Latest / United We Scan / 2024 State Convention Recaps

Transcript

2024 State Convention Recaps · United We Scan

• 0:15
  Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
• 0:18
  carriers for rural carriers. The views expressed in this
• 0:22
  podcast are of the presenters and the presenters only and do
• 0:25
  not represent the views, opinions, or strategies of the
• 0:28
  United States Postal Service or the National World Letter
• 0:30
  Carriers Association. We ask that you please consult
• 0:33
  your assigned union representative for guidance in
• 0:36
  your local area. Please like this podcast, share
• 0:39
  with your fellow world carriers, and subscribe to be notified
• 0:42
  each time a new episode is uploaded.
• 0:44
  Please leave a comment or question for us below.
• 0:47
  Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
• 0:50
  United We Scan podcast. Welcome back, everybody.
• 0:54
  Episode 79 Today we're going to do some recapping of our state
• 1:00
  conventions. It should be interesting and
• 1:04
  we'll see where things go. Like everybody is with us
• 1:09
  tonight. James, how was your week?
• 1:12
  Well, it was hot, hot, hot. I'm glad I had my little fan in
• 1:16
  the window, my cooler down in the bottom with my hydration and
• 1:21
  luckily Wednesday off so that way I could cool off Monday and
• 1:25
  Tuesday's heat on Wednesday and then back at it Thursday and
• 1:28
  Friday in the heat And of course thunderstorms everywhere but
• 1:33
  here. Luckily last night we got the
• 1:35
  rain and a little bit of rain today.
• 1:37
  So that helped with a little bit of the lack of rain for the
• 1:42
  week, but and that it was a pretty good week at the office.
• 1:46
  Of course, heavy mail on Monday and Thursday because of the
• 1:52
  holiday and packages were a little on the heavier side this
• 1:56
  week, which probably did not help in the heat.
• 2:00
  But then weekend came and it's been nice to relax for a little
• 2:06
  bit, get some things taken care of that I need to do, and look
• 2:11
  forward to this coming week. How about you, Toasty?
• 2:15
  Well, thankfully we were off on Wednesday and Thursday because
• 2:18
  that's when the tropical storm started dropping a lot of rain
• 2:21
  in our area. So I didn't have to deliver in
• 2:23
  the rain, but I did have to deliver in the heat and humidity
• 2:26
  after the rain. Other than that, it's been
• 2:30
  getting kind of light in our area since the elections are
• 2:33
  over. Not a lot of stuff going out
• 2:36
  right now, especially campaign wise.
• 2:39
  There's no in our red plums got downgraded to every other week
• 2:46
  so it's been pretty easy smooth sailing.
• 2:50
  I actually got it done before 2/1 day.
• 2:52
  Amazingly, there's a dealing with the heat.
• 2:56
  Added an extra fan to the mattress in which somebody on
• 3:00
  either Sunday or or Sunday or Monday, either they broke it or
• 3:07
  I don't know what they did with it because the radio no longer
• 3:10
  works. And that also takes out the
• 3:12
  backup camera. So I can't see behind me if I
• 3:14
  need to back up, which thankfully I don't have to back
• 3:17
  up that often. It's only K turns.
• 3:19
  How about you, Bill? How was your week?
• 3:21
  Oh God, it was exciting. I went to my state convention
• 3:25
  and watched friends. You're going in and out, Bill.
• 3:30
  Got I got some straight from the gut gossip.
• 3:34
  Bill, you're going in and out. I don't know what to tell you.
• 3:38
  I'm not even moving so. We'll make do with it I.
• 3:42
  Have no idea, thank. You we'll make do with it.
• 3:46
  We I haven't changed any of my Elsa and Monday to Wednesday at
• 3:51
  the state convention and I'm still up nurse.
• 4:00
  The postal nurses said I I can't have my duty because of the fact
• 4:04
  that it was a non work vacation. The hell with them, you hear
• 4:11
  that? Yep, we heard that loud and.
• 4:13
  Clear. We heard.
• 4:14
  We heard. The hell with that.
• 4:19
  I'm going to the bar that. Was clear too saying you know
• 4:24
  the important stuff. Yeah.
• 4:28
  And my week was all good, I say. Yeah, you know, I Monday was
• 4:32
  heavy. Tuesday I was locked out at 5
• 4:37
  after one go from 200 packages Monday to 55 on Tuesday, which
• 4:44
  was nice given the heat. And then Wednesday off of
• 4:48
  course. And then Thursday was heavy and
• 4:52
  yeah it sucked. Then I had a box holder waiting
• 4:56
  for me for Friday and then I had to work by K day yesterday and
• 5:00
  Oh yeah, our avos came and today was my daughter's baby shower.
• 5:08
  So yeah, that pretty much rounds out my week.
• 5:10
  Oh that not a whole lot going on pretty much normal wise and baby
• 5:15
  shower thing for my daughter and and I got home about 6:30.
• 5:20
  So just in time to pop on here with you guys.
• 5:24
  Other than that, really. All right, week we're going to
• 5:29
  do some state convention recaps. James and I had ours couple
• 5:33
  weeks ago. Bill and Toasty just had theirs
• 5:36
  as well and yeah, we'll go ahead and start with James.
• 5:41
  Well, it. Was just like any other state
• 5:43
  convention for me. Getting information, following
• 5:49
  what's going on, checking on the status of my 21 resolutions and
• 5:55
  a final count. Nine of my resolutions passed
• 5:58
  either at the gavel or after discussion and deliberation.
• 6:03
  It was actually surprising to me.
• 6:06
  I did not expect that many of them to pass.
• 6:08
  I expected a few of them to fail just on people's semantics of
• 6:12
  what the resolution means. Few of them, I understood why
• 6:16
  they failed them. Couple of them.
• 6:20
  The persons who spoke on it didn't fully grasp the idea
• 6:25
  behind the resolution and made it personal instead of taking
• 6:31
  the personal out of it. Which as I'm sure people who
• 6:35
  have attended state conventions understand, a lot of people make
• 6:39
  resolutions personal instead of what they really are is to help
• 6:45
  the craft. But that's OK because I can turn
• 6:48
  around and write new resolutions for next year with the
• 6:52
  information I've gleaned off of the issues that they've brought
• 6:56
  up or stated to negate that line of thinking when it comes to
• 7:02
  those resolutions. The election of the board
• 7:06
  proceeded uneventfully, had a few challengers, 2 positions,
• 7:11
  some of them previous board members, and we had one fresh
• 7:16
  new person elected to our state board as an executive
• 7:20
  committeeman. So I was really proud of the way
• 7:24
  that it was handled. The banquet was really nice and
• 7:28
  full of energy, which sometimes when you're sitting for hours on
• 7:33
  end going through stuff, getting all that energy out that you
• 7:36
  didn't use while sitting still because all of us still won't do
• 7:40
  our mail routes and have a lot of energy to support that.
• 7:44
  Doing the banquet, dancing and having a good time with people
• 7:48
  was a nice way to end that day so Plus I had good company at
• 7:52
  the table I was sitting at, so I can't complain about that
• 7:55
  either. Thank you Ruby and I appreciate
• 7:59
  that. Well, Kristen, why don't you
• 8:04
  add, why don't you add what you felt at our state convention?
• 8:09
  Well, you know, there, there was some good resolutions.
• 8:12
  There was one that I object to. And because again, this is where
• 8:16
  people try to make resolutions instead of thinking about the
• 8:19
  whole when when you're submitting a non binding
• 8:22
  resolution to go up to for for potential to go up to national,
• 8:26
  you got to think about the craft as a whole across the country.
• 8:30
  This one unfortunately did not put that into perspective.
• 8:33
  There was three of them actually that all ended up getting voted
• 8:37
  on together because they all pertain to the same thing.
• 8:40
  And I mean, you know, it got voted down and I did speak up
• 8:44
  against it. And one was, you know, with
• 8:46
  daylight savings time and starting early when daylight
• 8:50
  savings time starts, what I, you know, daylight, not every state
• 8:54
  in the country, you know, participates in daylight savings
• 8:57
  time with time changes. And if you do look up any of
• 9:01
  your in your manuals and whatnot, you know, management's
• 9:04
  the one that responsible for, for start times.
• 9:07
  You also have to think about truck schedules.
• 9:09
  You know, trucks run on a schedule when it comes to drop.
• 9:12
  Not everybody's going to be able to start 1/2 hour early, you
• 9:16
  know, when the time changes because the truck may not be
• 9:20
  there number one. And again, you know, daylight
• 9:24
  savings time, not everybody participates in that.
• 9:27
  And and it just, you know, to avoid coming out in dark.
• 9:30
  Well, if it's going to, and my thing was, you know, if it's, if
• 9:33
  it's going to be dark and it's unsafe, that's what a 1767's
• 9:36
  for. And if management still wants to
• 9:38
  fight on it, well, you have the grievance process.
• 9:40
  And that's when I pretty much did my mic drop and walked away.
• 9:43
  But you know, but yeah, there, I mean, definitely some good
• 9:46
  resolutions out there. And we did have some that pass
• 9:50
  on the effect, you know, state level wise that were kept at the
• 9:52
  state that passed, which is really awesome.
• 9:54
  The couple of them that did go go through and the one that we
• 9:58
  were trying for unfortunately did not.
• 10:01
  But you know that that wasn't bad.
• 10:04
  I am really happy for our member that got elected to the State
• 10:09
  Bar to this person has been trying for for for several years
• 10:14
  and it finally is that person's time and I am really excited and
• 10:19
  happy for them to be up there fighting for the craft.
• 10:23
  They are one of the true fighters for the craft that we
• 10:26
  have. That just that's her soul and
• 10:30
  and I, I really appreciate it and really thrilled for them.
• 10:34
  But yeah, no, it wasn't a bad, bad convention.
• 10:38
  Miss James said banquet was fun. I got out on the dance floor.
