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Mid-Week Bonus #5: Managerial Mentality · 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
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podcast are of the presenters and the presenters only and do
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not represent the views, opinions, or strategies of the
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Please leave a comment or question for us below.
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Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
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United We Scan podcast. Welcome back, surprise midweek
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episode. And we're not going to do all
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the normal mumble jumble. We're just going to dive right
1:01
into it. Go for it, James.
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All right. So this comes to us from from 8.
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Arbitration and the city carriers.
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But I have in my possession 2 managerial emails that go to the
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managerial mentality of the United States Postal Service.
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Now I know at our beginning of our podcast, we have the
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disclaimer that says that the views express are those of not
1:29
pertaining to the Postal Service or the National Rural Letter
1:32
Carries Association. However, these are opinions of
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managers of the Postal Service and these were sent out to other
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managers in the Postal Service. Now, the first one is one of the
1:47
worst ones I have ever seen in my life.
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And I know Corey talked about it from aid arbitration and it's
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the worst he's seen too. But these two articles speak
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directly to how manager views carriers, how the people that
2:03
are supposed to take care of the crafts by contract view us
2:09
carriers. Now.
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It's going to be a very passionate episode.
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And I know there's a lot of people out there that are comet
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warriors that want to come on here and defend the manager for
2:20
putting this out or want to defend their opinions on this.
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And this isn't the place for it. This isn't the time for it.
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This has been brewing in the Postal Service for decades.
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This is the result of not holding management accountable
2:37
when you should have. This is a failure of leadership.
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So I'm going to read this first article twice.
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It is that bad. I have to read it twice before
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we go to the panel to discuss it.
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This comes from PA 1 Labor News titled Bailey's Bad Boy and it
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goes to read. In this episode of The Andy
3:00
Griffith Show, Bill Bixby plays the son of an affluent and well
3:04
known attorney, Bailey. He is speeding and driving
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reckless down a country Rd. and causes a farmer to wreck his
3:11
truck. Andy and Barney arrest the young
3:14
man. Young Bailey is accustomed to
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having his father get him out of any trouble.
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Andy, by example of how he deals with Opie, teaches young Bailey
3:23
about taking responsibility for his actions regarding safety.
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Why should we care more about an employee's safety than the
3:32
employee does? If a carrier wants to deliver
3:35
mail without a satchel and dog spray and they get their throat
3:39
ripped out by a pit bull, why should we care?
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If a carrier wants to ride around without a seat belt
3:46
engaged and they die, Oh well, too bad.
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We spend millions of dollars of in education, training and
3:55
having the equipment available for employees to work safely.
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We make water available in the summer.
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It is hot. It is always hot.
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We provide water. If an employee doesn't properly
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hydrate, then the union wants to file agreements against
4:10
management. If an employee wants to be
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stupid and or careless, how is that the fault of management?
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The union, like Young Bailey's father, tries to bail the
4:21
employees out of every situation.
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Many employees feel they don't have to follow the rules because
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the union is there to protect them.
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It is not their intention, but the union encourages bad
4:34
behavior by defending every violation.
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Theft, throwing away mail and violence.
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Are these the kind of employees you want to work beside?
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We can't cure stupidity, we can only provide consequences.
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This came from the manager Dean Petros out of PA 1 Labor, the
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dispute resolution team for management.
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Now I'm said I'm going to read it again.
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In this episode of the Andy Griffith Show, Bill Bixby plays
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the son of an affluent and well known attorney, Bailey.
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He is speeding and driving reckless down a country Rd. and
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causes a farmer to wreck his truck.
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Andy and Barney arrest the young man.
5:18
Young Bailey is accustomed to having his father get him out of
5:21
any trouble. Andy, by example of how he deals
5:24
with Opie, teaches young Bailey about taking responsibility for
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his actions regarding safety. Why should we care more about an
5:33
employee's safety than the employee does?
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If a carrier wants to deliver mail without a satchel and dog
5:40
spray and they get their throat ripped out by a Pitbull, why
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should we care? If a carrier wants to ride
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around without a seat belt engaged and they die, Oh well,
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too bad. We've spent millions of dollars
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in education, training and having the equipment available
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for employees to work safely. We make water available in the
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summer. It is hot.
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It is always hot. We provide water.
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If an employee doesn't properly hydrate, then the union wants to
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file agreements against management.
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If an employee wants to be stupid and or careless, how is
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that the fault of management? The union, like young Bailey's
6:16
father, tries to bail the employees out of every
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situation. Many employees feel they don't
6:21
have to follow the rules because the union is there to protect
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them. It is not their intention.
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But the union encourages bad behavior by defending every
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violation. Theft, throwing away mail and
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violence. Are these kind of employees you
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want to work beside? We can't cure stupidity.
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We can only provide consequences.
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Bill, go for it. Oh God, PA one is the central to
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the western native state. I'm in PA two and if this
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information is correct and aims you supply me with this
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information, I can get in into hands of people who will
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disseminate this information throughout central western
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Pennsylvania. So we don't care if a carrier
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gets their throat ripped out by a pit bull and if they die
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because they didn't wear their seat belt, you know, oh, well,
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you know, we, we, we have plenty of carriers stepping up.
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Why all these officers are, are very short chains on Subs.
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And, you know, we're stupid carriers, OK, That that's why we
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don't pay attention. And we don't care about getting
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home and we don't care about the mail or guaranteeing, you know,
7:27
that the customers are getting the service they expect during.
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We're just, you know, taking advantage of the system because
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the union's going to bail us out and, you know, encourages bad
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behavior because we will be there, you know, the defend
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carriers. Well, no, the union's not there
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to defend bad behavior. And the union's not going to be
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there to defend you against safety issues.
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The same way we can enforce safety issues against
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management, such as something as simple as water.
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And not all offices offer water. Case in point, last year, we
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didn't have any. As a grown, grown adult, I
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provide my own water, whatever the post office gives
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supplemental and and I'll take advantage of it.
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But for somebody, this is ADRT individual Dean Petros, for
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somebody in that position to turn around, make blanket
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statements that they don't care whether the carriers live or
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die. I want to I want to meet this
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individual. OK, I'm going to go out on the
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limb here and say, let me find out your family cares whether
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you live or die because our families do.
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And personally, for everybody's listening, I think everybody is
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concerned about living or dying while performing their job.
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And we are out on the roads and we are subject accidents at
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robberies and everything else, Dog bites, he stings, snake
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bites every, you name it, across the country.
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For them to sit there and say, well, we don't care what what
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kind of encouragement is that for anybody to do their job?
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Well, they don't care about us. Why should we care?
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Now, I'm not endorsing that idea that we don't care because I
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believe the majority of carriers do care.
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I just can't believe that somebody would put this into any
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form of communication that could be spread via podcast, you know,
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via Facebook or anything else and still maintain their job.
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This reminds me of our ex Prum Derrick Struthers who who worked
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in East Orange, NJ in 2001. And folks, this is not made-up
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information. This is not gossip.
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This is Bible you can look up. Derrick Struthers as an employee
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of the post office was called to go get his two young sons from
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daycare because it was closing. For whatever reason, he gets his
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children, puts them in their car seats.
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He's driving somewhere, mother in law's mother's wherever.
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Drop the kids off and the post office calls and says we need
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you back at your station. This gentleman goes back to his
10:00
station and left his two sons in the car in the summer.
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They both died. Charges were filed and then
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withdrawn. Here is a man who killed.
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He didn't let his children die. He killed his own children.
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They made him a poom over thousands of employees.
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So if you think that this is a isolated incident regards to
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these people not giving a rat's ass about you, wrong.
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This happens across the country every damn day.
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I'm sick and tired of it. We need to replace this board of
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our union. We need to give teeth to the
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national steward system with oversight and we need that.
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Go after these bastards and I mean now.
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End of rant. 100% Amen. Yes.
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Oh, by the way, by the way, that was pain.
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Because there was a lot more I wanted to say about this
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individual that I can't say, but if you know me, you know where
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it was going to go. And I thank you very much on
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that. I yeah, no, it, it's, it's
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absolutely ridiculous. You know, I just and there, you
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know, you can have, you know, I understand city carriers,
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walking route satchels. You know, some rural, some rural
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offices give their carriers satchels when there's a high
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incidence of dog bite. A satchel in a dog spray only
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goes so far with some dogs. It don't faze them all or and
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then if you have more than one dog and you've got pack
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mentality, you're you're completely on your own, then
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then what are you supposed to do?
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But it's going to be your fault because the neighborhood
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couldn't take the the the homeowners of the neighborhood
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couldn't take care of their dogs.
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That 60 year old female carrier last year who was attacked and
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killed by a pack of dogs? Remember her?
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I do. I absolutely do.
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I'm I'm sure, I'm sure, I'm sure The satchel and dog spray would
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have really helped her survive that confrontation.
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Yeah, I agree. I mean, it's, they literally
12:03
have completely taken humanity out 100 percent, 100% and, and,
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and a lot of us are feeling it in our offices with, with our
12:13
managers, ourselves. And it's getting stupid and
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ridiculous. You know, it, it's just you.
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We can't let it go on anymore as carriers, as, as union.
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I mean, where is, I mean, that's right there is, I mean, oh, I
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don't have words. I, I I don't.
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I love how they end it with we can't cure stupidity, we can
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only provide consequences. Well what about consequences for
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management when they screw up our pay?
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What about consequences for management when they falsify
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documentation for tip training? For certification of the times?
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For certification of mapping? Where's the consequences for
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management? Exactly.
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For, you know, they want to put everything on us.
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They want to put everything on us.
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The carriers, we're the ones out there in the heat, doing the job
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in the rain, in the snow, in every condition possible.
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We still go out there, still have a smile on her face when we
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see our customers still saying hi, still dropping off the
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packages, still delivering the mail.
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Again, we've said it before, it's been said in the past, we
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can deliver the mail, we can do the job without management.
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Management needs us in order to get this done.
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Absolutely, because I can only think of a handful of management
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that are willing to even step up and help out with anything.
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I mean, I have. I have a postmaster that will
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stand there next to the supervisor's desk with their
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arms crossed and just stare at the floor watching everybody
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work. Not saying where the
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productivity in that. Just stand there with their arms
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crossed when she's in the office, not say a word to
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anybody and then totally go behind your back and and
13:52
essentially remove you from positions without even saying a
13:55
word to you because they're playing favorites with somebody
13:58
else because they're kissing their asses or causing divide in
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an office by thinking that a couple employees have something
14:06
up their sleeves. And so they're going to pull
14:08
individual carriers into the office and tell them not to
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associate with those carriers after they turn around and, and,
14:16
and give just one craft the no tolerance policy read excuse me
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training in quotes and and then turn around and do that.
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But aren't you just now breaking that no tolerance policy
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yourself by intimidating other carriers?
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So they're so they side with you.
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It's, it's got to stop. I mean, it's this is coming down
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from way above. When you have emails and crap
14:44
going out like this to offices and other managers down the
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line, it just keeps getting worse.
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It is OK, I'm going to bite my tongue now.
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My turn. Mine's mine.
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Mine's still bleeding. My.
15:00
Turn, James. So you have a manager right
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here, right now, in text, written, posted, sent by his own
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e-mail stating this exact situation, sending this article
15:16
out to every manager he can, spreading the cancer, spreading
15:21
the cancer of intolerance, spreading the cancer of
15:24
indifference. And they get away with this.
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Why? Because we have unions that
15:30
settle for language, settle for a slap on the hand, settle for
15:35
abuse of the carriers. You have management out there
15:39
that gets away with God knows everything.
