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Disputes, Delegates and OT oh my! · United We Scan

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Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
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carriers. For rural carriers, the views
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Thank you. Now here are the host of the
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United We Scan podcast. That's a.
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Reminder to everybody in the audience listening the views on
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this podcast or the presenters Only and DO NOT The views on
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this podcast do not represent the views or opinions or
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strategies of the United States Postal Service of the National
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World Literaries Association. Wow, I messed that one up bad.
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And he means everybody listening.
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Yes. Yes, and We're Back, Episode 40.
1:28
Disputes, delegates and OT Oh my wow.
1:32
This will be a fun Phil's packed evening, guys.
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Yeah, we do. But we do.
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Before we get into episode 40, we have to make a couple of
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Corrections from last week's episode.
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Last week we did talk about the computational retirement date
1:49
and we did misspeak on that because we said it was when you
1:53
go regular. That was before they added the
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ptf's in there. And also anybody that had a
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career Prior to joining the Postal Service, the Postal
2:03
Service world carrier craft. So if you have any career time
2:06
before that that also goes into your retirement computation date
2:09
right now. We wanted to correct that and
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say that it's not just when you become regular.
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And in the future if the resolution that we got passed at
2:18
National where Rca's get a career status, then that will
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also be a computation. Retirement date and the other
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one that we discussed actually on the podcast that we get back
2:30
to you on was about mapping in them in the AM and we did search
2:35
at Link for anything in writing, but there is nothing that is
2:38
specifically set in stone. Some managers will argue that
2:42
you're getting paid with the 8127 time so you don't get help.
2:46
Some managers will say you get help, so you don't get the 8127
2:49
time. So it's carrier discretion if
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you can get management to give you both.
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Take it, because there are some managers that are actually nice
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enough to give you both. So if you can get it, take it.
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But there's nothing in writing. Now we can start this episode.
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All right, forty. We hit 40 guys.
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That's ten away from 50. Feeling.
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Old. I know.
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It really too long, Too long. We're just getting started.
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Oh, I know, right? Anyways, yeah, my week was.
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Fairly uneventful, just running that route every day.
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But yeah, was it eventful? No, it wasn't.
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Not at all. Not an exciting week for me,
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James. How was your week?
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Well, it was. Pretty good.
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I mean after the mini mail survey, of course all the WS, H
3:43
and WSS and everything started coming in again.
3:46
A lot of it in the DPS of course.
3:48
Overall mail volumes been about the same.
3:51
A little bit heavier in some spots, a little bit lighter in
3:54
others. You know package volumes up and
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down almost like a roller coaster each day.
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You never know how many packages you're going to get, but.
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Amazon even shows up. Yeah.
4:05
And then there was actually a issue with the carrier having
4:10
problems and they still they actually asked me about it even
4:13
though we know the situation there and of course I as usual.
4:19
My helpful self, I gave them the wording and dialogues and stuff
4:23
in the contracts and things like that.
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I mean that's what we do is we're here to help every
4:27
carrier, whether it's somebody that likes us or not.
4:30
So that was a nice thing to do during the week and of course
4:34
helping everybody throughout the week and then just figuring out
4:37
solutions to problems. That's about all we can do.
4:41
So that's about how my week went, and then the weekend ended
4:44
up going to the North American International Auto Show.
4:48
Saturday, Got to see the cool new cars and things like that.
4:54
Looked at. I should say I looked at all the
4:56
cars that are the prices of what houses used to be.
4:59
It was really nice to get out and go see some sites on a
5:01
Saturday that some people can't go out on.
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I feel sorry for you guys, I really do.
5:07
It was nice to actually get out of town and go see some sights.
5:10
So that's my week. How about your guys's?
5:13
Josh, how was your week? My week is pretty good.
5:18
Been training in RCA on my route this, you know, the past week or
5:22
two. She was supposed to go to
5:25
vehicle training on Tuesday, but the vehicle they put her in, the
5:31
turn signal indicator, broke off, It was rolling and even
5:36
with pulling the emergency brake, it didn't stop.
5:39
So they said yeah, we're going to reschedule you.
5:43
So she's supposed to go to that Monday, however.
5:47
Prior to the you know that happening, the supervisor said
5:53
she would consider the two pay periods to start after two
5:55
vehicle train. So I wrote on my on my 4240 when
6:00
it came out either Saturday or Monday morning.
6:02
My K days for Friday and Saturday since I had the
6:05
rotation and no one's said anything at all about having to
6:09
come in, nor did I get a call the last couple of days so I
6:13
actually had my full weekend, which was a beautiful day.
6:17
To weekend, you know. We're making Kristen jealous
6:21
here. We're making her jealous, both
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of our stories. I can't even get a union
6:26
function off right now. It's that bad.
6:28
I understand, but in the same breath almost, they're telling
6:34
carriers that are not on the list.
6:37
They can't work their Cape the relief days because they don't
6:40
want to deal with X dates. But then they turn around and
6:44
last week or something they were telling them.
6:46
They were mandated. A young lady in the office has
6:50
also has Friday, Saturday rotation.
6:53
They told her she had to work Friday.
6:55
She's well, what about Saturday? You know you can't work that.
6:58
But if you're mandating me for one, why not the other?
7:01
Well, that's a different week. So yeah.
7:04
And then I don't know what what happened with those.
7:08
I did let the ADR know about them saying that people on the
7:11
list were being told they cannot take.
7:14
Three, again, because they just don't want to deal with the X
7:17
days, but. Because they'd end up having to
7:20
pay him out anyways because there's no coverage for them,
7:23
right? Bill, how was your week?
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Oh, it was a walk down memory lane for me in PA, Delaware, PA
7:29
District 2, The district people at our plants, and you know,
7:35
they're they're overseers. Remember the days of the good
7:38
old count? So they held back the WSH.
7:42
The WSS's and we got nailed Monday to Friday with all of
7:46
those and by Wednesday the postmasters coming over
7:49
questioning everybody and it's like you know your favorite
7:52
asshole kept copies of all the ones that you know went through
7:55
his route and he's looking. He goes what are these people
7:58
doing? And I says, you know it's in
8:00
their mindset that this is what they've done for the past 25
8:03
years. They they just can't get it out
8:05
of their mindset that this no longer holds true during a mini
8:09
Mail survey. You know, it doesn't matter when
8:11
you're getting the WSS, it's going into into the scanner and
8:16
going into the database. So that was the first good part.
8:21
Second part was when I reminded the ADR who has to work Saturday
8:25
to make sure they put up the workday relief list.
8:28
And of course he says Oh no, that doesn't go up to October
8:30
7th. And I said no, that's when it
8:34
start, it goes up. This Saturday?
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No, no, no. I I.
8:38
Let me check. I got back and told me now it
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doesn't go up until the 7th. I'm like okay.
8:42
So Saturday morning I got I got a text on the WRDW L's up thanks
8:48
for the info and this is from my former ADR and I'm sitting there
8:54
going okay. Now I can understand all these
8:56
messages I'm getting about representation and on Friday
9:00
they moved in the first piece of equipment and continued into
9:03
Saturday for our parcel sorting machine.
9:07
So. We're going high tech now and I
9:10
guess we can blame the machine for the miss throws instead of
9:12
the carrier, the clerks because Stevie Wonder and José Feliciano
9:17
have been throwing our parcels for the last five years.
9:20
Other than that it the the weather's been beautiful here.
9:23
I mean, you know, mid 70s sunshine, a little rain right
9:27
now, but I mean otherwise this, this is my time of year.
9:31
Oh, it's been gorgeous here. Too high, mid to high 60s, low
9:36
70s. Been nice, supposed to warm.
9:39
Back up again here so I'm like you have.
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To let us know, Bill, how that goes with the sorting machine.
9:47
We were supposed to get one. Then they ditched that idea.
9:51
Well, our postmaster believes that he can actually get us to
9:55
come in earlier with the parcel sorting machine because of the
9:58
fact that, you know, it doesn't require more clerks than what
10:02
he's using now. I said you mean.
10:05
More clerks, supervisors and custodians.
10:07
We've been throwing parcels all week.
10:09
And he goes, well, a couple people were on vacation, OK, it
10:14
doesn't matter, you know, you can put AI in there and it'll
10:18
still be screwed up. I do have to say though, I had a
10:20
customer give me a bag of Peaches fresh off her tree this
10:25
week. That was pretty awesome.
10:27
There's those bells in the background again.