• 10:42
  We had our memorial on Sunday and one of the carriers that we
• 10:45
  had lost this past year happened to be a Co worker or a dear
• 10:48
  friend of mine. And she actually was a member of
• 10:51
  our Facebook group and what you know, and was inactive when she
• 10:56
  could be. And unfortunately, you know,
• 10:57
  cancer's a bitch. We all hate it.
• 11:00
  And so I did get up and speak at the memorial.
• 11:05
  I didn't think I was going to be able to at first, but I
• 11:08
  swallowed it back and I, I, I talked about some memories of a
• 11:13
  very, very great person and, and she definitely a fighter and
• 11:18
  probably one of my biggest cheerleaders from, you know, me
• 11:22
  going regular literally just days on her days before she
• 11:26
  passed away. You know, our our dear friend
• 11:29
  that just got elected to the border is also a close friend of
• 11:31
  hers. And they told her that, you
• 11:34
  know, I made regular and she gave a thumbs up and and yay,
• 11:38
  you know, and, and just a couple days later when she passed and
• 11:41
  it was nice to be able to pay respects and homage to her.
• 11:46
  I definitely missed. She was she was a force to
• 11:48
  reckon with. And yeah, no, it was, you know,
• 11:52
  my daughter Ruby joined me. She didn't really do, wasn't
• 11:56
  sitting much in the convention the first day, just kind of
• 11:59
  chilled back, relaxed a little bit as she tends to.
• 12:02
  But she did join us the second day after lunch and watched how
• 12:07
  resolutions are debated and how elections are done.
• 12:10
  This kid, you know, be on the lookout.
• 12:13
  She actually officially joins us after she turns 18 this fall.
• 12:17
  She will definitely be coming and trying to be a delegate for
• 12:20
  everything. So yeah, banquet was fun.
• 12:23
  We even got James up on the photo booth with us, with our,
• 12:27
  with our Mardi Gras masks and signs and I'll have to take some
• 12:33
  pictures of those and post them up.
• 12:37
  But yeah, no, it was a good time.
• 12:38
  We had quite a few first timers. I was happy to see them.
• 12:42
  One of them again, was a Co worker of mine and we, yeah, no
• 12:50
  state convention's over with now.
• 12:52
  Now we're moving on and concentrating on national.
• 12:55
  So was there anything else I should add on to their dreams
• 12:57
  that you can think of? I mean, we didn't.
• 12:59
  I mean, usually a lot of times when you have, you know, people
• 13:04
  debating the resolutions when it comes to speak on them.
• 13:08
  I mean, it can get heated. We've all seen it.
• 13:10
  And it really didn't get too heated this year.
• 13:14
  I was really pleasantly surprised.
• 13:17
  Resolutions actually went through pretty quickly compared
• 13:20
  to what we've done in the past, so.
• 13:22
  Yeah, I I mean, the only part I would add is that after
• 13:26
  convention, on my way home, I did stop and get myself a donut
• 13:30
  from Cops and Donuts. I can't pass at the cops and
• 13:35
  Donuts man. Those of you who don't know,
• 13:38
  that is a donut shop in Mount Pleasant, MI called Cops and
• 13:41
  Donuts. You can look it up.
• 13:43
  Actually, the main location, the very first location is in Clare
• 13:49
  and they do have satellite locations in Mount Pleasant,
• 13:51
  Gaylord. There's a couple other ones that
• 13:54
  I don't know. They offer it off hand and
• 13:56
  they're pretty awesome. They're actually started by
• 13:59
  retired police officers and Sinem cops and Donuts, and they
• 14:04
  have to be the best. They have a really awesome
• 14:08
  glazed doughnut with bacon on it.
• 14:10
  They've done both in the Maple and the chocolate.
• 14:13
  Buy four anyways. Toasty.
• 14:19
  How was your state convention? It was a a wake up call.
• 14:26
  It's definitely formatted much differently than the area
• 14:30
  conventions. Those are more informative.
• 14:34
  I mean, they're, it's similar structure on the first day where
• 14:36
  it's a lot of the sponsors, the APCU insurance groups, there's
• 14:44
  even a couple of the, the labor groups that go for like all
• 14:48
  federal employees and they speak there.
• 14:51
  That's the main part of the first day and also nominations
• 14:55
  for your state board. The one of the things that it's
• 14:59
  not necessarily that I didn't realize, it's just, it really
• 15:03
  popped up a lot at state convention is that your state
• 15:06
  board doesn't really have a lot of say when it comes to the
• 15:09
  national board. So what's going on nationally,
• 15:12
  especially with the contract and with everything that's going on,
• 15:16
  your state board doesn't really get a lot in that.
• 15:19
  So it's a very thankless job. They don't get paid Jack squat
• 15:24
  for what they do. I mean, of course they, yes, get
• 15:28
  a, a union day of pay if they go do a function or they go to see
• 15:32
  where to host the convention and stuff like that.
• 15:35
  But it's a very thankless job. A lot of people don't realize
• 15:40
  that our entire board changed. Our president was stepping down.
• 15:46
  Our Vice president decided to go ahead and move up.
• 15:49
  Our secretary treasurer decided to go ahead and no longer do it.
• 15:54
  And then we also had about, I believe it was three or four
• 16:00
  trustee positions open Trustee, I believe it was one went up to
• 16:05
  VP Trustee 2. She wanted to stay in her
• 16:10
  position. Trustee 3 was open and Trustee 4
• 16:14
  was open, I believe, and five stayed in his position.
• 16:18
  We had multiple rounds of voting.
• 16:22
  It is a very tedious thing because you have to, especially
• 16:25
  in a place like Texas where we have might want to say 70
• 16:31
  different locals that were there.
• 16:35
  And then of course, the votes get divided up by how many
• 16:39
  delegates you have for Alamo one, which is San Antonio, we
• 16:43
  only had five people show up and we were in command of, I want to
• 16:48
  say it was 62 vote, those 3061 votes.
• 16:54
  So we each got 12 ballots and we didn't have any of our local
• 17:00
  president there, our local vice president, none of them showed
• 17:02
  up. It was me, another one from my
• 17:06
  local that went to the meetings, our former ADR retiree, and then
• 17:13
  another carrier from one of the other stations on the northwest
• 17:17
  side of San Antonio. And they was sitting there and
• 17:21
  having to write out the names, you know, 12 times.
• 17:24
  It's tedious. And then you got to collect all
• 17:27
  the ballots and then go wait up front and then give it to the
• 17:29
  tellers committee. And then the teller committees
• 17:31
  goes back to the back. In this year, they actually
• 17:34
  invested in the dollar counting machines and they actually
• 17:38
  printed out cards that could go through the count, the money
• 17:41
  counters so that they can tally the votes faster than hand doing
• 17:46
  everything and having to recheck it a second time and doing
• 17:50
  everything by hand. So we automated the process this
• 17:53
  year. And yeah, so our VP moved up to
• 17:58
  president, our trustee one moved up to vice president.
• 18:02
  We had a completely new person and secretary treasurer, but she
• 18:07
  also owns a side business printing out stuff.
• 18:12
  If you were sure, James and Bill remember at SWAC, one of the
• 18:16
  people that could do the custom prints and she does that as a
• 18:21
  side gig along with her husband and she was able to get in for
• 18:25
  secretary treasurer and we've my former ADR ran for I believe it
• 18:30
  was a place four and he got the position and it's just been it's
• 18:36
  been a deal. Unfortunately, the local that
• 18:41
  was supposed to host their president walked out about a
• 18:43
  month before hosting. So it was in San Marcos and the
• 18:48
  Guadalupe County president stepped down and basically quit
• 18:53
  the post office. He was kind of tired of
• 18:54
  everything and left. So everyone was kind of
• 18:58
  scrounging up, but they were given a lot of guidance by the
• 19:02
  now former president and vice president of the entire state
• 19:06
  board to make it a successful convention.
• 19:10
  A lot of people came up after my speech because we were allowed
• 19:13
  to do speeches as national candidates for the first time in
• 19:16
  Texas history in a while. And of course, there was Rita
• 19:22
  Clark, which is Texas one. She was up there.
• 19:28
  Laura believe is Burnside right. She was also campaigning at
• 19:35
  Michigan and decided campaign since Louisiana is right next to
• 19:40
  Texas and she's AADR from Louisiana.
• 19:44
  And of course I spoke and I had several people come up after my
• 19:47
  speech saying thank you. I've never felt so seen, I've
• 19:51
  never felt so heard. You are absolutely right.
• 19:54
  You've got my vote. Those refreshing.
• 19:56
  It's refreshing to know that other people are in the same
• 19:58
  situation that they feel. Like the union just doesn't see
• 20:02
  them anymore. And my state board even gave me
• 20:06
  hugs and, you know, congratulating me and said, you
• 20:08
  know, thank you Toasty and actually called me by Toasty for
• 20:14
  coming and for showing up and for running.
• 20:16
  So that's about about it. I mean, we can get into
• 20:19
  resolutions later if you want, but that that was a very hot
• 20:23
  topic and especially when it came to the Texas versus
• 20:26
  national resolutions. So, Bill, how was yours?
• 20:30
  Oh, mine was kind of a circus back at our current program six
• 20:38
  months ago. So that's able to get the Dr.
• 20:40
  position of the retiring Dr. because they're buds and that
• 20:46
  just smacked a walking is that somebody knows six months ahead
• 20:51
  of time they're getting the Dr. position.
• 20:53
  Yeah, it it's like being baptized out in there already.
• 20:58
  The Vice President took over the duties of President and the
• 21:05
  program gas and top was out of whack for the better part of the
• 21:12
  first two days which is run of the business.
• 21:16
  So this is a little bit of a sideshow.
• 21:19
  The resolutions went smoothly enough active in, you know,
• 21:27
  interchanges with people with the difference of opinions on
• 21:31
  verbiage, very, I'll say diplomatic and reserved.