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Go back and listen to from 8 arbitration Memphis serious
15:44
after you're done listening to this to hear exactly how deep
15:48
management goes to protect their own to the point that it takes
15:51
an arbitrator to fire management that deserves to lose their job
15:56
on a 0 tolerance policy. You have a manager here saying
16:00
that if a carrier got mauled by a Pitbull, why should we care
16:05
that if a carrier died in an accident in a vehicle that
16:09
should have been retired 20 years ago, Oh well, That a
16:12
carrier dies in a fire in a vehicle, oh, it's not
16:16
management's fault. When a carrier has an accident,
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they do everything in their power to blame that accident on
16:22
that carrier. Oh, you were wearing the wrong
16:24
shoes? Well, that's why you got it in
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the accident. Oh, you didn't have your
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shoulder belt on going 100 feet between boxes?
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Well, we're going to put you on emergency placement for safety.
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Management is getting away with this because the leadership at
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the top of the union cares more about the money coming into the
16:44
union to pay their paychecks than they do about the carriers
16:48
at the bottom. They are going to go to our
16:51
National Convention this year. And the biggest thing they're
16:55
going to tout is that they're on the final stretch of getting the
16:59
contract negotiated. They're going to come out and
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say that they care about carriers, that they are doing
17:05
these things for the carriers. Well, I'm sorry, how is
17:08
management able to do this if you're not protecting the
17:11
carriers? How is management able to send
17:14
out an e-mail like this where it could be intercepted like this
17:17
and put across social media? And they know nobody's going to
17:22
touch them for it because our unions don't do their job.
17:27
The leadership does not do their job.
17:31
Now, I do know that one member of our leadership team, when
17:36
confronted with a truth and confronted with a possibility of
17:41
dealing with the NLRB over that truth, said we're not scared of
17:46
the NLRB. We have leaders that are not
17:49
scared of the truth because they know their lies will get them
17:53
where they want to be. This right here, plus the next
17:57
e-mail I'm going to read has been allowed by our men, our
18:01
leadership, and it's been brewing.
18:03
Like I said, this is a cancer. It starts with one person,
18:07
patient zero, that starts feeding in this kind of
18:10
negativity. Now it's a pandemic.
18:13
The question is, when does this pandemic get so bad that it is
18:17
not able to be brought back from anybody else on this I'm.
18:21
Trying to get my blood pressure back down OK.
18:24
Yeah, I'm drinking water right now.
18:26
I need to hydrate. This, this was gonna, I told you
18:29
this was gonna be a very bad episode for us.
18:31
Well. You know, and, and the whole
18:33
thing, and this is what gets me, is, you know, well, if the
18:36
carrier's killed because they didn't want to wear a seat belt
18:39
#1 your truck, These LLVS are nothing but aluminum panels
18:45
riveted together. I wrote my truck up in November,
18:48
if not before November, because I started, I took over that
18:52
route in September for I was awarded November because the
18:55
seat belt was fraying. The seat belt, the lap belt was
18:58
fraying. So it was getting smaller and
19:01
thinner. Because it was fraying.
19:03
I wrote it up. It took nearly six months before
19:07
my management had it fixed. How about the young lady on
19:11
Facebook that went out and got her own carbon monoxide beater,
19:16
put it in her truck and was coming back at over 200 parts.
19:20
Then, you know, VMF turns around and tests that and you know,
19:23
they're not driving it. They're just testing it sitting
19:26
there. Oh, we, we only come up with 34
19:28
parts. Well, hold on.
19:30
Let let's test this test under real, actual conditions.
19:34
We had a carrier in our office, had an LLV for four days in a
19:37
row. I'm getting nausea and
19:39
headaches. Called me up and asked me, you
19:41
know, what should you do? I said write it up 1767 and
19:45
then, you know, turn around and go in our office, we have a VFF
19:49
gentleman and told him you got to take this truck offline
19:52
because I'm going to tell everybody in this office it's
19:54
leaking carbon monoxide. And he said you wouldn't dare.
19:57
She said watch me. He tried to pan it off on a a
20:01
sub. And the girl went over, told the
20:03
sub and the sub said, I'm not putting up with that.
20:06
Now the vehicle's removed from the property, but they probably
20:09
just sent it to another office. That's the kind of horseshit
20:12
that gets me. And, and, and carbon monoxide
20:15
poisoning is very subtle that you'll pass off that, oh, I
20:18
didn't drink enough water. That's why I got a headache.
20:21
You know, it's, it's 124° inside the truck.
20:25
And we're not even in Texas. We're in Pennsylvania.
20:28
And the thermometer's reading 124.
20:31
I can't imagine what people in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, all
20:35
of them, you know, put up with that heat down there and
20:37
they're, oh, don't worry about a little carbon monoxide
20:40
poisoning. OK, carbon and monoxide is a
20:43
silent killer. We all know that.
20:45
Yes, it is. And you actually just brought up
20:47
a good another point there, Bill, You know Texas, our city
20:52
carrier brother, Eugene Gates. Now you heard the managers quote
20:57
saying that we provide water, we provide training.
21:00
Yet it was proven they falsified Eugene's training on the hip
21:05
training. It's been proven that management
21:09
had an investigative interview where they used the line.
21:13
This interview may result in discipline up to and including
21:18
termination to a carrier who has never had a discipline on his
21:23
record in all the years he worked at the post office and
21:26
was close to retirement. Talking to him about his
21:29
stationary events, cooling stops, which is in the hip
21:34
training that supposedly they gave him that he didn't attend
21:38
because he wasn't working that day.
21:40
And they're harassing the carriers on these stationary
21:44
events to try and keep themselves cool in this heat,
21:47
which is provided in their hip training, but yet they want to
21:51
punish them. Beat the heat, keep it moving.
21:54
No stationary events. Everybody got that scanner
21:57
message at one point. Oh yeah, for about the one today
22:00
where a scanner message showed up.
22:02
Excuse me, You've been stationary 2 minutes.
22:05
Are you OK? Yeah, exactly.
22:07
They are. They have a group of managers
22:11
are now tasked sitting in front of a computer all day monitoring
22:17
stationary events. That is their only job.
22:20
That saves the post office money because that employee is
22:24
continuing to move, continuing to work, continuing to move.
22:27
The mail can get back to the office and take another pivot,
22:30
or a rural carrier can come back to the office.
22:33
Hey, you want to volunteer and help out on Route 24 tonight
22:37
because it can move more mail in less time.
22:40
It doesn't matter how fast you do the mail, it's not fast
22:43
enough. You could be the fastest carrier
22:45
in your office and you're still not moving fast enough for
22:47
management. Like I said, this is management
22:50
mentality here and there's two things that have been said in
22:54
our chat that are really good. One of them was this really
22:58
sounds like beatings will continue until morale improves
23:02
and it really does. And then the other other saying
23:05
here, let's stop using the term leadership.
23:08
They are supposed to be our representatives.
23:10
I want representatives of our craft up there representing our
23:13
brothers and sisters. Representatives, not leadership.
23:17
That's exactly what I said in my speech at Mid States.
23:19
We would that mean we're about to celebrate July 4th tomorrow.
23:22
Our country was founded on taxation without representation.
23:26
The Boston Tea Party. That was one of the pivotal
23:29
points in American history and we wanted representation.
23:32
We wanted to have a say in what goes on and how we're taxed.
23:36
Same with our union. We want a say sure they can say
23:40
Oh well we have the conventions you can put in your resolutions.
23:44
Well, when you're saying that you're only going to take a
23:45
handful to them to to management for contract negotiations, then
23:50
then what's the point? You get to choose.
23:53
You're not representing the actual craft, and it's how can
23:56
you represent the actual craft when you haven't touched a route
23:58
in five 10/15/20 years? Or 30 is some of them.
24:02
Mm hmm. Yeah.
24:03
If you haven't touched a route since DPS or since before DPS,
24:08
before scanners, before Amazon, you have absolutely no freaking
24:13
clue what we all go through on a daily basis.
24:18
You, I, I, I'm sorry, yes. You know, you can.
24:22
Oh, well, we, you know, we hear about it, people tell us about
24:26
it. Hearing about it and
24:28
experiencing yourself are two completely different things.
24:33
I know I hear a lot from a lot of carriers and it's not
24:37
necessarily something they have gone through.
24:39
And, and at the most, I can offer that shoulder to vent on,
24:43
you know, and give them a hug if they were in person.
24:46
I can't, you know, and, and I just, I'd be shaking my head
24:49
when I'm, when I'm talking to him on the phone and, and just
24:53
like I, because I can't relate that because I haven't been in
24:57
that situation. But at the same time I'm
25:00
listening to what they hear, listening to what they're
25:03
saying. Because then that gets me
25:05
rolling on, OK, what, what can we do to make this situation
25:10
better? Where would we, where would we
25:11
have to go? And maybe trying to give them a
25:14
little bit of advice or where to turn to or who to contact or you
25:18
know, what article of whatever it, it's, it is completely
25:22
different to hear it than to experience it.
25:26
And when you're experiencing it and you're trying to reach out
25:30
for help and you're not getting help from those people that are
25:33
elected and or appointed to help you, you can, you, you, you feel
25:39
completely defeated and lost. And, and that's when what people
25:44
want to give up. That's why people are leaving
25:46
the union. That's why people are walking
25:48
off the job. That's why we can't retain our
25:52
CAS because the voices are, oh, we hear you.
25:57
You may be listening, but you're not hearing, you're not
26:00
experiencing it. You're not your your feet are
26:03
not in that office on a daily basis.
26:06
Looking around air conditioner units in hood ranges and and
26:11
furniture it on a daily basis. Thank you.
26:17
Everything but the kitchen sink. Well, I've delivered kitchen
26:19
sinks. I've delivered, yeah.
26:21
I've delivered, yeah. I've delivered Vanity though.
26:25
I had a hood range yesterday. I had a standing water cooler
26:30
for one of my businesses and then it didn't expecting the
26:34
carriers to do this in 100° heat.
26:37
We give you water, Yeah. I mean, the only time you the
26:40
only time you have an air conditioner in your LLV is when
26:42
somebody orders one on Amazon. And that person that ordered it
26:45
on Amazon came out in a completely apologized to me
26:50
because I was the one that had to deliver it.
26:53
She felt she is actually a retired rule carrier.
26:56
She was horrified that I was the one that had to deliver that
27:00
window AC. She thought it was absolutely
27:03
ridiculous. I, I've run into that more times
27:06
than I can count when I deliver something like a king size
27:09
purple bed and, and the first it comes out, you know, do you need
27:12
a hand with that? I, no, I, I can get it, but you
27:16
just open the door and get that the hell out of the way and, and
27:19
I walk it into their house because there's no way they're
27:21
picking it up. You know, it's an end to be turn
27:24
around and be treated the way that we are by management is
27:28
just. Well, don't worry, you have a
27:30
union that's going to protect you.
27:32
Yeah, OK. Whereas when you you reach out
27:36
and they basically tell you, yeah, there's nothing we can do.
27:39
Or allow the mismanage. No, no.
27:41
It's more it's more along the lines of there's nothing I want
27:45
to do for you. Well, we know that, James.
27:48
We know that. This e-mail, this one alone,
27:51
plus the next one I will read in a bit when you get done
27:54
discussing the first one, show us management's mentality.
27:58
This kind of mentality from management is why Memphis
28:03
happened. This mentality is why Royal Oak
28:06
happened. This is why we have joint
28:09
statements on workplace violence and harassment, why we have a 0
28:14
tolerance policy, but the zero tolerance policy only applies to
28:18
carriers, only applies to clerks, only applies to mail
28:23
handlers. It doesn't apply to management.