10:30
Yeah, I gotta turn the volume down on my phone.
10:33
Anyone outside? It's my Ring doorbell all.
10:36
Right, so this week you've got a pretty good show.
10:41
The end of the show, of course, is going to be our wonderful,
10:44
most passionate part of it. So make sure you stick around
10:47
and enjoy. The first thing I have is a
10:50
little bit of. An do I have to?
10:51
You don't have to I. Don't know if you stick around
10:54
and enjoy. No.
10:55
You could hate it all the way. It doesn't bother me.
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I didn't say hey, you know what? Say anything about hey.
11:02
You said I have to stick around and enjoy.
11:04
Well, you don't have to enjoy it.
11:06
And if you don't enjoy it, please give us a comment on it.
11:09
Give us a comment on our on our. Give us a voice message if you
11:13
have that option, or you can even give us a comment on our
11:16
Facebook page and we'll listen. We'll read it.
11:18
Do I have to stick around though?
11:20
Well, if you want want to hear what we're talking about, it
11:22
would be a good idea. And I think the stuff we're
11:24
talking about today is very important to carriers,
11:27
especially with what's coming up.
11:29
Oh, I guess we'll hang out then. That's that's called, that's
11:33
called a teaser. OK.
11:35
Yes, we. I like to tease what we're going
11:38
to be talking about a little bit and one of the big things we're
11:41
going to be talking about is of course disputes and their the
11:45
overtime desirability list really like.
11:47
That. Relief day work list, Yes.
11:50
Overtime desired city. And closing, yes, I apologize.
11:54
That's what my city postmaster calls me, said I apologize.
11:57
Well. And we're also.
11:58
I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what I tell the.
12:02
Advisor, when she comes over and says guys, we're on the overtime
12:05
list, can you help to know I'm on the relief day work list,
12:09
which only means that I'm willing to work my relief day.
12:13
Now you see why I said it that way.
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It you remember semantics matters.
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In arguments, Even in disputes and in grievances, semantics
12:26
matters. So make sure you're using the
12:29
right definitions. When you're doing your disputes
12:33
and your grievances. So I knew it was, I said
12:38
semantics. I'm sorry.
12:40
My bad, my bad. It's my left ear again.
12:44
Yeah. So they'll seem different.
12:47
Yeah, but one of the things that we have going on behind the
12:51
scene is we're working on getting a mapping setup of all.
12:58
50 States and territories that have rural carriers in them.
13:02
So we know their delegations and the strengths of their
13:06
delegations and how their delegations work.
13:10
And that's one of the biggest things going on right now that
13:13
we're talking about is we're going towards putting delegates
13:17
on the ballot that actually care about the craft, that actually
13:21
want to help the craft and things like that.
13:24
So that's one of the things I wanted to talk about was.
13:28
The delegate selection process and how you can become the
13:33
delegate for National Convention, for state
13:36
convention. Those are the two biggest arenas
13:40
that we have for making change in this union.
13:43
So starting out, you have your state delegation that goes to
13:46
your state convention. They're the ones who elect your
13:51
state leadership. They're the ones who decide yes
13:54
or no on resolutions, whether they move on to national or even
13:59
affect your state itself. There are some resolutions that
14:03
get put up to go to state that sit there and change the state
14:08
constitution and how state things are done and then it gets
14:12
voted up to national. Then you have your national
14:16
delegates that get put up and then go on to vote your national
14:20
leadership. And on the resolutions that made
14:22
it to National Convention, so the big thing we want to talk
14:26
about is what does it take to become a delegate.
14:31
Now, some states do it differently, Some regions do it
14:34
differently, Some counties do it differently.
14:36
If you have counties versus regions.
14:38
So I wanted to kind of get your guys' state's way of doing that.
14:42
So Kristen, you want to tell us how?
14:44
How it is in Michigan. In Michigan, it's we're broken
14:48
down by counties or county units.
14:50
I should say in my county unit I have seven individual counties.
14:56
We have a membership of 125. To be a state delegate, all you
15:03
have to do is submit your nomination, whether it's for
15:07
somebody else or for yourself, into your county secretary slash
15:12
secretary. Treasurer.
15:14
And each and within the state of Michigan for each county or
15:19
county unit, you're allowed one delegate per ten members.
15:24
So in my county it would be like 12.
15:28
And if you get 12 or more people nominated for delegate, then you
15:34
would hold an election at the annual meeting.
15:38
But if you don't get. All of the required or not
15:42
required delegates, but all the available delegates.
15:46
Then you're automatically done to go.
15:50
Yeah, it's. The same down here and my county
15:53
unit. Kristen and I are both in the
15:55
same state, but her section is 7 counties because they don't have
16:01
enough participation each county to have their own county board
16:06
to oversee everything. So they've created a regional
16:10
section to cover everything whereas in my county there is
16:15
enough people active and going to meetings and being involved
16:20
to have a leadership at the county level.
16:24
So we only have one county segment for ours and I'm pulling
16:30
it up right now. I have the number but I believe
16:33
we had 100 and. 100 and or not 275 votes which we meet means we
16:41
have 2750 dues paying members in my county.
16:46
That's not how many people attend the meetings, but that's
16:49
how many our county represents. Now one of the.
16:53
Caveats for some of the regions. I'm not sure if it's true with
16:57
yours or fair Kristen or not, but they require you to go to so
17:02
many meetings. In order to be a delegate,
17:06
whether it be for state or national.
17:08
So that's something you got to be mindful of.
17:11
You're going to want to be participating, you want to go to
17:13
your meetings, you want to go to your boosters, you want to go to
17:17
your state convention and things like that.
17:20
Because not only are they important for the growth of the
17:25
Union and the strength of the Union, but it's also got great
17:29
information at each of these events like ours is.
17:33
Coming up in October, and I think they said they had the
17:39
last year, they had a guy from the postal inspection service
17:43
that told us about the stuff that they do and things that
17:46
they look for and stuff like that.
17:48
So it's great that you learn that stuff to keep an eye out
17:50
for when you're out on the route.
17:52
And stuff like that. The biggest thing you need to do
17:55
is you need to get involved, and sometimes that's hard to do if
17:58
you're a long ways away. Like Kristen said, she's got 8
18:01
counties. The entire Upper Peninsula of
18:04
Michigan is 1 unit. The entire area up there is one
18:10
unit. So they have their meetings up
18:13
there and some people have to drive a long way to get there.
18:16
So it's not really feasible or affordable, especially those on
18:20
table two or that are RCA's to be able to drive all the way to
18:24
these meetings and things. So that's another caveat of all
18:27
of this. How about you, Josh?
18:30
What is yours like? I was just looking to verify or
18:33
I don't know if all the district for North Carolina are the same.
18:39
We typically at the local at our local district meeting pass
18:46
around signing sheet of who wants to be a delegate.
18:50
Up to, you know up to. However we're entitled to which
18:54
in the 5/8. Between 5:00 and eight years
18:58
I've been going to meetings and then vice president or
19:01
president. We have never come close to our
19:04
full compliment. Once you sign your name after
19:08
it's passed around the room, our secretary, treasurer will read
19:11
out all the names and we will take it to a verbal vote of if
19:17
we are in agreement that everyone on that list will
19:20
represent our district as a delegate at the state.
19:24
And what I was doing was actually looking at my state.
19:28
Constitution says all different shall be entitled to 1 delegate
19:33
vote for each 68 UP members or a fraction thereof.
19:38
So that's how how we get our state.
19:41
That would go how? About yours.
19:43
Oh, well, you know. At our our.
19:46
County level we basically anybody wants to go to our state
19:50
convention goes, OK, I mean. Typically we only have out of
19:56
220. Some people will usually only
19:59
have four to five people that attend, but we're allowed up to
20:03
23 and a month ahead of that. We get to our list for the
20:07
people being selected for the National Convention and more
20:13
times than not, people will select the names that they know,
20:17
which is their state officers, their Dr's or Adr's.
20:22
And some standout retirees, which really gets under my skin
20:27
a bit because of the fact that, you know, the union wants you to
20:31
be involved. But by keeping these people up
20:34
there all the time going to all the conventions and committees
20:37
and and traveling to Washington and having their little powwows
20:41
there, they they suppress anybody who who's trying to
20:46
work, work their way of at least 3035 people over and above our
20:52
national delegate list that could attend.
20:54
You want new voices. You want new ideas.
20:56
You want input, but yet you don't allow for those people to
21:00
have a voice because of so many people at the top that are voted
21:05
in just on name recognition alone.
