Latest / United We Scan / MMS with a side of Q & A
Transcript
- 0:17Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
- 0:21carriers. For rural carriers, the views
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- 0:29the United States Postal Service or the National Rural Letter
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- 0:56Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
- 1:00United We Scan podcast. Welcome back everybody.
- 1:06Episode 37. Tonight we're going to go over
- 1:10mini mail survey and do some of our listener Q&A.
- 1:14How was your week, James? Oh, it was pretty good gearing
- 1:20up for the mini mail survey. Our postmaster did do the stand
- 1:24up talk as required and also informed everybody that we would
- 1:28be doing it the exact same way we did it last time with the
- 1:32sheets handed out to the carriers and if they choose to
- 1:35count for the management, they can do it themselves.
- 1:38Then management will verify the numbers and then put them in the
- 1:41system. If a carrier doesn't want to
- 1:43count, then management counts for them.
- 1:45So it worked out really well the first time and it seemed to work
- 1:48out really well Friday when I worked.
- 1:50I didn't work Saturday, so I don't know how that went, but it
- 1:54was a pretty good, pretty good week overall.
- 1:57Mail volumes were fluctuating through the whole week, but it
- 2:01it felt good to get back to my route after a week off at
- 2:04National. I hear you, Bill.
- 2:07How was your week? Oh, typical Westchester.
- 2:12I mean, you know, carriers, bitching, management, crying,
- 2:16you know, hot weather, humid. Sticky.
- 2:20It felt good to get get back in the truck and see my customers
- 2:23and kids and the dogs and, you know, get back into the swing of
- 2:28things. And actually, it it's a lot
- 2:31easier than doing the National Convention, You know, no 11:00,
- 2:37you know, tutorials with the resolutions or anything or, you
- 2:42know, doing the caucus night. And then it's like, God, yeah,
- 2:46this job's easier than the convention is.
- 2:49I agree. Yeah.
- 2:52My typical week. See back to work Monday and we
- 2:57did some OJT with the newbie that took a month off due to his
- 3:03health. He hopped back in that saddle
- 3:06just like he hadn't been gone for a month.
- 3:10He we took the route out Monday we got.
- 3:15I want to say probably 3/4 of the way through it, maybe a
- 3:18little bit more. And I looked and it was already
- 3:215:30 and I said, all right, I said, how about if we switch
- 3:23seats? And I knocked this last bit out,
- 3:25he's like, yeah, no problem. So we were done within an hour.
- 3:28But Tuesday we then, because he didn't have much of the
- 3:32second-half before he got sick, actually didn't have anything.
- 3:36So Tuesday we went ahead and split the route with the
- 3:39regular, did the second-half. He did awesome.
- 3:42And then Wednesday, he split the route and did the second-half
- 3:46again with the regular only I He was on his own and he did
- 3:50awesome. And Thursday and Friday he was
- 3:54on his own. Thursday actually worked out
- 3:56pretty darn good because Amazon didn't show up Thursday morning.
- 4:00So that was to his benefit. Yeah, we paid for it on Friday,
- 4:06but not it was actually not too bad.
- 4:07He did really good. He.
- 4:09Was back. It's a night and 1/2 hour route.
- 4:12He was back pretty close to evaluation time.
- 4:17Yep. And he'll be back tomorrow and
- 4:21we'll see how that goes. But yeah, he's told me.
- 4:23You know what? Because I didn't even I think
- 4:25because I only had to look at the map like once or didn't have
- 4:27to look at. He goes just a couple more times
- 4:29and I'll be golden. I'm like, can we clone him?
- 4:34I just want to clone him, you know?
- 4:37But so that was, yeah, so hard. Oh, I know.
- 4:43And yeah, our regulars final day that's retiring is Thursday the
- 4:5031st. So then at the countdown begins
- 4:57and yeah, I got another full week this week, had a full week
- 5:01this past week, and we'll see what happens.
- 5:07We're trying to get the borrowed RCA to transfer into our office
- 5:10too, because he does really well.
- 5:13Because when I got back Saturday after National and they had
- 5:18split the one route that I was running Saturday and he did the
- 5:21hard part, the turnaround part of it, the POA.
- 5:25And when I went through there on Saturday, there was not one
- 5:28piece of misdelivered mail that I picked up.
- 5:31So we're trying to talk him into moving N about 30 miles.
- 5:40Well, he's his route with that. He's assigned to done.
- 5:43There was one of those that dropped to an H route.
- 5:45So he's farming himself out all over to get hours and he's only
- 5:50been in RCA for seven months and he's a new listener.
- 5:54So hi. Yeah, I'm talking about you.
- 5:55So yeah, you know, it's it's going well.
- 6:05That's that's the key. That's the key.
- 6:06A lot of us want those Subs that are willing to work.
- 6:09We want those Subs that are willing to come in and do the
- 6:11work. You know, there.
- 6:13There's nothing bad about not wanting to work every single
- 6:16day. I'm not, I'm not complaining
- 6:18about Subs getting time off to do the things they need to do.
- 6:22But if a sub's coming in and doing the work and getting the
- 6:25work done and going home every day, I'm happy about that.
- 6:28And if they if they do take time off, that's OK with me too, you
- 6:32know. But if you're willing to do the
- 6:34work, you get the work done when you're there, I'm happy with
- 6:36you. Yep, Yep, that's you know and
- 6:42the other one that we have left, he finally mastered that one
- 6:46route that was giving him issues and he actually starting to like
- 6:50that route more than his primary.
- 6:53Sadly, his primary is the one I'll be taking over.
- 6:57But. We'll see what happens.
- 7:00I mean, it's going to be one of those things being the little
- 7:02man on the totem pole. I'm going to be working every
- 7:03Saturday most of the time anyways, and they'll be pulling
- 7:06him to run everything else. More money for you?
- 7:13Yep, yeah. Especially starting in the
- 7:15middle of the guarantee period with the beginning, so I won't
- 7:17even be able to bank X days till after Christmas.
- 7:20Otherwise, I'd do that, Yeah. Well, and down top of that,
- 7:26because you know the route, you can just go with evaluation at
- 7:29the beginning instead of waiting a whole year on hourly and
- 7:31losing a lot of money through the middle of summer.
- 7:34Correct. Yeah, I do the route.
- 7:35In fact, I'm running the route Tuesday.
- 7:37I haven't ran it in a while since we've had a sub, but I
- 7:42will. I'm running it Tuesday because
- 7:44he needs off and well, she's burning up what little bit she
- 7:47had left to use up. So we shall see.
- 7:52What happens, it'll be kind of nice to run it again, but
- 7:57there's been a lot of quite a few changes on that route.
- 7:59They've she added 20 new boxes this month, and that won't be in
- 8:04this evaluation either. Well, no, at least past one.
- 8:09Well, yeah, I mean, yeah, because when we updated the
- 8:12mapping, that's how I knew she had added an additional 20
- 8:15boxes, so. Including a CPU.
- 8:19So they're up to 101 CPU units, 101 CPUs boxes and 600, and
- 8:27something else regular. We'll see what happens.
- 8:32So you ready to get into this mini mail survey question and
- 8:35answer section? Go right ahead and let you.
- 8:39I'll let you start it. So the very first question we
- 8:45have is one that's on a lot of carriers minds and that is the
- 8:50unscanned parcel MOU that came out and only using door
- 8:55miscellaneous. So in my opinion, from what I've
- 9:01heard from higher up union officials in the area, you don't
- 9:09get the credit in the office for the unscanned parcel like you
- 9:13used to on the mail counts because they used to count
- 9:16everything in the mail counts. So if you had an unscanned
- 9:19parcel, that would be counted in the office at that time.
- 9:22So they changed this with the Rex stuff because we have the
- 9:26unscanned parcel to use on the route and you should be using
- 9:32the unscanned parcel when you deliver things to the door or to
- 9:38the mailbox that are of the unscanned parcel type.
- 9:42Now you're going to have management arguing sizes and
- 9:46things like that. It is not a shoe box size.
- 9:49That is a city carrier term, spurs or chunks.
- 9:55That's also not a term we use in the rural craft.
- 9:59We have no terms like that. It is either a parcel, a flat or
- 10:03a letter. Those are the only terms we use.
- 10:07Anything else is city talk or management trying to change
- 10:12things. So the biggest thing is if
- 10:15you're using a scan parcel, make sure you're being honest about
- 10:19it. Everything about this is honesty
- 10:23because even though management doesn't get in trouble for
- 10:26falsifying government documents, you can.
- 10:31So if they're harassing you on this or they're saying it's not
- 10:38an unscanned parcel because of this, this and this, get with
- 10:41your designated union Rep Make sure you are talking with your
- 10:46union representative assigned to you.
- 10:49It doesn't matter if it's a local area.
- 10:51ADR. Dr. Any of them talk with them.
- 10:57Your guys' thoughts? Well, along those lines there,
- 11:01there's also a sample. Grievance out there for
- 11:07benchmarking which has been established by the post office
- 11:11in regards to dismounts, unscanned parcels, you know,
- 11:15anything that's you know getting red flag because it's
- 11:17benchmarked on a national average, so check with your ADR
- 11:22or your Dr. to see if they have copies of that prove your case
- 11:26in the future. One such case in our office is
- 11:29that a a young lady has 110 dismounts on a weekly basis.