28:26
For some God forsaken reason it doesn't apply to management and
28:32
this cancer needs to be removed now.
28:37
There are carriers out there that are on the brink of mental
28:41
breakage. They are on the brink.
28:43
There are some that have already gone past that.
28:46
We have lost carriers who took their own life due to the stress
28:52
of management like this. This is why it pisses me off.
28:55
This is why I want to protect our craft.
28:58
This is why Bill wants to protect our craft.
29:00
This is why Kristen wants to protect our craft.
29:02
This is why Toasty wants to protect our craft.
29:05
Because of management like this. Exactly it It needs to stop.
29:10
It really, really needs to stop. It's and it's not just a
29:14
management, it's the fact that our national board doesn't
29:17
recognize these situations and address it aggressively, not
29:22
assertively, aggressively. Like I said, if Dejoy would have
29:26
made that comment to that gentleman down there in Orlando
29:29
as president, I wouldn't tolerate that way.
29:32
That man treated one of our fellow carriers.
29:35
I would not have turned around and said, oh, I wrote most of
29:38
the letter for him, but here he is apologizing and he never
29:41
apologized in that letter. Yeah, and that was actually
29:44
Grand Rapids. No, it wasn't, you know, Grand
29:47
Rapids last year. It was in Orlando, OH.
29:50
It was last year. It was last year too it.
29:52
Was last year. The old guy in the right hand
29:55
corner was down in Orlando. That was the same one where the
29:58
woman was upset about the way she was treated in her office,
30:01
remember? Yes, I remember that one, the
30:03
one that that was in absolute tears on the convention floor.
30:06
Yeah, yeah. And that and that manager PM is
30:09
probably still there too. You know, guys, you know, a lot
30:12
of the stems, a lot of the crap that we deal with on a daily
30:15
basis by local management is the stuff is stemming from upper
30:19
management. And like I said, you know, crap
30:21
rolls downhill and it just gets worse before it gets to us on
30:25
the floor. And this e-mail right here shows
30:27
that. Why anybody in upper management
30:31
would you say that? And I take defense as a pit bull
30:33
owner. Honestly, I do, yeah.
30:36
Me too. As a as an owner of a Pitbull, I
30:41
take offense to that greatly. Would she she would defend her
30:45
territory, But at the same time you're going to put the blame on
30:49
the carrier because if they didn't have their dog spray or
30:52
their satchel, you know, I, I have been bitten wasn't a
30:55
Pitbull. It was a border collie.
30:58
I'm out there with the owner. I have a huge box that's
31:02
probably 3 1/2 feet tall by two feet wide and I'm standing there
31:07
talking to the owner and the dog is sniffing around.
31:10
I'm keeping an eye on her and I just, I turned to kind of look
31:14
to see where she was and that's when she reached up and nipped
31:17
me in the behind. Never got an apology from the
31:19
owner. All I got was, oh, she was
31:21
trying to hurt you. She's a herding dog.
31:23
You know, stuff like that happens, you know, but I but to
31:30
have management say, Oh well, not our problem.
31:33
They don't matter if they die. Oh well, you know, I, I've seen
31:38
carriers that are fully buckled in be killed on the job and it
31:42
was completely not their fault. But according to management it
31:45
was their fault. You know, I, I, for instance, on
31:48
my route, I'm on A5 lane highway in town where I don't have a
31:53
shoulder. I am in that right hand lane
31:55
servicing boxes both North and South part of my route.
32:00
There are times where I have had to jump the curve because the
32:03
idiots behind me aren't paying attention.
32:06
I continuously watch my mirrors. I am buckled in.
32:10
All it would take is one of these idiots or one of these
32:12
semi drivers driving up the road, barreling on up doing
32:16
faster than they're supposed to to Take Me Out from behind and
32:19
all I was doing was doing my job and they.
32:21
Don't blame you. Exactly.
32:24
I, I, I think the greatest lesson from this first e-mail is
32:30
the impunity that management feels they're entitled to
32:34
without repercussions. They feel like they're insulated
32:37
against any type of, you know, retribution for making comments
32:41
like this because they don't feel that the union has grounds
32:45
to come after them. It's impunity.
32:47
They, they feel, you know, they're, they're the upper
32:49
epsilon, just like they're allowed to mismanage.
32:51
They can say whatever the hell they want.
32:53
There's no consequences. Welcome, August.
32:56
We get a new national board, there's going to be some serious
32:58
ass consequences. Absolutely.
33:01
I am not afraid to go down there and knock on doors and tell them
33:04
you need to get your fucking management in line now because
33:08
this is ridiculous. You, you're treating us like
33:12
slaves, like inhumane. I, I've seen prisoners in the
33:17
justice system treated better than what some of us are
33:20
treated. This is ridiculous.
33:23
It gets more ridiculous. I know.
33:25
All right, Let's move on. Go ahead James, because I got my
33:28
pad and paper here ready to go for second round of notes.
33:33
All right, this comes this comes out of the New York District 3
33:38
Coombs office of a Mr. Eugene R Oyer, Junior from Buffalo, NY
33:46
and was spread to 19 other offices that I can tell so far
33:52
and he goes and quote we are leaving too many office hours on
33:57
the table daily. We need to tighten our four
34:00
walls up and get this time back. With it being hot outside, no
34:05
one wants to leave the cool office, turn the AC off and
34:10
drive them out. Any office not listed had zero
34:13
opportunity hours and I thank you for that.
34:16
I repeat, we are leaving too many office hours on the table
34:20
daily. We need to tighten our four
34:23
walls up and get this time back. With it being hot outside, no
34:28
one wants to leave the cool office, turn AC off and drive
34:33
them out. Any office not listed had zero
34:37
opportunity hours and I thank you for that.
34:40
Mister Eugene Oyer, I think you need a visit from OSHA I.
34:44
Mean they turn off their own AC or no.
34:48
I guarantee you they wouldn't be sticking around in the the
34:50
office looking at that computer while the computer is running
34:53
hot without the AC on. Yeah, if you're anything like my
34:56
office, management's AC is completely separate than the
34:59
worker on floors AC and you. Know being from Texas,
35:03
especially with it being so hot right now, I don't want to be in
35:05
the office any longer than I have to.
35:07
I want to get onto the street so I can finish faster, so I can
35:10
get out of the heat faster. But of course, someone in the
35:13
upper management doesn't know that because they've never
35:16
carried a piece of mail in their life.
35:17
They don't know what it's like out on the street.
35:19
They don't know what it's like to be in the heat, trying to
35:22
drink as much water as you can, taking your breaks in the cool
35:25
spots that you can under a tree. But I don't know.
35:28
For me, I get as much as I can done.
35:30
Hey, parcels already cool. I'm loading right now.
35:32
I'm going. Yeah, I mean, we've got times
35:35
where my management doesn't have the AC on when they should.
35:39
And you know, you just when, when you're sweating as bad as
35:43
you are on the inside, the last thing you want to do is, you
35:46
know, by the then you're sweltering in the truck.
35:49
They don't, they don't get that. And even with like the
35:52
mattresses or even a POV or something with AC, yes, it does
35:57
help. But guess what, you have a
35:59
window open all day. It's not perfect and.
36:03
And this, this right here, you're not only affecting the
36:06
carriers, you're also affecting the clerks.
36:09
You're affecting the janitors. You're affecting the postmaster
36:12
or the supervisor, plus all the customers.
36:16
Going to say the customer. Now I'm.
36:18
Going to say that I'll disagree with you that James, because in
36:21
our office we have zone controlled systems so they can
36:25
shut off and regulate the heat and air conditioning on the work
36:28
room floor without affecting the other areas.
36:31
So they can keep nice and cool in their offices or out in the
36:34
lobby without affecting them. And, you know, adversely.
36:37
I, I just, I just want to, I just want to know one thing, OK,
36:40
I'm an old head. So I case my stuff.
36:44
I case it, I pull it down one tray, the mail tracer spurs and
36:48
all that. Because when I get down the
36:49
route I want to go bang, bang, bang.
36:51
I don't want to be sitting there in 100° weather fingering the
36:55
mail at each mailbox. OK, I want to slap and go and,
36:59
and I I can spend more time in my office than I do on my route
37:03
because of the preparation I do in the office where the
37:07
temperature is controlled. Once I get in that vehicle, I'm
37:11
in Susie Homemaker's little bake oven and I want to be out of
37:14
that damn oven as fast as I can. Therefore, I do the work inside.
37:19
The lighting is ambient, it's even.
37:21
I have air conditioning. I have a little fan of my case
37:24
if I need it and I can work in a situation where I can prep my
37:28
truck and I hit the street Bang Bang bang.
37:31
I might have to reload twice but either way I'm not sitting still
37:36
fingering in this heat. You want to drive me out of the
37:39
office to be in that heat longer than I need to be?
37:43
Please and gentlemen, please excuse this, but fuck you.
37:46
I'm going to do it the way I'm doing it.
37:48
I'm under my evaluation. My customers get the best
37:51
service, but if you want to change my operations at at this
37:55
stage of my career, fuck you until you get your fat lazy ass
38:00
off that desk. Get your ass in an LLV with
38:03
carbon monoxide leaking in it, a little 6 inch fan blowing heat
38:07
off of 114° dash and deliver that route.
38:11
I don't want to hear a stinking fucking word out of you.
38:16
Sorry for being vulgar but this pisses me off.
38:18
People are dying in the heat. It's a recorded history with the
38:22
post office. Order or not, heat kills no
38:26
matter how much you hydrate. And if you're out there
38:29
fingering nail while picking up air conditioners, boxes of dog
38:33
food, pails of Kitty litter, weights that some, you know,
38:37
kids ordered and you're hauling them through that heat.
38:40
The longer you're out there, the more more exposed you are, the
38:43
heat stroke, heat prostration and possibly death.
38:46
So if you want me to do it your way, you show me how to do it
38:50
and I'll ride behind you in my air conditioned car to see how
38:53
you like. Yeah, The funny thing is, The
38:56
funny thing is on on when Dejoy was testifying in front of
39:01
Congress, he's all like I told my to all my administrators and
39:05
managers to treat others like they would like to be treated.
39:08
Is that holding up to that standard?
39:10
Nope. Guarantee it's not.
39:12
Standards are so low they come in right below whale shit.
39:15
OK. LinkedIn.
39:17
Oh God, you, you, you can't make this shit up, folks.
39:21
And you you, you don't have to because it's in print.
39:24
It's in the print. We have the evidence.
39:27
So does from 8 arbitration. We have the proof.
39:30
Help. Corey Walton has the four part
39:34
episode on the Memphis series where you can hear management's
39:38
disdain. You can hear the inspector for
39:42
the postal services disdain for the carrier.
39:46
The inspection service and management are one in the same.
39:51
Inspection Service works for management.
39:53
Their job is the same as HR to protect the business, the Postal
39:59
Service. They aren't there to protect
40:01
you. They are protecting the
40:02
interests of the Postal Service. Now I don't know about you guys,
40:06
but there is one group of people that I know that if we get a
40:10
bunch of people to get a hold of them may put some light on this
40:13
and that is our representatives and senators in the US House and
40:18
the US Senate. Now I've already taken the time.
40:21
Actually contact my senators and my representative to talk about
40:26
this. Now granted, I wasn't able to
40:27
get a hold of one today because they're probably most of them
40:30
are out of the office for the 4th of July.