21:08
And and that's got to change folks, that it it's it's really
21:12
the the crux in the National Convention because those are the
21:17
people voting for the same seats every year and they want to keep
21:22
it that way. And with only 10% of dues paying
21:25
members returning their ballots nationwide on average, it's not
21:32
beneficial. So the biggest thing that we
21:34
need to do is we need people to step up, not only running as a
21:39
delegate and participating in the union, but also putting
21:43
their pen to paper and voting for their delegates.
21:47
That's the biggest thing that we can do as a union member and as
21:52
a dues paying member is use our power of our vote.
21:57
Because without the power of our vote, we have no voice.
22:00
You have no voice. You have to put your voice on
22:04
paper and vote. And Kristen, you had something
22:09
else to say. I heard you when I said went on
22:12
to Josh. No.
22:15
OK, that's what I'm aware of. Sorry, I just got back.
22:19
I just. Stopped away for a minute.
22:20
That's OK. So the biggest, the biggest take
22:23
away is try and participate if you can at your county or
22:27
regional meetings, try and figure out what it takes to be a
22:30
delegate in your region and vote.
22:33
Those are the three things you need to do as a rural carrier,
22:37
as a dues paying member. If you're a non dues paying
22:40
member, you can help. With the dues paying members on
22:44
helping them select people who. Have the right.
22:46
Ideas in mind, Work with them to find the right people.
22:49
Ask them what it takes to be a dues paying member if you want
22:52
to join and help out, because being a dues paying member gives
22:57
you that voice to vote for this stuff.
22:59
We accept you either way, but in order to participate in these
23:03
activities and use your voice with your vote.
23:06
You have to be a dues paying member.
23:08
I do want to add. Just for any of you guys out
23:12
there that are in the Northeastern Michigan county
23:15
unit, our meeting is this coming Wednesday the 20th at 6:30 in
23:21
West Branch. It is a non business meeting.
23:26
All informational district Rep will be there going over wrecks
23:29
and disputes. You also do not have to be a
23:32
member of that county to attend. You just have to be pay a dues
23:36
paying member, but it is open to everybody.
23:40
Okay. I just want to put that out
23:42
there. Okay.
23:46
All right. The next topic we have is
23:51
disputes coming up because we've now passed the mini Mail survey
23:57
and some people have been saying that we're going to be getting
24:00
our results back on the 23rd, which is Friday.
24:05
So we're going to talk about the dispute forms.
24:10
What you need for them and why it's such a pain in the butt.
24:15
So who wants to take the lead to start this out with the dispute
24:18
form? Go ahead, Bill.
24:20
Oh, let's see. God, you can't dispute this.
24:26
You can't dispute that. You can't dispute this, that or
24:29
the other thing. But this is what you can
24:31
dispute. Well, ladies and gentlemen, the
24:35
the whole situation needs to be disputed because of the fact
24:38
that. For the contract, we shouldn't
24:41
be having these mini mail surveys without complete
24:43
transparency. And we still don't have it.
24:47
We have a problem with mapping, but that's okay because bread
24:51
crumbs will give us the the tracking on you.
24:55
Oh okay your data is incomplete because cell phone tower
24:58
coverage that don't worry, we're using satellites now.
25:01
Oh, those satellites down because the the Dallas Cowboys
25:05
are playing tonight. You know, the the litany of
25:08
excuses of what we're not disputing is just gigormous and
25:14
it and it just it irks the living hell out of me.
25:18
It really does that to limit us in what we dispute is basically
25:23
handcuffing us in regards to getting paid for what we do.
25:29
One of the things that you're supposed to have at the end of
25:31
every day is a summary. How many people have got in the
25:35
summary every day, let alone a day at all?
25:39
The radar reports are supposed to be posted daily, whether it's
25:42
during the mini Mail survey or not.
25:45
How many offices have the radar reports up?
25:48
How are you tracking what? When it comes in?
25:52
What's being counted? What's not being counted?
25:57
It's a fiasco beyond compare and.
26:02
As far as I'm concerned, yeah, when they come by and they say
26:05
sign the sheet now and I'll politely say no thank you, I
26:09
declined signing anything that is not valid or proven to me
26:13
because in my situation alone it's just horrendous in regards
26:20
to the information, especially the radar reports because we
26:23
can't prove anything. As far as the bundle flats are
26:26
concerned, they're off by over a week, so.
26:32
Mini mail survey disputes. Dispute everything and let them
26:39
sort it out. So I was looking at this and
26:45
last time they told us the specific things that you can
26:49
dispute and I went through this list and I went through how many
26:53
pages of paper you would technically have if you got
26:57
every piece of paper you're required to get from management.
27:02
And each person, each union member would be submitting not
27:07
only a dispute form, but they would also be submitting over
27:12
2000 pieces of paper, including your your radar reports, your
27:19
rims reports, the RMFS reports, everything.
27:24
In order to dispute anything on this, you would have to submit
27:28
over 2. 1000 pages of paper for each route.
27:35
And they're saying, oh, it's a streamlined system, it's easier
27:39
this way. It makes it quicker this way.
27:42
Yeah, I feel sorry for all the for the Dr's that get all of
27:46
these disputes because they're getting them from every single
27:49
carrier every single time. If they're actually getting the
27:52
volume of paperwork they're supposed to be getting, but none
27:56
of us get that paperwork. We're supposed to be getting it,
28:00
but we don't get it. And of course, when you tell
28:04
your ADR or Dr. it's going on, they're like we're letting
28:07
district know District's supposed to be getting on them
28:09
to do it and things like that, and it's still not getting done.
28:14
Management is intentionally hiding the numbers from
28:19
carriers. They're intentionally hiding
28:23
them. There's no argument that they're
28:25
hiding them because if they weren't.
28:28
We'd have those printouts every single day.
28:31
They'd be turning around and saying see, see, This is why you
28:34
have these numbers. This is why you have this
28:35
problem. This is why it's all this.
28:38
They're not willing to show it to you.
28:39
Why? Because they know it's wrong.
28:43
And as from ADA arbitration said, and we've said on this,
28:47
management would rather climb a tree to lie than stand on the
28:50
ground to tell the truth. But here are the here are the
28:55
things what. I'm gonna say Devil's advocate.
29:01
Shouldn't the Dr. or their designee and or the person
29:05
they're sitting across from in labor be able to log in and pull
29:08
up these reports? Supposedly.
29:12
OK. But the union does not have
29:15
access to it. They've admitted to it they
29:18
don't have access to those numbers.
29:20
And should those numbers be provided to us every day?
29:24
They were supposed to for transparency before the recs
29:29
went live, and there was supposedly a labor charge on
29:32
that, but they still haven't released it to the union.
29:35
Or if I recall correctly, when Ronnie Stuss was talking about
29:39
it, the management did give them a flash drive with the
29:46
information on it, but it was in a program that their computer
29:50
systems could not decipher. So they were trying to figure
29:54
out and engineer a way to decipher the numbers and stuff
29:57
off the flash drive they got from management.
30:01
But that's hearsay from what I heard, so take that with a grain
30:06
of salt it. Wouldn't surprise me though.
30:11
No, but these are the things they said you could dispute on
30:16
the last mini Mail survey. Are they using global?
30:23
The first, the list is very small.
30:26
It starts with the parties agree that carriers may dispute the
30:31
following and notice they use the word may an entry of 0 or a
30:37
questionable number in any data field on the PS:, Form 4241 A
30:42
that would otherwise expect to have a time credit.
30:46
This one would include your WSH. Your WSH was not included in
30:52
your mini mail survey and you counted it dispute it office
30:57
walk length. So if they you measured all your
31:02
distances and somehow the footage is 10 feet shorter,
31:06
dispute it. Or if it's 10 feet longer, you
31:08
don't have to dispute it, though you would want to for accuracy.
31:13
Most people wouldn't route length.
31:18
Now this one. Is a big dispute that a lot of
31:21
people have and I'm going to talk about that for a second
31:24
because it's very important what the route length you measure
31:30
with an odometer is. Your EMA mileage certified
31:36
odometer is only for EMA. Your route length is now by the
31:41
mapping program. So if there is a problem with
31:45
the mapping program. And it shows you turning around
31:48
in a spot that's shorter than where you actually turn around,
31:52
dispute it, tell them I don't turn around here, I turn around
31:56
further up over here where it's safe to do a legal U-turn.
