Latest / United We Scan / Announcements, News and Route Cut

Transcript

Announcements, News and Route Cut · United We Scan

0:15
Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
0:18
carriers for rural carriers. The views expressed in this
0:22
podcast are of the presenters and the presenters only and do
0:25
not represent the views, opinions, or strategies of the
0:28
United States Postal Service or the National Rural Letter
0:30
Carriers Association. We ask that you please consult
0:33
your assigned union representative for guidance in
0:35
your local area. Please like this podcast, share
0:39
with your fellow world carriers, and subscribe to be notified
0:42
each time a new episode is uploaded.
0:44
Please leave a comment or question for us below.
0:47
Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
0:50
United We Scan podcast. Welcome back everybody.
0:54
Episode 76 got some announcements, some news and a
0:59
little bit later our friend that joined us a couple weeks ago,
1:04
Lynn will be back and talking about her out cuts and a little
1:08
bit more on the SNDC experience. So until then, how was your
1:13
week? Toasty.
1:16
But it's warming up here in Texas, it's getting into the 90s
1:20
and of course in the vehicles it gets up to 100 already.
1:24
But other than that, I'm glad that the political run offs are
1:27
done. It was a nice change this week
1:30
to not have to case up 500 political ads because they're
1:34
all run backwards. But other than that, added my
1:41
three new dismounts in the DPM and then did my LTM mapping even
1:45
though they had an error last week.
1:48
Looked like something was going on where they wouldn't download
1:51
the new stuff. Turn in my edit book.
1:55
Getting ready for next week where we got my date convention
2:01
and also the local area posts a day at Six Flags for all the
2:10
postal employees. So that'll be on Sunday and then
2:12
go straight over into three days of state convention.
2:15
So how about you, James? How was your week?
2:20
A week was good. Heavier package volumes this
2:24
week except for two Wednesday. Wednesday was pretty light, but
2:28
Tuesday was heavy. Thursday and Friday were heavy.
2:33
Just quite normal for the mail volume on average.
2:36
I mean, it was a little, so a little bit higher.
2:38
Started seeing some political ads starting to come out.
2:42
So that's another thing we have to be on the lookout for.
2:44
I know you just had your runoffs there toasty, but it's going to
2:48
start getting worse and worse in political ads because we get
2:51
closer to the November election. But Saturday was a good day.
2:57
Went out and played tennis for a little bit and then focused on
3:03
taken care of other things that I need to get done around the
3:06
house before the rain started. Then today I spent the day on
3:13
the build of fighting in ALC Zoom meeting that they had.
3:18
It was a very, very informative meeting that they had even had a
3:22
chance to talk on it. And they will have that
3:24
available, the recording available for those who weren't
3:28
able to attend. So All in all, a pretty good
3:33
week. How about you Bill?
3:34
How was your week? Let's see, since they screwed up
3:40
my first scheduled operation previous week, I had the I had
3:45
the time scheduled off. So I did and care of a lot of
3:49
local union business for myself as well as the state because I'm
3:55
now on the carrier of the year election committee.
4:02
OK, that, that's just a high honor that I was ever expecting.
4:07
So I accepted that. And then on Thursday, I, I was
4:12
operated on for a hernia and I'm recuperating well enough.
4:19
And if you listen to the end of the podcast, you may or may not
4:23
hear what I've said about my incision.
4:26
Other than that, I mean, I, I, I've been, I've been fielding a
4:31
lot of questions and concerns from people from everything
4:35
where, you know, they, they have the parent child routes, the
4:39
mapping, the bread crumbs, the, you know, DPS it, it's amazing
4:46
the amount of problems Rex has generated.
4:49
And if you consider the fact that they had over 10 years to
4:52
get this thing off the ground, they, they have basically and,
4:57
and miserably failed at getting this system correct with all
5:02
that time and money they invested into Rex.
5:04
So I'll, I'll have to say that I, I'm, I'm interested in seeing
5:10
where this evening goes because of the fact that there are so
5:15
many problems and I can't even figure out how in the world
5:18
they're going to have these adjustments done in any timely
5:22
fashion. And with that, I see Lynette's
5:24
here. So Lynette, how was your week?
5:27
My week was good, day after holiday was rough and Saturday
5:33
it seems. I don't know about where you
5:35
guys all are but it seems like they hit us hard on Saturdays.
5:38
It's like, jeez, you know nothing, just a regular week.
5:50
Hey, Kristen, how about you? How'd your week go?
5:53
Oh Tuesday was hell in a handbag.