40:32
But I got a hold of my senator, Debbie Stabenow, and my
40:36
representative for my area then left a detailed description with
40:41
their person that answered the phone.
40:44
Whether that goes there anywhere or not, that's OK.
40:47
I did my part. But we need to shed as much
40:50
light on this. Our union representatives, our
40:54
elected representatives at the top like to keep tight lips,
40:57
don't like to be in the media unless it benefits their
41:01
campaign. Screw that.
41:02
We want this out there. I want representatives out there
41:07
telling people how this is, this is the worst management I have
41:14
ever seen in my life. And I've seen some some bad
41:17
management out there, but this one takes the cake.
41:21
I, I thought it was, I thought it was bad.
41:23
The postmaster bringing three of her kids to work.
41:25
That's Friday. I didn't know it was bring your
41:27
kids to work day, You know, otherwise I'd have, you know,
41:30
brought my nieces, nephews and everybody else, you know, try,
41:34
try to run, run that one by management.
41:36
I need to bring my kid to work today because I don't have a
41:39
sitter. Uh huh.
41:40
Three kids on the floor. You don't think Osha's finding
41:44
out about that? And James, you're right,
41:46
everybody listening live right now and anybody through the rest
41:50
of the week, contact your local representatives in Congress, let
41:54
them know this is how the United States Postal Service values
41:58
their employees. This is what they think of us.
42:02
This is the attitude and the mentality that has been fostered
42:06
under Dejoy carriers, yes. News media too, yes.
42:09
Carriers outnumber management. Right now there's over 300,000
42:16
carriers in the Postal Service and this is how management views
42:20
those 300,000 people. They need to find out who your
42:23
representative is. Go to house.gov/representatives
42:27
and there should be a link on there to find your
42:29
representative and you can use your zip code to go ahead and
42:32
find it. You can also do that on
42:33
senate.gov to find your senators and both senators represent you
42:38
in your state. I'm tired of it.
42:40
I, I, I'm, I'm tired of the mentality of run them like dogs,
42:46
treat them like dogs, but we, we, we do no wrong.
42:49
I am so over management mentality towards craft
42:53
employees and that's cover and, and that that's just not our
42:57
craft in general. That's all craft employees, all
43:01
non management employees. I even in my small office, I
43:06
have clerks that are just fed up.
43:09
I city carriers. I don't they've got a couple of
43:13
them. They're just fed up the rural
43:14
craft. My management, my office has
43:17
rural craft so divided right now.
43:19
It's sad. It is so freaking sad that they
43:24
have intimidated other carriers to that associate with two
43:29
people in the office. Literally pull them into the
43:33
office 1 by 1 and tell them that to associate because they have
43:37
some weird conspiracy theory that couple carriers are out to
43:41
get them. And then are heard on the work
43:44
room floor overheard by others saying, well, we got to do what
43:48
we got. We got to get them on our side.
43:50
You know, we got to that. They need to be on our side.
43:52
They what the hell are they talking about?
43:55
You know the IT is this child childish.
43:57
This is elementary school logic that needs to stop completely.
44:04
It's ridiculous that we have upper tier management putting
44:09
stuff out like this to lower end management.
44:12
Why? Because they can and they're not
44:14
going to get held accountable for it.
44:16
You know, they're just doing their job.
44:18
And then they sit there and wonder why people are walking
44:20
off the job. Regular carriers are so fed up
44:23
and walking off the job you can't retain an RCA for your
44:26
life. Hell, you can't even hire them
44:28
anymore because you know they're they know their neighbor or
44:32
their friend or their sister, uncle, grandfather, whoever
44:35
works through those situations and is telling them no, you
44:38
don't want to go work there, don't apply there.
44:41
This is why we can't even have a full complement anymore.
44:45
It's because the word gets spread outside of the office
44:48
about how bad it is inside the office.
44:51
Nobody wants to come work with us anymore and it's not working
44:55
with us. It's working for the management
44:57
because management is treating everybody like freaking dogs.
45:00
It needs to stop. And no, they don't care if we're
45:04
exhausted, sick, mentally drained.
45:06
Bodies are breaking down. I mean, I, I had to help talk an
45:11
RCA today out of quitting because he is just exhausted.
45:16
Meanwhile, another one gets to go home and he's stuck out there
45:21
working in order to go assist somebody else.
45:24
Why two other ones just to get to go home early?
45:28
Because they were because they were done early, so they got to
45:30
go home. But let's force this one back
45:32
out. The one that's working six days
45:34
a week right now. Why the regular carrier is out
45:37
on medical. This is the type of bullshit
45:39
that needs to stop. The favoritisms in the offices
45:42
need to stop. Upper management needs to be
45:45
held accountable. When they're sending this
45:47
bullshit out to the lower management, it needs to stop.
45:52
The other thing that needs to stop Christian is carriers
45:54
attacking other carriers. Yes.
45:57
You don't have to like the person you work next to.
46:00
They don't have to like you, but you're in the same damn boat
46:05
unless your management's kiss ass.
46:07
Even still, they have to come to a point to realize what they're
46:12
doing is damaging to the craft, to everybody in that office.
46:16
And that's why when I was a steward, management didn't get
46:19
away with Jack's shit because I was over there and in their face
46:23
when they approached the carrier without just cause and tried to
46:27
address the situation on the floor.
46:29
This is not where this takes place.
46:31
If you want to have a conversation with them, have it
46:34
in your office, and if they want union representation, they get
46:38
union representation. If this is not a formal
46:41
discussion, anything that says can cannot be used against them.
46:45
Stop attacking each other. And I know how hard that is.
46:49
Trust me, I had to represent people that I totally despise in
46:53
life. Once you put that steward's cap
46:56
on, you have to forget that you have to be the neutral party in
47:00
that situation. You have to do the best of your
47:02
ability to represent them fairly, impartially because
47:06
that's what you signed up for. The first time.
47:09
I was a steward back in the early 2000s.
47:12
I didn't realize that. And when I got stabbed in the
47:15
back by a couple carriers, I quit.
47:17
And that was my fault for doing that.
47:19
I should have, should have been more tenacious in, in regards to
47:22
handling that situation. But at that time, you know, I
47:25
was the angry man. But now, now, older, mature,
47:30
more wiser, more sedate in my ways, sometimes I understand the
47:35
role of the steward is to be the defense attorney and your
47:38
client. Whether they had got caught with
47:41
a knife in their hand, blood dripping all over them and the
47:43
body at their feet, they're innocent until proven guilty.
47:47
And your job is to get them off. OK.
47:50
The carriers don't care about safety.
47:52
They don't care about, you know, dying.
47:54
They don't care about the dogs because they have the union to
47:57
come in there and save them. Trust me, most of our carriers
48:00
do not see the union in that light.
48:02
They do not expect any protection by the union.
48:06
They've seen it demonstrated time and time again, especially
48:09
when David Heather just formally dismissed a ton of step fours
48:14
because it was easier to get him off the books than it was to do
48:16
the work. And that leaves all those
48:18
carriers represented by those step fours.
48:20
And a lot of it has to do with management.
48:23
And you, like the gentleman said at the caucus last year about
48:26
being in a relationship with, you know, management and the
48:29
union, It's not a management. They're in bed with management.
48:33
And I don't care what Don Madsen, Patrick Pitts, Shirley
48:37
Baffa, Bridget Bozak, Boziak have to say about that.
48:41
It's obvious to everybody else except for them and their
48:46
followers. You don't want an angry man up
48:48
there. That's what you need.
48:50
Up there right now is somebody who's angry about way the
48:53
national board is letting all this bullshit transpire day in
48:58
and day out. Ladies and gentlemen, that board
49:00
is up there to represent you, your interest, to protect you.
49:04
In the first letter, James said the Oh yeah, we train and
49:07
educate them. How many, how many people
49:09
management actually trained and educated their carriers and Rex
49:13
Because I know my office didn't have it wasn't for me.
49:16
We'd have had more than three routes go down in the first Rex
49:19
if it. Hadn't been for me quit high
49:22
carriers. Quit passing the Yeah, quit
49:24
passing the buck off. And that's what the national
49:27
board has done. Oh, we make the materials
49:29
available. Contract for Rex said that
49:32
management would train, is it not?
49:35
Yeah. The the arbitrator ruled that
49:39
management would train. And that's the argument that
49:42
leadership was making that the union representatives that we
49:45
elected to the top spot said, well, in the arbitration ruling
49:51
they said that management would train.
49:52
So we can't actually train because the arbitrator had told
49:56
us that management had to do the training.
49:58
Right. But yet then, you know, after
49:59
the training fails to get, you know, provided Union turns
50:02
around and says, oh, well, we provide all the information for
50:05
you. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
50:06
They're they're training or they're not training.
50:08
It's not upon us. So, you know, when you go to
50:10
school, do you do you anticipate telling the teacher how to give
50:14
a a trigonometry class Biology, English and something something
50:19
as simple as English? So you expect the teacher to
50:24
train you, to teach you? Ergo, management was responsible
50:28
for our training and they failed and the union failed to stand
50:33
behind the language arbitrated. Yep.
50:36
And. And not just the language
50:38
arbitrated. If you actually read our
50:39
contract, it says that when there are substantial changes to
50:44
work, management is required to train, so it's also a
50:49
contractual violation. Do for one special.
50:52
Here's a. Comment in our I don't have, I
50:54
don't have time for that. Here's a comment in our in our
50:57
chat that actually I want to address.
51:00
So why are we so afraid of arbitration?
51:03
Winning an arbitration is about preparation.
51:06
Yes, you will lose if you go in weak.
51:08
So go in strong with proper preparation.
51:10
The reason why is because the representatives that we've had
51:14
for the past several decades have a success rate of 22% in
51:20
arbitration. That means they have failed 78%
51:26
of the arguments that they've made, which means they weren't
51:30
ready for it. They weren't prepared for it.
51:32
They didn't want to do it. They would, James.
51:37
They would much rather law management win.
51:40
Oh, am I wrong? We, we've, we, we've hired a
51:43
Teamster specialist to help us. We have labor people helping us.
51:47
We have lawyers helping us. How can you say we're weak?
51:51
Because Don, you don't give a shit.
51:53
As long as you get the status quo in the contracts, you think
51:57
you've done your job. So if we get a 1.3 or 1.2%
52:00
raise, that's fine. That's all we deserve.
52:03
That's all we're entitled to if a contract goes through before
52:06
the National Convention. And, and those are the type of
52:10
raises we get folks. You all ought to be ready for an
52:14
insurrection #2 in Reno. That's the only play they have
52:18
left is the contract. If they have any other ace up
52:22
their sleeve, it's going to be minuscule to them using the
52:26
contract as their bargaining chip to get re elected.
52:29
Because they sure as hell haven't done shit to protect the
52:32
carriers now. And they sure as hell haven't
52:35
done shit to protect the carriers in the last ten 1520
52:38
years. Especially after the 2008
52:41
arbitration which was led by executive Committeeman Jeanette
52:45
Dwyer as president. Or the 2011 contract, 2014
52:51
contract, according to Mastan. He's been there for what, since
52:55
2008? Working on contracts if that's
52:59
what he said correctly. If I'm mistaken, you can correct
53:01
me. 2008 Isn't it interesting that we've had table two and
53:05
table 4 under his reign and Jeanette Dwyer?
53:09
It's not his fault. It's not his fault the that was
53:12
the arbitrator awarded that. But again, that's an arbitration
53:15
loss for the Craft under their tutor.
53:17
And like, like, like my PA sidekick said, if you go in
53:21
weak, you're going to lose. Exactly.