32:00
The next one is regular centralized or total boxes.
32:05
So if you have a dispute that it shows you have 17 CBU's but you
32:10
have 21 or you have. Says you have 500 boxes, but you
32:16
really have 636. You're going to want to dispute
32:20
that daily dismount distance. It's the same as with the office
32:27
walk distances. You should know how far it is
32:30
back and forth to your dismounts.
32:33
That is only for the first trip. The daily dismount distance is
32:36
for the first trip. It doesn't include extra
32:39
authorized dismount scans, daily activities.
32:44
If there are daily activities that you got credit for, it
32:48
should be on there. If you didn't get them, dispute
32:50
it. Miscellaneous time that includes
32:55
your service talks. If you're stuck waiting for a
32:59
train one time a week, that time should be in there.
33:02
Things like that. And then, of course, option
33:06
election. Elevator option elect.
33:10
Yes, elevator. Is another one.
33:14
Also at a business or school if you have to ring a bell and wait
33:18
from the answer or let you in. And that's that's a daily thing
33:23
if you have to ring the bell to deliver the mail to them.
33:27
I have a carrier in my office. The school has a mailbox.
33:32
But if he has to go in and deliver a parcel or something
33:35
like that, he doesn't get that daily time to do that unless
33:39
he's delivering A parcel every single day.
33:42
Then it would technically be that way, but carrier
33:46
discretion. And this time of year, they do.
33:50
Yeah. So the last, the last one which
33:54
will eventually segue into our next section really nicely
33:58
actually is the option election if you have 10 years of credible
34:07
service from your computed retirement date.
34:12
You can choose high or low option.
34:16
Now a lot of carriers got the high or low option sheet with no
34:23
already selected on them even though they have the ability to
34:27
choose high option if they so chose.
34:30
So that's one you could dispute as well.
34:33
So anybody want to talk about what we just went over first
34:37
before? There's there's one more that
34:40
you have to include on there, which is the going to a
34:44
centralized area for equipment, tubs, trays, whatever that you
34:50
also get time for. That's a big one.
34:54
My office. Yes.
34:56
No, I'll. No, it's not because of the fact
34:59
that you know, you can do it twice a day, or you can do it
35:02
three times a day based on the volume of the mail.
35:06
Case in point, you know carrier comes over and and the pallets
35:10
are stored right next to my case and they're walking 150 feet.
35:15
You know, to get the, the tubs or trays, they need more.
35:20
They come back and then they have to turn around and before
35:22
they depart to the route, they have to clear their area around
35:26
their case and they have to bring any excess equipment back
35:28
so they can get up to three trips a day on that.
35:32
And that's to be included in your miscellaneous times?
35:37
Should be. That should be part of your
35:40
retrieval of equipment time on your office walk distances for
35:45
that part and then returning the, then and then returning the
35:49
items. Well, it should be.
35:52
Yeah, it should be, but there there is a separate separate
35:57
item article that was. Specifically addressing that
36:04
situation, you know, for offices, yeah.
36:07
And some offices allow you to keep equipment at your case,
36:10
other offices don't. So barrier discretion.
36:15
Yeah, And then when it's returning, returning the items
36:20
to storage, that should either be part of your load vehicle
36:24
time or end of shift duties, then you get straight time for
36:29
it. And somebody in the comments
36:31
said the CBU dispute went nowhere for me.
36:35
District representative resulted by saying carrier will update
36:39
mapping and that's the problem. Yep.
36:44
Settling for language as a slap on the wrist.
36:48
Don't do it again. That is the problem.
36:53
Management needs to pay. For every mistake they do, they
36:58
make us pay for every mistake we do, whether it be through a
37:03
investigative interview or a write up a letter of warning, A7
37:09
day and working suspension, a 14 day working suspension, or even
37:14
termination. Why can we not hold management
37:18
accountable and make them pay the carriers for their mistake
37:23
over all this stuff? It's stupid that we're settling
37:26
for language. Because from what was written
37:30
there, it doesn't even say don't do it again.
37:33
It just says they'll map you. Yeah, I'm sorry, they'll remap
37:37
you. Yeah, they'll remap.
37:39
You guess what? You dispute it again, this time
37:42
because it's wrong again. They'll say carrier management
37:45
will update mapping because all they care about is getting it
37:48
done and over with passing the buck instead of passing the buck
37:52
to the carriers. They're just passing it on to
37:54
management. You forget the most important
37:56
caveat in that management is allowed to mismanage and they do
38:02
it well. Yes, yes they do.
38:06
And repeatedly. Yes.
38:10
So if you're a district representative listening to this
38:12
podcast or you're a national officer, it's time to stop
38:15
settling for language. Make management pay.
38:22
Your job to do that? Make it happen.
38:26
The settling for language doesn't stop the issue.
38:29
No, I mean, they can argue that, yeah, we can use that as Okay.
38:35
We told you not to do it, now you got to pay for it.
38:38
That's one of the ways they could make it work.
38:42
But as we know from not only our side but the city carrier side,
38:48
settling for language loses. The rural carrier loses to the
38:53
carrier. It's a loss.
38:54
It's not a win. As they settle for language.
38:58
Okay before we go down a rabbit hole too much here and save that
39:02
for we want to save that for later.
39:05
We're going into relief day work list, signing up for it and
39:14
order of consideration when you're on the relief day work
39:18
list. Anybody and our presenters on
39:22
the RDWL? No.
39:25
Or or want to be. Yes.
39:29
All right, Josh. Can I tell him?
39:32
How it works? All right, the the relief with
39:36
being signed up for the relief day work list.
39:38
And the reason I sign up is not necessarily because I want to
39:41
work, but I want to choose how I get paid.
39:45
When you're on the relief day, work well, let's start with if
39:48
you're not on the relief day work list and you have to work
39:51
your your relief day, the only option you have is a DACA code 3
39:59
which pays you 50% of your salary for the day and you get
40:03
an X day which can be scheduled by management with the being on
40:12
the list. You have that option which now
40:17
in the contract says by mute for agreement for scheduling or you
40:23
have the option of the jacket code 5 which is 150% payment for
40:30
the day with no other day off with that you know so you would
40:36
end up working the six days through and get 150% of your you
40:40
know the time and 1/2 or the day you know for that particular,
40:44
you know for that your relief day.
40:46
There is 1/3 option which is DACA code R which is mostly used
40:54
for the RCA comes to you as the primer you know as the regular
41:01
carrier on their primary route. Hey, I've got something going on
41:05
this weekend with the family. Will you cover for me Saturday?
41:13
You know, so I can have off Saturday and you say yes, I will
41:17
do that, which is just swapping a day for a day.
41:21
Anyone else? Relief day work list is also
41:25
supposed to be rotating. If you have enough carriers and
41:32
Rca's to help cover, they are supposed to rotate the relief
41:35
day work list. Yep, and they have specific
41:38
steps they have to do in order to get to the point where they
41:42
get to the relief day work list. Yes.
41:45
Firstly, firstly they have to go through the primary, secondary
41:52
and tertiary Subs on that route. So if you have a sub that has it
41:57
as its primary, or they're secondary, or they're tertiary,
42:00
they should be working it first if they aren't already on
42:03
another assignment then. It goes to any other qualified
42:12
substitute in the delivery unit that includes your Ptf's and
42:19
other Rca's that are not trained on that route.
42:24
Then it goes to a leave leave replacement from another office
42:32
before they get into. The relief day work list,
42:40
actually the wording, the wording on that one James is
42:43
they may use a relief carrier from another office.
42:50
Yes, everything has always the word may.
42:53
Everything is always the word, may they.
42:55
At this point they have the option of reaching out to other
42:58
offices to see if someone's available, or going into
43:03
volunteering, which you're at this talk about.
43:05
All right. Yep, I have the order
43:08
consideration up in my hand right now.
43:11
That's what I was looking at too.
43:13
Yep. You were looking at her hand.
43:17
But I was looking at her hand. Do you see?
43:19
She has a long lifeline, right? Yeah, #2 though says if if you
43:26
have a PTF in your office, that PTF gets the option of that
43:31
route before the secondary or the 3rd.
43:35
Okay that that was my mistake. I I thought it was after the the
43:39
matrix had. Been done.
43:40
I read that wrong so I I apologize for my mistake.
43:44
But then it goes to the relief day work list on a rotating
43:49
basis if you have the ability to rotate it.
43:53
But if all relief day work list carriers are either working or
43:58
scheduled off and they can request.