- 11:36And they challenged it. Then she went out and showed
- 11:40them and they're like, OK, you're outside the benchmarks,
- 11:44so you know there there is one out there.
- 11:46It should be provided by the NSS, if not by your ADR, your
- 11:51Dr. and and utilize that because it's already filled out for you
- 11:55with all the applicable articles and violations so that you can
- 12:00prove your case. But again, it's contingent on
- 12:02your honesty. Management doesn't have to be
- 12:05honest, and you know the union could be questionable.
- 12:09But you need to be honest, you know, to protect yourself.
- 12:12Yeah, benchmarking definitely get a hold of if you're getting
- 12:15harassed about. Any scans definitely reach out
- 12:17to you. Or does it need a union?
- 12:19Rope and document, document, document, document.
- 12:25You know if you got to count the stuff yourself, count it if you
- 12:29have to prove that it's an unscanned parcel.
- 12:33And they're not wanting to pay you 8127 time or miscellaneous
- 12:38to do anything like that then do it under start load, You know
- 12:43anything like that is it's just, it's ridiculous how management's
- 12:47trying to micromanage above and beyond what was already agreed
- 12:51upon. It's funny that my management's
- 12:57trying to micromanage us and they they don't even know what
- 13:00the rules are, let alone I've every carried a route because
- 13:03most of my supervisors came from the clerks.
- 13:07Yep. Yep, mine too.
- 13:09Yep. And if they aren't, if they're
- 13:10saying you need to come show this to us, tell them to.
- 13:14I need that in writing, round dated and signed.
- 13:18And contact your designated union Rep because you shouldn't
- 13:22have to turn around and be babysat like that in the 1st
- 13:26place. And that is a form of harassment
- 13:29for management. So you may have to do it the
- 13:33first time, but you're going to want to contact your designated
- 13:36union Rep and file a grievance on it.
- 13:39Anything that they try to punish you on for scanner stuff, have
- 13:44your designated union Rep there and make sure you document
- 13:48everything because they cannot discipline you on scanner data
- 13:54alone. I'll repeat that they cannot
- 13:58discipline you on scanner data alone.
- 14:02They have to have other evidence besides that because scanner
- 14:07data can be messed up. Scanner data can be manipulated.
- 14:12It may not be you manipulating it, it may be somebody on
- 14:16another route accidentally. Put your route in there and now
- 14:18it's putting their numbers on your route and it's showing up
- 14:22in their system that this route had all these scans and it
- 14:25wasn't just your scanner putting them in there.
- 14:29Or you had where you had a drop day and they split your route
- 14:33and the person who took your route out turned around and put
- 14:37your number in there and inadvertently left it there when
- 14:40they went back to their route the next day.
- 14:43You know, there's all different kinds of way scanner data can be
- 14:47messed up and that actually leads right into this this next
- 14:51question that actually came from our group.
- 14:55And that is I've been hearing lately that if you have a bad
- 15:00battery in their scanner, your bread crumbs or your pings don't
- 15:04ping very often. We had one route that had a bad
- 15:08battery, had no pings for over a week, which could mean coverage
- 15:11factor is bad. Any thoughts on the situation?
- 15:17Batteries are can go bad, scanners can go bad.
- 15:21The biggest issue we're having with these scanners, especially
- 15:25right now, is because of the heat.
- 15:28There are so many circuit boards and wires and things inside of
- 15:32that case that when it heats up, they expand and they push on the
- 15:37screen, which then causes the screen to go nuts.
- 15:40And you've seen the videos online of the scanners going
- 15:42nuts and there can be errors in that it can push on the GPS
- 15:48receiver that's inside on one of the circuit boards and cause it
- 15:52to malfunction. There's so many different things
- 15:54that can go wrong when the scanner gets hot.
- 15:57So yes, this is a problem, and if you have a bad battery,
- 16:02that's just a bad battery overall.
- 16:05You need to write it up and get management to fix it.
- 16:09They have to either send it in and get it replaced, get new
- 16:12ones brought in. Scanners have to be replaced.
- 16:15We just had one in our office that said the scanner no longer
- 16:19works. Ship it to this, address, things
- 16:22like that. So scanners mess up.
- 16:25It's technology, It's only as good as the people that built it
- 16:29and humans are faulty. We all are.
- 16:31And they run off of cell towers, so if you're not in a cell tower
- 16:37area with limited service, your things aren't gonna pick up.
- 16:43Properly. Or if you're like our post
- 16:47office and lost power for three days and then they send somebody
- 16:52in from national to find out why nothing's been uploaded because
- 16:55your power's been out for three days, then it starts actually
- 16:59feeding that data in, if it even feeds it at all.
- 17:02We don't know for sure. But there's also that issue of
- 17:05that as well. It could not be uploading if
- 17:08there's no power, no Internet at the office when you put it on
- 17:12the base. Yeah, we often have a problem of
- 17:17no Internet in our office, usually around the time I'm
- 17:20asking for reports. Funny how that works out,
- 17:26doesn't it? We.
- 17:27We. We we we had a critical scanner
- 17:31failure the other day. Somebody on the City side was
- 17:36going off on their scanner and next thing you know it was going
- 17:39in the air over our heads. So I think they have to replace
- 17:44that one. Ooh yeah.
- 17:48Don't. Yeah, it'll be fine.
- 17:49Just just dust it off and clean it.
- 17:51It'll be fine. Yeah, it'll work.
- 17:53Like, yeah, I know, yeah. And the Internet problem?
- 18:00It sounds like your manager heard you come in and walked
- 18:02right past the router and went right over the power cord.
- 18:07Well, that this happens. I guarantee you at least four or
- 18:11five times a week they've actually had to shut the window
- 18:14down at times because there is no Internet.
- 18:21Incredible, isn't it? Customer service at its best.
- 18:26100% there. Yep.
- 18:30All right, James, what we got next?
- 18:35For our listeners there. How many have you gotten your
- 18:39end of day reports, let alone your ptr's, your end of runs?
- 18:43You know all that information that you're supposed to be
- 18:45getting every day. How many have actually gotten
- 18:47it? I'd like to see that because we,
- 18:51you know, second mini mail survey and management still
- 18:53doesn't know what to do and how to do.
- 18:56Yeah, pretty much. If you're on YouTube, give this
- 19:00video a like if if you've been getting your end of run reports.
- 19:05If you're at a business that you scan a pickup paper and it says
- 19:10I have to pick up 6 parcels but I have to do all six times do do
- 19:17the go to the door 6 times. Do I use six trips to door?
- 19:23Yes, you go trip to door and then you input the number six.
- 19:30That's the easiest way to do it. All right, The big one.
- 19:38Newspapers dropped at the dock. Are they not being counted in an
- 19:43e-mail account? We counted ours last round and
- 19:50as far as I know we get every day we get an Alpena news that's
- 19:56dropped off to two routes, but it's only for the subscribers.
- 20:01So they have been counting those when it gets to us because it's
- 20:04actually they drop off the papers at the office just north
- 20:09of us and then when our truck makes its way back down after
- 20:13dropping the mail off, he picks them up there and then drops
- 20:16them off to us and they literally come in like a plastic
- 20:20bag. So those are never been getting
- 20:24counted. And then last year our Wednesday
- 20:27local paper and our Thursday local papers were individually
- 20:30counted as well. Does those get dropped off at
- 20:33the office South of us by the printer and then our truck grabs
- 20:37them there and brings them up to us?
- 20:40So the big thing is, on this mini Mail survey, the biggest
- 20:44thing that they've been talking about is those drops at your
- 20:47dock, the WSH, the ECR lots, they try to say that they're
- 20:53counted. Check your radar reports if
- 20:57you're getting them. Because most likely they are not
- 21:00being counted in the end of run and radar reports.
- 21:04So you're going to want to count them.
- 21:05And if management is not willing to count them into the mini mail
- 21:09survey, make sure you document them on your 40 to 40 during the
- 21:14mini mail survey and then dispute it at the end of the
- 21:19mini mail survey for district to make the decision and
- 21:22determination on that. Because the biggest thing is, is
- 21:26you want to get credit for the work that you do, and if they're
- 21:29not being added into these reports, you want to make sure
- 21:32you dispute it to make sure they get added into these reports.
- 21:37What constitutes miscellaneous time?
- 21:40Answering phone calls, answering questions at the sidebar for
- 21:43customers at the window your safety service talks be putting
- 21:47your well, they're saying stamp stock is the sale to the
- 21:50customer. Because you know that should be
- 21:52your miscellaneous time there. Anytime you have to make extra
- 21:56trips for unexplained reasons because management wants to talk
- 22:01to you and they won't get off their key stairs, OK?
- 22:04Bathroom breaks is not miscellaneous.
- 22:06That that's extraneous if you have what else We have keypad
- 22:10access to dismount deliveries, yeah.
- 22:16Entering gate codes to enter apartment complexes or.
- 22:20Business parks that you have to go into elevator, wait time for
- 22:27office buildings, if you need to use the elevator, get to go to
- 22:30the CBU unit or the office to, you know, with certifieds and
- 22:37packages and whatnot we have. Constantly delayed by a train.
- 22:43And it's got to be constantly. That one is really a Gray area.
- 22:50But yeah, it has to be something that's consistently.