• 21:41
  And, you know, it went swimmingly, basically also ran
• 21:46
  with the new president, new vice president, secretary, treasurer
• 21:50
  staying in place. And three of the four committee
• 21:52
  people were replaced by three people, which is encouraging.
• 21:58
  So that's nice to see that, you know, more people are stepping
• 22:01
  up at the state level now. International.
• 22:07
  The part of my convention was when I had I approached an
• 22:11
  individual who used to be on the national board and asked that
• 22:17
  individual to nominate me at the National Convention.
• 22:20
  And. Said I can't do that.
• 22:24
  Ronnie Stutz already asked me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you
• 22:28
  heard that right, Ronnie Stutz. Now, later that evening while
• 22:36
  enjoying a cocktail or two, another individual me told me
• 22:41
  that in her clique wanted her to approach me and let me know that
• 22:48
  Ronnie Stutz is still an active rule carrier on sick leave,
• 22:57
  therefore he's entitled to run for president.
• 23:01
  Again, this is the rumor. OK, rumor quotes that Jeanette
• 23:08
  Dwyer may also run for president.
• 23:14
  This just is Max. So it's wrong with this union
• 23:19
  that these people can't let go. If you haven't accomplished
• 23:24
  anything that you've attempted to do in the last 15 years, what
• 23:31
  makes you think that you're entitled to have another chance
• 23:35
  to screw the craft over? The belligerence of these
• 23:42
  people? Comical.
• 23:44
  Yeah. You could have pushed me over
• 23:47
  with a feather when I was told that Ronnie was running again
• 23:51
  and this was a direct statement from an individual that I would
• 23:57
  believe and trust were dumbfounded.
• 24:07
  I mean, you know the the quote vernacular of the rural carrier
• 24:12
  craft. You can't make this shit up.
• 24:17
  And everybody who's listening, we're tuning in.
• 24:23
  This is why we need to change the national board.
• 24:27
  These people are so entitled. They are so belligerent.
• 24:33
  And if they don't have enough money, I it can't.
• 24:37
  It's got to be money. It's got to be set.
• 24:38
  I don't, I have no idea what it is.
• 24:41
  But if you haven't been able to improve the lives of the craft
• 24:45
  over the past 10 to 15 years, you do not.
• 24:54
  Other than that, I I enjoyed my state convention.
• 24:57
  The food was good. We don't do any themes like
• 25:00
  Mardi Gras. The was good.
• 25:06
  But as with the the drawings, the drafts, the pack and
• 25:09
  everything else but the horseshit's got to end.
• 25:14
  It's got it and and and it's got and this year in.
• 25:21
  I think we lost Bill. So did we lose Bill?
• 25:25
  I'm still. Here.
• 25:26
  OK, we lost. Got me.
• 25:27
  It got quiet. We got chicken.
• 25:31
  Well, yeah, I, I was done. I was done.
• 25:33
  I I just. So, So what Bill was saying, he
• 25:38
  was breaking up there a little bit.
• 25:41
  He was breaking up there a little bit.
• 25:43
  Bill approached a former national Rep or yeah, former
• 25:47
  national board member to see if he would nominate Bill Shearer
• 25:51
  National, and he was told that he'd already been approached to
• 25:55
  nominate Ronnie Stutz. Oh, yes, that's National
• 26:02
  Convention. Might be pretty interesting this
• 26:05
  year. Let me, let me just throw in a
• 26:09
  quote from Mr. Ronnie Stutz last year at National Convention, he
• 26:15
  said, and I quote, this is coming from the convention
• 26:20
  proceedings as and as you know, I've been on the board for 20
• 26:24
  years. I've always tried to do my best
• 26:27
  to represent the Royal letter carriers and make sure that they
• 26:30
  were treated fairly. It's time for me to go home now
• 26:34
  and do some things that I want to do.
• 26:36
  I got a blue tractor at home that's waiting on me.
• 26:39
  I've got a Big Lake just down the road from my house.
• 26:42
  I got a golf course just right around the corner.
• 26:44
  And I'm also looking at maybe putting in a doggy bed and bath
• 26:48
  for overnight for dogs. So I've got a whole lot to do
• 26:52
  and I just want to do some things for myself now.
• 26:55
  I wonder what happened to that plan.
• 26:58
  I don't know. Sounds like a retirement.
• 27:02
  Well, he he needed an all. Right, so I have a little recap
• 27:11
  from Kansas State Convention. It looks like the top three were
• 27:16
  re elected to their board, including our dear friend Mike.
• 27:19
  Congratulations. I did spend some time with some
• 27:23
  of the Kansas State board members at mid states after
• 27:25
  hours. Great group of people.
• 27:27
  Let me tell you, they did have one spot on the board open.
• 27:31
  A junior member and an RCA was elected to that position.
• 27:35
  Congrats to that RCA. Thank you for stepping up.
• 27:39
  I wish you the best in that position.
• 27:42
  Definitely. Yeah.
• 27:44
  So here's a question. Why is?
• 27:47
  Why is there a rumor Jeanette is running too?
• 27:51
  That's what we've heard from the the rumor mill.
• 27:54
  We take it with a grain of salt, of course.
• 27:56
  Yes, definitely. Take it with a grain of salt.
• 27:58
  Rumors that they happened. I mean, we, we hear stuff all
• 28:02
  the time. We don't necessarily put
• 28:04
  anything out there when we hear rumors.
• 28:05
  But yeah, yeah, like I said, you won't know exactly who's running
• 28:10
  for what until the nominations occur at National Convention.
• 28:16
  Yeah. I mean, I mean, literally people
• 28:19
  who you think are running or who have said they're running at one
• 28:24
  of the regional conventions or at a state convention could turn
• 28:28
  around and decide they don't want to run and then they won't
• 28:30
  be nominated at National Convention.
• 28:33
  Things could change, people could change their minds,
• 28:35
  something could happen and they not be able to make it.
• 28:38
  You know it, it's you. You never know.
• 28:41
  That's why I said it was a rumor.
• 28:45
  You know. Complete rumor.
• 28:46
  So I do have one from one of our listeners who posted this in our
• 28:54
  server, a convention first timer observations.
• 28:58
  I did learn how things work, observed the state board meeting
• 29:02
  and learned that the older in parentheses, the ones that have
• 29:05
  been there a while in parentheses, people on the board
• 29:08
  just kind of comply and don't ask questions or comment on much
• 29:12
  really they don't want change. Our current national president
• 29:16
  was there and at one point rude. I don't remember what that was
• 29:20
  about. He didn't seem to want to be
• 29:22
  there for sure. As for his speech, we were told
• 29:26
  at the very beginning there would be no Q&A.
• 29:29
  Everyone was upset by this. He told us he supported Dejoy
• 29:33
  and kept showing us numbers about how we were under
• 29:36
  evaluation. We also felt he was dragging
• 29:39
  things out and repeating himself to avoid the Q&A to the point
• 29:43
  where he was told his time was up.
• 29:45
  When our state president, after hearing complaints about the
• 29:48
  Q&A, talked to Maston about doing AQ and A.
• 29:51
  He told her that he would be available for one-on-one Q&A but
• 29:55
  didn't want gripes and would still not allow AQ and A in
• 29:59
  front of the assembly at banquet, he was watching a ball
• 30:03
  game on his phone. Time for voting and he kept
• 30:07
  approaching the table advising them on something.
• 30:10
  We need a change. Oh, we did vote in new people
• 30:13
  for a state president and vice president.
• 30:15
  I never talked to Don Mast and myself, but listening to him and
• 30:18
  just observing the convention, you would never know he was ever
• 30:22
  a rural carrier in his life. We need change.
• 30:26
  It is from our Discord server and you can actually find it
• 30:29
  yourself in there if you want to go look.
• 30:31
  Take shameless plug for the discord.
• 30:34
  I do know we had a first timer to Wisconsin State convention
• 30:41
  who stepped up and ran for secretary, treasurer and was
• 30:44
  elected. Congratulations to them.
• 30:48
  I, I, you know, I, I love seeing these people step up.
• 30:52
  I, you know, it just, it warms my heart to see, to see first
• 30:57
  timers stepping up, to see new people stepping up into these
• 31:02
  positions of fighting for the craft.
• 31:05
  You know, it, it's awesome. Congratulations.
• 31:09
  Congratulations to everybody that stepped up and was elected.
• 31:15
  And if you were stepping up to run for a state position and it
• 31:20
  did not get elected, still, I want to thank you for stepping
• 31:24
  up. That's what we need is more
• 31:26
  people to step up into these positions.
• 31:30
  And it it's definitely, I mean, that's the future of the craft
• 31:34
  is having more newer people stepping up and wanting to
• 31:38
  fight. I mean, that's what's going to
• 31:39
  keep this craft going in the right direction.
• 31:43
  Thank you. Speaking of stepping up from our
• 31:46
  live stage chat, which you can get to on our Discord server,
• 31:50
  I'm going to keep shamelessly plugging this.
• 31:54
  My state convention went well, great.
• 31:56
  From what I could tell. I was a first timer thanks to
• 31:59
  this podcast ran for delegate, but we won't find out until the
• 32:02
  29th of June. I'm eager.
• 32:05
  The person said received the award for longest resolution at
• 32:08
  state convention as a first timer.
• 32:10
  Props to James and when questioned it was 4 pages long.
• 32:17
  My resolution was my resolutions were cut down.
• 32:22
  Yes, they called. Two were pulled with permission,
• 32:25
  similar to two that passed last year.
• 32:27
  Two failed. Need better language.
• 32:29
  One passed on gavel. Puerto Ric because I think that
• 32:32
  came from the e-mail that I got for the person that attended
• 32:37
  Pennsylvania State Convention. Well, or was it was Adm Let me
• 32:44
  go grab that. I'm going to read a little bit
• 32:46
  of this because I this definitely was good to hear.