44:01
The day off without pay on that scheduled day off.
44:07
Then they go. To a regular carrier not on the
44:12
relief day work list and it is done by juniority.
44:17
Lowest carrier on the totem pole ends up being the one brought on
44:22
as code 3. They're supposed to.
44:26
They're supposed to go by seniority and ask for a
44:29
volunteer until they get to the bottom the most, junior, and
44:34
then they can start mandating. Correct Volunteer first from top
44:38
to bottom and then from bottom to top on forcing the carrier
44:42
in. But they can bypass carriers
44:48
working the relief day if it would cause them to exceed 28
44:53
hours for the guarantee year or 56 hours for the week.
44:59
In 2080, for the year you said 28. 2080 for the guarantee year,
45:04
which which ends October 6th this year, which is why the
45:10
routes going to effect October 7th started the new guarantee
45:14
year. So just so you're aware.
45:18
But also it also says there's another caveat.
45:21
Regular carriers with annual leave, sick leave.
45:25
Or an X day scheduled adjacent to their relief day will not be
45:29
required to work their relief day.
45:33
So if you took the Friday off and you have Saturday as your
45:36
scheduled day off, you won't have to work.
45:40
But they may still ask you to work, but they can't.
45:43
They'll call you and ask. But they can't force you.
45:47
And then it'll be carrier discretion.
45:50
You can also tell them even though I'm off Friday, I am
45:54
available Saturday. You can say you know, but
46:00
they're supposed to skip you if you have that.
46:03
We've adjacent too, but you can tell you can say I am available
46:08
to work if you choose to. You got to keep going down the
46:12
order of consideration. Once you have everybody in your
46:15
office working. Then it has to be any.
46:18
The last statement is in emergencies, any other qualified
46:23
employee may be assigned. That includes management to run
46:29
the route. Management was a carrier before
46:31
they can run the route. It doesn't matter if it's city
46:34
or rural, they can actually run the route because they're a
46:37
qualified mail handling employee.
46:40
My postmaster runs it. She was a clerk.
46:42
Supervisor hasn't had to run 1 yet.
46:43
She was a clerk, all right. What about calling other
46:47
offices? Yeah, that's up there before
46:49
forcing in. About splitting route.
46:51
That's up there before the relief day work list.
46:55
What about double scheduling? Well, as long as they're under
46:59
12 hours scheduled, under 12 hours scheduled, they can.
47:03
Well, the reason I asked is because we had.
47:07
A schedule put up there and one carrier was covering 3 routes of
47:11
the same day. Oh, wow.
47:13
Wow. That's.
47:14
A hard worker for you? Well, yeah, Thank God we pay
47:18
attention. Let.
47:19
Me guess it was the PTF that does routes in five hours.
47:22
Blind. Oh no, no, that's that's an off
47:26
the table discussion we can go through later on.
47:31
I cannot say that that PTF would ever be put in that position.
47:36
I'd hope not, because even they are are held to 12 hours per day
47:41
for the contract. All right, so all right, moving
47:45
on. Yeah.
47:46
Now we get into rabbit hole territory.
47:51
The elephant in the room, the Mastodon in the room.
47:56
So carriers lost paycheck last pay period.
48:01
Didn't get that. Pay this pay period.
48:04
No. And even still, some carriers
48:08
who didn't get paid 2 weeks ago didn't get.
48:11
Paid this. Week either, and the problem
48:14
seems to be that management currently is blaming local
48:20
management for not inputting the data.
48:22
Local management is blaming district management or the
48:26
national management. And of course, the union hasn't
48:28
heard anything about it. They just say it's localized.
48:31
It's. Probably just a local issue.
48:34
The problem is we have carriers who have lost money even more
48:38
than the pay that they did not get due to late fees, overdraft
48:43
fees, things like that. And we need something for them.
48:48
We need a process to get these carriers some kind of.
48:52
Compensation for this lack of proper judgment from management.
48:58
Oh, I get it. I get it.
49:01
I've got every one of my credit card companies calling me
49:04
because those payments are late. I had a normal paycheck this
49:07
week and I have 6 bucks left to my name because I had to pay
49:11
everything that I couldn't pay the previous check.
49:13
Yeah, I get it. Yeah, and they're all saying,
49:16
oh, they got a 65% money order. Some people are still waiting
49:20
for their bank to release their funds.
49:22
From that money order from Tuesday when they deposited in
49:26
their bank account, if they even were able to make it to the bank
49:28
on Tuesday with the heavy mail volume of a day after a holiday.
49:32
Some people have been waiting two weeks for that money to be
49:34
released because it's a postal money order and there's been so
49:37
many scams with postal money orders.
49:39
The banks aren't willing to release the funds until they
49:41
verify that it's actual money. That's why I didn't bother
49:44
getting a an advance on the partial that I was missing.
49:49
I'm. Right.
49:49
I know for a fact. I know for a fact.
49:51
As a regular carrier on table two, I was missing a paycheck.
49:55
I was missing a paycheck. I have bills going indoor rears
49:58
just like everybody else. Hey, there isn't.
50:01
You know, think about those Rca's.
50:03
There isn't a single RCA that probably isn't living paycheck
50:06
to paycheck. And if they are?
50:08
They probably are doing a lot better at the job than anybody
50:12
else. I've and mine was you know a
50:13
smaller check anyways because that first week was I was at
50:16
National. Yeah, it's yeah, it's rough.
50:19
And something needs to be done, and nobody's doing anything to
50:22
help these Rcas, especially the Rcas.
50:25
The regular carriers too. Yes, they need it too, but those
50:28
Rcas are the next regular carriers if they stick around
50:32
and when you're sitting there and dicking around with their
50:34
pay. You're making them more likely
50:36
to quit. You're making them more likely
50:38
to find a job somewhere else. I just saw a posting sent to a
50:43
management person in my district for the VMF that pays 30 bucks
50:48
an hour. How is an RCA going to compete
50:50
at 19 bucks an hour versus 30 bucks an hour at VMF?
50:53
And they had five spots open. One of my Rca's may be
50:57
interested in that. I guess you didn't see the new
50:59
Amazon ad showing the 2245 an hour plus benefits.
51:05
Plus education, plus retirement, what, you know, medical I I'm
51:10
sitting there going, OK and where, where are the new
51:13
carriers coming from? And the question is if you can
51:16
even make it to retirement there.
51:17
Yeah. I mean considering considering
51:20
you're supposed to be on the line from the start of your
51:21
shift to the end of your shift and not move, and you have to
51:24
move so many parcels at a time in a certain time frame on the
51:27
line like a robot, and then delivering.
51:30
Of course, a lot of the delivery people are still.
51:33
Contract carriers. The guys in my area are all
51:35
contract carriers. They aren't actual Amazon
51:38
employees, even though they drive Amazon vehicles.
51:40
But if I if I was a RCA on on table two, OK and I and I'm I'm
51:45
getting screwed out of two paycheck, guess what?
51:48
That money looks pretty damn good to me if I'm getting it
51:50
every week. So we need to do something as a
51:54
union for these carriers. We need to be putting it out
51:59
there. We need to be telling people
52:02
about it. We need to be pissed off about
52:06
it. We need somebody to step up and
52:10
tell management that this needs to be corrected yesterday.
52:16
And we don't have that. We have somebody who turned
52:19
around and swept it under the rug.
52:22
It's not a big issue. It's not a big problem.
52:26
It's not widespread. I haven't heard anything about
52:29
it. No, you have or you wouldn't be
52:32
talking about it. But no, you can't be upset at
52:34
management. That may ruin your position with
52:38
them in negotiations. To hell with that.
52:43
Be a leader. Don't forget that, you know,
52:46
this was based on the bell curve, so it was only actually
52:50
about two 2 1/2 hours that everybody was affected on the
52:53
bell curve. Well, folks.
52:55
Yeah, that's right. You don't live on the bell
52:58
Curve, do you? You live in reality.
53:00
And 66% of our carriers went down.
53:05
That's not a bell curve, that. That's a slap in the face.
53:08
It's affected 1/3 of world carriers, 1/3 of the no.
53:12
I'm talking about the pay it. Was just under half.
53:16
The pay was just under half, yeah, yeah.
53:19
And just, well, just under half of the of the world carriers,
53:24
half the craft. Now I'm not sure how many of
53:28
them were dues paying. Or non dues paying that were
53:31
affected. That's not.
