heart goes out to everybody that was
49:25
affected with Hurricane Helene and that was in the path of
49:29
Milton. Stay safe people and we'll
49:32
update as we can. I'll post stuff in the groups on
49:35
the Facebook page. I'll get find that go fund me
49:39
link again for the carrier that was injured and get that posted.
49:45
Outside of that. Guys, have a safe week and we
49:49
should be back next week. You know, we scan behind the
50:04
scenes, that's why we do the live stages, so you guys can see
50:07
what is behind the scenes. A little bit of a pulling back
50:10
of the curtain, Not everything that happens behind the curtain,
50:14
but quite a bit of it actually.