• 32:50
  There it is, who knows who they are.
• 32:54
  Thank you for all. Thank you all for doing what you
• 32:57
  do. I just finished listening to
• 32:59
  this week's episode. I was the smart ass that made
• 33:02
  the comment of Bill's Phillies cat messing with the signal.
• 33:05
  I am here with Bill as a first timer at convention.
• 33:08
  I've spoken with him a few times and this is a quality
• 33:11
  individual, a real good guy that cares.
• 33:16
  This has been an experience for sure.
• 33:18
  Single person here. Upon finding a oh, I had
• 33:21
  declared as a candidate for national delegate.
• 33:23
  Told me not to be discouraged and to keep me trying because
• 33:26
  nobody makes it their first time.
• 33:28
  Well, yeah, 45 delegates in PA and who is number 44?
• 33:33
  Yay me. We look forward to seeing you
• 33:36
  there. Honestly, I didn't believe it
• 33:38
  because of what I was told. I ran into Bill in the elevator
• 33:41
  and had him asked to verify. Did I really get it?
• 33:44
  This experience has been like drinking from a fire hose, but I
• 33:47
  am enjoying it. There are many stories I can
• 33:49
  tell. None of this would happen had I
• 33:51
  not listened. If you would.
• 33:53
  So, yeah, we thank you. And this is definitely, you
• 33:57
  know, we, we love seeing more people stepping up and becoming
• 34:01
  delegates and go into their conventions and seeing how
• 34:04
  everything works and participating.
• 34:07
  And it it's awesome. I mean that that was my main
• 34:12
  goal when I got these guys together to start this podcast
• 34:16
  was to get people involved to, to get the message out of why
• 34:21
  it's important to be involved and, and to, to go to your
• 34:26
  conventions and your conferences and, and try to be a part of
• 34:30
  making things better. And I just want to give big mad
• 34:34
  thank yous, standing ovations to every single one of you that has
• 34:38
  that has stepped up in one form or another.
• 34:41
  Thank you guys. That that's it.
• 34:43
  It means a lot to me as well. He had, I believe like 22 first
• 34:48
  timers and there were a couple of other, I guess you could call
• 34:52
  them first timers. So they weren't allowed to vote
• 34:54
  because they had done either managerial duties or they were
• 34:57
  disqualified from being a delegate that still attended to
• 35:01
  go ahead and find out what's going on, what's being passed
• 35:05
  and see what's going to happen with their state board.
• 35:07
  I also want to give a shout out to my text, my now former Texas
• 35:12
  board, the ones that stepped down or ran and didn't get it.
• 35:18
  Thank you, very heartfelt, thank you for everything that you do.
• 35:21
  It is a very thankless job for the state board on top of doing
• 35:27
  a very thankless job of delivering the mail.
• 35:30
  Because the majority of our state board members out there
• 35:32
  are still carrying their routes full time.
• 35:36
  Now, there are a handful of states that do have full time
• 35:41
  positions. I know ours is one of them.
• 35:43
  There are some of them that do have secretary, treasurer
• 35:45
  secretaries that are full time employees, union employees and
• 35:50
  are, you know, not on their routes currently while they're
• 35:53
  holding that position just because of the amount of duties
• 35:56
  and the amount of time that they put in the, you know, and again,
• 35:59
  that is something that your state would have to vote on in
• 36:01
  order to ours did that a couple years ago.
• 36:03
  So our secretary position is, is currently a full time position.
• 36:09
  I mean, like I said, there's a handful of those.
• 36:11
  And like I said, I get mad props to our state secretary that that
• 36:15
  person is, she is just go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
• 36:18
  And she has her hands full with a lot of stuff.
• 36:22
  But she she's, she's awesome. And yeah, I mean, kudos to all
• 36:26
  you guys that step up and, you know, it's, it just warms my
• 36:32
  heart and almost leaves me speeches sometimes.
• 36:36
  I go over resolutions that have, has there been debated or do we
• 36:40
  want to just keep moving on? Well, I did want to talk about
• 36:45
  all the first timers. We had quite a few first timers
• 36:50
  at Michigan and a few of them even stepped up to the mic and
• 36:54
  talked and had good things to say when they were up at the
• 36:58
  mic. I give props to those who come
• 37:01
  to these things, know which way is up when they go in the door,
• 37:06
  but know that when they hear something that they need to
• 37:09
  speak on, they step up and speak on it.
• 37:13
  Definitely we had to, we did have some first timers up at the
• 37:16
  microphone as well. And you know, we had a first
• 37:19
  timer that ran for a board position as well.
• 37:22
  You know, I, it, it's, it's not an easy job to step up, you
• 37:28
  know, especially if it's something you've never done
• 37:29
  before or you know, it, it's not easy.
• 37:33
  I know the first time I stepped up to run for a position was,
• 37:36
  well, what I'm running for again this year.
• 37:39
  I was very intimidated up there. You know, last year I did run
• 37:43
  for my state board and it wasn't quite as intimidating.
• 37:46
  Again, it's my home state, you know, it's, but you know, it's,
• 37:50
  it, it's not easy to take that leap to step up, to run for any
• 37:54
  position, whether it's, you know, a local position, a state
• 37:59
  position or national position, you know, it, it's, it takes a
• 38:03
  lot, you know, to, to and willingness to step up and, and
• 38:07
  fill those shoes. So just to to all, all the
• 38:12
  newbies that are spun up, we, we appreciate it definitely.
• 38:17
  It helps for these first timers to see what it takes to get
• 38:20
  involved in. This is basically a mini version
• 38:24
  of National, the way the proceedings are going to go.
• 38:27
  How are you going to do votes, nominations, the resolutions,
• 38:31
  all of that? It's it's a good taste.
• 38:35
  It's a good way to get your feet wet, you know, meet people from,
• 38:38
  you know, different areas. Of course, Texas is a big state.
• 38:41
  So, you know, one of, you know, the big, big counties like
• 38:44
  Dallas and Houston, of course they got a ton of boats, but
• 38:47
  they also had a lot of people show up.
• 38:49
  Thankfully. I was kind of disappointed with
• 38:51
  my San Antonio area only bringing in five.
• 38:55
  We definitely need to show up next time.
• 38:57
  Going to try to recruit more people to get in and show up.
• 39:01
  But when you show up, that's when you can make the changes,
• 39:03
  when you can let your fellow carriers know what's going on in
• 39:07
  your area. Texas is split up into three
• 39:10
  districts, basically Texas 1-2 and three.
• 39:13
  So we have 3D Rs and multiply AD Rs under them.
• 39:17
  And you also have to realize that, you know, some of the
• 39:20
  smaller areas, of course they're only going to get a couple of
• 39:23
  votes, but those votes really count.
• 39:25
  They, they can be the deciding difference.
• 39:28
  One of the votes for trustee was literally decided by 10 votes.
• 39:33
  And there was I think 300 and no, 400, I believe, votes to be
• 39:39
  cast. Yeah, it's, it's that small
• 39:43
  difference that can make, you know, a world of change between,
• 39:48
  you know, a locking in somebody who's been doing the route for
• 39:52
  20 years or someone who's a new timer.
• 39:55
  So, you know, getting in there, your voice heard talking to the
• 39:59
  retirees. We have a very prominent
• 40:02
  retiree. And she was speaking on one of
• 40:04
  the resolutions to bring back the, I believe it was called the
• 40:08
  Providence Guild for the life insurance.
• 40:11
  And she was speaking on behalf of the Providence Guild because
• 40:13
  that's who she used when her husband passed recently.
• 40:17
  So, you know, you can talk to the retirees and let them know,
• 40:20
  hey, this is what's going on in my station.
• 40:22
  This is why I'm here. You know, these are the things
• 40:25
  that we're concerned about currently.
• 40:28
  And a lot of them may not know because, you know, they have
• 40:31
  been retired for, you know, 345, ten years and the game has
• 40:37
  completely changed. Anyone who's been the job for
• 40:39
  five years, since before COVID, you know, the job has completely
• 40:43
  changed. It's when you show up, you can
• 40:46
  let people know that that don't know, that never experienced it.
• 40:50
  Let them know your experience and hopefully push them to their
• 40:54
  national delegates to vote the way that you.
• 40:57
  We need them to vote to build a fighting craft.
• 41:01
  Funny that you mentioned the first timers because
• 41:03
  Pennsylvania usually has anywhere like 15 to 21st timers.
• 41:09
  Sad to realize is that we had 415 eligible craft apart because
• 41:21
  of the in the system. They don't even bother to show
• 41:27
  up. We we talk about a part of this
• 41:31
  craft and being affected by the changes that happen in this
• 41:34
  craft. First timers are the same ones.
• 41:38
  I say this every time we go to conventions.
• 41:42
  Not only do I want to recognize the first timers, I want to
• 41:44
  recognize the second timers because I want the people who
• 41:49
  have gone once, decided it was worth it to come back a second
• 41:54
  time, help the craft. Those are just as important and
• 42:01
  I have yet to attend an event where they do that know if
• 42:07
  states out there do do something like that but Michigan doesn't
• 42:11
  and I didn't see it at National Convention either.
• 42:14
  North Carolina does. OK, give them a ribbon that that
• 42:19
  would be cool to do. So being involved doesn't mean
• 42:24
  just a one and done thing either.
• 42:26
  So those first timers definitely need to come back next year and
• 42:29
  continue to fight for this craft just like we are.
• 42:33
  Recognize their second timers this year too.
• 42:35
  For the first time, we could put that in as a constitutional
• 42:38
  resolution for next year. Idea.
• 42:41
  I guess I'll start writing my resolutions for next year.
• 42:47
  My county angry again with too many resolutions.
• 42:51
  You know, it's state conventions are wrapping up this weekend and
• 42:56
  it's like the last few are this week and I don't know if there's
• 42:58
  any more coming up or not. I think just a wrap up for them.