53:33
But that doesn't matter. It affected the craft, and your
53:38
job is to fight for the craft as a whole.
53:43
I understand there's a lot of animosity towards people who
53:46
aren't putting money in the coffers to pay your paycheck,
53:49
but you can't be like that when you're leading an organization
53:53
that everybody has to do the same job.
53:56
Whether they are dues paying or non dues paying, and I bet if
53:59
you took care of this craft there'd be a lot more dues
54:03
paying members. Oh yeah.
54:05
Oh yeah. There's a reason why people are
54:07
dropping like flies. You have people here on this
54:10
podcast that have brought people into dues paying status, that
54:15
have brought people into being local stewards, have brought
54:19
them in to run for offices, run for.
54:22
Adr's area stewards, things like that.
54:25
You have an Ave. that's helping the craft, but you turn around
54:31
and ignore it. You turn around and ignore the
54:35
craft as a whole, and then you tell them that when they're
54:38
trying to get your attention. That you're going to fight tooth
54:43
and nail against it. You got your priorities messed
54:47
up. The craft is telling you what it
54:49
needs. Last time I knew as elected
54:52
officials, they worked for us. Not according to the newsletter
54:57
that they put out on. We take any and all attacks
55:00
against this union seriously and will not sit idly by to see what
55:04
happens. Oh, we know how that goes.
55:09
More of us on this podcast know exactly how that goes.
55:12
Yes, Yes, it does. Yes, we do.
55:15
I don't. I don't remember attacking them.
55:17
No, actually we didn't. And attack them one bit.
55:22
I think if anything it was quite the opposite, like how many
55:25
people we got to step up and be involved more and how many
55:29
people that are holding on to that very thread to stay in
55:33
because of us to stay working, they keep pushing through every.
55:37
Yay, because we're encouraging every single one of you out
55:41
there to do that. And we want craft participation.
55:44
We. Want people involved because at
55:48
this point in time, with the stuff going on at the Teamsters,
55:52
the UAW, the Airline Pilots Association, all these other
55:57
private unions that our pay system is supposed to be based
56:02
on, craft participation needs to be at an all time high.
56:07
And guess what? That craft participation could
56:10
put more dues in to pay for that elevator or the roof that you
56:15
were talking about at National Convention.
56:17
Yeah, I'm overhearing about the elevators and the roof.
56:25
If you just take the time to open your ears to your
56:31
constituents, which is the rural craft.
56:35
But I've gone down enough of a rabbit hole tonight.
56:37
I leave it to you guys. Oh, Bill, what can you add to
56:44
that one, dear? Well, James is correct.
56:47
You're not representing just the union members, you're
56:50
representing the entire craft union and non union members.
56:54
And just like the Mini Mail survey where I was a test office
56:58
and for two years before the Mini Mail survey.
57:01
I've been training our office because management was incapable
57:04
of do it. Too lazy to do it, didn't know
57:06
how to do it. But the thing of it is, is that
57:09
if you bid on a route that non union member is on and they
57:15
don't have the information to do the mini mail survey correctly,
57:18
if they're not doing the scan, if they're not putting the WSS
57:22
or the WSH in there, that means you're bidding on a substandard
57:25
route and you're going to have to live with that for a year
57:28
because the mini mail survey. Only gives you 6% of the
57:34
information in regards to compiling it into 52 weeks of
57:38
data. So you have to wait again until
57:41
the following year until you can get that up to snuff.
57:45
So this is not just, you know, us being union members, This Is
57:49
Us being a crap across the board.
57:52
And I know it it hurts some people, but we have to be
57:56
available to help everybody because God knows if you've been
57:59
on a route. That non union members on as
58:02
substandard. It's one year before you're
58:04
gonna get the benefits of your entries, your knowledge and all
58:09
the information that should be in the scanners for you to be
58:13
paid correctly. And then you're gonna go on that
58:16
stupid list because now you're making scans that weren't being
58:20
made on that route before. And now you're going to get
58:22
targeted by management saying you're trying to do this or that
58:25
to your evaluation because somebody's actually doing the
58:28
scans. And then I'm going to put, and
58:30
I'm going to put this out there too, Rcas do the scans because
58:36
you could be holding down that route if somebody takes over or
58:41
you take over and all of a sudden.
58:44
Well, this was a 45K route. Now what happened?
58:49
I'm only a 40 J. Well, you didn't do what you
58:53
were supposed to do. There's a reason why I preach
58:55
take ownership of the route. You know, it hasn't been easy.
59:00
I still have, you know, this last three weeks, that last week
59:03
of the mini mail survey and this night, you know, in these two
59:06
weeks here I'm running that route.
59:09
I'm still picking up my ox route.
59:11
I'm having to do 2 edit bucks. And verify numbers for two
59:16
routes. Come on guys, you know you can
59:19
do it too as Rca's, Ptf's leave replacements in general.
59:23
You know that's that's going to be used someday with that route
59:26
full time and you want to help that route and he would you know
59:29
every day that you can. And that and that's any route
59:32
that you're on, not, you know, just the one you want or one you
59:35
like, because you're probably not going to get that route if
59:39
it's. Desirable so you know every day,
59:43
every route. And you make it a habit to do
59:45
all those scans every day that are applicable and then you just
59:49
routinely do it on every at route you run.
59:52
I do every single route I run in my office.
59:55
I've done the scan. So if it took me 3 trips to the
59:58
door on route 5 one day, I'm putting the three trips to the
1:00:01
door. If I'm on route to the next day
1:00:03
and it took me 6 trips to the door, I'm putting 6 trips to the
1:00:07
door in. Doesn't matter what route I'm
1:00:09
running, I'm gonna. Treat them all the same, just
1:00:12
like if they were my very own route.
1:00:14
OK, I'm off my box for the moment.
1:00:18
Didn't they say the union has put out training?
1:00:21
You just have to go to the website?
1:00:23
Yeah, I'm leaving it back. But how many?
1:00:25
How many members actually utilize that though, too?
1:00:29
I know it's not everybody. Well, I did.
1:00:32
The website. Have you gone to the website and
1:00:34
clicked on the rec Training or Resource tabs?
1:00:37
I absolutely have many times I I just haven't looked at the
1:00:41
updated QA recently though. Log in.
1:00:43
I believe they updated 2 questions.
1:00:45
From saying before you log in, No.
1:00:48
OK, try it sometime. I'll try it right now.
1:00:54
I will because I want to see what you're talking about.
1:00:56
Hey, James, you want to go over? Oh, did you answer the questions
1:00:59
there that we got on the private message from the page?
1:01:02
OK, Yep. All right.
1:01:04
I'm going to the app and. While you're doing that, I'm not
1:01:08
logging in all right. Click on the either or resources
1:01:13
or you can click on it OK and it pulls up what is available.
1:01:20
But when you go to click on what's available, it then
1:01:23
prompts you to log in OK. So yeah, you have to be
1:01:27
registered. Yep, yeah, you can see what's on
1:01:29
there, You just can't actually read what's on there.
1:01:33
You just have the list of the of what's available, but then you
1:01:36
have to log in to actually read it.
1:01:38
They have training of, you know, resources available to all
1:01:41
carriers. No they don't.
1:01:43
You have to get it from. Isn't that?
1:01:46
Isn't that what was quoted in the at least one of those
1:01:50
articles recently? That was one of the dispute
1:01:52
forms that that came back, said it's been available on the union
1:01:56
website since April of 2022, but if you are a non dues paying
1:02:00
member and or you haven't registered on the website then
1:02:04
no, you don't have access to it. Is that the same one that said
1:02:07
that management's responsible for training?
1:02:09
Probably. Yeah, it is.
1:02:11
I trained my I trained my carriers too, Bill.
1:02:15
I believe James trained trained his too.
1:02:17
Trained as many as I could and I believe.
1:02:20
That not only did I train them, but I got service talk time
1:02:24
while doing it. 54 authorized just mounts on my route while I
1:02:31
was off a PTF. Did nice.
1:02:34
One day. One day.
1:02:36
I guess you want them every day when you're off, huh?
1:02:44
That. Sounds like a large parcel count
1:02:46
to me, you know, You know. And that's The thing is, I don't
1:02:50
know if the sub that was on this route previously was doing all
1:02:54
the scans. I know when I trained him, I
1:02:56
trained him on the scans and I gave him printouts of the
1:03:00
training materials are on the website, but I don't know if he
1:03:03
was doing them. No clue.
1:03:05
I guess he'll find out when the evaluations come down.