- 22:53If if you live with train tracks on your route and you stop there
- 22:58frequently, like every other day, you're constantly stopping
- 23:01for a train and it takes 1020 minutes for that train to clear
- 23:04that crossing, you definitely want that on miscellaneous time.
- 23:09And you'll be backed up by your stop times on there, and then
- 23:12they'll see it on your scanner, so they can't dispute.
- 23:17I we hear you, Josh. We actually just got district
- 23:20approval for our hardship miscellaneous because they have
- 23:26a gate that they keep closed and we have to open up the gate.
- 23:30It's just like a farm gate type thing.
- 23:32Pull the latch and it swings open.
- 23:35And then when we're done, we have to close it.
- 23:38And because I'm brought that up and it did get approved by
- 23:41district because like they they got a gate and it's a hardship.
- 23:44She's like, yeah, they have a bear problem.
- 23:47And so the district's like, ohh, you're up north.
- 23:51Yeah, I'm not even going to question that.
- 23:52Go ahead. It's only a bear problem when
- 23:57they walk around the backyard with nothing on, No?
- 24:00Yeah. When the two elderly people who
- 24:02can barely get around have a bear problem, yes, they keep
- 24:05their gate closed. James, the one question you
- 24:11discussed a few minutes ago about the multiple trips per
- 24:15pickup or drop off, is it authorized dismount or not?
- 24:22That makes a difference on which, yeah, if it's, if it's a,
- 24:28if it's not an authorized dismount location, then and it's
- 24:33just a parcel pickup and it takes you more than one trip to
- 24:37load all the parcels. And yeah, that's a trip to door.
- 24:40If it's an actual authorized dismount location, then yeah, it
- 24:44would be authorized to smoke trips.
- 24:48I just wanted to get the clarification put out there for
- 24:51that situation one way or another.
- 24:55No, no. And I like, I'm glad they they
- 25:00threw it in there in regards to your tubs and trays now since we
- 25:04have a centralized location. And we're not to keep ours at
- 25:07our case. So make sure people are getting
- 25:10time for that because as in our office, people are coming over
- 25:14to get tubs and trays and then they need to come back and get
- 25:16more. Then they have to turn around
- 25:19and they have to bring the tubs and trays back before they've
- 25:22lived, leave for the route. And then when they come back
- 25:24from the route, they have to turn around and take the trays
- 25:26and tubs back to the centralized location.
- 25:29And management is having a fit about it and we have it in
- 25:33writing. Well, returning them at the end
- 25:37of the day is all under end of shift duties.
- 25:39But yeah, I can see if you're having to retrieve them.
- 25:44But we're we're making up the three trips just in the morning.
- 25:47Yeah, luckily we can keep ours at our case, so we're good
- 25:54there, but. That's a safety hazard when
- 25:59they're up underneath the case, OK?
- 26:01Well, that's what the janitor told the postmaster.
- 26:03OK, so you know. That not the not in the 25 years
- 26:07that I've been there, that we've ever had a recorded incident of
- 26:10anybody being injured. But this new janitor, he thinks
- 26:14the assistant, he thinks he is the assistant postmaster.
- 26:18It makes it harder for him to clean under the cases.
- 26:21Gotcha. Well, you know, if my postmaster
- 26:24would actually get floor cleaner in then our floors, would it
- 26:27actually get cleaned? We had an exploding box of
- 26:33Miracle Whip yesterday. Nice.
- 26:38Yeah. Yeah.
- 26:40That's one of the local corner markets out in the middle of
- 26:44nowhere orders a Miracle Whip from Amazon.
- 26:47And I don't know how many of the actual bottles made it out of
- 26:50that case, but I know we were cleaning miracle whip up off the
- 26:53floor. Yeah, sounds like fun.
- 26:58No, not at all. And and and people have to be
- 27:02aware of the fact that the batteries are traveling on
- 27:07ground services. We actually had a carrier have a
- 27:10package explode in a train next to him and after he changed his
- 27:15pants, you know, got the package opened up and found out it was
- 27:20an exploded battery in there. So you people in the heat belt,
- 27:24you know, watch out. I mean you you don't know what's
- 27:26in those packages that you're carrying and.
- 27:30God help you if they you know you're driving when it goes off.
- 27:33Luckily he stopped the box when it exploded.
- 27:36Wasn't injured, but you know, it's it's scared the bejesus out
- 27:40of them. Oh what?
- 27:41Me too. I think everybody would, because
- 27:44you don't expect that sound to in your truck when you're in it.
- 27:48You probably think the trucks exploded on its own, just how
- 27:51old they are. Well, I I grew up in North
- 27:54Philly, so that that that gunshots familiar to make.
- 27:59You worried when you don't hear them.
- 28:02Yeah, that's that's when you're true.
- 28:07We're going to move on from e-mail survey for now.
- 28:11Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- 28:13What about question 144? Come on, trust that.
- 28:20I was trying. I was trying to get away from
- 28:23that one, just to be nice. No, no, we're not here to be
- 28:27nice. We're here to be informative.
- 28:30True, true. Sorry.
- 28:33We planned this address that. So the Q&A updates, specifically
- 28:40numbers one, 13135 and 144, MOU says upon receiving credit.
- 28:47Nothing about delivering the closed business or schools.
- 28:50What could happen if we chose to keep following the answer on 113
- 28:53and 135 and the PM says not to? Bill, you're hard pressed on
- 29:00this question. Why don't you?
- 29:02Take the ring I I want 144. That's what I said.
- 29:07The, the, the, the, the closed businesses and all again here we
- 29:12are, we're, we're going to get the DPS credit and then we're
- 29:15going to get the raw mail credit when you pull it out of the DPS.
- 29:19You're you're no longer going to get the bundle count for the
- 29:23eight pieces, but you know everybody's pro and con in
- 29:27regards to its actual value over and above an unscanned parcel.
- 29:35My question on 144 is that on the 25th it came out that we are
- 29:40now counting our WSH per the National Rule, Letter Carry
- 29:45Associations Rex question and answer page.
- 29:50Yet on 7/28/2023, the post office says they're not
- 29:55recognizing the WSH and they're not going to give us credit for
- 29:59it. Therefore, since we have a
- 30:02conflict of interest and they don't agree with the Union, you
- 30:05should be recording all your WSH flats because of the fact that
- 30:12it's a point of contention and should be disputed until they
- 30:16resolve it. The problem of it is, is why are
- 30:19we having this conflict still? And when you record it, I would
- 30:25say how many pieces and on what date.
- 30:30Well, if you don't know that to do that, then you're not doing
- 30:34your job because everything has to be verified.
- 30:41That's where I believe there's a sample sheet out there
- 30:44somewhere, James. In regards to what you should be
- 30:47looking for, yeah, the disputes sheet that has what you can
- 30:53dispute on that they recently put on the website.
- 30:57Yeah, there's that one. Yeah, that one's got the
- 30:59detailed list of what you can dispute and what you need as
- 31:04proof to dispute it. And that is on the NRLCA website
- 31:09under the rec stuff and it is a newer 1 dispute process or
- 31:17something another look that I'm not looking at it directly, so I
- 31:26think that one would be the best resource.
- 31:27I printed one off and gave it to every route in the office.
- 31:31Yep, and you want to make sure you you follow that and if if
- 31:35you need one, get with your designated union Rep to get you
- 31:38one or one of your fellow carriers that has access to the
- 31:43union website if you are not a non dues paying member.
- 31:47Because everybody deserves kind of that information.
- 31:50Yeah, because it was titled as the Rex Mini Mail Survey
- 31:54Worksheet and it's a good tool to use to document everything.
- 32:04What else do you want to avoid talking about James?
- 32:08All right, so we're going to go into something that is the
- 32:12elephant in the room. Is it going to send us, is it
- 32:15going to send us down the rabbit hole?
- 32:18Because I don't know how well an elephant is going to fit in a
- 32:20rabbit hole. Trunk first.
- 32:24It it may a little bit, but this isn't the biggest one that'll
- 32:27come after this discussion, OK? Because this discussion is
- 32:33there's been a lot of talk out there on both sides of the fence
- 32:38on the decertify the union movement.
- 32:44And one of the questions we've been posed is, can we discuss
- 32:49the decertify movement, the pros, the cons and stuff like
- 32:53that? Because what does it mean for us
- 32:57to decertify a union and what can come of decertifying the
- 33:03union versus staying with the union?
- 33:07So, Kristen, I'm going to go to you first, because I want Bill
- 33:10to take the time to think of his thoughts, collect, collect his
- 33:15words in a professional manner. I got it.
- 33:20Bullshit. We love you, Bill.
- 33:25We love you. I'm done decertifying.
- 33:32I see it as a not a good thing. I mean, if you don't have
- 33:39somebody else lined up ready to take the reins, it could be an
- 33:46end. I'll be all to the rural craft.
- 33:52It would be ugly. I mean, we'd be basically at the
- 33:56mercy of the post office. I could see it going into
- 33:59something similar either hourly with much less pay or in like a
- 34:05contracted carrier position where you know the lowest bidder
- 34:10gets the contract. Either way it's I don't see it
- 34:15as being a positive thing if you don't have the proper backing
- 34:21ready to walk into it and that notes you know I know the one
- 34:24big union and everybody was all hoping for said no from the last
- 34:30update that I saw on the social webs which doesn't surprise me
- 34:34one bit since we do have a non compete clause anyways.