• 43:02
  So we're going to be kicking it in gear until August, the
• 43:07
  National Convention coming up. Interesting.
• 43:12
  No, I'm, I'm looking forward to it.
• 43:15
  I am too. Really looking forward to it.
• 43:21
  We know you are. There there is something to be
• 43:26
  said when those that have gone through the process and retired
• 43:31
  from the process turn out and decide they need to come back
• 43:35
  and fight in the process because the current people are scared of
• 43:42
  the ones going against them. We we mentioned in the past that
• 43:46
  we we figured there were circling wagons up there,
• 43:51
  confirms it. I appreciate the fact that
• 43:55
  somebody compared me to a Pitbull and I'm going to turn
• 43:58
  that to my advantage at National Convention.
• 44:02
  Going to unleash the hounds. That's all I'll say about that.
• 44:06
  And I won't be walking with you to keep you online so.
• 44:10
  No. I'll be on my own.
• 44:13
  I've got it. I've got a couple muzzle holders
• 44:16
  for me, OK. Just shared that there are seven
• 44:22
  or eight left, eight conventions left. 8 conventions OK, so yeah,
• 44:27
  they're, they're starting to wrap up so.
• 44:30
  It's on the in the what should we call it, the chat and there's
• 44:33
  51 new timers of Florida that's and wow, trying.
• 44:41
  To remember how many we had. I think it was 20 ish something.
• 44:45
  Let me go look real quick. One thing they did here in Texas
• 44:48
  is that they had us go up there, you know, say our name, what
• 44:51
  station we're from and how many years we've been with the post
• 44:54
  office. And there were several that
• 44:57
  were, you know, two, a couple of that were two, three a lot that
• 45:00
  were between 8:00 and 10:00 and another handful that were
• 45:03
  between 12:15 and over. Well. 21st doesn't matter how
• 45:09
  many. Years Pennsylvania had 20 seeing
• 45:13
  first timers. I mean that just you remember
• 45:16
  the 1st timer photo for National last year, they had to move it
• 45:20
  outside because there was so many first timers at national
• 45:23
  last year. Literally I think they had to
• 45:26
  use a drone to take the picture. They had to take the drone and
• 45:30
  fly it out over the river in order to get everybody in in the
• 45:35
  photo. Carolina had 27 first timers.
• 45:40
  Ohio had 123. Ohio had a ride around about 16
• 45:47
  if I'm counting right. I'm just counting.
• 45:49
  Washington state had 13. Michigan had around twentyish
• 45:55
  right off hand. That seemed to be about average
• 45:58
  for us though too. We only had a couple leaf
• 46:01
  replacements this year. Want to see more but?
• 46:08
  To National Convention, those of you that attended your state
• 46:11
  convention, just a reminder, state convention is 10% the the
• 46:19
  National Convention. What you saw was 10% of the
• 46:23
  activity that goes on at a National Convention.
• 46:26
  It's muted compared to a National Convention.
• 46:29
  You have a lot more people stepping up to the mic to talk
• 46:32
  on resolutions. You have a lot more resolutions
• 46:35
  to go through. The elections, especially this
• 46:38
  year, are going to be one of the most contested elections in a
• 46:41
  long time. And you're going to have people
• 46:46
  that coming out of the woodwork to circle the wagons.
• 46:51
  Not only that, you're going to have people in the caucuses that
• 46:54
  are going to be plants for the sides that are running.
• 46:57
  They're going to be in there asking the tough questions to
• 47:00
  try and trip up the people that are run for office and then go
• 47:05
  back. And after the caucus is over,
• 47:07
  they're all going to get together and compare notes on
• 47:09
  what you said to the same question that was asked in every
• 47:12
  single room. It's a chess game a lot of
• 47:14
  times, and right now we're playing chess and they're
• 47:18
  playing checkers. 17 first timers for Michigan oh had four
• 47:24
  and Nebraska had two so you know, good job for all those
• 47:28
  first timers. We appreciate you definitely I
• 47:33
  want to put this out there a little bit.
• 47:35
  I, I've been thinking with, with running for vice president and I
• 47:42
  had this idea and I kind of want to put this out to you guys and
• 47:45
  you know, my, my, my cohorts here and, and those of you
• 47:50
  listening now we know stewards have their zoom enhancements or
• 47:57
  not necessarily enhancement, but you know, they're, they're
• 48:00
  voluntary additional little thing that they do once a month
• 48:04
  via zoom with director of Labor and director of Stewart OPS,
• 48:08
  which I, I, I think is definitely a step in the, in the
• 48:10
  right direction. I, I love it brings everybody
• 48:14
  together. You're, you're learning some new
• 48:16
  stuff, some, you know, how some things work.
• 48:20
  I as a vice president. No, not not saying this would be
• 48:23
  something that would be done monthly.
• 48:24
  I'm thinking more quarterly. I would like to do something
• 48:28
  similar, more round table ish with OJ is and Academy
• 48:34
  facilitators just to see, you know, just as a way to keep, you
• 48:41
  know, making sure everybody's on the same path and, you know,
• 48:46
  throwing ideas out there when it comes to, you know, training
• 48:50
  different people that have. This comes back to like our
• 48:52
  episode we did on, you know, on on people that learn
• 48:56
  differently. You know, that way, you know, if
• 48:58
  you're dealing with new, new leave replacements that may have
• 49:04
  a language barrier or you know, may have a little bit of a
• 49:08
  different learning style or something like that, You know,
• 49:12
  just a way to bring eyes and the Academy facilitators together.
• 49:19
  Like again, completely nothing mandatory and not having to do
• 49:23
  it once a month. I wouldn't do that.
• 49:25
  I think probably more quarterly. Do you know, one for the OJ is
• 49:30
  one for the Academy facilitators?
• 49:32
  And then maybe do one in the middle, you know, once or once
• 49:36
  or twice a year where you bring both in together just to be able
• 49:41
  to, you know, toss some ideas out together.
• 49:45
  And you know, maybe in that way, if there is something changes or
• 49:51
  new or, or something else comes down the pipeline or, or or
• 49:55
  something like that to keep everybody on the same page and
• 49:58
  try to keep the training similar to how we're training and what
• 50:04
  we're training new leave replacements across the country.
• 50:09
  Good idea. Well, that's a great idea, but
• 50:11
  not only that, it'll also give you an opportunity to fill in
• 50:15
  the holes where people don't have the pop proper equipment or
• 50:18
  manuals too. Exactly.
• 50:20
  Do the training. Exactly, Yeah.
• 50:23
  That and and that would that that would have to fall in the
• 50:27
  first month that you're there. Find out where the shortcomings
• 50:30
  are. Definitely, and and this would
• 50:33
  also, you know, these offices that don't have OJISI mean I am
• 50:38
  getting some horror stories right now on on training with
• 50:43
  leave replacements getting no on the job training.
• 50:47
  It's like, well, you're taking a row off of this route.
• 50:49
  That's not even their primary route they're assigned to and
• 50:53
  then a week later they're throwing on something else.
• 50:55
  Well, hello contractually right now is they remain on their
• 50:59
  primary assigned route for the first two full pay periods after
• 51:05
  OJT and they have Ojis. And why I was always told and
• 51:12
  explained to it, the OJI trains the leave replacement and I'm
• 51:18
  saying leave replacement because we get PTFS hired in off the
• 51:20
  street as well. So this goes across for all
• 51:23
  leave replacements that the OJI is training, that leave
• 51:28
  replacement on the OJI is assigned route, even though that
• 51:32
  leave replacement is assigned to a different route and then
• 51:37
  they're just thrown on that route.
• 51:39
  There you go. Well, I trained you on my route.
• 51:41
  Now I was always told that I've always been instructed and I've
• 51:45
  always done it to where I train that leave replacement on their
• 51:49
  assigned route. And what we do is we split the
• 51:53
  route with the regular carrier on those days that we're
• 51:57
  training. Well, the regular carriers
• 51:59
  coming in, they're just coming in a little bit later in the day
• 52:02
  and taking out their portion. It it's I would, I want to see
• 52:07
  some sort of that is similar across the board, you know, and,
• 52:14
  and then you know, of course, like I said, the other idea is
• 52:16
  if you know, when you have, you know, everybody learns
• 52:19
  differently. Everybody excels at different
• 52:21
  rates. Everybody learns at different
• 52:23
  speeds there, you know, and then we have, you know, such a
• 52:28
  diverse group of people in this great country that, you know,
• 52:32
  there may be a language barrier at first.
• 52:34
  They may be newer to the country or they, you know, try and find
• 52:39
  a way to bring everybody together to find ways to get
• 52:45
  through this in the most positive way to better that
• 52:48
  leave replacement, because that leave replacement one day is
• 52:51
  going to be a regular carrier. Hopefully that's cool.
• 52:56
  And then this is here, here is my issue with with the steward
• 52:59
  system as it as it stands, you know, these weave replacements
• 53:04
  are coming in and they're being forced around like this nobody
• 53:10
  to defend them because our current standards for the
• 53:14
  steward system are the carrier has to grieve.
• 53:18
  Well, guess what? Those carriers are within their
• 53:21
  90 days and they're told, well, there's not much the steward
• 53:24
  system could do for you in your 90 days.
• 53:26
  The management will just retaliate by firing you and
• 53:28
  there's nothing the union can do for you after you're fired.
• 53:31
  Well, I'm sorry, somebody needs to step up and protect the
• 53:34
  people that are coming into this job because they're walking
• 53:38
  right out the door after being thrown around and and told
• 53:42
  things and forced to do things that nobody should be forced to
• 53:45
  do. There are contractual
• 53:47
  violations, but nobody will stand up, step up and take care
• 53:51
  of these carriers so that they can become career carriers and
• 53:54
  retire from this career. They'll do that because within
• 53:58
  their 90 days they're going to find out that management's a
• 54:00
  bunch of crap, they're full of garbage, and they're telling
• 54:04
  them things that they shouldn't be doing, but they are.