1:03:08
The only way you could tell is if you got the RMSS printouts.
1:03:11
Yeah, yeah, and I don't know if the regular carrier did them all
1:03:15
either. I have no clue without seeing if
1:03:18
I could get those reports. If this route drops I will be
1:03:22
asking for those though so. We get the ptr's.
1:03:25
Yep. Yeah, I don't know.
1:03:26
You know, like I said, I'm trying to keep track of two
1:03:28
routes here. And yeah, it's been fun to edit
1:03:33
books. Oh, that was fun.
1:03:34
She asked for edit books and my aux route was easy.
1:03:38
No changes, as usual. I think I only have to make a
1:03:41
change on that route. I don't know, maybe twice a
1:03:44
year, three times, tops. But I sat down with the route
1:03:49
threes edit book and readjusted all my CPUs and cell sizes and
1:03:55
and it had a couple extra boxes too.
1:03:58
And I handed that in and I said here you go, have fun, walked
1:04:03
away. And then I asked for new edit
1:04:07
sheets and labels too. Have we filled all the rabbit
1:04:11
holes yet? I think we've pretty much went
1:04:13
down all of them. Are you sure?
1:04:17
I'm sure we can find some more. I'm sure we can find some more,
1:04:20
but we should save that for next week I.
1:04:24
Because I'm sure there's going, I'm sure there's going to be
1:04:27
more articles that come out, there's going to be more
1:04:30
information that comes out and of course we also have the
1:04:34
possibility of people getting back their.
1:04:37
They're 4240 ones. And for those of you who are
1:04:40
wondering, we do have an episode actually breaking down your 4241
1:04:44
A's if you guys want to go back and listen to those #shameless
1:04:48
plug. OK, so an e-mail we got
1:04:51
yesterday. I'm going to read the front part
1:04:53
with the first because we've already addressed with Josh and
1:04:56
he has been working on his sound over there.
1:04:59
So anyways, I'm going to read the first paragraph.
1:05:02
It says happy post rec survey. One of my fellow workers has
1:05:05
been talking about your podcast for months now.
1:05:08
I'm slowly trying to get into the podcast.
1:05:11
I really enjoy parts of it. I find most of it very
1:05:15
informational. However, we are an extremely,
1:05:17
extremely small office and if we receive 50 parcels a day on a
1:05:21
regular basis, we're pretty excited.
1:05:24
So is there any way that you could consider discussing
1:05:27
smaller offices as well? I realize that there's more
1:05:30
larger offices, but in really rural areas we matter as well.
1:05:34
Nothing ever goes on retaliated even out the office if you speak
1:05:40
up. So while most of your points are
1:05:42
fantastic in a small, small offices is an entirely different
1:05:45
can of worms. Thank you so much and keep up
1:05:47
the great job Okay, yes, small offices.
1:05:50
I'm going to touch base on this real quick.
1:05:53
Most of your real. Small office, yeah.
1:05:55
My office is considered small to those with six routes and ox and
1:06:00
2 1/2 city routes I've. Small or baby, that would be
1:06:05
considered small. I think what he's talking about
1:06:09
would be the routes with like one or two routes, offices with
1:06:13
one or two routes in them. I have worked in offices that
1:06:17
had a full route and an OX route.
1:06:21
I've worked in a couple of them actually and yeah, it is
1:06:25
completely different. The one office was an RMPO and
1:06:30
it had one K route and a two hour ox route which I think they
1:06:37
had in the past at the time. This was several years ago.
1:06:40
We're talking about putting that little ox route back into the
1:06:43
big route. So it'd be a one route office.
1:06:45
I only ran the ox route of that one twice like 20 miles long and
1:06:50
like 120 boxes. It was ridiculously small.
1:06:53
But and then the other one I helped out in a lot had a K
1:06:59
route and a 36 hour ox route and it is quite a bit different and
1:07:03
usually there isn't as much going on and you have more of a
1:07:07
closer knit. Had a family atmosphere usually,
1:07:11
not always and I think but still with the smaller offices in
1:07:16
general, a lot of it depends on who's in charge.
1:07:20
I really do rather, I mean I've worked in my bigger office at
1:07:25
the time when there was 16 routes under the one postmaster
1:07:27
when I first started and it was awesome.
1:07:31
It was a family atmosphere. Carriers were to get together
1:07:33
for breakfast one day or one morning once a month before
1:07:38
work. Retirees would come in, you
1:07:41
know, and invite them in for breakfast.
1:07:42
And then after breakfast we'd go to work or, you know, they'd
1:07:45
invite the RCA's, even if we weren't working that day.
1:07:48
And usually a regular paid for their breakfast.
1:07:50
I mean it, you know, it was nice.
1:07:52
It was a family atmosphere. Things got done.
1:07:55
People worked together. Now it's no thing like that
1:08:00
anymore in that office. I can tell you that my smaller
1:08:04
office that I'm in now. No it's no I I still I I think
1:08:11
in general a lot of it has to do with management itself.
1:08:13
But in those smaller smaller offices I think it is
1:08:16
everybody's just kind of more closer than it And that's I
1:08:19
notice is the big difference and when you only get 50 packages in
1:08:22
a day for the whole office, thank God you don't have Amazon.
1:08:26
I yeah, that's hey, when I'm the route I'm running now and I have
1:08:32
an average day is 128 to 160 on an average day.
1:08:38
So that's a little different than what I'm used to as well.
1:08:42
It's a little bit heavier. Well, James, maybe you have this
1:08:45
answer. When do they consider dissolving
1:08:47
an aux route? Is there a threshold that
1:08:49
they've set? So for for an aux route, you
1:08:53
have to have a minimum of two hours for the aux route.
1:08:58
The aux route can be two hours per day.
1:09:00
Minimum. So in order to dissolve the aux
1:09:05
route, they would have to take it down below the two hour mark.
1:09:10
So if you have a regular route that is on the cusp of putting
1:09:18
the carrier in excise, they could take that aux route and
1:09:21
put it on there, as long as that aux route's not going to make
1:09:24
that route overburdened. So they could dissolve the aux
1:09:27
route into another route if they wanted to.
1:09:30
The other side of that is is the aux route could be dissolved
1:09:34
into a regular route if they put enough boxes onto it to actually
1:09:38
put it up above 42 hours. A lot of people say 40 hours,
1:09:43
but it actually has to be 42 hours to turn an AUX to a
1:09:46
regular route for the contract. Now back to your small offices
1:09:50
there, Kristen. Yes, I've been.
1:09:52
I've been exposed to two small offices. 11 had five routes, 5
1:09:58
rural routes, no city routes whatsoever.
1:10:01
And the postmaster there was a print adjacent to it.
1:10:08
In our parking lot was a sandwich shop that would open up
1:10:12
in the morning and every Saturday he would buy breakfast
1:10:14
for everybody in the office. You know, not a big deal.
1:10:19
You know, eat while you're working.
1:10:21
Didn't have to put down times or anything.
1:10:24
Now this is back in the day. Okay, this is back.
1:10:27
You know, before 2000. Back when you were delivering
1:10:31
horse and buggy. No, just just horse.
1:10:35
I couldn't afford the buggy. And then the other office was
1:10:40
just a four route office for rural carriers, government
1:10:43
vehicles and there was a dictator in there.
1:10:48
Their word was gospel. It was you know fire and
1:10:51
brimstone. I'm God and.
1:10:54
You're you're going to be casting the depths of hell if
1:10:56
you don't do what I tell you. I'm the absolute last voice of
1:10:59
authority in the world that you'll ever hear.
1:11:03
I worked there one day, yeah. And came back and said don't
1:11:07
don't ever call me again. Well, the two smaller offices
1:11:10
that I helped out, like I said, the one was under an RNPO and
1:11:13
I'd helped out her other, her office and that one had four
1:11:16
rural routes. So I guess it was a smaller one
1:11:18
too. But that starter went out on my
1:11:20
car one night after I got back and put stuff away, went to
1:11:23
leave the car wouldn't start. And she actually drove me the 45
1:11:27
miles home. Well, maybe not quite 45, it was
1:11:30
like 45 minutes, but so like 35 miles home to make sure I got
1:11:34
home and we pushed the car out of the way.
1:11:35
That way when the tow truck come pick it up, they could.
1:11:38
So yeah, there's management like that.