53:24
And that's all we've done, You know, in the past 15 to 20
53:27
years, we've exuded weakness. God, you're really pissing me
53:30
off tonight, James. I I want to go back to the old
53:34
bill, OK? I understand Bill, I understand,
53:40
you know, but this is this is where having somebody who wants
53:46
to fight for the craft knows that they need to fight for this
53:51
craft and knows what it takes to fight for this craft.
53:55
Now, I know, I know for a fact that our current elected
54:01
national officers think that the people here today don't know
54:06
what they're getting themselves into or how hard they actually
54:10
work. Surprise, we actually do know
54:13
exactly what you do in your office.
54:15
We know exactly what you take care of in your office and what
54:20
you do in your off time from the office.
54:24
And I know they're listening to these episodes.
54:28
I've heard them talk about it. I've seen them put statements
54:33
that were made on this podcast in their articles and use them
54:39
in their videos. You can't tell me that we're not
54:43
making a difference. You can't tell me that we're not
54:46
strengthening this craft by doing this, because the biggest
54:49
thing about this is that this craft is fed up with the
54:55
bullshit coming from management, coming from the national board.
54:59
It's time for you guys to retire because you are no longer
55:04
working for the craft and you haven't been for years.
55:09
You may think you are, but you have kowtow to management so
55:13
many times, whether it was you or your predecessors, that
55:17
management thinks that the abuse of carriers can go on and on and
55:23
on and nobody will hold them accountable.
55:26
Well, the accountable train is coming and it's blowing its
55:29
whistle. Baby, We're.
55:30
Going to run your ass over. You too.
55:34
I had to put it in there so. I, I, I, I I was tempted to, but
55:38
you, yeah, I let you do it. I hope you had to bring back the
55:41
the laughter to keep us from going over the edge.
55:44
I appreciate that. But yeah.
55:50
I was going to start singing Love Train but.
55:52
You know, when you have a national president, the South
55:55
carriers have had it too good for too long.
55:58
This is also the same person who, as vice president when I
56:02
ran in 2022, said anybody can deliver the mail.
56:07
Not everybody can do this job. And why are we having such a
56:10
hard time retaining RCA? Then why are we having a hard
56:14
time actually doing a contract negotiation?
56:17
It's either yes, no, or we're going to arbitration.
56:19
We're ready. If you're not, let's go get it
56:22
done, get it over with, get it out to the people, because these
56:26
people need help. These people can't survive on
56:29
what they're making. Now you've turned around and not
56:32
only did you give us Rex without full transparency as required by
56:36
the arbitration, you are now turning around and letting them
56:39
use the rural route optimization tool to cut our route
56:43
evaluations further. Taking this rural route
56:46
optimization, you're going to move boxes around to make routes
56:50
shorter so that the evaluation goes down on the carriers even
56:53
more. You want to tell me that we've
56:56
had it too good for too long? I think you guys up at the top
57:00
have had it too good for too long and it's time for you to go
57:02
home. Back to your routes, Masten.
57:04
You're going to drive 320 miles to your route every day or
57:08
retire one of the two, but it's time for you to go home.
57:11
Why do we have national representatives, national board
57:17
members who, and this isn't quotes, retire The states put
57:21
give them a retirement party, yet they're not officially
57:26
retired and then they pop up back on the board or potentially
57:29
may run again even though they've had a retirement party.
57:33
Because they can't let go of the gravy train.
57:35
They work in the system just like anybody else would, in
57:38
maintaining their power, their authority and the gravy train.
57:42
You know, when I retire, I want to retire from my route.
57:46
I, you know, I'm running for the board to set the pathway for the
57:51
future to, to get more people to, to understand how valuable
57:58
the union can be, because right now the value of it isn't there
58:04
for a lot of people. And, you know, I want to be up
58:07
there. I don't want to be up there for
58:09
20 years. I, I don't that, that's not what
58:13
I, that's not my end goal. My end goal is to get up there.
58:17
Give me a year, two years, three, maybe I'll say five years
58:20
tops. I want to go back to my route.
58:23
I want to see my customers. I want to pet my dogs.
58:27
I want to enjoy my time delivering the mail, being out
58:31
on the street. And then when I retire, I want
58:34
to do my final clock out from my route and be done, knowing that
58:39
I made a difference for that next carrier that's going to
58:42
take over my route, knowing that I had set the I set them up to
58:48
not fail to succeed and pave the way for for everybody that's
58:54
coming up. That's what my end goal is not
58:57
to get elected to the board so I can sit on my ass behind a desk
59:01
and reap the benefits and then go home and be happy.
59:07
No, that that that's not the point of me running at all.
59:11
My point is, is I want to make a difference for the future of the
59:15
craft and once I know that things are good, and then that's
59:20
what I will step down from running and step down from the
59:24
board and go back to my route knowing that I made a difference
59:29
for the future of the craft. In the exact same way, I just
59:33
want one term in the executive committee.
59:36
I want to come back. I want to be here for my boys.
59:38
They're growing boys, and I want to be there during the time
59:41
where I've got to help mold them into men, to turn into our
59:43
society. I'm not going to let them grow
59:46
up without dad or, you know, being working all the time, not
59:49
really present. I'm going to be there for the
59:51
games. I'm going to be there for the
59:52
concerts. I'm going to be there for
59:53
whatever they get into. I'm going to help guide them.
59:55
But for one term, I'm going to be your dog in the fight.
1:00:00
It's not just for me, not just for Kristen, James and Bill.
1:00:03
It's for y'all. I want to be your dog in the
1:00:05
pile. I want to represent you.
1:00:06
Right there with you guys. I only want to be in here to fix
1:00:10
the major issues that are with the union and then let the next
1:00:13
person work on the other issues. I'm only going to serve as long
1:00:18
as the craft allows me to serve. As long as I am benefiting the
1:00:23
craft in the positions that I'm in.
1:00:26
If that means I'm put it in another position later on,
1:00:29
that's fine. I will do the bidding of the
1:00:32
craft. But the first thing I want to
1:00:34
fix is the garbage that we talked about this podcast, the
1:00:38
terrible harassing management. I want the dogs in the fight
1:00:44
like Toasty. I want the dogs in the fight,
1:00:47
the AD Rs, the D Rs that sit there and fight tooth and nail
1:00:51
for every single carrier here in this craft.
1:00:53
I want the best fighters going to bath these carriers.
1:00:58
As Bill said earlier, stewards, our defense attorney, they're
1:01:01
there to ensure that the carriers get a fair trial.
1:01:06
If you want to see an episode of how that works out, you got to
1:01:10
watch a The measure of a man on Star Trek the Next Generation,
1:01:14
because in that story, a friend has to argue against his friend
1:01:21
under Judge Advocate General rules.
1:01:23
And if he doesn't, then the ruling would be against his
1:01:27
friend. So it was either he fought
1:01:28
against his friend or it was arbitrarily ruled against his
1:01:32
friend. That is what a steward does.
1:01:34
Whether they like the person or not, they have to defend that
1:01:39
person in their position. If the carrier did it and it's
1:01:43
proven beyond a reasonable doubt the carrier did it, then that
1:01:46
steward needs to make sure management follows proper
1:01:49
procedure because that is the due process of the carrier.
1:01:54
And if the due process is not followed, then management has
1:01:57
failed and that carrier should not be abused because of it.
1:02:01
If management's not doing their job, that is what a steward
1:02:04
does. You've got to fight for every
1:02:08
single right that these carriers are entitled to.
1:02:12
And when you turn around and you tell them, oh, there's nothing I
1:02:16
can do about it, I'm sorry, you're a steward, Didn't you
1:02:19
attend? Is it a grievance or a gripe
1:02:22
where every single steward that spoke on there found a grievance
1:02:26
for the gripe national leadership put in front of them?
1:02:29
There is very rarely a time that an issue is just a gripe.
1:02:34
Most often there is a grievance you can attach to that issue.
1:02:38
You just have to be willing to do the work.
1:02:42
And this is where we need to get carriers willing to stand up for
1:02:46
themselves instead of riping grievance, instead of just
1:02:51
venting but scared to do anything because you're scared
1:02:55
of the retaliation you may get from management for filing that
1:02:58
grievance or bringing an issue to them.
1:03:02
It needs to stop. I I but Chris, isn't that the
1:03:06
isn't that the issue? Where do people feel intimidated
1:03:09
to the point that they don't want to file grievances?
1:03:12
Yes, and and it is the the point is they don't feel that the
1:03:16
Union has their back correct around on an island by
1:03:19
themselves. It's exactly what it is.
1:03:22
It is exactly what it is. It shouldn't be.
1:03:25
I've seen it first hand as a local steward, having carriers
1:03:29
just gripe and gripe and gripe and you know they have a
1:03:32
grievance. It's plain and simple.
1:03:34
They do, but they're afraid to to to stand up because of the
1:03:38
way they may get treated and singled out by management
1:03:41
afterwards. This is what we need to stop.
1:03:44
We need to get people. There's no confidence anymore.
1:03:48
There's no. The two. 140 carriers and the
1:03:51
240 carriers, it's WAC that remove themselves from union
1:03:55
dues. They don't see the value if
1:03:58
you're going to put, if you're going to put your money into
1:04:01
something, an investment into your mortgage, not you expect a
1:04:05
return. They're not seeing a return.
1:04:08
That's the problem. There is no protection, there is
1:04:11
no guidance, there is no information education.
1:04:15
There's the board and we'll make policy and you have to live by
1:04:19
it. Management's allowed the
1:04:21
mismanagement. No, they're not.
1:04:23
They are still accountable. They are fiscally responsible in
1:04:26
regards to the post office. They are accountable for
1:04:29
treating us like human beings. Day 440, dignity and respect.
1:04:35
It's not hard focus called common decency, common sense,
1:04:40
both of which are not so common anymore.
1:04:42
And we have to reinstall that into the Craft membership so
1:04:47
that they believe that they have leaders that are looking out for
1:04:51
their best interest, not at contract time, but every single
1:04:56
day of the year. And we have no confidence in
1:04:59
ours whatsoever. And that's where I have to agree
1:05:02
with James on the fact that when it comes into these matters
1:05:05
where you have carriers that are scared to death to file a
1:05:08
grievance that and they want to file, but they're scared to
1:05:11
death to do it because of the way management treats them, then
1:05:15
that's Steward. As long as they have the go
1:05:17
ahead from that carrier should be able to go up there and file
1:05:20
that grievance and fight for that carrier with management to
1:05:24
show them that yes, we are here for you and we are gonna do what
1:05:28
we can to protect you. Feeling my own work.
1:05:32
If I could have done that, if I would have been able to do that,
1:05:36
I could have changed so much in my office so much years ago.
1:05:40
I, I was able to at least smooth things out a little bit.
1:05:44
And then when I went was decertified, it went to hell in
1:05:47
a handbag because now they didn't have a steward in the
1:05:49
office. And now we have one and brand
1:05:52
new. And you know, he stepped up for
1:05:55
the reason that he, he was one of those that griped and
1:05:58
wouldn't take action, but he got sick and tired of it and
1:06:01
decided, you know what, I'm going to step up and fight this
1:06:04
because this needs to chain. And I am still trying to help
1:06:07
him build his confidence to go in there, pull the the
1:06:10
management in the office and I don't care if it's the
1:06:13
supervisor or the postmaster. Quit sitting on the damn ass and
1:06:16
go fucking take care of it because I'm about ready to do it
1:06:20
as a carrier, not as a steward, as a carrier because I am over
1:06:24
it. And whatever happens to me, I
1:06:27
honestly at this point, you know what?