- 34:38There is, yeah. They won't do that because
- 34:40that's representing competitive people, competitive groups.
- 34:47On top of that, UPS also has an anti compete in their contract,
- 34:51yes. So that that doesn't that,
- 34:54that's another reason why the Teamsters gonna do it and I'm
- 34:57with I'm with you on that and it has to be exactly perfect.
- 35:03Everything has to be lined up exactly right, and it still may
- 35:08not work, but they're. They're more than willing to
- 35:12try. But here's my my big caveat on
- 35:15all of this is if you haven't liked the union and you've been
- 35:22a a dues paying member and you haven't stepped up and voted and
- 35:27done the things that needs to be done to help this union.
- 35:32How? How are you going to help the
- 35:34new union when they come in to fix the things that are broken
- 35:38in our system if they are broken?
- 35:41Because the biggest thing here is you want a new union, but you
- 35:46haven't been involved in this one.
- 35:48And there are a lot of people who are involved in this one.
- 35:51I can tell you an average in each state, 10% were involved in
- 35:56this union. For this last National
- 35:59Convention, 10% on average across the nation of the ballots
- 36:04for delegates were returned. Now I understand some got their
- 36:07ballots late, some never got their ballots at all, things
- 36:11like that. But that still doesn't account
- 36:13for the only 10% returning the ballots overall.
- 36:18Their last our last contract, we only had 17% of the ratification
- 36:25ballots returned. 17% voted on whether or not we should approve
- 36:32our last contract that we had, 17%.
- 36:36Decided the fate of the rural craft people need to step up.
- 36:43I understand. You go well.
- 36:44It's only one vote. It doesn't change much.
- 36:47But look at how many people have already stepped up for the
- 36:50Decertify movement. Those people could be involved
- 36:54in this union, and that number of people could have swayed the
- 36:58vote the other way. They could have changed it.
- 37:03There's a lot of talk back and forth about what could be done
- 37:06to fix this union. But the biggest thing we need to
- 37:08do right now is have everybody to step up, vote for their
- 37:11delegates, get involved with the contract, get involved with your
- 37:15fellow carriers, get them involved.
- 37:19The only way we make this union better overall is from the
- 37:23inside. We participate.
- 37:26We file grievances. We get involved.
- 37:29And I understand people can't make time for meetings.
- 37:32I understand people can't make time or afford to be a delegate.
- 37:37You can still be involved with your vote.
- 37:41You can still research the delegates that are on your state
- 37:45ballot and vote for the ones you feel represent you.
- 37:48You don't have to vote for everybody.
- 37:50Every slot that's available for your state, just vote for the
- 37:53people you feel will vote for your way.
- 37:57That's how you fix this union. Not by getting rid of it, but by
- 38:02fixing it from the inside. Now I'll turn to Bill.
- 38:06Bill. Bill's turn.
- 38:08Bill's turn. Bill, first, go ahead.
- 38:13Go ahead, Josh, I. Want to say in conjunction to
- 38:20what they both said? Keep in mind.
- 38:25The contract that we are currently under is between the
- 38:28NRLCA and the Postal Service come May 20th.
- 38:34If we decertify assuming there's someone lined up ready to go, we
- 38:40will be without a contract because the NRLCA will no longer
- 38:44be our agent. What will happen between that
- 38:50point and when? The new union or agent or the
- 38:54union? Is able to negotiate terms for
- 38:58contracts. That's all I have on that.
- 39:05All right, Bill, let her rip. All right.
- 39:08As far as certification is concerned, it's a no go if
- 39:14that's Josh points out, you know a new agent steps in, then a new
- 39:17contract has to be approved. And we're caught in limbo, which
- 39:21means if you think the abuse and the the hostile work environment
- 39:26that you're subject to now is bad, it's going to get tenfold
- 39:31worse because you'll have nothing protecting you.
- 39:34There'll be no grievance process.
- 39:36There'll be no remanding to the National Labor Board without it
- 39:40going on for four years. By that time, you know you'll be
- 39:43out of the union and you'll be out of a job too.
- 39:48As James so eloquently says, if you're not involved, you don't
- 39:53have a voice. Your voice is that ballot.
- 39:56In my state particularly, we had 45 ballots qualified to go to
- 40:01the National Convention. After that, there was another 27
- 40:06to 30 people who wanted to go to the National Convention.
- 40:10The union members voted for people.
- 40:14They know their names. Whether it be a state president,
- 40:18state vice president, secretary, treasurer, ADRDR.
- 40:22What? What?
- 40:23It doesn't matter. Find people who have like
- 40:27thoughts in regards to how this union should operate and vote
- 40:31them in as delegates because they'll represent your view.
- 40:35They failed to realize this at the National Convention because
- 40:39of the fact that they're there for their own interests, to be
- 40:42placed on committees of favor by the national board, by their
- 40:45executive committee people. My personal ballot.
- 40:49I only voted five people in. I'm not required to vote for 45.
- 40:54I'm required to fill it out with one, the 45, but not all 45.
- 41:00So if you only find 5 qualified people you want to represent
- 41:04your state, your voice at the National Convention, vote for
- 41:08those. Don't vote for people just
- 41:09because they're in positions of authority or you, you know their
- 41:13name or whatever. Because folks, they're not,
- 41:17they're not representing you, OK?
- 41:20Find the people who have like, thoughts in regards to how this
- 41:24union should be guided in the future that are aligned with
- 41:27your personal thoughts in regards to how we should be
- 41:30treated, which we should be looking for in a contract, and
- 41:34vote for them. Don't vote just for names.
- 41:40That's how we change our national board.
- 41:43And you have to vote. When you're only getting 15 to
- 41:4920% of ballots returned, and I'm talking about a state that has
- 41:58over 4300 members and just over 500 ballots were returned if
- 42:07that number had been doubled, think about it.
- 42:12If the number of people double s, even though it still would be
- 42:17less than 50%, still imagine the change that could happen if that
- 42:22additional 506 hundred people voted for people that they felt
- 42:30best represented their ideas and what they want to see for the
- 42:33future of the craft, not just OH.
- 42:40Yeah, I recognize these names because they're in this position
- 42:44or this position or this position or, you know, they've
- 42:47been around forever, and I just recognize the name from them
- 42:51being around forever. No, I mean if that means
- 42:55reaching out to coworkers or trying to go to.
- 43:01My best suggestion would be trying to attend a state booster
- 43:05or a regional conference if you can all swing it.
- 43:08Because it's normally those same people that are at boosters and
- 43:12regional conferences. Those are the ones whose names
- 43:15are on the delegate ballot. Nine times out of 10, those are
- 43:22the ones that are going to everything.
- 43:25I'm going to put a challenge out there to our listeners.
- 43:29Every single one of you. I want every single one of you
- 43:34to step up and vote for your delegates.
- 43:38Both on the state conventions. If you get a state delegate
- 43:41ballot or your national ballot, I want both of them voted for
- 43:47every single person with Listen to this podcast.
- 43:49I want you to vote. If you're not a dues paying
- 43:52member and you want to help make this union change, become a
- 43:57member. You can get a form off the union
- 44:00website or you can get it from your designated union Rep or
- 44:05contact one of us. We'll get you the form.
- 44:08To get you to become a deuce paying member with this union
- 44:12and be able to vote. But I want every single listener
- 44:15out there to vote this next delegate season.
- 44:19I want you to be involved because I want to hear you guys
- 44:24took your voice and voted when it comes time.
- 44:30Yes, Bill, I'll let you talk about that.
- 44:32Go ahead, since I have permission from the godmother of
- 44:38United We Scam Mama. Bear, come on now, Mama bear,
- 44:43let's talk about retirees attending the National
- 44:47Convention. This is a pet peeve of mine
- 44:51because 23 out of my first 35 delegates were retirees.
- 44:58Now retirees are a big source of information.
- 45:04Some of them, some of them are there for the vacation.
- 45:10And this is bothering me because of the fact that we have in in
- 45:14the state of Pennsylvania, several very well educated,
- 45:17informed and active retirees that we want to attend.
- 45:24And then there are the ones who are going on to the national
- 45:27conventions to meet their old friends.
- 45:28Well, if it wasn't for National Convention or regional like Sack
- 45:33or Swack or mid states or anything, they wouldn't see
- 45:36these people. So you know how good of friends
- 45:39are you, you know you've had relationship for 20 years, but
- 45:42the only time you see each other or at the conventions where the
- 45:45union's paying for it. I don't need that type of
- 45:50participation. I need people like Wild Bill
- 45:53from Pennsylvania who sits there and gets rooms and puts up the
- 45:59flip charts and and, you know, gets the questions going and
- 46:02challenges. I need people that are active in
- 46:07our lives, not the ones who are active in their retirement.
- 46:14It's a little harsh and people say, wow, they earned a right.
- 46:17That's right. But as long as you're a retiree
- 46:19and you're taking a position on a national delegate convention,
- 46:23as a delegate, you're preventing people from moving up.
- 46:26And let me tell you, that's what suffocates this craft because of
- 46:30the fact that they sit there and say, well, I can't get, I can't
- 46:34become a national delegate because they can't get enough
- 46:36votes. Why?