• 54:07
  And carriers don't have any protection from our union
• 54:11
  stewards because they were told by leadership they cannot grieve
• 54:17
  for violations for other carriers.
• 54:21
  Thing is, is, and and I totally get that because a new RCA or a
• 54:25
  new leave replacement, you know, still, you know, like I said,
• 54:28
  PTFS off straight are and they're afraid because when
• 54:33
  you're in your probationary period, they're even even if,
• 54:36
  you know, even if they're one that wants to be educated and
• 54:39
  and they're willing to learn, you know, the insurance and outs
• 54:42
  and they're go and they're getting involved in meetings and
• 54:45
  whatnot because they they enjoy the aspect of the job, but they
• 54:49
  see, you know, but they're still because they're in their
• 54:52
  probationary time, they don't want to, you know, paw and and
• 54:58
  get let go for no reason. So they're not standing up for
• 55:02
  themselves. It it it it, it breaks my heart
• 55:06
  at times because surely the only thing that an RCA or, excuse me,
• 55:12
  a leave replacement within their probationary time cannot grieve
• 55:16
  is termination. They can grieve anything else.
• 55:20
  Termination within probation, unfortunately is not grievable
• 55:25
  or should though they they say it's not grievable, but you know
• 55:29
  it. Yeah, I I hate seeing RC as he's
• 55:34
  ran over. Grievable because this, yeah.
• 55:38
  And S s will not stand behind it.
• 55:40
  That's why conundrum for you Kristen.
• 55:44
  OK, go ahead. Here is training a new RCA speak
• 55:50
  English and has their spouse on the phone.
• 55:56
  I know what translate about yes. What do you know that?
• 56:03
  There I was bringing up the language barrier because I did
• 56:05
  see that. Especially if it's a language
• 56:11
  that you don't know. I mean, Spanish is one of the
• 56:15
  most common, like, you know, languages that we see out there.
• 56:18
  But there are many others that may pop up from time to time
• 56:23
  with employees, the spouse on the phone, I would say no be
• 56:30
  done. That's a huge distraction to the
• 56:33
  carrier, number one, that's trying to train, I would say
• 56:41
  Google Translate or a translation app if at all
• 56:46
  possible. There are other translation
• 56:50
  devices out there be finding another carrier that might be
• 56:57
  fluent in that language that could help.
• 57:02
  See, that's where I think the idea of having putting more
• 57:07
  minds together would help in situations like that.
• 57:13
  I'm finding out the right game plan when it comes to training a
• 57:17
  new, a new leave replacement that may have a language
• 57:21
  barrier. Agree.
• 57:24
  Yeah, PL. can get a translator, but I, you know, I don't agree
• 57:28
  with having the spouse on the phone to translate.
• 57:31
  I, I don't think, I mean I get where they were coming from and
• 57:36
  but I don't think that's the best solution by any means.
• 57:40
  Let me, let me post. The translation.
• 57:43
  Compensated for the additional time waiting for the
• 57:47
  translation. And how accurate will the
• 57:50
  translation be when we know there are problems with language
• 57:55
  barrier plating certain phrases or words?
• 57:59
  That's see that's we as a trainer, you don't get
• 58:05
  compensated anything extra other than your routes evaluation that
• 58:09
  you're paid for that day when you're training on another
• 58:11
  route. I think there should be
• 58:16
  additional composition for trainers when they are in the
• 58:20
  train training. I, I do believe there should be
• 58:25
  some sort of additional compensation.
• 58:28
  However, you know, that obviously isn't possible at this
• 58:34
  point in time. I think that's just again, Bill,
• 58:38
  I think that's where we, you, you bring the minds of everybody
• 58:41
  together to find a way to come up with a feasible solution for
• 58:47
  it. I really do.
• 58:49
  It's a difficult one. It really is.
• 58:52
  Devil's advocate again, go right ahead.
• 58:55
  If you cannot. If you cannot speak the
• 58:57
  language, it is theoretically plausible that you can't read
• 59:04
  the language. Do I want that person on my
• 59:08
  route utilizing wrecks and brewing up my evaluation?
• 59:14
  Yeah, and. I get that paid a living wage.
• 59:20
  You might be able to handle or hire more qualified candidates.
• 59:27
  I'm going to put myself out there for this one just a little
• 59:29
  bit. I, I took two years of German in
• 59:32
  school. I spent three weeks in Germany.
• 59:35
  I Brecken Z Deutsch very little. I can read it better than I can
• 59:41
  speak it, look at it and read it and be able to know what it says
• 59:45
  better than I can. Coming up with the words why I'm
• 59:48
  speaking. I mean, there are instances
• 59:51
  where you know, somebody can read better than they can speak
• 59:54
  it, but that is not in every case.
• 59:58
  Like I said, this falls in a case by case situation to trying
• 1:00:05
  up the feasible way. Like I said, I'm willing to give
• 1:00:07
  everybody a chance, You know, that that carrier that may have
• 1:00:10
  that language, you know, that new new employee that may have
• 1:00:13
  that little bit of a speaking language barrier might, you
• 1:00:17
  know, have the potential to be a great carrier.
• 1:00:19
  But it's saying up with a way to get through the roadblocks to do
• 1:00:24
  it, whether it's even finding and that you could give them the
• 1:00:29
  take home. You know, Babel comes to mind
• 1:00:32
  about learning a second language.
• 1:00:34
  You know, something of that to to help get them to where they
• 1:00:38
  need to be to be able to do the job that they want to do and and
• 1:00:44
  to be proficient at the job. And we all know this job
• 1:00:48
  definitely takes reading. And so you know, it, it is, it
• 1:00:54
  is a catch 22 in ways, though. I, I definitely can be
• 1:00:59
  difficult. I mean, I don't come from an
• 1:01:01
  area that has different languages in it, What's
• 1:01:06
  primarily, but I know there are areas that have a lot of more
• 1:01:11
  immigrants in their areas than than others.
• 1:01:15
  And so bringing these people together, I think to help others
• 1:01:20
  overcome it if they do fall, you know, do come across it one way
• 1:01:27
  to try and get something in the in the process to help get over
• 1:01:31
  get through those roadblocks. Remember, I'm just playing
• 1:01:34
  devil's advocate because I want to see where you're going to go
• 1:01:36
  with this because you know, as I know and everybody listening,
• 1:01:41
  you can have born and bred American, raised English
• 1:01:44
  speaking, reading, writing SUS and regulars who constantly miss
• 1:01:51
  deliver mail because they have the same address on a different
• 1:01:55
  street. So I'm just pointing out the
• 1:01:58
  fact that you're going to have to put in a lot more effort
• 1:02:02
  time. There's no extra compensation
• 1:02:06
  for getting this carrier to find out if he is a qualified or he
• 1:02:09
  or she is qualified few employment.
• 1:02:13
  Well, anyway, you know, we have, we, we have carriers out there
• 1:02:16
  that may have, you know, have different state, you know,
• 1:02:19
  different levels of dyslexia as well.
• 1:02:24
  And I have dealt with that personally with training with
• 1:02:27
  different levels. Some are able to, you know, work
• 1:02:30
  through it and it may take them just that extra time to OK.
• 1:02:34
  Others can't and unfortunately they don't work out because it
• 1:02:38
  becomes an issue where whereas others can And as much as you
• 1:02:42
  try to work with one that has more difficult, sometimes it
• 1:02:46
  isn't going to be it's not the best for for them and for
• 1:02:50
  others, you know, they turn out to be pretty darn good carriers.
• 1:02:53
  It, you know, it just depends on the person as well.
• 1:02:56
  And I that you know, and a lot of people in in that position,
• 1:03:02
  you know, and some people just. I don't realize that you have to
• 1:03:06
  take the time with that person to understand how they learn and
• 1:03:12
  what's going to be the best way for them.
• 1:03:14
  And as we all know, we all have our own ways of delivering.
• 1:03:18
  We all have our own systems, we all have our own setups.
• 1:03:21
  And it's working with them to find what works best for them.
• 1:03:25
  And you know, and I always encourage them to, to tweak it
• 1:03:28
  as they go to figure out, OK, what's going to work best for
• 1:03:30
  you. You know, you see an idea that's
• 1:03:32
  you know, somebody else is doing, Feel free to steal that
• 1:03:35
  idea if you think it's going to work for you.
• 1:03:37
  If you try it, it doesn't work. Well, you know what?
• 1:03:39
  You don't have to do it that way again.
• 1:03:43
  Now, now the reason I'm being so adamant about this is that we
• 1:03:47
  have a gentleman of Hispanic origin in our office.
• 1:03:50
  And in the first mini mail survey he dropped six hours and
• 1:03:55
  was going nuts. He was going bananas that he was
• 1:03:59
  losing so much money. I heard him in the Rex program
• 1:04:05
  item line by line, word by word, every scan and to this day he
• 1:04:12
  still comes to me. His English is not good.
• 1:04:15
  But I persist. His route went back up four
• 1:04:19
  hours on the second mini mail survey because he was doing only
• 1:04:24
  the six scans. He he wasn't getting dismount
• 1:04:30
  distances. He wasn't getting, you know,
• 1:04:32
  more than one trip to the cluster boxes.
• 1:04:36
  He was missing out all over the board.
• 1:04:39
  And if I spent 2530 hours, I spent a week mentoring him for
• 1:04:46
  the next six months. I would love to be able to pull
• 1:04:50
  all my Rcas because all of them are newer, you know, they all
• 1:04:54
  have less than a year and at this time all of our active RC
• 1:04:58
  as in my office. I would love to be able to pull
• 1:05:01
  all of them in together in the break room and go over all the
• 1:05:06
  individual Rex scans. I mean, I do explain to them why
• 1:05:11
  we're training out on the road when we come across, you know, a
• 1:05:14
  second, you know, when they got to make more than one trip to
• 1:05:17
  the door. OK, now we're going to go into
• 1:05:18
  the Rex menu, we're going to hit trip to the door and put how
• 1:05:21
  many you put in there. You know, we do those as we come
• 1:05:24
  across them, but they don't always come.