1:06:29
I really don't care. I, I am one of the two that I
1:06:33
was talking about the management told not to talk.
1:06:36
Myself and my local steward, we're good friends outside of
1:06:39
work as well. They literally have another
1:06:42
carrier or another, or you know, another employee, another craft
1:06:46
play that literally when we go out and load our vehicles or,
1:06:50
and, or take a smoke break, that literally comes out to listen to
1:06:54
what we're talking, trying to hear what we're talking to so
1:06:56
they can run back and tell them, you know, what conversation they
1:06:59
heard the other morning. We were talking about bad
1:07:02
coffee. Oh.
1:07:03
I, I hate to tell you, Kristen, Kristen, I, I've had the same
1:07:07
situation in my office, OK, where a, a certain group of us
1:07:11
would go out front side for have a cigarette and somebody would
1:07:14
always come linger by and didn't smoke.
1:07:17
And after, you know, a couple times where the conversations
1:07:20
got hushed and all, he finally turned around and said, excuse
1:07:22
me, you're not involved in this conversation.
1:07:25
We're not speaking to you. There's this of no interest to
1:07:27
you get back in the fucking office.
1:07:29
Or do you ever take your break at the other end of the parking
1:07:31
lot? They looked at me and said, who
1:07:32
do you think you are? And I said, I'm the big A, If
1:07:36
you really want to start shit with me, go ahead.
1:07:39
That's how you handle people like that.
1:07:41
And people go, oh, Bill here, you can't threaten violence.
1:07:43
I didn't threaten. You can't.
1:07:44
I don't know what's going to happen to them, how it's going
1:07:46
to happen. Because there ain't nothing
1:07:48
worse than a management snitch running out there trying to get
1:07:52
a feel for the situation and running inside and disappearing
1:07:56
for 10 minutes while they they're in the office.
1:07:58
They're all carriers. You're all in the same craft,
1:08:02
protect each other. You'd really think management
1:08:05
gives a rat's ass about you when you you're, you're ratting at
1:08:08
your fellow carriers. They don't care.
1:08:10
They're just using the information to their advantage.
1:08:13
They're just using you. So stick together, you know.
1:08:17
Stick together, the tables will turn.
1:08:19
Yes they will, because the because the day will come when
1:08:22
something happens and they can't step up for you.
1:08:25
You're going to throw your ass right under the bus.
1:08:27
Yep. Yep.
1:08:29
They throw each other on them to the bus too.
1:08:31
I. Said this, I've said this
1:08:32
before, there are people out there who will fall on a sword
1:08:36
for somebody that would throw them under the bus.
1:08:39
But to add to your add to your point, Bill, we're all in this
1:08:43
together and that includes rural carriers, city carriers, clerks,
1:08:48
mail handlers, VMF truck drivers, janitors, anybody not
1:08:53
in management. We are all in this together.
1:08:57
When one of you turns around and decides to become the office
1:09:00
niche, you might as well just ask to be the two O 4B.
1:09:04
Might as well ask to be management because that's what
1:09:06
you are now. You are a manager and you'll
1:09:09
fall on the sword to protect the manager above you when the
1:09:13
manager above you will throw you under the bus.
1:09:16
Yep, you are no better than management.
1:09:18
We are a craft. We have other crafts we work
1:09:21
with. We are all union members and we
1:09:25
must all stick together because as a union of craft employees,
1:09:31
we can make a difference better than just nine people.
1:09:35
We are all in this together. We all have to have each other's
1:09:37
backs in one way or another. You know, I'm the type of person
1:09:42
that I can get along with practically everybody, whether I
1:09:45
like you or not, I can get along with you.
1:09:47
You know, I, I can put differences aside to, to be
1:09:52
productive. Yes, I, I, I can, I have no
1:09:55
problems with that. You know, I, it, it is
1:09:59
absolutely killing me working in my office right now and not
1:10:04
being able to be the helpful person that I am because of what
1:10:10
management has done and try to divide us.
1:10:14
Unfortunately, I am being forced to pretty much stick to myself
1:10:17
at this point. Go in case my mail load my truck
1:10:20
and go to my route. It is killing me to do that.
1:10:24
And it, I, I, I'm, I'm over it. I am over it so much.
1:10:30
I'm at that point, you know, I'm no longer a steward because of
1:10:33
this podcast and what many of you people and even what the
1:10:38
national board wants to think of what one thing or another.
1:10:42
You know, when I reached out to, to to Bill and, and others that
1:10:48
are no longer on the air with us to start, this was to take a new
1:10:53
direction from where we first started.
1:10:55
And it was to show the value of being an active member in the
1:10:59
union and to to show to point people in the right direction
1:11:03
and how they can be a change and how they can be active and how
1:11:07
to stand up for themselves. And it wasn't what a lot of
1:11:11
people think it was. That was my main goal was to get
1:11:15
people active, to get bring people together, to get people
1:11:20
with the same goals together, to know that they do have a voice
1:11:25
and how to get that voice heard and how to make those changes
1:11:28
that are needed to be made. That is why I reached out to
1:11:32
them to say, hey, why don't we go in this direction?
1:11:36
And then I brought. Look at your long end.
1:11:38
And look where we are now. And look where we look, where
1:11:42
we've ended up, look at all the listeners that we have, the
1:11:45
reach that we have and what we've done just for the craft.
1:11:48
But I have breaking news, OK? This has just come across the
1:11:52
social webs. And in Branch 41 in Brooklyn,
1:11:57
NY, Carrier used the managers restroom and the supervisor
1:12:03
broke the carrier's jaw for this.
1:12:05
What? Apparently the supervisor
1:12:08
decided to beat the crap out of the carrier for using the
1:12:12
managers restroom in Brooklyn, NY.
1:12:15
This is the abuse we're talking about here is a violation of the
1:12:20
joint statement on violence and harassment in the workplace.
1:12:24
That manager, I have the video, he is being walked out in cuffs
1:12:29
for the assault. You can't make this shit up.
1:12:31
You just can't. Now I'm going to get.
1:12:34
To see the video. I asked.
1:12:37
I'm asking the people that are in our life stage to spread this
1:12:40
around as well, because this is the stuff that we put up with
1:12:45
that managers turn a blind eye to.
1:12:48
And this just happened today. You want to tell me that you're
1:12:52
doing everything we can, everything you can to protect
1:12:56
our crafts from hostile work environments?
1:12:59
Here's a hostile work environment.
1:13:02
Unbelievable this. This you know and.
1:13:05
What's going to happen to his manager if he if if he doesn't
1:13:09
actually go to jail for this, which is a possibility.
1:13:12
He'll get moved to another office.
1:13:13
He could go to jail, he'll get promoted.
1:13:15
Move to another office. And here we go right back to the
1:13:18
original article that we were reading at the beginning.
1:13:21
Theft, throwing away mail, and violence.
1:13:24
Are these the kind of employees you want to work beside?
1:13:27
And look at what management's doing.
1:13:30
You know, I, I, I, I love my job.
1:13:32
I have done many things in my 46 years on this planet.
1:13:35
You know, I've worked in hotels and resorts for 15 years off and
1:13:39
on several different places. I've been a private business
1:13:42
owner that I literally built at home out of my basement and
1:13:46
moved into a storefront. And then I took, took the job as
1:13:50
an RCA because I needed to, to supplement my income.
1:13:54
I have been with the post office going on 10 years.
1:13:56
I love my job to death. I really do not.
1:14:00
I love what I do. I, I love my customers on every
1:14:04
route I've ran in Northern Michigan.
1:14:06
Of the 20, some routes that I have ran, I have met some really
1:14:10
awesome people. I've met some weird ones too.
1:14:12
But I have met some great dogs and some not so great dogs.
1:14:15
But I, I love my job, I love the craft.
1:14:20
That's why I've stuck with this for so long.
1:14:22
And it was, you know, the career that I could see myself retiring
1:14:26
from. But when I see stuff like this
1:14:29
or I have to deal with management personally causing
1:14:33
the divide, yet blaming the craft, blaming, blaming the, the
1:14:37
the two people out of 10 in the rural craft for the negativity,
1:14:44
even though it's the management causing it, it, it, it, it needs
1:14:49
to stop. You know, I am just to see stuff
1:14:52
like this. It's not right.
1:14:55
It's and to know that nobody's going to do anything about it.
1:15:00
Upper management's not going to hold this person accountable.
1:15:03
They're just going to push them off somewhere else.
1:15:06
If they're not in jail and forced to be fired by
1:15:10
management, they're just going to go to another office or even
1:15:13
after they serve their time or do whatever, whatever happens to
1:15:17
them, they're just going to push them along somewhere else and
1:15:20
let it be another office's problem and then so on and so
1:15:23
forth. This is the shit that needs to
1:15:26
stop. I am literally sitting here in
1:15:29
tears because this is just it. It's heart wrenching.
1:15:33
It is heart wrenching. You know, I had to listen to an
1:15:36
RCA today on the phone just ready to quit.
1:15:40
And he's tired of being treated like a dog and ran to death and
1:15:44
he's exhausted. And it's not the first RCA I've
1:15:49
heard about. I watched an RCA and I didn't
1:15:51
watch him. I discovered that he walked off
1:15:53
the job the day after Labor Day. Why?
1:15:56
Because he was tired of being ran like a dog and treated like
1:15:59
shit by management. Yet management wants to blame a
1:16:03
couple carriers for the negativity in the office.
1:16:06
No, it's time that we as carriers stand up to management.
1:16:12
It's time that we have elected representatives that are not
1:16:16
going to side with management, playing pocket pool with them at
1:16:19
the negotiating table, and to get in there and start demanding
1:16:23
that management treat the rest of us like humans.
1:16:28
I'm going to take a moment. You should.
1:16:30
I'll. Take my hat.
1:16:31
Really, I'm good. I'm taking my hat off to you
1:16:33
that yeah. Wow.
1:16:37
It sounded like a Bill rant there with emotion.
1:16:40
That is the emotion that this craft has.
1:16:44
That is what we feel. For me, in that situation, I
1:16:48
would rather that that supervisor was doing that to me
1:16:52
than one of my fellow carriers. I would rather be the one taking
1:16:55
that hit. I don't want my craft hurt.
1:16:58
I don't want my brothers and sisters to the craft abused,
1:17:02
beat down, bloody, bruised because of management.
1:17:06
This is the ship that ruins lives.
1:17:10
This carrier will never be the same and there was nobody
1:17:14
protecting them. Where was the steward?
1:17:18
Where was another craft member? Where was the manager of this
1:17:25
supervisor preventing this? Because the signs are there.
1:17:29
These kinds of people give signs.
1:17:33
You can find it in their histories.
1:17:35
I was told by a member of the national board that they will
1:17:41
move a manager because they want to see if it's just that office.
1:17:47
They want to see if the fault is in the carriers.
1:17:50
Our national board member when asked about tracking bad
1:17:55
management, we keep track of how many grievances each manager
1:17:59
has. But when then when we have them
1:18:01
move offices, usually that usually solves the problem.
1:18:05
So you're saying that a bad manager gets moved to an office
1:18:08
that is scared to file grievances?
1:18:10
That manager is rehabilitated. I don't think so.
1:18:14
You just condoned their behavior.
1:18:17
You just went OK you are having problems here, but go over here
1:18:22
with your problems and I don't think you'll have any issues.
1:18:25
No, we have a 0 tolerance policy and I believe that if management
1:18:32
is harassing, bullying and beating up on our carriers then
1:18:37
we should have a 0 pop tolerance policy for them.