- 46:37Well, the votes are going to the retirees, Thank you for your
- 46:40service. Step aside, let new blood move
- 46:44up and get involved. Otherwise, we're going to
- 46:47stagnate and we're going to die. And I can't say too much more
- 46:54about this past convention without getting in trouble, but
- 46:58we're on the same path that we've been on for the last
- 47:01decade plus. Nothing's changed except for the
- 47:05players names. I I have to agree with Bill on
- 47:10this because I met retirees that knew more about the craft than
- 47:17some of the other people that were actually delegates there.
- 47:21Some of the other people that are actually working their
- 47:23routes, they actually knew more about the job than other
- 47:27delegates. It was.
- 47:28It was amazing to sit there and talk with some of them and
- 47:31understand where they're coming from.
- 47:33And they brought up points of things on resolutions that the
- 47:40creator of the resolution didn't think about and other carriers
- 47:43didn't think about before it came up and things like that.
- 47:47Like one of the issues was. Dealing with EMA and the biggest
- 47:53question we have is what about the taxes?
- 47:55Because the biggest issue we had before was the IRS harassing Rd.
- 48:01carriers for their mileage that they were doing.
- 48:04And the biggest issue there is you're doing so many miles over
- 48:09your evaluated miles that you're being paid for that we think
- 48:14you're using your car for personal use and if.
- 48:20The resolution were to go through on that and come up with
- 48:24a substantial amount of money for EMA.
- 48:28There's a chance that the IRS could turn around and start
- 48:31doing that again. So and one of the retirees was
- 48:36one of the ones that brought that idea up.
- 48:39So they there are retirees that provide a valuable resource to
- 48:45the conventions. The ones who come there and
- 48:48spend all their time outside of the convention hall, especially
- 48:51during resolutions, and really don't spend too much time
- 48:55sitting in their seat listening and providing input to it.
- 48:59Those are the ones that I have the issue with.
- 49:01The ones that aren't willing to step up and participate still
- 49:05when they go to these functions that they were elected to do.
- 49:09It's like a politician who you elect into office and then
- 49:12spends all of his time over in in a vacation home or something
- 49:16like that, instead of doing the job, being on on the floor and
- 49:20helping to craft laws and vote on laws and things like that.
- 49:25So you have to think of it that way.
- 49:26You are elected to do a job. You should be doing that job.
- 49:31And if you're not willing to do that job, let somebody else have
- 49:35that job. And James can attest because we
- 49:39sat next to each other all week, There was times where I was
- 49:43itching and want to go up to that mic.
- 49:45But as a non delegate, I couldn't.
- 49:47You know, there was times where, you know, I wish I could have
- 49:50spoke my mind. I mean if it was something that
- 49:53was substantial on something, I'm pretty sure he would have
- 49:56went up there and asked to suspend the rules so I could
- 49:59talk. But I mean there was there's
- 50:02things that I would have gone up there and done, but I couldn't.
- 50:05I you know. It's hard to sit through sit
- 50:08through these as a non delegate. I will, I will admit that it is
- 50:11difficult to do that, but I wouldn't change it.
- 50:15I would still go year after year even if I was a non delegate
- 50:19just to get the information and see how it goes.
- 50:22And I can still talk to other carriers and try to get an
- 50:26input. You know their input and views
- 50:29on one way or another and that to me.
- 50:33Is more important moving forward.
- 50:35Is still collecting those ideas even as a non delegate.
- 50:38Then it to go you know. On top of that you get the
- 50:44experience for when you are a delegate.
- 50:46If you go to the non delegate the first time, you get the
- 50:48experience before you go as a delegate the next.
- 50:51Time, Yeah, I've been a delegate, so I mean.
- 50:57I'm just saying for. Yeah.
- 50:58For others. Ohh, yeah, ohh yeah.
- 50:59I mean if you've, if you've never gone.
- 51:02I mean, and you just want the experience because, you know,
- 51:06might be a little bit more closer to you, so you kind of
- 51:08want to go or it's a destination area that you really want to go
- 51:12to, you know, definitely go even as a nondelegate, I don't, you
- 51:18know, because your word talking to delegates, they could take
- 51:21your consideration into .2 as they're voting on resolutions
- 51:27and candidates and whatnot. You know, you have those good
- 51:30delegates that do listen to the non delegates for their input
- 51:36and we'll ask questions. I had several, especially quite
- 51:39a few first timers and some non first timers, some veterans that
- 51:43you know have gone for a while that were, you know, asking me,
- 51:47you know, my my thoughts on candidates and resolutions and
- 51:51whatnot. You could definitely still make
- 51:53those conversations and make a difference with the voting
- 51:56delegates too. I know last year I kept having
- 52:01to grab my seat so I wouldn't try and stand up because I was
- 52:04an alternate delegate. So was Kristen.
- 52:09So was Kristen. Yeah, yeah, he could tell.
- 52:16So it was usually the facial expressions.
- 52:19Yep. And then I asked her, what do
- 52:20you want to say? And then I'd step up and say it
- 52:23for her. Sometimes so.
- 52:25Yeah, you know it's. Because either that or we both
- 52:27had the similar views on it anyway.
- 52:29So he just got up there and did it.
- 52:31But yeah, it's, you know, voting for the right delegates.
- 52:36Voting for her you feel is going to best represent you is the
- 52:43best thing that you can do if you're not able to be there
- 52:47physically. And we need, I mean that.
- 52:51That's what's so disheartening about all of this is.
- 52:54All the people that say they want the change, all the people
- 52:57want the change and they don't understand why we didn't get the
- 52:59change. If you didn't send your ballot
- 53:02in, like I said, 1520% of getting turned in, that's a very
- 53:07small number compared to how many carriers we have within
- 53:12this union. That, that number you know you
- 53:18have over 100,000 members and. Barely 20,000 are doing anything
- 53:28but the other. But 50% of the other ones want
- 53:31to bitch and moan about change or not change, and they're not
- 53:36doing anything to help push that change forward.
- 53:41All right, I'm stepping off the it's it's like the general
- 53:44elections in politics, you know, If you don't vote for the
- 53:47candidate you think represents you, don't complain about it.
- 53:51You know, especially if you're not registered to vote, that's
- 53:54that's the worst and and it it pertains to this craft.
- 53:58If you don't vote, you don't have a voice.
- 54:02So you know, since that's a a silent voice, don't pitch about
- 54:06it. If you're not willing to step up
- 54:08and do something about your paycheck, your future, your
- 54:11rights to be treated with respect and dignity in the
- 54:14workplace, then folks just shut up.
- 54:18Because you know, somebody has to stand up to management.
- 54:23Somebody has to stand up to the union.
- 54:26It's you know, it's fighting, you know two different fronts
- 54:31and and I hate saying that because our union should have
- 54:35our back. Be active.
- 54:37Be proactive before it becomes a situation.
- 54:40Step up and and and put it to bed.
- 54:43Okay. Here is the Mastodon in the
- 54:46room. Nice place.
- 54:54I feel a rabbit hole here. This one's going to be hairy.
- 54:52Yeah, it's going to be. So I did actually hear they're
- 54:59attempting to to create a actual Mastodon using Asian elephant,
- 55:09but that's genetics and science, and I don't think a lot of
- 55:12people want me to talk about that.
- 55:14What they really want me to talk about is this question that I'm
- 55:18going to read verbatim. From one of our question posts
- 55:21that we've made for tonight's broadcast, and this one's going
- 55:27to be a tightrope word for word, I'd like to hear your take on
- 55:34the current president's flippant remark that carriers were
- 55:39overreacting to the pay cuts from the first round of wrecks.
- 55:43Makes my blood boil that this is what we have for socalled
- 55:47leadership. Josh, we'll start with you.
- 55:51I think it was a poor choice of words that he used.
- 55:59I think the fact that the union leadership along with postal
- 56:06management have been pointing their fingers at the carriers is
- 56:14not good, I think. The Union has strived to some
- 56:24degree better in some areas than others to try and put the
- 56:30training out there. Unfortunately to a, and I hate
- 56:38to say this to a certain degree, some of it.
- 56:46Can fall back on the carriers and but for are you to make that
- 56:55a, you know a point or contention I disagree with.
- 57:02And your thoughts? Oh, my thoughts.
- 57:09Yeah, it. I think it felt like a slap in
- 57:12the face to a lot of carriers. I really do.
- 57:15I think it was a I think it felt like a slap in the in the face
- 57:19to that 66% that lost. We're not talking about just a
- 57:26handful of routes, we're talking thousands of routes, 66% of the
- 57:3480,000 rural routes that we have.
- 57:39And those are just numbers I pulled off top my head.
- 57:41I don't have it right down to the very middle school number.
- 57:4466%, yes, I understand mail volume has gone down.
- 57:52We've all noticed that in most areas, but parcels have gone up
- 58:00to fold for many. And then we had the COVID stuff
- 58:04and we lost on that and you know, we hadn't been counted for
- 58:09five years. So yeah, #1.
- 58:12And our standards were lowered. I mean you're looking at routes
- 58:17your your high miles, low box routes that had that 2 minutes
- 58:22per box, now it's 1.2. Now you have this drive speed
- 58:27matrix that's absolutely ridiculous for the high miles
- 58:30routes and that's where a lot of that loss is in those instances.
- 58:36But then you have the coverage factor.
- 58:39Conflicts between the CVU's and the regular boxes, which they
- 58:44supposedly have fixed now. We'll see what happens there,
- 58:49but 66% felt slapped in the face by that comment.