• 1:05:26
  You don't come across everything while you're training in those
• 1:05:29
  three maybe four days giving and how many days, you know, three
• 1:05:33
  days technically, which I still feel is not enough for everybody
• 1:05:38
  for sure. You, you not come across those
• 1:05:42
  instances, you know, you can go do a whole training without
• 1:05:46
  there with them and not come across one certified or one
• 1:05:49
  express or a signature package. And then you know, they get out
• 1:05:54
  on their own and now they've got six certified signature package
• 1:05:58
  and express and you know, haven't done it before and
• 1:06:03
  haven't been walked through it before.
• 1:06:04
  I know if we have a certified, we come across a certified when
• 1:06:07
  I'm out there training, I get out of the truck with them and
• 1:06:10
  walk to the door and I step them through it step by step by step.
• 1:06:15
  While they're doing it, they're with the, you know, the customer
• 1:06:17
  answers the door to sign for it. You know, I, they have it, but I
• 1:06:21
  just, you know, I guide them through it so they know what to
• 1:06:23
  do. Instances where you do, you
• 1:06:26
  know, you're out training and you don't have any of those
• 1:06:28
  things. So at that point, you know, now
• 1:06:32
  they're they're kind of stuck on what to do.
• 1:06:35
  But then, you know, management's expected that you trained them
• 1:06:39
  on that. Well, we didn't have anything to
• 1:06:40
  train on that. And then don't get me started on
• 1:06:42
  my manager right now, but it's there's, I really think having
• 1:06:53
  there's via Zoom with their OJIS and Academy facilitators
• 1:07:00
  periodically throughout the year would definitely help with
• 1:07:03
  getting training to be a crowd. I just want to put that out
• 1:07:10
  there because that's been on my mind for most of this week.
• 1:07:13
  I forget about it. Is anything else tonight?
• 1:07:18
  That I can think of. Yeah, one more little tidbit for
• 1:07:21
  you. Go for it.
• 1:07:24
  Or Dr. who mentioned my name Mike Swinton move from the NSS.
• 1:07:33
  He was elected to the New Jersey State Ord.
• 1:07:38
  And in the management. Oh, management at at the post
• 1:07:43
  office probably decided that since he was such a pushover
• 1:07:47
  they didn't want to hire him since he settled so many
• 1:07:50
  grievances. Language.
• 1:07:54
  OK, the tips that we can fill in once in a while.
• 1:08:04
  Well, he fall, he, he fell from the apple tree and then climbed
• 1:08:08
  his way back up the pear tree. You know, it's just, it's
• 1:08:13
  amazing how you just keep recycling the same old
• 1:08:17
  Specklips. Say, Bill, you can't make this
• 1:08:20
  stuff up. Anything else for us this
• 1:08:26
  evening? There's good steak conventions
• 1:08:29
  all around, lots of good information, some information we
• 1:08:35
  already knew and some opinions of certain non national board
• 1:08:41
  members were already well known before they even took the stage.
• 1:08:45
  But overall we're gearing up for National Convention.
• 1:08:48
  It's time to get down to to business.
• 1:08:51
  So we're looking for caucus walkers for us people to walk
• 1:08:56
  with us, to go to each caucus room and National Convention and
• 1:09:02
  help support us along the way. We're looking for people who are
• 1:09:06
  non delegates that are coming, that are willing to observe the
• 1:09:11
  election, ballot count, things like that.
• 1:09:15
  So if you're going to National Convention and you can help us
• 1:09:19
  out, reach out to the candidate that you wish to to do this
• 1:09:23
  stuff for and let us know because we've got two months
• 1:09:28
  before National Convention everything in line before we get
• 1:09:32
  there. So reach out to us, let us know
• 1:09:35
  because we need your help. And if this is all about the
• 1:09:39
  crack? If there's anybody out there
• 1:09:41
  that is attending that wishes to nominate any one of us, please
• 1:09:44
  let us know. Please be reminded that if you
• 1:09:47
  are nominating us, you are standing up in front.
• 1:09:50
  You do have to be present at National Convention and you are
• 1:09:54
  standing up in front of the entire convention floor, up at
• 1:09:58
  the main podium to do the nomination and AS.
• 1:10:02
  Well. And I will, but I do want to
• 1:10:07
  kind of iterate if you want to be a walk with any one of us
• 1:10:12
  during caucus, if you are paid to be there, whether as an
• 1:10:17
  alternate, as some states do pay some alternates to be there or
• 1:10:21
  as a paid delegate. Please check with your state
• 1:10:25
  board prior to it. Because many states do require
• 1:10:30
  that you are present for all including caucus.
• 1:10:35
  And we do not want anybody to get docked on their pay for not
• 1:10:39
  being in their caucus room at the time for for for all of the
• 1:10:45
  caucus. So if you are one of those that
• 1:10:48
  do that you know is willing to walk with us at any one of us at
• 1:10:52
  caucus then and you are paid to be there, please double check
• 1:10:58
  with your state board to make sure it is OK.
• 1:11:04
  Who you're walking with, just say I want to walk with a
• 1:11:06
  candidate. Am I allowed to?
• 1:11:10
  Because you don't want their prejudice to decide.
• 1:11:12
  Because as we've, as we've told about at resolutions, prejudice
• 1:11:18
  gets involved in how people react to things.
• 1:11:21
  So try and keep it nondescript so that way you get a get a
• 1:11:25
  correct answer. But So what happens with that?
• 1:11:30
  You get the person nominating gets 2 minutes to speak for the
• 1:11:34
  candidate, and then the candidate gets 5 minutes.
• 1:11:37
  If the candidate nominates themselves, they get a whole 7
• 1:11:40
  minutes. They get the two-minute
• 1:11:41
  nomination and 5 minutes for their speech.
• 1:11:44
  When you it is 15 minutes in each room and they try to
• 1:11:48
  maximize that. So as soon as you're done the
• 1:11:51
  next, the next person should be up on that podium ready to
• 1:11:54
  speak. Of course you gotta walk between
• 1:11:57
  each room so you don't get there on time, so.
• 1:12:00
  Yeah, and there is. And a lot of times you are
• 1:12:03
  waiting for the next room why the other one wraps up.
• 1:12:07
  But, you know, it caucuses a long night regardless if you are
• 1:12:10
  sitting with your delegation and listening to all of the
• 1:12:17
  candidates come through and do their thing, it's a long night.
• 1:12:19
  It's a long night for candidates.
• 1:12:21
  We, we well, with the exception of Toasty this time around,
• 1:12:25
  we've we've all been there. And so, yeah, it gets to be.
• 1:12:32
  Be a long, long long one with all the candidates that are
• 1:12:35
  running. Yes, it will be.
• 1:12:37
  Yeah, it it definitely will be. They do set up a schedule prior
• 1:12:42
  to caucus and that at least you know where each what candidates
• 1:12:47
  and what times and everything else.
• 1:12:48
  So you get out of one, you do get, you know, a break here and
• 1:12:53
  there in between. Just depends on how they
• 1:12:56
  schedule them. Sometimes you'll get a 15 minute
• 1:12:59
  break in between, not all the time.
• 1:13:01
  Sometimes you are running from one end of facility to another,
• 1:13:05
  almost literally running, fast-paced walking, whatever you
• 1:13:08
  got to do. And other times you can take
• 1:13:10
  your time to get over there just depending on your timeline.
• 1:13:13
  So, but it is a long night and it is.
• 1:13:17
  And definitely if you are walking, make sure you take a
• 1:13:20
  pair of decent walking shoes with you.
• 1:13:23
  I ended up walking in flip flops because I had blisters on my
• 1:13:27
  feet from wearing the wrong shoes earlier in the week and I
• 1:13:31
  just said I'm going to be comfortable for caucus and I
• 1:13:34
  wore flip flops. I am not wearing flip flops this
• 1:13:37
  year. I will not be doing that.
• 1:13:39
  But yeah, definitely something you are comfortable walking and
• 1:13:42
  standing in. Yeah.
• 1:13:45
  And we're not familiar with Reno and its layout.
• 1:13:48
  We don't know how spread out the caucus rooms are going to be
• 1:13:51
  either, either. Correct.
• 1:13:53
  I know, I know. Last year we had to go back and
• 1:13:55
  forth between the DeVos Center and the hotel for the caucus
• 1:13:58
  rooms. So.
• 1:14:00
  Downstairs and yeah, yeah, Orlando was we.
• 1:14:08
  We have some distance between some at times too.
• 1:14:11
  So yeah. And if anybody of you know that
• 1:14:14
  our supporters and wish to join us on the night of caucus,
• 1:14:17
  please reach out to us in some form or another and we'll get
• 1:14:21
  back to you. If you want to help Bill get out
• 1:14:26
  and get a hold of Kristen or myself and we'll get you talking
• 1:14:29
  with Bill about that since he's not really active on social
• 1:14:32
  media or text mention. Want me call me?
• 1:14:38
  We will pass on the phone number and you know, same goes for
• 1:14:44
  Toasty as well. You know, if we'll definitely if
• 1:14:49
  we will pass on to him as well. So.
• 1:14:54
  So any final words tonight, Toasty?
• 1:14:59
  Well, I miss money first. Sorry, sorry, I cut you off.
• 1:15:02
  Go ahead, James. And then we got into discussion
• 1:15:05
  about caucus, but it is thing and we've we're we're gearing up
• 1:15:11
  for it. As you can tell.
• 1:15:12
  We're excited for it and we're excited for you guys to join us.
• 1:15:16
  We're excited for the whole process.
• 1:15:18
  We're excited to make the difference for the craft.