1:18:40
Why the hell haven't we used MOU 25 against management?
1:18:45
Why haven't we held management accountable?
1:18:48
Why haven't we as a craft stood up and said that's enough?
1:18:53
Because our national board has said it's OK, you made a
1:18:59
mistake, we'll just move you over here and agreed with
1:19:03
management on it. There will be no agreeing with
1:19:07
management for me on this. If you are hurting my craft, God
1:19:11
help you, I will bury you in paperwork.
1:19:14
As president due Rd. tolerance works.
1:19:17
No 0 tolerance means 0 tolerance for the craft and for
1:19:21
management. No if ands or buts.
1:19:24
If that was a carrier, don't you think they'd be EP immediately?
1:19:28
They have to fight for their job back.
1:19:30
This is, you know, like James says, there are signs there are,
1:19:33
you know, which ones of management in your office
1:19:36
particularly aggravate situations because they get off
1:19:40
on it. They feel they a power rush.
1:19:42
Then we have other ones. I have, I have a supervisor, you
1:19:45
know, Oh my God, she'd be a great grandmother that she is
1:19:48
stuck between the postmaster Boom, the district represent
1:19:52
district manager, and she's forced to enforce their policies
1:19:57
on us. And you can see how
1:19:59
uncomfortable it makes her, whereas other supervisors in the
1:20:03
office, they get off on it. Well, the boom said this, and
1:20:07
this is what you're going to do because I'm your supervisor.
1:20:10
I'm telling you, that's their attitude.
1:20:11
You can see who has that mentality.
1:20:14
And I'll guarantee you this individual.
1:20:17
Has exhibited the same traits that you will see in some of the
1:20:20
carriers who are argumentative, confrontational, angry.
1:20:25
And ladies and gentlemen, you don't know what's going on in a
1:20:29
person's life outside of the office so you don't know what's
1:20:32
going to set them off. I'll guarantee you this manager
1:20:36
supervisor has a history already out there.
1:20:39
If they felt that they were justified in physically
1:20:42
assaulting a carrier for using a restroom and they've had issues
1:20:47
in the past. And I see this is from A to
1:20:50
arbitration. I bet you he's having a fit
1:20:52
right now. Corey's probably 100 feet above
1:20:55
me on the wall with this one. And I bet you I know that
1:20:58
supervisor's argument. We've had a discussion about him
1:21:01
clocking out for lunch for using the restroom.
1:21:04
That's going to be that manager's argument.
1:21:07
Even though that's against the law, restroom breaks are on the
1:21:11
clock, but that manager was told by his poom they should be
1:21:14
clocking out to use the restroom.
1:21:16
And the contract says different. And the law says different.
1:21:20
All right, guys, I think it's about time to wrap this up
1:21:23
before we get too deep into the passion and start saying things
1:21:26
that shouldn't be recorded. Thanks, Yeah, I've got my job
1:21:34
cut out for me tonight. Oh, come on, I kept it civil.
1:21:40
You kept it really good, Bill. I appreciate that.
1:21:43
You did really well. Everybody did really well
1:21:46
tonight, especially considering how heinous the items were that
1:21:50
we had. You know, This is why we're
1:21:52
here. This is why this podcast is
1:21:55
here, because this craft needs to know there are union members
1:22:00
out there that are fighting to make a difference, fighting to
1:22:04
make this craft better. Four of them are right here.
1:22:07
There are more out there that are not listed in the podcast.
1:22:11
Hundreds more. Thousands more could have
1:22:14
100,000 more, could have 130,000 more, which is the entire CRAFT
1:22:18
if we all took the time to educate other CRAFT members,
1:22:22
protect other CRAFT members. Step in when management is
1:22:26
creating a hostile environment. Because once you step in and you
1:22:30
protect that other carrier and that manager turns around and
1:22:33
takes it on you, you have a grievance.
1:22:35
You can file the grievance against management and protect
1:22:37
that carrier because that's the first step in getting rid of bad
1:22:42
management is to start a paper trail.
1:22:44
Without a paper trail, it just becomes a, he said she.
1:22:47
There has to be a paper trail, there has to be documentation,
1:22:51
there has to be dates, times, who said what.
1:22:54
Without that, it becomes a he said, she said.
1:22:56
And it there's you, you can't fight it, he said.
1:22:59
She said it's very difficult. Just reminds me of that video of
1:23:03
the Amber Heard Johnny Depp child objection hearsay.
1:23:08
You know, like I was saying when I got a little over emotional
1:23:13
there a Pisces, it does. We needed it, it it does bug me
1:23:18
with what's going on in my office specifically.
1:23:21
Most recently, I, you know, I stepped up to be the OJIA couple
1:23:26
years ago. All of a sudden they sent a new
1:23:29
employee to be an OJI last week, sent them, sent this person down
1:23:33
to training. Never said a word to me.
1:23:35
Management has and I'm the type even, you know, as a regular, I
1:23:40
have had no issues with stepping away from my case and going to
1:23:43
help a newer RCA on their route, whether it's questions with
1:23:48
casing or helping them, you know, with raw mail, if they're
1:23:51
newer or helping them get them out of the office and not even
1:23:55
putting it down. The time is assisting.
1:23:58
I don't, you know, I, I didn't, I, I've always done that out of
1:24:00
the kindness of my heart because that's the type of person I am.
1:24:02
But to have management go behind my back and send an ass kisser
1:24:08
to OJI training who's only been with the office for four months
1:24:12
and, and, and not say a word to me, not not even pull me aside
1:24:17
and say, hey, you know, maybe you know it.
1:24:21
It talks stuff out as an adult to maybe come to a happy medium
1:24:25
of what they want to see how they want this person trained,
1:24:28
but then turn around to management saying I have to
1:24:31
retrain them and now they're doing worse than they were after
1:24:34
I first trained them. It, it, it, it's hard for me to,
1:24:38
to step back away from that and I've had to force myself to step
1:24:42
back away from that because of everything else that's going on.
1:24:45
And to see these RCA struggling, You know, how much I wanted to
1:24:49
just go out and let that one RCA go home because he had to miss
1:24:54
his family dinner. He's 20 years old.
1:24:57
To have him on the phone with me almost in tears because he's
1:25:01
not, he's, you know, he's tired, he's exhausted.
1:25:04
I get it. I, I, I know what it's like to
1:25:06
run around six days a week and having to go help.
1:25:08
I mean, I've been in those shoes as an RCA and and I wanted to
1:25:13
literally just drive out there and go help finish that route so
1:25:17
he could go home, but I couldn't.
1:25:19
I wasn't asked to. If I had been asked, I probably
1:25:22
was said, yeah, I'll go help him no problem.
1:25:23
But just have to step back away and let management mismanage.
1:25:29
And it's it's killing me. It really, really is killing me
1:25:34
to not be able to let myself help where help is needed
1:25:39
because I have that target on my back as an educated carrier,
1:25:45
extremely educated carrier in my office, the most educated
1:25:48
carrier in my office currently. And I'm helping the new support
1:25:52
point and the new steward and directions on where where to go
1:25:55
and how to do. You know, we, we talk on the
1:25:57
phone outside of work all the time.
1:25:59
It, it, it's breaking me. It really is.
1:26:02
And it makes me want to fight this fight even more for these
1:26:06
people or the entire craft to not let management run over them
1:26:11
the way that management is getting away with running over
1:26:14
them. And that's just from my own
1:26:15
personal experience right now. And it's sad, you know, I said,
1:26:19
I've heard stories from carriers on all parts of the country,
1:26:23
whether it's text message, phone calls, emails.
1:26:26
And it just it, it breaks my heart.
1:26:29
It makes me want to fight harder for everybody, not just those in
1:26:34
my office, but everybody across the country.
1:26:36
And I just needed to get that out.
1:26:37
Why We're wrapping stuff up. And Kristen, it starts at the
1:26:40
top. It does it, truly.
1:26:43
Needs faith in your leadership. You don't have faith in your
1:26:46
leadership if you don't trust them.
1:26:48
If you, we don't believe them, if you don't think they have
1:26:51
your best interests at heart, they don't.
1:26:53
And we need to do that. We need to reinstill those
1:26:56
qualities back into the national board and we will go out and
1:27:00
prove that we care and we will work our asses off because it's
1:27:05
a position of service. It's not a position of
1:27:09
authority. It's a position of
1:27:10
responsibility. You're responsible for every
1:27:14
carrier union and non union in this craft.
1:27:18
Like I've said before, if they do it to one of us, they'll do
1:27:21
it to all of us, union or not. So if you don't stand up and say
1:27:26
the king is naked and he's going to walk around with impunity
1:27:29
just like this asshole out there in PA 1.
1:27:32
And I guarantee you tomorrow morning on July 4th, my day of
1:27:36
freedom, as so many people have sacrificed their lives for us to
1:27:39
have. I'm going to be sending these
1:27:41
letters out to my elected officials and I'll be contacting
1:27:46
the three major, four major news outlets in the Philadelphia area
1:27:50
because this shit has got to stop.
1:27:54
It really. Does we're, we're running to
1:27:56
serve you guys like my entire working career has been about
1:27:59
service from food service, customer service, emergency
1:28:03
services to now Postal Service. I know customer service and
1:28:08
technically if we get this job, you are the customers because
1:28:10
you are paying for us to do a job for you.
1:28:13
So we have to serve you. We have to have your best
1:28:16
interests at heart. We have to listen to you.
1:28:20
That is the one biggest thing that I don't see on this board
1:28:23
right now is someone who will listen and actually hear you
1:28:26
out. And follow up.
1:28:29
I've got to disagree with Toasty.
1:28:31
They do listen to us, listen to every podcast.
1:28:35
It's. Not in the way we want him to.
1:28:39
I, I will say there is a Unicorn on the board.
1:28:45
There is. I will not.
1:28:47
I will not name who it is, but I do know a Unicorn on that board.
1:28:51
That's one out of nine. That's not good enough.
1:28:53
I agree, but we can't save the entire board when one makes a
1:28:58
difference. Yeah, you know, and like Toasty,
1:29:00
I've, you know, most of my career as in a, most of my jobs
1:29:05
have been customer service of one side or another, whether it
1:29:09
be fast food as a teenager, hotels all the way up into
1:29:13
management and working in the hospitality industry, even my
1:29:18
own private business, I was doing a service, I was involved
1:29:21
with A501C3 at the same time as I was running my business to
1:29:25
help people in need. I worked in the natural
1:29:29
parenting field, cloth diapers, natural products for babies,
1:29:33
whatnot. And I worked with a, it's now a
1:29:35
defunct 5O1C3. Unfortunately the founder was
1:29:38
got caught and buzzling, but I was helping people that were in
1:29:43
need with, you know, cloth diapers and diapering needs and
1:29:48
educating them and how to do it. I, I literally started with a
1:29:52
sewing machine in my basement and made cloth diapers for my
1:29:55
own child, my youngest who is going to be 14 this year and got
1:30:00
involved and literally took my stash to start my own chapter of
1:30:05
this 5O1C3 at the time. And I was helping families not
1:30:09
only in Northern Michigan, but in a couple different states as
1:30:13
well. And I was educating other
1:30:15
parents that were interested in coming in and how to do it and
1:30:19
what to look for and the different fabrics and, you know,
1:30:22
and how to take care of even a simple diaper rash naturally
1:30:26
without, you know, harsh chemicals and, and whatnot.
1:30:30
So I've always been the type that has always taken care of
1:30:34
people. Even as a young dumb teenager,
1:30:38
early 20s, out of my own and having the parties, I was still
1:30:43
the one that was taking care of everybody.