5:57
I I ended up getting a parcel assistance Tuesday I gave him
6:03
all the dismounts for the back half but I still had to stop and
6:08
reload at the office twice. Once coming, when I go from my
6:13
North End my first hour of the route to the passing through
6:17
town of the South end, I had to stop and pick up the last tub of
6:21
smalls that I couldn't fit in for the front half as well as
6:25
another extremely large package for the front half.
6:30
And then when I came back up before I started the back half,
6:35
I had to stop again and pick up the five tubs of smalls for the
6:39
back half as well as a couple other packages that I knew fit
6:43
in mailboxes. But I got back and I was like,
6:47
well, I had 214 scans and the sub that took my parcels, he had
6:54
44. But that was a big help.
6:59
So but then Wednesday through Friday, I was training our
7:03
newest RCA. That was pretty much my week.
7:09
And then yesterday, Saturday, was my bonus sons graduation
7:14
open house. So we were over there, gorgeous
7:17
weather and hanging out with everybody for the day.
7:20
Yesterday. Yeah.
7:22
Other than that, you know, tomorrow's Monday, Back to the
7:26
norm. I have my route inspection on
7:27
Wednesday or not Wednesday. Excuse me.
7:29
Tuesday, yay. And then Wednesday, Ruby's OB
7:34
appointment, I'm working through Saturday.
7:39
And then our state conventions, memorial and caucus are Sunday
7:43
evening and business starts on Monday.
7:46
So yeah, nothing too exciting going on.
7:52
All right, so I've got a few announcements to make before we
7:55
get this all started. And the very, very first
7:59
announcement I have to make is that with the prevalence of
8:04
state conventions going on and especially with Michigan's
8:08
coming up this next weekend, our regularly scheduled recording
8:13
will be done Saturday at 7:00 PM, this coming Saturday at 7:00
8:19
PM Eastern Time, because most of the Kristen and I will be at our
8:25
state convention on Sunday at 7:00 PM.
8:28
So we're going a day early on the recording for the episode.
8:33
So if you're in our audience and you want to hear our live
8:36
recording, you just Saturday at 7:00 PM Eastern and our Discord
8:41
server, we record live, so feel free to join us there #shameless
8:46
plug announcement #2 we're still looking for people to walk with
8:53
us. Some of us are still looking for
8:56
people to nominate us for the national board or other things
9:00
involved with running for office.
9:03
So if you wish to help us out with our our campaigns, get a
9:08
hold of us, message us Discord, Facebook, somehow like that, let
9:14
us know. And lastly, our merch store.
9:19
You can get shirts and political campaign items if you want to
9:24
wear them for National Convention, order them now, get
9:27
them now because it takes a little while for them to make
9:30
them and send them to you. So the earlier you order, the
9:34
better. Plus there's also the
9:36
merchandise for the podcast on there as well.
9:40
So please feel free to do your Father's Day shopping there if
9:43
you'd like, or other items. So those are my announcements
9:48
for right now. You guys have any announcements
9:50
you want to make? I was going to say if anybody
9:54
has any ideas for other merchandise that you'd like to
9:58
see available, please shoot us a message or an e-mail and I'll
10:04
look and see if it's something that we can put on there since
10:07
everything is pretty much made to order.
10:11
And then 'cause I know some of us, we were talking, I know
10:14
Toasty and I and my daughter were talking about like quirky
10:18
postal sayings on like baby onesies and T-shirts and stuff.
10:22
We were joking around about that on the drive to from the airport
10:26
to mid state. So yeah, stuff like that.
10:30
If you guys got any ideas that you'd like to see and and I'll
10:33
be more than happy to see if we can get it up there.
10:37
All right. So our latest edition of the
10:42
National Rural Letter Carrier magazine came out, just
10:46
announced a few days ago. It came out for June.
10:51
And of course, there's a couple very good articles in there.
10:57
The first one I want to point out is from our Director of
11:01
Stewart Operations, frequently asked questions on your rights
11:06
and filing agreements, and any real carrier that can get access
11:12
to this should read these because they are vitally
11:15
important for not only knowing your rights as a member of this
11:22
union, but also in the process of filing a grievance.
11:27
You have to be careful and take it with a grain of salt.
11:33
Do your own research with anything that you read or
11:35
anything you listen to. But that is a very good article.
11:39
There's also a good article about the Senate Homeland
11:47
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee holding a
11:49
hearing on USPS oversight. Actually had the opportunity to
11:53
listen to it live. But the one I wanted to talk
11:56
about today is our wonderful article from our president.