- 59:01That's a large number. You know, I get not all the
- 59:08losses were great, but some of them were devastating and I
- 59:14think the the devastating decreases outweigh the meniscule
- 59:18decreases and it's just to the point of our national board
- 59:26needs to step up and prove themselves to the membership.
- 59:29I had a carrier tell me that today.
- 59:31It may take a difference. If they would actually stand up
- 59:35and prove that they're trying to help us, you know when you have
- 59:41and that goes all the way down into the NSS system.
- 59:44When you have carriers that are trying to contact, if they don't
- 59:49have a local steward and even if they do have a local steward who
- 59:54is unfortunately siding with management, it happens.
- 59:59But if you have. You know, offices where carriers
- 1:00:02are trying to get a hold of their areas and their Adr's and
- 1:00:05their Dr's, and they're getting absolutely no communication back
- 1:00:10whatsoever. We're failing the membership.
- 1:00:15And then to have that slap in the face on top of it?
- 1:00:20No, I no and just Nope. It's.
- 1:00:29Yeah, no. So unfortunately, I have to
- 1:00:35agree with our panelists here. And some of it really irked me
- 1:00:44the way he was stating these things.
- 1:00:47And you all know I'm big on numbers and I'm big on finding
- 1:00:50facts and finding the truth about things.
- 1:00:53And one of the comments that stuck with me was.
- 1:00:59Some may have lost an hour, some may have lost two hours, but it
- 1:01:03was not. Everybody lost 10 hours.
- 1:01:06He is correct on that, but but in my calculations that I did
- 1:01:14just now, carriers that lost four or more hours to their
- 1:01:20evaluation equated to 44% of carriers routes. 44% of routes
- 1:01:29lost four or more hours. That's huge.
- 1:01:34Yes, 22% lost one to three hours, 6% stayed the same, 14%
- 1:01:50gained 1 to 3 and 14%. Gained 4 or more, so you have 28
- 1:02:02percent that gained overall and everybody else lost.
- 1:02:14Even the people that had zero change lost on this evaluation.
- 1:02:21My route stayed the same and. As its 2018 count value, even
- 1:02:29though I have 50 more parcels a day, I may have less mail volume
- 1:02:37but not by much according to my postmaster.
- 1:02:41So I lost in this count even though my route stayed the same.
- 1:02:47The carriers that went up, they lost because their route should
- 1:02:51have gone higher. Because they should have had
- 1:02:54more inputs. So when you are turning around
- 1:02:57and you are telling your carriers that you are the reason
- 1:03:03why your route went down, that's bullcrap to me.
- 1:03:08You need to be telling us that our system is flawed and we're
- 1:03:14trying to fix it and we're holding management accountable
- 1:03:17for it, not sitting there and pointing fingers and blaming all
- 1:03:22this other stuff. You said the exact same shtick
- 1:03:30that Ronnie Stutz said at Midstates about carriers.
- 1:03:36You said the exact same verbiage.
- 1:03:39May not have been the exact same sentence, but the context was
- 1:03:43exactly the same. And that, to me is a problem.
- 1:03:49You just became president. You've been in that office as
- 1:03:53Vice President. You've been around this.
- 1:03:56You've seen what's going on. Now is your time to step up and
- 1:03:59lead, not turn around and kick the can down the road from the
- 1:04:02last president. Show us what you're made of, be
- 1:04:07a leader and fix this for the carriers, because US carriers
- 1:04:12are the ones you answer to. Not management, not the board,
- 1:04:18the carriers on the. The ground delivering the mail.
- 1:04:24Not on a route in Sonora, CA that you've never stepped foot
- 1:04:28into an office and two, and it takes 2 Rca's to run that route
- 1:04:33because it's so overburdened. Yeah, we, we've talked to one of
- 1:04:37the Rca's that runs your route in Sonora, CA.
- 1:04:41We know what goes on there. All right, Bill, before I go
- 1:04:46down a rabbit hole, I can't come out of your turn.
- 1:04:50Well, I got the excavator out in case I need to make the rabbit
- 1:04:53hole bigger. Boy, what a disconnect with the
- 1:05:01union, huh? Yeah, you have no idea what's
- 1:05:04going on within the craft on the ground.
- 1:05:07And you turn around and you tell us we're overreacting.
- 1:05:12I want to take Kristen 66% and put that into real numbers.
- 1:05:17That's. 52,800 routes went down. Put that number in your mind,
- 1:05:24ladies and gentlemen. 52,800 routes lost money.
- 1:05:29Now, of course, the figure quoted was, oh, 2.8 hours.
- 1:05:34Well, let's take 2.8 hours out of your paycheck and and see
- 1:05:38what you end up with. You know when you're on table
- 1:05:41one and you're looking for a parttime job to fill in the
- 1:05:44holes for that 2.8 hour loss. Let's not talk about the
- 1:05:49extremes, where people have lost 1216 and $20,000 have gone from
- 1:05:54high K's to substandard routes now.
- 1:05:57And by the way, do we remember the August magazine where
- 1:06:00Bridget was talking about, you know, accessing carriers?
- 1:06:06How convenient that article was posted then, huh?
- 1:06:10Because now, with this new mini mail survey, we're going to have
- 1:06:13even more problems. We, we we are at different ends
- 1:06:19as far as James and I are concerned in regards to people
- 1:06:21going up and I'm on a minimal end.
- 1:06:24He's on the average the upper end.
- 1:06:26But the the fact remains that after the first mini mail survey
- 1:06:31things have not been resolved. If not they've gotten more
- 1:06:34convoluted. And on my own floor we have
- 1:06:39carriers at each other's necks. I mean, they they really are at
- 1:06:43each other's throats and backs. And you know, it's it's terrible
- 1:06:47not to see them unite against management and it's terrible to
- 1:06:52see that the the top representative our union has
- 1:06:56makes a cold hearted, backhanded slap at the craft with no
- 1:07:02regards whatsoever because he has no personal experience in
- 1:07:06the last 15 years. And I'm sorry, I I, I'm sorry
- 1:07:11but you know I I respect my older generation but when their
- 1:07:16argument is while their significant other or their kids
- 1:07:20or their their inlaws are still working at the office so that's
- 1:07:24how they hear about it. I'm going to, I'm going to call
- 1:07:28bullshit on this. Because the number one, number
- 1:07:32one, if your significant other or your kid or your inlaw is
- 1:07:37working in an office and that management is well aware that
- 1:07:40your assets on the national board, it's gonna be paradise in
- 1:07:45that office. And not a single one of those
- 1:07:48carriers go through what the rest of us have to go through on
- 1:07:52a daily basis with the bullying and the micromanaging and just
- 1:07:57the downright disrespect that we get from our management.
- 1:08:03Especially in offices without a local union representative,
- 1:08:07correct. Oh, like like mine and mine.
- 1:08:12And mine. And what you're in regards to
- 1:08:16what you were saying, Bill, if the carriers are in each other's
- 1:08:19throats, they're not keeping an eye on the ball of what's
- 1:08:24happening to unify to improve from both management and the
- 1:08:31union side of it. You know.
- 1:08:38And you're right. Yeah, you're fighting a battle
- 1:08:40on 2 fronts. And and history will tell you
- 1:08:43you can't fight a battle on 2 fronts.
- 1:08:46If you don't unify, you're going to lose.
- 1:08:50We actually 3 fronts, if you count the carriers against
- 1:08:53themselves. Yeah.
- 1:08:56You know and and if you look, if you want real proof that our
- 1:09:01carriers don't trust management and don't trust the system that
- 1:09:06you put in front of us to use to evaluate our routes, actions
- 1:09:11speak louder than words on all fronts.
- 1:09:15Hold on, hold on, hold on. Wait a minute.
- 1:09:19That letter he signed? Isn't that what Ronnie said that
- 1:09:22he wanted before he would even consider extending the Mo U?
- 1:09:30Ronnie said he wrote it and Dejoy just made some tweaks.
- 1:09:35So that means Dejoy doesn't even believe in what was written
- 1:09:37because it was written by Ronnie.
- 1:09:41And on top of that, that shows you Ronnie's affiliation with
- 1:09:44the Post Office, because it was almost like The Joy wrote that,
- 1:09:49a lot of mumbo jumbo without any specifics.
- 1:09:52There was no teeth behind it. And yes, folks, we can talk
- 1:09:56about this because it is dealing with wages, where conditions or
- 1:10:01benefits to our jobs, our union is a benefit of our job and our
- 1:10:06leadership. Needs to understand that we have
- 1:10:08the right to discuss issues that are affecting our wages, work
- 1:10:12conditions and benefits. We're making a concerted effort
- 1:10:16here to educate our fellow carriers on the union process
- 1:10:21and on what's going on within the union so that we may make a
- 1:10:24concerted effort to be a united front with each other.
- 1:10:29And that's the most important thing here, Letters like this.
- 1:10:34From our national leader divide, this union, they put carriers
- 1:10:39after each other, especially the 33% that gained versus the 66%
- 1:10:45that lost. That's a big divide right there.
- 1:10:48And then you have somebody coming up and saying, oh, it's
- 1:10:50the carrier's fault, well, now you just divided them against
- 1:10:53the union. You just turned around and put a
- 1:10:56wedge between yourself and the carriers.