1:30:45
That's just who I am. And I want to be able to help
1:30:50
take care of the craft as a whole and lead the craft into a
1:30:55
better future. You know, yes, I know parcels
1:30:58
are a big part of our future and how our mail is declined.
1:31:01
I have seen it first hand in, in, you know, nearly ten years.
1:31:05
And, you know, I'm lugging that big crap just like everybody
1:31:09
else. Unfortunately, that is going to
1:31:10
be our future. But we need to make sure we save
1:31:13
this craft and save the service of, you know, servicing our
1:31:18
customers. You know, I, I have, I do have
1:31:20
older, a lot of, you know, we all have our older customers.
1:31:25
And you know, I have some, you know, she, she had told me that
1:31:28
she was having open heart surgery and I, you know, told
1:31:31
her I would check in from her time to time.
1:31:33
She's not a hardship. I know her mail piles up for a
1:31:36
few days and it's got first class and she's got informed
1:31:39
delivery. She let me know I take it to her
1:31:41
door and I check in on her and she's thankful for that.
1:31:45
Every time I do that, you know, even my hardships, I will take
1:31:49
that extra minute or so and have a conversation with them and see
1:31:53
how they're doing. You know, it's that's who I am
1:31:58
in general. I am that nurturer, and that's
1:32:02
what I want to be for. The entire craft is to be there
1:32:05
to help guide you, to help educate you, to help and to
1:32:09
stand up for you when it comes to the brutality that we get
1:32:12
from management. All right.
1:32:14
Guys, anything else? This is a civil service that we
1:32:19
provide to the country. We are here to service our
1:32:23
customers, which are the general public.
1:32:27
And the thing about it is, is management has forgotten it.
1:32:32
Management has forgotten that we are a service, not a business.
1:32:37
And until they remember that our job is a service to the
1:32:41
community, we're going to continue the beatings until
1:32:45
morale improves. That is their mentality.
1:32:48
And I'm going to kind of steal the senator from Nevada's line
1:32:53
when talking to Postmaster Lewis Dejoy.
1:32:55
It's a service, Sir. Get it right.
1:32:58
And this service is maintained by the Crafts.
1:33:01
And we are the responsible parties to take care of the mail
1:33:07
and anything with postage on it. And they're telling us that
1:33:11
we're becoming a parcel service. I'm sorry, those parcels have
1:33:15
postage on them, which makes them mail.
1:33:19
They are mailable matter. So it is still mail that we are
1:33:24
delivering, even if it is parcels.
1:33:26
We gone on a little bit of a rant tonight.
1:33:28
Well, a lot of a rant tonight, but it's because we care about
1:33:32
each and every one of our craft members, each and every one of
1:33:35
our brothers and sisters out there working every day to
1:33:39
deliver every piece of mail that they have that they receive in
1:33:44
their office. And I want to tell you that no
1:33:46
matter what, we're all in this together.
1:33:49
We are. We are.
1:33:49
I just want to, I just want to apologize for any vulgarity that
1:33:55
I may or may not admit to in regards to this podcast because
1:34:01
of the fact that no, I'm an angry man.
1:34:04
But you know what? Sometimes you need to be angry.
1:34:06
Sometimes you need to get your, your cockles up and, and demand
1:34:11
better because you know, we deserve better.
1:34:13
All of us deserve better than what we're getting.
1:34:17
You know, we, we, we don't need to worry about going to the
1:34:20
bathroom and getting a broken jaw, don't need to worry about
1:34:24
being EP because we're not wearing the shoulder strap
1:34:27
between mailboxes that are 150 feet apart.
1:34:31
Don't need the constant harassment or the threats over
1:34:35
our jobs. You know, with the language of
1:34:38
including two and possibly termination, everything is a
1:34:42
threat. What, what's, what's the problem
1:34:45
with working together? It seemed to be on a course and
1:34:49
it it starts at the top just ripping our craft apart.
1:34:53
And somebody said several months ago that they're trying to get
1:34:57
rid of the older carriers. Well, financially that would be
1:35:00
in their best interest to get rid of the table one carriers,
1:35:03
wouldn't it? But you still have the problem
1:35:05
that the Table 2 carriers aren't making a living wage.
1:35:09
You still have the problem, where are the RCA's, whether
1:35:12
they have one month in or 23 years are making the same amount
1:35:17
of money that the whole system is in a spiraling plunge.
1:35:23
They really are trying to drive and divide us as a craft,
1:35:28
whether it be city rule, the custodians, truck drivers, I I
1:35:33
don't understand their mentality.
1:35:35
I do know one thing, you put us on the national board and I'll
1:35:38
guarantee you the National Rule Letter Carriers Association will
1:35:42
be a spitting image of the type of people you want defending
1:35:47
you, representing you. We will be your voice.
1:35:50
We will be your champions. I want to talk about service.
1:35:54
Wait till we get in there. Then you'll see what you've had.
1:35:58
This is what you're getting and you'll be going, Oh my God, we
1:36:00
could have had this for years. Yes, you could have.
1:36:03
Don't be afraid of change, because if we don't change,
1:36:07
we're going to die as a service industry and as a craft.
1:36:11
Bill, I just have to say, don't confuse passion for anger.
1:36:15
Right. That's that's what I've told
1:36:17
people. I mean, you know, I get
1:36:19
passionate and it sounds like anger.
1:36:20
Well, it's not anger. You don't want me angry.
1:36:24
You don't ever want to see me angry.
1:36:26
That's one thing that scares me. When I get angry, that's when I
1:36:30
get focused and then, you know, all hell will break loose.
1:36:34
But passion, I have plenty of passion is craft for my fellow
1:36:38
workers, the post office, for my customers.
1:36:41
I mean, in short, I've could have retired several years ago.
1:36:45
I don't need the money. I don't need the time.
1:36:47
So my wife's younger than me. So instead of sitting home and,
1:36:50
you know, trying to find something to do, continue
1:36:52
working. And thankfully Kristen started
1:36:56
united. We scan brought me back into the
1:36:58
fold because on the other podcast, we were going down a a
1:37:02
dark hole and she resurrected my passion.
1:37:05
Thank you very much, Kristen, in regards to what what I feel for
1:37:09
these people that I work with, customers that I work for, the
1:37:13
kids, the dogs, like Kristen said, the elderly that you check
1:37:17
in on. We, we are the face of the post
1:37:20
office and management forgets that without us, there is no
1:37:24
post office. We don't need management.
1:37:27
If every person in in management in my office called out, he
1:37:30
could still get the job done better.
1:37:33
No animosity, no threats. We would step up and do it, and
1:37:37
we got a new supervisor in our office for the rule craft who
1:37:40
had no idea what routes were adjacent to others when there
1:37:43
was vacant routes. We had a sub with five years
1:37:47
experience turn around and basically assign everybody what
1:37:51
to do, how to do and how much because the supervisor didn't
1:37:55
have the knowledge, the skill, the ability to do it.
1:37:59
And this went on for, you know, almost a year and a half.
1:38:02
But the fact of the matter is, we know how to do the job and
1:38:05
they don't. They need us.
1:38:07
We don't need them. Very true, very, very true.
1:38:10
You know, and I've seen it in, in, in my office with, you know,
1:38:14
we'd have a brand new 204 B from the City side.
1:38:17
Both of our 204 BS are on the City side.
1:38:20
You know, supervisor, postmasters, not there.
1:38:22
They just kind of kick back and let it go because we know what
1:38:26
we're doing. No, we do.
1:38:28
We know what we're doing. You know, we try to help.
1:38:31
I, you know, I've been known. I've gotten thank you cards from
1:38:35
my postmaster saying thank you for all your assistance and
1:38:38
thank you for helping the Rcas and thank you for doing this.
1:38:41
But then she wants to turn around and say that I've got
1:38:45
something planned against her or I'm not training proper instead
1:38:49
of talking like a human being, you know?
1:38:51
And it's just got to the point where I've had to force myself
1:38:55
to step back and let her manage the way that she wants to
1:39:00
manage. And it's hard.
1:39:01
It really, really is hard. And it sucks for my own personal
1:39:06
mentality. We had a Christmas about four or
1:39:09
five years ago and the master was off on that particular
1:39:13
Friday. 3 supervisors were in. One's a clerk supervisor, one
1:39:17
city and one rural. 5 clerks called out and we're inundated
1:39:22
with packages. The clerk supervisor is telling
1:39:25
us that we're going to have to go out in the routes and come
1:39:27
back and get the parcels. And I said, oh, bullshit.
1:39:30
I said we'll take care of this this morning.
1:39:32
And I got four of the Subs and three regular carriers from the
1:39:35
rural side knew the routes and we went over to start sorting
1:39:39
this. Before we had our parcel sorting
1:39:40
machine, we could call out a street and and somebody would
1:39:43
know which hamper went into The City side also jumped in and did
1:39:47
the same damn thing. Do you know we got rid of 34
1:39:51
pallets of parcels in less than two hours without management's
1:39:57
assistance? There's been times where we'll
1:40:00
only have two clerks in the office.
1:40:02
Truck comes later. It's a way more than what was
1:40:04
expected and. You've got one trying to do
1:40:07
mail, one trying to throw packages and we're all standing
1:40:10
around. You know how many times I've
1:40:12
seen carriers go over there and start sorting the flats into the
1:40:15
tubs and, you know, going and, yeah, we know what to do.
1:40:21
We know where it goes. We can operate without man.
1:40:25
Amen. I don't need a manager to come
1:40:27
back and tell me that, you know. Well, was your scanner clear?
1:40:31
Because my computer systems down.
1:40:32
Yeah, I know. I delivered everything.
1:40:34
You know, I I don't need management barking down my back
1:40:38
because, you know, well, they misdelivered a parcel.
1:40:42
You need to go find it. OK, well, you know, well, see
1:40:45
what I can do. Well, did you find.
1:40:47
No, I didn't find it. But, you know, then I follow up
1:40:50
with the customer. Yeah, so and so from down the
1:40:52
street brought it to me. OK, cool.
1:40:54
You know, we know how to do our job, but if we were at all just
1:40:58
poof, disappear and not a single person came into that office,
1:41:01
management wouldn't know what to do.
1:41:03
All right guys, we are wrapping this up now.
1:41:06
Just remember, as James says, we are all in this together.
1:41:10
We really are, and it's going to take all of us together.
1:41:13
Be the change. And on that note, guys, we'll be
1:41:15
back for normal programming on survey.
1:41:17
Take care. Have a happy, safe 4th of July
1:41:20
be. Careful with fireworks around
1:41:24
your your dogs and cats. They don't take well.
1:41:27
To that and if it if you are setting off fireworks, do not go
1:41:32
stand over it going why didn't this go off and well take a body
1:41:36
part or two. Don't do that, guys.
1:41:38
Well, that's okay, we don't care.
1:41:40
IT management tried to educate you.
1:41:43
Oh yeah, yeah. You know, that's your fault now.
1:41:45
Stay safe out there. I mean, I live in a tourist
1:41:48
area. Traffic was horrendous today on
1:41:50
my route. But you know, everybody just
1:41:53
have a safe. Happy 4th of July.
1:41:55
We will be back. Just a reminder to everybody
1:42:10
listening, the views expressed on this podcast are of the
1:42:13
presenters of the presenters only, unless duly noted, and do
1:42:17
not represent the views, opinions or strategies of the
1:42:19
United States Postal Service or the National Royal Letter
1:42:21
Carriers Association unless it came directly from them.