12:03
USPS is the largest and most unionized entity in the US.
12:11
Now. I had asked if everybody had
12:14
read it, and not a lot of people have because the magazine hasn't
12:18
come in the mail yet for some people.
12:23
But I want you to think about this.
12:26
In his article, he posted that the NALC has been negotiating
12:33
for more than 15 months on their contract and we have only been
12:41
negotiating for a few months just prior to the expiration of
12:48
our current contract. Sure, they can talk about they
12:51
were negotiating and talking about it prior to this.
12:55
But Bill, what is your take on how long it's taking the NALC
13:01
and our Union's efforts towards contract negotiation?
13:07
Well, in regards to our brothers and sisters in the NALC, it
13:12
would seem to me that there are substantive issues that are
13:18
trying to be addressed, not coming to a compromise when
13:24
you're 15 months into contract negotiations.
13:29
And I do believe they said that they have already selected
13:33
arbitrators, but they haven't instituted the arbitration
13:36
process. The fact of the matter is that
13:41
either the NLAC is asking for ridiculous increases or the post
13:46
office is denying any increases in light of their business model
13:50
that has basically failed for the last five years, if not 20.
13:55
But in the last five years, it really has taken a downturn in
13:59
regards to our profitability. Even after having, you know, the
14:06
the predetermined penalty of retirement and healthcare 75
14:12
years into the future, the post office is not in a basically
14:18
sound position to offer a lot. Does that mean that we shouldn't
14:25
ask for a lot? No, the the same way that people
14:29
have said that we should be getting paid like in regards to
14:33
like services like the UPS and FedEx and all that.
14:37
Please realize that'll never happen because of the fact that
14:41
we are a service. We're not so much a business as
14:46
we are services. And that that'll be the main
14:48
arguing point that we are not an independent corporation that
14:53
operates on, you know, profitability shareholders and
14:57
answering to a board, board of, of elected individuals that set
15:04
rates policies. We are, we are determined, our
15:09
future is determined is by the Board of Governors of PRPRC by
15:15
Dejoy's policies. So the fact that they're 15
15:20
months into it, we're only several months.
15:22
I thought the actual expiration was the 20th, is it not?
15:29
And, you know, we should not be rushing into an agreement with
15:36
the post office just to be the first because of the fact that
15:40
we think we're going to get the bigger piece of pie.
15:42
And, you know, whoever settles after us will be getting the
15:46
crumbs. I don't see a lot of movement in
15:52
the contract negotiations for National Rule Letter Carriers
15:56
Association and the, the city carriers that, that they
16:00
basically have proven that they're going to drag their feet
16:03
as long as they can to see what they can get out of the, the,
16:06
the unions and basically beat us again into the dirt.
16:12
I don't see, I don't see the table two being a negotiating
16:15
point for either of the of the unions, But it has to be.
16:22
We have to be able to pay our carriers a living wage and Table
16:26
2 is not a living wage. Kristen, your thoughts?
16:35
Well, I hadn't read it just yet and have a moment too.
16:40
But don't buy what you said. You know, Table 2 isn't is not a
16:45
livable wage as even as a 46K Table 2 step one, you know, it's
16:52
really I am living as much paycheck to paycheck as I was
16:57
when I was in RCA It it's not and they really need to take
17:02
that into account. It's sad that it has to be that
17:07
way. Toasty your thoughts?
17:14
Well, especially after listening to from aid arbitration, knowing
17:19
why the NALC is so delayed in their contract negotiations, you
17:25
know, it, it's, it's kind of refreshing to see at least we're
17:30
talking now and we actually have a union president who is
17:34
currently present. But with them, they, they've had
17:38
a lot of mishaps up top out for the NALC that has caused a lot
17:43
of this delay. A lot of, you know, this 15
17:46
months, you know, not having anyone there to actually bargain
17:51
on behalf of the NALC, on behalf of the carriers.
17:55
So I don't think it'll take us as long to get a contract.
17:59
But there's also my fear that I even spoke with you about at mid
18:03
states that maybe they're trying to wait it out, see what the
18:07
economy is going to do. And then that way they can try
18:11
to either if it tanks, then they can say, oh, Nope, we need to
18:16
keep Table 2. Nope, we can't pay that much.
18:19
See how everything's going down and whatnot.
18:22
But I mean, other than that, it's just been what Dejoya said
18:26
during Congress, which is, oh, we didn't account for inflation
18:31
to be so high. You know, we're, we're still
18:34
trying to implement these S&D CS and then turns around after that
18:38
hearing and says, OK, we're going to pause on that and then
18:41
still implements them as we saw in Phoenix.