- 1:11:00Instantly it does. It doesn't matter what you meant
- 1:11:03on that. You put the wedge in there.
- 1:11:07Now the question is, are you going to drive it home or are
- 1:11:10you going to turn around and pull it out and try and rebuild
- 1:11:12what we have? James, of those 33% that went
- 1:11:17up, how what percentage of that became 47 or 48 that will get
- 1:11:21cut down to 43 once they figure out how to do it?
- 1:11:26Probably almost all of them. Most of them, most of them were
- 1:11:31already up in up in the K routes already.
- 1:11:34So if they gained more than four hours like they were 41 K and
- 1:11:39they gained more than four hours, then they're probably
- 1:11:42motioning for them to be cut. So those guys will be down in
- 1:11:47the lost category shortly thereafter.
- 1:11:51So I mean it's it's it's just hurting.
- 1:11:56To think about this stuff, it's just heartening to think that
- 1:11:59our carriers are sitting there and seeing something like this.
- 1:12:04And the biggest thing I can say is kudos on our leadership for
- 1:12:09pushing for more decertification with that message.
- 1:12:13They tried. They tried to scare them with
- 1:12:15it, but it instead drove a wedge in between the carriers and
- 1:12:19leadership. And not only did it push that
- 1:12:22movement forward more, but it also pushed those that were
- 1:12:26still on the edge of withdrawing their membership to decide that.
- 1:12:31Yeah, I'm going to, and I mean that there is a devastation in
- 1:12:37itself too. You know, they think about the
- 1:12:41devastation on a monetary level. I'm not thinking about it on a
- 1:12:44monetary level. I'm thinking about it on that,
- 1:12:47on that level of people having a voice, you know, when you lose
- 1:12:53that many people and that many voices.
- 1:13:00Well, kudos NASCAR 1987. As I was saying, kudos in NASCAR
- 1:13:081987, hang out to become a local steward in their office.
- 1:13:14Absolutely. We just, we just, we just, we
- 1:13:16recruited one more person than the National Board has in years,
- 1:13:22yet they pat themselves on the back for all the ones that have
- 1:13:24stood up to it. Well, you know what?
- 1:13:26Go ahead and pat yourselves on the back.
- 1:13:28But we know where the truth of all a lot of those new stewards
- 1:13:32came from. And you're welcome.
- 1:13:36Yep. That sounds like Moana.
- 1:13:40That now makes 18 new stewards since this podcast started. 18
- 1:13:47new stewards is that is that 18 after the four they decertified.
- 1:13:55That is before the four they decertified.
- 1:13:57OK. All right.
- 1:13:59And they also decertified an ADR, yes.
- 1:14:03So maybe somebody can step up and be an ADR, wherever that ADR
- 1:14:08was from that got decertified. This is where I kind of have to
- 1:14:13side with Bill with the NSS system and going back to the
- 1:14:17state stewards having having states having some control over
- 1:14:22that. I'm going to I I hate to say it,
- 1:14:27but I I feel that we should take a page out of the city carrier
- 1:14:31side with their business agents which are similar to that of our
- 1:14:36DR's and above and have those be elected positions.
- 1:14:45I think our I think, I think our Adr's and our Dr. should be
- 1:14:49elected by the membership. Not appointed according to who
- 1:14:57they support on the board, correct.
- 1:15:01Here here. I can't argue with that.
- 1:15:05I think it should be the same for everybody on the state
- 1:15:08level. The ones that deal with,
- 1:15:09especially the ones that deal with step one and Step 2, should
- 1:15:12definitely be elected. Step threes should be on the
- 1:15:17national level. So that's going to be your your
- 1:15:21director of steward operations and your Nro's.
- 1:15:25So from that that point on those are still elected positions.
- 1:15:30So I think everybody in the steward system should be
- 1:15:32elected. State board members are elected
- 1:15:35by state members. We're talking about Adr's and
- 1:15:37Dr's. I'm talking about the steward
- 1:15:41system. Yeah, everybody just go.
- 1:15:43I'm replying to a comment in the chat.
- 1:15:47Yeah, State board is elected by state members.
- 1:15:50We just had ours at the state convention, yeah.
- 1:15:56This, this, this is a delegate. OK, he OK yeah, by delegate,
- 1:16:00yes, I I see what they're saying.
- 1:16:03State board should be voted on by the state membership rather
- 1:16:07than by the state delegates. I do get that as well.
- 1:16:12Honestly, I think nationals should be elected by the
- 1:16:16membership. There's no reason why we
- 1:16:18couldn't do a mail in ballot if we can get people to start
- 1:16:21voting on other stuff. You know, I really think we, you
- 1:16:26know, having that and having those things in prior to
- 1:16:32National Convention and then announcing who, but then that
- 1:16:37also see that's the conflict of it because that you may not get
- 1:16:40somebody that's, you know, they necessarily can't be nominated
- 1:16:44down if they didn't win a position.
- 1:16:46I mean, I get that back and forth, but I think what it would
- 1:16:49do is push these people who are serious about running for these
- 1:16:53positions to stick with running for these positions if they know
- 1:16:56that the entire membership has a vote in those positions.
- 1:17:02See, and I I can understand that position, but I'm going to have
- 1:17:07to argue the other way on that. And the reason.
- 1:17:10The reason why is because if our membership was voting for the
- 1:17:19delegates for the conventions, they were stepping up and
- 1:17:23actually voting for the delegates and not just getting
- 1:17:26one or two from each county for the state or.
- 1:17:31Getting, you know, delegates for National at a 10% average of
- 1:17:36ballot returns. If we were getting forty 5060%
- 1:17:39of ballots returned, I think that we would have a higher
- 1:17:43likelihood of a proper election of individuals.
- 1:17:48And then you get into your committeeman where we had to
- 1:17:52vote four times for the committeeman.
- 1:17:57How how How would that work out? On a mail in ballot system.
- 1:18:01Oh, you mailed in and this is the vote.
- 1:18:03So these people dropped out. So we sent you another ballot.
- 1:18:08I do. I do agree that our membership
- 1:18:11needs to have a bigger voice, but I think our membership needs
- 1:18:14to use the tools it has right now to be that bigger voice.
- 1:18:20And change the tools that we have now to better tools.
- 1:18:24Yes, so. But that Don't you ever disagree
- 1:18:30with her again. Yes, it's okay.
- 1:18:35I am, I am completely all right with agreeing to disagree on
- 1:18:38things. That's, you know, yeah, I
- 1:18:40respect each, each and everyone of you's opinions, You know,
- 1:18:43it's that's the nice thing about this is we could all have a
- 1:18:47different opinion on something. But I'm still going to respect
- 1:18:49your insight on it. And vice versa, so.
- 1:18:57But anyways, the biggest, biggest thing that we can take
- 1:19:00away from this is we need to unite.
- 1:19:03Every single real carrier in this country and its territories
- 1:19:08needs to unite together. We need to stand strong against
- 1:19:13management. We need to file grievances if
- 1:19:17your local steward, your your area steward, your ADR, your Dr.
- 1:19:22are not getting back with you. You need to go above their
- 1:19:26heads. Go to your national regional
- 1:19:30officer, which is your local committeeman, your elected
- 1:19:33committeeman on the national board.
- 1:19:35If you don't get a response from them, then you have to go to the
- 1:19:38Director of Student Operations. If you don't get a response from
- 1:19:41her, then you file with the National Labor Relations Board
- 1:19:46because that's the next step in that process for failure to
- 1:19:50represent. But you want to go through the
- 1:19:54entire process before you get there, otherwise the NLRB will
- 1:19:58just send you back to the union. The NLRB right now is extremely
- 1:20:05overloaded with cases, especially on the City side with
- 1:20:09management falsifying documents, so going to them is a last
- 1:20:16resort. Because it could be weeks, it
- 1:20:19could be months before you. You would even get a decision
- 1:20:22from them. But the decision will come and
- 1:20:27they will give you a fair and honest result as long as the
- 1:20:32other party responds to them so. But you want to try and solve it
- 1:20:38within the union if you can, and if that means going above each
- 1:20:42person's head to get the result, that's what you need to do.
- 1:20:47Don't skimp on it, don't delay on it because you only have 14
- 1:20:51days to file a grievance. So work your way right up that
- 1:20:55chain. Have all the elephants and
- 1:21:01mastodons been addressed in this room?
- 1:21:06I think so. Anybody have anything else?
- 1:21:13Well, I I'm just concerned that they're bringing the Mastodon
- 1:21:15back, you know, for the woolly mammoth and they're going to be
- 1:21:19basically, you know, raised for their, for their fur, you know
- 1:21:24that. That's just deeply concerning to
- 1:21:26me. I'm more worried about the
- 1:21:30diseases that it might bring back with it.
- 1:21:33You know, we already had the bat flu, so we might get the
- 1:21:37Mastodon flu. Yeah, and all the stuff that's
- 1:21:41hidden in the tundras and. You know, what do they call the,
- 1:21:46oh, the tarpet up in Russia? The what?
- 1:21:52The tarpet. No, not the tarpets.
- 1:21:54Up up the you know, the permafrost.
- 1:21:57The permafrost. Yes, yes, they were in.