1:11:40
And then in the other smaller office I helped out on, that
1:11:43
postmaster was a floor supervisor in a plant couple
1:11:47
hours away who basically said if you still want a job here,
1:11:51
you'll be. They moved her from the plant to
1:11:55
the postmaster position in a tiny little town in the middle
1:11:59
of nowhere. Because it was either you take
1:12:01
this position or you don't have a job.
1:12:04
So but yeah, there's there's those too.
1:12:08
But my first postmaster in my bigger office, if it was, if it
1:12:12
was like a Saturday, that he was covering the desk for a
1:12:15
supervisor so she'd be off for whatever reason, He would stop
1:12:20
and buy Donuts at the donut shop across the way and bring them in
1:12:25
for everybody. When somebody would retire, he'd
1:12:29
have a cake brought in. He actually paid for a retirees
1:12:33
retirement party that we did, you know, outside of ours at a
1:12:38
local pizza joint. He called up and paid for it.
1:12:41
We didn't even know that till we went up to pay because he
1:12:43
couldn't make it. So he paid for it.
1:12:46
And then we always had Christmas potlucks and swaps and gifts.
1:12:52
And every year the local candy shop does their caramel apples
1:12:56
like a fundraiser thing. And they would go through and
1:12:59
ask everybody if they wanted a plain one or one with nuts and
1:13:02
buy caramel apples for everybody in the office.
1:13:05
That includes not just the carriers, but the 24 hour dock
1:13:08
as well as all the other clerks and maintenance and janitors,
1:13:12
everybody and you know. Where did those people go?
1:13:16
I know, right? I've got one that just
1:13:20
absolutely, you know, if they bring in a breakfast pizza from
1:13:24
Speedway there, yeah. Well, I think I think part of
1:13:30
the main problem is some of these really small offices kind
1:13:35
of get forgotten, yes? They're out there on their own
1:13:39
if they don't have someone in the office that.
1:13:41
Is knowledgeable or trying to stay knowledgeable.
1:13:45
As far as they know their postmaster or supervisor is the
1:13:48
gospel, yes. Some of them don't even know who
1:13:51
their who their Rep is. If something happens or that
1:13:55
they may not even realize that they can have representation, I
1:14:00
my office was like that before I came, before I transferred into
1:14:03
the office I'm in now, nobody had a clue.
1:14:07
They knew nothing. And yeah, and now I, of course
1:14:11
everybody goes to me for everything because I came in
1:14:14
knowing everything. Well, not everything, but
1:14:16
knowing a lot more than they did.
1:14:18
And I, you know, was telling him, no, you can do, you know
1:14:21
that that's not how it goes. You know they were big on RC A's
1:14:25
cannot request any time off whatsoever and and all this
1:14:29
other stuff. And I was like, yeah, no, that's
1:14:31
not true. Got that changed around and then
1:14:34
we're gonna wind it down, guys. We're going on 9:00 or just
1:14:38
after 9:00, actually. Eastern Time, yes, yes.
1:14:42
And I do have to do the editing tonight, so.
1:14:46
Oh, I've been good tonight. OK.
1:14:50
Yes, you have. Yes, yes you have.
1:14:54
I apologize. I caught myself halfway through
1:14:57
with the UM, so I do apologize about that.
1:15:00
Yeah, that's fine. I can edit those out.
1:15:02
I got. I think I got the sound waves
1:15:05
pinpointed to what it sounds like.
1:15:06
Now I can just skip through and go, Yep, there's an home.
1:15:14
Yeah, yeah. And I flead the fifth.
1:15:18
Yeah, I'll. Drink to that, all right?
1:15:20
I I don't have a fifth with me down here tonight.
1:15:23
All right. Josh, your final commentary for
1:15:25
this evening. We're in that holding pattern.
1:15:32
We just talked about that. Sorry, we're in that holding
1:15:37
pattern now. Like James said earlier,
1:15:40
supposedly allegedly 4240 ones could be released as early as
1:15:45
this coming Saturday the 23rd. So we'll see.
1:15:50
Keep up, you know we're at in the final stretch here.
1:15:54
Take it easy. Don't get yourself overwhelmed.
1:15:58
Keep hydrating because the weather is up and down the next
1:16:01
week or so. If you get overwhelmed, take a
1:16:04
step back, take a deep breath, and step back in.
1:16:08
Have a good week and I'll catch you next time, James.
1:16:11
Anymore rape holes this evening? Well, I just think that carriers
1:16:22
that are listening to this need to.
1:16:25
Step up and be involved with your union, with your carriers
1:16:30
in your office. We need to get everybody
1:16:33
involved in protecting this craft and doing what they can to
1:16:38
make this craft better. Whether it is helping them learn
1:16:42
what they need to be doing and what's supposed to be happening
1:16:45
and how management's not supposed to be treating them or
1:16:48
using your vote. Your voice is the biggest thing
1:16:51
you have that can help benefit this craft.
1:16:55
Doesn't matter if you step up to be a steward or if you just put
1:17:00
pen to paper and vote. Do something to better this
1:17:03
craft, because without you there is no craft.
1:17:07
Take care of yourself. Take care of your father,
1:17:09
brothers and sisters in the craft, and we'll see you next
1:17:12
week. Bill, I get on.
1:17:21
Me. Oh, yes, we are.
1:17:25
In a loving way. Well, folks, what can I say?
1:17:32
The mini mail survey's over. We wait for the results.
1:17:35
We dispute, we grieve, we cry, we moan.
1:17:41
But if you don't get off your ass and do something about the
1:17:44
situation, it'll never change. And I I think back to the days
1:17:50
when you know. When raising the three boys and
1:17:53
working two jobs and, you know, still being involved with the
1:17:57
union, when somebody sits there and tells me, well, you know,
1:18:01
I'm a single parent, I don't have time.
1:18:03
You know what? We have a lot of single parents
1:18:05
in in our craft okay, and they make time.
1:18:10
We have people who have, you know, two parent families who
1:18:13
don't take 10 minutes out of their day to go onto the website
1:18:17
to to check out what's going on, what's news.
1:18:20
What's affecting them? And there are paychecks in their
1:18:22
futures or retirement. If you don't make the investment
1:18:25
then don't expect others to OK. This is a cooperative among all
1:18:31
of us, union and non union, in regards to protecting our craft.
1:18:36
So if you see something, step up, speak out.
1:18:40
Don't, don't take it, OK that the harassment by management,
1:18:45
you know, the the the lack of cooperation, the failure to
1:18:47
provide information. Don't settle for their crap.
1:18:52
Okay. When in doubt, file, file and
1:18:56
file. Make them accountable for their
1:18:58
actions because it affects your paycheck, your future, as well
1:19:02
as those people around you. There are a lot of people out
1:19:05
there who aren't as outspoken as us, you know, who step up in the
1:19:08
limelight and say I'm a target and you need to help them
1:19:13
realize if they don't step up that that's going to affect
1:19:16
their future. And that's what we're here for.
1:19:18
To help protect your future, your paycheck, your retirement,
1:19:22
and your your sanity. Because let me tell you, even in
1:19:27
an office like mine, where I'm almost always present for
1:19:31
situations, they don't stop. And the only thing that stops
1:19:34
them is somebody who's willing to step forward and say enough.
1:19:37
So if you have a backbone, stand up and say enough.
1:19:41
God bless you all for doing the jobs that you do, putting up
1:19:44
with the crap that we do. Be safe out there.
1:19:47
Do the job to the best of your ability and get home to your
1:19:50
loved ones because you're the most important delivery of the
1:19:52
day. Thank you guys.
1:19:55
And I'm kind of going to add on to what Bill just said there
1:19:58
about using excuses as being a single parent or an RCA.
1:20:02
You know what guys? I'm an RCA and I am a single
1:20:05
parent. It is very possible like what
1:20:08
I'm doing now. So there was something else I
1:20:12
was going to touch on too. I don't remember now.
1:20:19
Thanks Bill, my mind wandered. Hey, um, until the thought comes
1:20:26
to you. Is that what it is?
1:20:29
OK, OK, I get it. I get it.
1:20:32
Now everybody be safe out there just for the weather.
1:20:37
I know my temperatures are supposed to go back up again, so
1:20:39
I'm gonna be pulling the shorts back out since I've been wearing
1:20:42
jeans all week and you know, dispute grieve.
1:20:47
If you're in my area, meeting is Wednesday night at 6:30.
1:20:51
Please RSVP ahead of time if you can.
1:20:55
And I think we're going to wrap that up tonight.
1:20:59
So we'll see y'all back next week.