18:46
It it's, it's kind of a wait and see type of moment for us, for
18:51
us and the NLC and all the other unions.
18:57
You Lynn, you have any comments? I do.
19:01
I'm on table one because I've been in the post office since O3
19:06
and with inflation as high as it is, it's hard.
19:10
Even on table one. My kids are grown and they have
19:15
their own jobs. I I don't know how people are
19:17
doing it on table two or, you know, minimum wage.
19:21
How are people making it? It's, it's our turn.
19:26
It's our turn for a good contract.
19:28
It is. That's my.
19:32
Nail on the head. You hit the nail on the head.
19:36
You know, it's and that's why the labour movement is having
19:39
such a big push right now is because of that very fact that
19:43
people are unable to afford to live anymore.
19:47
You know, people are living paycheck to paycheck and
19:51
sometimes two to three paychecks ahead.
19:55
They're so far behind they're planning out five, six paychecks
19:59
down the road, exactly what bills are going to be paid, how
20:02
close to shut off they are on bills and stuff like that, you
20:06
know, and then do you have? When I was on the fight fighting
20:15
Build a fighting NALC Zoom meeting 1 Carrier even said he
20:21
talked to Brian Renfro about the negotiations and table two being
20:27
removed. And the comment that he made
20:31
about it was basically that Renfro didn't think they could
20:35
get rid of table two in the NALC.
20:39
So unfortunately that's not a good sign on our end either if
20:44
we're waiting to see what the NALC will do.
20:47
But continuing with this, one of the things that he put in this
20:52
article was from 2010 to 2020, the number of non career
20:59
physicians across the Postal Service grew by 68.6%.
21:05
And of course it's more pronounced in the rural craft
21:09
due to the higher usage of non career workers.
21:13
As of September of 2020 end of September 2023, the USPS non
21:19
career force workforce was only 18% and the number of non career
21:25
workers in the NALC or NRLCA was more than double that at 38.3
21:32
and was at its highest 45.5% in 2018.
21:38
So I want you to think about this.
21:40
In 2018 almost half of the career force in the NRLCA and a
21:49
half the workforce in the NRLCA was relief carriers arcs and PTS
21:56
or no just arcs and and Rcas. Not even PTS because it says non
22:00
career and PTS are career. So I'm going to smoke there.
22:04
And that's now down to 38.3%. Now some of those could have
22:10
been converted to PTFS in offices that hadn't previously
22:13
had PTFS. But it's also significant to
22:17
think that these are less relief carriers we have working as
22:23
well. So and let me he's saying let.
22:27
Me. Let me interject there, James
22:30
with Toasty. When you said that, you know,
22:32
you're at least a little bit confident about our president
22:35
talking already about the contract negotiations.
22:39
You have to remember back when Don said that negotiations start
22:44
as soon as the last contract was signed.
22:48
Oh, it's not like he's already jumped on the bandwagon.
22:51
It he has said they have been, you know, negotiating since the
22:55
last contract was signed. Therefore, he's had several
22:59
years to get this underway. Not only as an executive
23:06
committeeman, but also as vice president.
23:09
Correct. He's been, he's been, he's been
23:11
involved in negotiations for years and years and years.
23:17
So he should know exactly how it goes and how it should have been
23:19
done and how it could have been solved by the time the contract
23:22
expired. Exactly.
23:26
But the issues he wants to work on is non career positions is
23:31
higher pay, benefits, working conditions and a quicker path to
23:35
becoming career employees. And he also says we also have
23:41
proposals that address the needs of our career carriers for
23:44
better pay and leave replacement coverage.
23:49
So the way I translate that personally is that he wants to
23:54
hire more PTFS which moves more non career non career positions
24:01
into career positions which also helps with leave replacement
24:07
coverage because it moves people to weekdays instead.
24:12
Some people will have two days, 2 days of working a day off, 3
24:17
days of working a day off. Especially in formula offices.
24:23
And he doesn't even speak on the working conditions involving
24:30
hostile work environments. One of the biggest things that
24:33
I've been pushing against was hostile work environments.
24:36
That's not even addressed in his article.
24:38
He doesn't even talk about that. So how do you feel about that,
24:42
Kristen? Yeah, I mean, and I I get it for
24:48
for the leave replacements and the higher wages.
24:50
I mean, we do need more. There are still offices across
24:53
this country that have none and carriers working six days a week
24:59
for months and years on end. And it's ridiculous.