- 1:21:59All those organisms too, Yeah, yeah, because they're talking
- 1:22:02about they're having going to have to bring back a lot of the
- 1:22:05fauna that was there in the permafrost when the Mastodon was
- 1:22:09around. So that way it has something to
- 1:22:11eat. Sounds like a big mess to me,
- 1:22:13but. They had their time.
- 1:22:18Leave them be now. It's time for new to take over.
- 1:22:24Yeah. Remember when they first cloned
- 1:22:28the sheep? It's like, Oh my Oh my God,
- 1:22:33that's exciting. They made a sheep look like
- 1:22:35another sheep. But every time I drive by a herd
- 1:22:38of cows, I say the same thing. Oh, so you guys ready to wrap
- 1:22:47this up now? Yes, that's going on 9:00.
- 1:22:50We can do that. I was just going to ask the same
- 1:22:53thing. And and I've been good so far.
- 1:22:57So you know, yes, before I go off, you know, short.
- 1:23:05I think we all did pretty good on this one tonight, so.
- 1:23:13Yeah. Josh, you got any final comments
- 1:23:16tonight or? I'm sure I do.
- 1:23:21It's still hot out there, you know, keep hydrating.
- 1:23:25Good luck with the count. I'm sorry, Mini mail survey.
- 1:23:30Even though it's minimal amount of things that they're tracking
- 1:23:33and counting, every little bit helps.
- 1:23:38If you something that you think should be included and your
- 1:23:43management won't let you, write down how many pieces, what date
- 1:23:47it was, and file a dispute. Worst case scenario, no harm, no
- 1:23:52foul. Best case, you'll get credit for
- 1:23:54it in the end. Don't get overwhelmed.
- 1:23:57If you do, step back, take a deep breath and step back in.
- 1:24:02Have a good week. See you next time.
- 1:24:06The biggest thing that carriers can take away from this is we
- 1:24:10have to work together. We have to go towards the common
- 1:24:14goal of ensuring that we hold management accountable to the
- 1:24:18contract and do it with dignity, fairness and respect.
- 1:24:24Because at the end of the day, that is what we all want, is
- 1:24:28dignity, fairness and respect. And no matter what happens this
- 1:24:34next week, do it with your head held high and know that you are
- 1:24:38the best carrier at your job because you have the information
- 1:24:43to do your job. Good luck with the mini mail
- 1:24:46survey everybody. Hopefully it turns into your
- 1:24:49favor when they bring back the results and we'll talk to you
- 1:24:52guys next week. Go ahead, Bill.
- 1:24:59Along the same lines you know, document, record.
- 1:25:06Dispute. That's how the Mini Mail survey
- 1:25:09goes. Document what you have, you
- 1:25:11know. Document what you think is in
- 1:25:13contention in regards to the WSH.
- 1:25:15What's a unscanned parcel? Whatever.
- 1:25:18You know, if you don't argue the point, you can't win the point.
- 1:25:22Dispute it when the you know Mini Mail survey's over.
- 1:25:24Let it Run that process and then grieve it.
- 1:25:27The best voice that you have in these times is your own, because
- 1:25:31you're representing your own interests.
- 1:25:33And by doing so, you're being an example for everybody else in
- 1:25:37your office to do the same and you'd be surprised how
- 1:25:40contagious that becomes. Help out the carriers who who
- 1:25:43have questions, you know, management steps up and
- 1:25:46interfere. You say well we were talking
- 1:25:48sports, OK. I mean the, the, the nitpicking
- 1:25:51that management's doing now I'll have to go back to James and say
- 1:25:55carrier discretion, OK it it it you know, but the thing of it
- 1:25:59is. If you don't exercise your
- 1:26:01discretion, you're never going to get credit for it.
- 1:26:05Do your job the best you can, as honestly as you can.
- 1:26:08Don't cheat. It makes you a lesser person you
- 1:26:12know. It might be ventatious in the
- 1:26:14short run, but I want everybody to be the best possible person
- 1:26:17they can be within the guidelines that were confined
- 1:26:20by. And remember, you're the most
- 1:26:23important delivery today. No matter what happens.
- 1:26:26Get home to your loved ones. They're the ones that truly
- 1:26:29count. Thank you guys.
- 1:26:35I am going to touch on one thing.
- 1:26:37I know there was a couple statements when we put our
- 1:26:42feelers out. What talked about and that is
- 1:26:44getting RCA's to comply with more than just the six scans.
- 1:26:49As an RCA, who's going to be going regular here soon?
- 1:26:54That could be you and you don't know.
- 1:26:59You know that route that you're going to take over could you
- 1:27:03know it could be your primary route, you don't know.
- 1:27:06It could be your case mates route, it could be you would you
- 1:27:09don't know. So if you're an RCA and like
- 1:27:13many offices are short staffed and you're running all the
- 1:27:15routes, yes, you want to look out for that route.
- 1:27:18And I've said it time and time again, and I'll continue saying
- 1:27:21take ownership of each and every route that you run.
- 1:27:27Treat that route as if it was your very own that you're
- 1:27:32assigned to permanently, that you're going full time on.
- 1:27:36You know, reach out to your other RCA's and be like, hey
- 1:27:39guys, this is our paycheck too. These route evaluations is what
- 1:27:43our pay is based off of. In the off chance you're working
- 1:27:47under 40 hours, I mean, you know, I I rarely do.
- 1:27:51I have a paycheck that doesn't have overtime on it anymore.
- 1:27:54It's, you know. That's your paycheck too, as an
- 1:27:58RCA, and you should be doing all the additional stuff that you're
- 1:28:03supposed to be doing. You know, the mini mail survey?
- 1:28:07When you're covering those routes, you're still counting
- 1:28:09your inverteds. You're still counting your raw
- 1:28:12letters. You know, still pay attention.
- 1:28:15That way when you move up into your own route, you don't know
- 1:28:19what that carrier was or wasn't doing.
- 1:28:21But you know when you were running that route as an RCA
- 1:28:25that you were doing your best. For that route to have the best
- 1:28:28outcome, honestly do it honestly and correctly.
- 1:28:36And that goes for everybody. RCA's regulars, if you're even
- 1:28:40if you're, you know, I get it, a lot of you are getting ready to
- 1:28:43get out, retire or just fed up with it.
- 1:28:47But still, you know, think about that person that's going to be
- 1:28:49taking that route over for you. You know, Are you going to leave
- 1:28:53them having some? Astronomical drop that they
- 1:28:58weren't expecting, you know, ownership of the route.
- 1:29:02I mean, I can't express that enough.
- 1:29:05I guess maybe that just comes from being, I'm not going to say
- 1:29:08necessarily say old school, but as a veteran RCA with over 8
- 1:29:12months or eight months, eight years under my belt looking to
- 1:29:16go full time, you know, I don't want to see that route drop.
- 1:29:20You know, if it does, it does. If it doesn't, great.
- 1:29:22If it goes up, okay, I get it. But I don't want to see any of
- 1:29:27my routes in my office fail. I do all the all the scans on
- 1:29:33every single route that I run, regardless if I'm assigned to
- 1:29:37that route or not. And technically being a five and
- 1:29:40one with my aux route, I'm not on the matrix, but I still run
- 1:29:43everything in the office. So, RCA's, please, I'm going to
- 1:29:49beg you, educate yourselves. Find somebody in your office
- 1:29:54that may know what's going on. Ask them for help or what you
- 1:29:58should be doing and think about it.
- 1:30:00It is your paycheck as well. And be active.
- 1:30:05You know, reach out. I you know my R1 borrowed one
- 1:30:08and my new guy, you know, the both the new newer guys.
- 1:30:12I'm trying to pull them off to our next local meeting.
- 1:30:15You know, they they want informationized.
- 1:30:17What information do you want? I'll make sure you get it.
- 1:30:20You know, you got to be active. If you don't like something
- 1:30:23that's going on right now where you're thinking, hey, this might
- 1:30:25work better get active, put, you know, do those resolutions and
- 1:30:29get them through. Go to a meeting, get to know the
- 1:30:32people. Find out what people have your
- 1:30:34best interest in mind. That way when those ballots come
- 1:30:37out, and it may be your first ballot, you know who you're
- 1:30:39going to vote for as a delegate. And on that note, I know I'm a
- 1:30:45little passionate tonight, so I get for having a couple drinks.
- 1:30:51We'll be back next week and I want everybody to stay safe.
- 1:30:56I know there's still some pretty nasty heat going on in certain
- 1:30:59areas. I have not had it at my house.
- 1:31:02It's been in the high 60s, low 70s all week.
- 1:31:05I've wore jeans twice this week and it's a hurricane coming up
- 1:31:11the Florida coast here too. Going up in North Carolina.
- 1:31:17You know those that have been getting severe weather, I know
- 1:31:19we had some tornadoes downstate in Michigan here this past week,
- 1:31:24those that are in hurricane path and tornado alleys and super
- 1:31:30storms. You guys stay safe out there.
- 1:31:33You know, as Bill says, you are the most important delivery of
- 1:31:37the day and if it the weather is getting too hairy out there.
- 1:31:42As a carrier, you make that call on safety.
- 1:31:44If that means getting back to the office and filling out a
- 1:31:47safety form of 1767 to protect your behind, you're the one that
- 1:31:53makes that call for your safety. And I want everybody to stay
- 1:31:56safe out there, stay hydrated and we'll see you back next
- 1:32:01week. The.