• 1:15:23
  For so long, the P top have isolated themselves.
• 1:15:29
  You can even see in the way they talk, they talk about how
• 1:15:32
  carriers are affected by this, how you are affected by this,
• 1:15:38
  talk about how we are affected by this, how we are going to
• 1:15:43
  solve this and how we can make the difference because at the
• 1:15:47
  end of the day, we're all in this together.
• 1:15:51
  Another good point about caucus is to it's tough now because
• 1:15:55
  many of the hotels and resorts are not allowing outside food
• 1:15:57
  delivery and before I mean, some places you could order a bunch
• 1:16:01
  of pizzas and y'all could eat or whatever beforehand or during.
• 1:16:06
  So double check with, you know, your state region and if they're
• 1:16:11
  doing anything for snacks and meals or just please make sure
• 1:16:14
  that you eat before caucus. It, like I said, it goes on late
• 1:16:19
  and a lot of the candidates hand out candy and snacks and stuff
• 1:16:22
  too as they come in, as I'm sure some of us will as well.
• 1:16:27
  But definitely check with that wiggy or make sure you have a
• 1:16:30
  plan for a meal prior to caucus if necessary 'cause like I said,
• 1:16:36
  it will long tedious night. For everybody. 1200 thongs.
• 1:16:46
  Oh gosh. The edible kind.
• 1:16:56
  OK, they taste like Twizzlers fruit roll ups.
• 1:16:58
  No comment. Fruit roll ups.
• 1:17:04
  All right, final words for this evening, Toasty.
• 1:17:12
  So we're, we're gearing up guys. We're, we're in the next couple
• 1:17:16
  of weeks, you know, 8 to 10 weeks before convention, you
• 1:17:21
  know, it's time to start reaching out.
• 1:17:23
  See if you can find the list of the national delegates going.
• 1:17:26
  See if we can reach out to them. Let them know that you want
• 1:17:29
  change. Let them know that you want our
• 1:17:32
  union to start fighting again, not just rolling over, not just
• 1:17:36
  praising how great the SNDCS are and how plans are and everything
• 1:17:41
  is so great. The plans may be great, but they
• 1:17:46
  have been executed so poorly. And it's really affecting us, is
• 1:17:51
  negatively affecting our fellow brothers and sisters of the
• 1:17:54
  craft. It's so negatively affecting
• 1:17:56
  their hours, how many days they work and their paychecks,
• 1:18:01
  whether we need to come together now.
• 1:18:04
  This is the time to rise up, start calling, start texting,
• 1:18:07
  start messaging. Find them on Facebook.
• 1:18:09
  That's what I did for most of my delegate list.
• 1:18:13
  Found them on face and just asked them, what do you think of
• 1:18:16
  the current state of the union? And a lot need change.
• 1:18:19
  A lot of them say, you know, we need to have fresh ideas.
• 1:18:24
  We need something because what we're doing right now, the same
• 1:18:28
  old go along to get along is not working.
• 1:18:33
  We can help. We could just reach out, reach
• 1:18:37
  out to us. We're more than happy to talk to
• 1:18:39
  you if you have any questions. I even I'm paying the extra
• 1:18:43
  tellers now before I even get in there to get an extra line on my
• 1:18:46
  phone just for the union duties, just for anything union or to
• 1:18:51
  talk to y'all or to do whatever that a separate personal cell
• 1:18:55
  phone number. So call me.
• 1:18:58
  You can go ahead and I know Kristen's already offered.
• 1:19:00
  You can go ahead and call her. You just need to vent or you
• 1:19:02
  need to have a question about something you need.
• 1:19:05
  Let's do this together, because guess what?
• 1:19:07
  You are worth fighting for. All is that in the next 60 days
• 1:19:17
  to most plausible avenue forward for the entire national world
• 1:19:25
  letter carriers association. Do you same old song and dance.
• 1:19:31
  Are you satisfied with you know the the the progress we've made
• 1:19:36
  because I haven't seen any and as Rex has been a failure from
• 1:19:43
  start to now, but it's still being fine-tuned.
• 1:19:47
  The SD and CS have also been a failure margin alone.
• 1:19:52
  We have seen where the associates are bailing from
• 1:19:57
  their jobs because of the fact they don't want to do travel the
• 1:20:01
  extra distances in the morning and evening to get to the SD and
• 1:20:03
  CS run the routes because they're putting a 13 hour day
• 1:20:07
  in. Just traveling, doing the route
• 1:20:10
  and getting home. Come to a point where our union
• 1:20:18
  bump their test out. And tell the post office we're
• 1:20:21
  not taking it anymore. We're table two and table 4
• 1:20:26
  where people can't make a living wage.
• 1:20:31
  Sure to hell are tired of these people who've been on the board
• 1:20:35
  for so long have no concept what we do how we do what we go
• 1:20:40
  through futures is now folks if it just check out social media
• 1:20:49
  talk to your fellow carriers and see how this is run now I know
• 1:20:54
  Unicorn offices out there with Unicorn postmasters.
• 1:20:58
  I wish I had one but I don't and most don't to get better and you
• 1:21:05
  have for change and it's the top you have to be able to believe
• 1:21:10
  in your national board and guarantee a 90% of our carriers
• 1:21:17
  don't believe in the national board have no poured us it
• 1:21:25
  caucusate nominate us whatever you do, but we need to effect
• 1:21:30
  change now coming up everything now or tomorrow and keep
• 1:21:37
  hydrating all the way through the week.
• 1:21:40
  He said takes they asked you about stationary incidents.
• 1:21:44
  It's right on their scars for you to be able to protect
• 1:21:46
  yourself against the heat, eat stroke, contact you.
• 1:21:51
  It's important delivery of the day and that delivery is you
• 1:21:55
  home to your loved ones. God bless Safe.
• 1:22:01
  It should be thin now. I already did mine.
• 1:22:04
  You didn't give the sign off. I'm mute.
• 1:22:09
  Well, I'm here. Well, it's your closing now.
• 1:22:13
  All right, we'll we'll say you did your sign off.
• 1:22:15
  So. All right.
• 1:22:18
  Yeah. We are two months away from me
• 1:22:23
  hitting the road to Reno. Yes, I'm driving.
• 1:22:26
  And yeah, guys, it's, you know, that are afraid of change or the
• 1:22:33
  ones that are complaints that they're the ones that you really
• 1:22:36
  need to jump in and, you know, do it.
• 1:22:41
  It's not going to be easy. We all know that, you know, you
• 1:22:46
  know, we, you got 4 individuals right here that stepping up that
• 1:22:54
  craft because we care, you know, we make sure, I know I for one,
• 1:22:59
  being a newer regular, I want to make sure that I have a full 20
• 1:23:03
  years of my career ahead of me. That where I, you know, I'm here
• 1:23:10
  if I'm going to have a retirement or be able to retire.
• 1:23:14
  Yeah, we've got new Rcas and, and new regulars and, and
• 1:23:19
  veteran regulars that still have many, many years to go.
• 1:23:23
  And many are fed up with what we're going through on a daily
• 1:23:28
  basis and want change. And you know, right, you have 4
• 1:23:32
  candidates right here that are, that are stepping up to try and
• 1:23:36
  help to make things more progressive and, and, and, and
• 1:23:41
  make it more positive and bring joy back to our jobs again.
• 1:23:46
  I mean, I love my job. I do, I, I being in the office
• 1:23:50
  sucks. I, I will put it at that at
• 1:23:53
  times right now, but when, the route, that's what, that, that's
• 1:23:57
  my happy place. Even when I'm dodging
• 1:24:01
  construction barrels and construction equipment because
• 1:24:04
  of the bike path they're putting along my main Rd.
• 1:24:07
  But you know, at the same time it's, you know, that that's my
• 1:24:11
  happy place. Whether it's 90° and 100% of
• 1:24:15
  humidity. And yes, I have fallen to that.
• 1:24:18
  I got myself a little. It's not a PVC elbow, but it, it
• 1:24:24
  works. It's an irrigation tubing,
• 1:24:27
  basically about 6 inches diameter.
• 1:24:30
  I was using a big long zip tie, but it painted up to take it
• 1:24:35
  off, so I did. I went over to our highway
• 1:24:37
  contract route and got a mail strap from him and it works
• 1:24:40
  wonders. And let me tell you, I have it
• 1:24:44
  Monday, but I had it Tuesday out on the route and boy did that
• 1:24:48
  make a difference. Just with the air flow alone
• 1:24:52
  that just, it helped tremendously.
• 1:24:54
  So yes, the summer is definitely kicking in officially and stay
• 1:24:59
  cool. You know, do what you got to do,
• 1:25:01
  take the breaks when you got to take them.
• 1:25:04
  Stay hydrated, hydrate, you know, day or two ahead of time.
• 1:25:07
  Stay hydrated in general. So you're not going to succumb
• 1:25:13
  to it as quick, you know, make sure you got, you know, water or
• 1:25:18
  sports drinks out. You limit your your carbonated
• 1:25:22
  drinks and caffeine if possible. You know, some of us still need
• 1:25:26
  our caffeine, you know, bit of yourselves, you know, as Bill
• 1:25:30
  says, you are the most important delivery of the day and we want
• 1:25:35
  to see everybody make it home at the end of the day, regardless
• 1:25:39
  of what the conditions are out there.
• 1:25:42
  And if you end up getting one of those nice little pop up, you
• 1:25:45
  know, rain showers, you know, and if you got to hop out and
• 1:25:49
  dance in the rain to cool off, do what you got to do.
• 1:25:52
  I'm not, I'm not against it. I was kind of happy when it
• 1:25:55
  rained a little bit yesterday out of my route.
• 1:25:57
  So, you know, you do what you got to do to stay safe and get
• 1:26:00
  home to your loved ones, everybody.
• 1:26:02
  And we will definitely be back next week.
• 1:26:21
  The hot car. The hot car.