25:03
But at the same time, if you're going to bump them up to try and
25:06
make it more insightful, but you know, I agree, you're going to
25:11
have to bump up table too. But at the same time, it is that
25:17
hostile working environment. It is the disrespect from
25:22
management that these leave replacements receive early on
25:27
and why they leave and why we can't keep them and why hiring
25:30
lists aren't getting filled because they're going to tell
25:33
their friends and the word get passed around about what a
25:36
horrific person that postmaster supervisor is to work for.
25:40
So nobody's going to want to apply, but they don't understand
25:44
that especially, especially in these smaller communities where
25:53
everybody knows everybody. And you have, you know, you have
25:57
a postmaster that was moved over there or took that position
26:01
that's not from there, where travels around really fast even
26:06
in some of the bigger communities.
26:08
You know, it's just that's why you're not even getting the
26:12
hiring list because everybody knows that that management team
26:16
is horrible to work for. Yeah, that's exactly what's.
26:28
Going on, yeah, you're talking exactly the same thing that's
26:32
just happened over at the Amazon warehouse here in Pontiac.
26:36
They, they were actually scared because they were literally
26:41
running out of people to work for them because they were
26:45
firing people left and right for not being the arbitrary metrics,
26:50
you know, standards of work performance that are set by a
26:53
computer and a spreadsheet. Oh, sounds very familiar.
26:57
And so they would fire them and they were literally, they
27:01
literally went through the entire population of the city of
27:06
Pontiac in less than a year in numbers of employee turnover.
27:12
So when you have arbitrary metrics that you use to punish
27:16
people with, which is what management's doing to a lot of
27:19
us, which is how we get to harassment, you end up with high
27:24
turnover. What do you think, Bill?
27:29
Well, I, I think it's funny that Don was using all of our talking
27:34
points from last year in regards to retention and work conditions
27:38
and everything else. But it, it really does come down
27:42
to the atmosphere at work, whether it's toxic, whether it's
27:49
belittling, be meaning, whatever you want to term it as the, the
27:53
fact of the matter is that we have management that are
27:58
unqualified to be in the positions they're at.
28:01
And the other point is that they're fearful for their
28:05
positions. They're, they're in fear of the
28:06
postmaster, who's in fear of the poon, who's in fear of the
28:09
district manager of doing their jobs.
28:13
And the worst part of it is they spend more, more time doing
28:16
reports than they actually do supervising.
28:20
And and that that's like, like Brex, OK, you have three
28:24
engineers, you turn around and sit there for years regarding
28:29
all this data and saying this is how you do it, this is how you
28:32
do it and this is the way it'll be done.
28:34
And the problem of it is that in actuality, that's not how we
28:39
perform our jobs. That's why we are the most
28:42
efficient workforce in the Postal Service because we
28:47
develop our own personal shortcuts on how to do the job
28:50
within the guidelines of the six O 3 in the contract.
28:54
And we do it efficiently and we do it safely and and we put our
28:58
asses on the line every day when we go out on the route.
29:02
And we are the face of the post office that our customers are
29:06
accustomed to. And we are the ones that they
29:10
have trust and faith in because of the fact that they call the
29:14
postmaster or the supervisor to find out about a parcel or a
29:17
certified there. There is no trust whatsoever.
29:20
And whatever they're saying to the customer, and then the
29:23
customer comes back to you the next day and say, hey, Bill, you
29:26
know, your, your supervisor told me this.
29:28
And I just say, don't worry about it.
29:29
I'll take care of it. We're the face of the post
29:33
office and these people are just sitting, sitting back and
29:36
crunching numbers, having to be in teleconferences.
29:39
Got to get this report done by this time or that time.
29:43
Why are we having teleconferences and, and having
29:46
reports done while their carrier's still on the floor?
29:52
I don't get it. I, I don't understand where are
29:55
the dynamics of the United States Postal Service is in
29:59
regards to performing the service that we are entrusted
30:02
with. Give me the mail, give me the
30:05
parcels, leave me alone, let me do my job.
30:10
If I fail to do the job, then, you know, pull me in.
30:13
But otherwise you do your end of the job.
30:16
I'll take care of my end. And I think I speak for about
30:19
95% of the the carriers out there in regards to doing our
30:23
jobs way they should be every day.
30:28
Any thoughts for you? Basically y'all covered at all,
30:35
you know, I'm I'm grateful and I mean everyone that's retired in
30:39
my office has been pretty grateful about our supervisors.
30:45
Just basically, you know, they'll say like hey, this is
30:47
what's coming down. You know, this is what they want
30:50
y'all to do and you know, we'll just file or will say, you know,
30:54
hey, you know, it doesn't that supposed to be that done that
30:56
way, this and that. And they're like, OK, I'll go
30:59
ahead and you know, contact your ADR and get a hold of them and
31:04
we'll talk it out. And then usually it's get
31:07
resolved pretty easily because they know for the most part we
31:10
know how to do our jobs. Like Bill was saying, we we
31:12
found our own little shortcuts. We found our little ways to do
31:16
our routes efficiently, you know, stay within our 2080 hours
31:20
of 2240. You know, we take, you know, the
31:23
time off that we can. We've got a lot of new hires
31:25
now. I don't know where they're
31:26
coming from, but I guess everyone's raving about Seguin.
31:33
So they're all coming to us. But I, I know of several other
31:38
carriers in our local that, you know, they're working their K
31:42
days, they're working their days off because they don't have any
31:45
Rcas. No one wants to work at that
31:46
office because of toxic management.
31:50
So that's definitely one thing that we definitely need to try
31:53
to get into. It would be great to see it in
31:56
in the contract automatic penalties, but we'll see how
32:00
that goes. That's a good suggestion.
32:03
I doubt USPS management will agree to it though, but we could
32:07
try that with a resolution. Put it up as a resolution.
32:11
Lynn, you have any thoughts you want to add to that?
32:13
Yes, I do. I I know how it feels to be in
32:18
an office with a tax that management when I first got
32:22
hired, my management was great. And then she, the postmaster
32:26
retired and we got this woman that was a clerk and was put
32:33
into our small office as the postmaster and she was so bad.
32:39
I can't even begin to tell you the story.
32:42
She was, she'd be nice at times, but then she'd flip.
32:46
It was there was talk about her being bipolar and I was going to
32:52
work shaking. I was going to work crying.
32:55
It was not safe. So I understand where people are
33:01
in those kind of offices. I actually put my two weeks in
33:05
notice in like 2006 and it got sent up.
33:11
Luckily I had a family member in the post office and I had helped
33:17
out in other offices within 1/2 an hour of me and that office
33:23
got a hold of me and said what are you doing?
33:25
You've helped out up here. You can transfer here.
33:28
You don't need to quit. Transfer here, please.
33:30
We have an opening, you know, we'll take you.
33:33
So that two week notice was pulled back and I transferred to
33:37
Endicott. And I'm telling, I'm telling
33:41
you, every single person in that old office that could leave that
33:46
post office, every clerk, every carrier, any new clerk sub that
33:53
came in there, none of them lasted all the once that could
33:57
transfer out, transferred out because this woman was so mean
34:01
to people. The only person that stuck there
34:05
was there was one regular carrier that was stuck because
34:09
she was regular. The only way she can move is as
34:11
she gets a mutual transfer, you know, or go back to subbing.
34:15
And she ended up retiring early 'cause she had a complete
34:19
nervous breakdown, you know, and then even after that woman left
34:25
because of medical, I was actually living in that town and
34:30
this postmaster was still there and she was sending out Flyers
34:36
to try to get people to help. That's how bad it was.
34:40
She was there for years and years and she ruined people's
34:45
lives, I feel like, you know, and finally they moved her.
34:53
But I think she's retired now. She, she, I heard a story after
34:59
I left there that one of the carriers came into work and she
35:04
was sick and she let this postmaster know that she was
35:10
sick and she really needed to go home.
35:12
She didn't feel good at all. She was, I don't know if it was
35:15
she was throwing up or what, but she was sick.
35:17
And she, she told her no, she couldn't go home.
35:21
She needed to do her job. And that was, it didn't matter
35:23
that she was sick. This carrier found coverage to
35:28
come in and take over the route. She waited until the coverage
35:32
got there and then then she left and went home 'cause she did not
35:37
feel good. And this postmaster fired her
35:41
and the the carrier said, I'm done.
35:45
Like, I don't even want to work at the post office anymore.
35:48
There's people that tried to help her stay in and she's like,
35:52
no, I don't want to work if that's the way it is here.
35:56
You know, she was, she was bullied.
35:59
She was just and then they finally, there was a flood
36:03
around here and some carriers from a different office got
36:07
moved into that office under that postmaster and they finally
36:13
moved her somewhere different because an older carrier became
36:18
a steward and stood up to her. Things changed, but it took
36:23
years and she, she bullied people hard.
36:28
And I was there. And that's now why I have a
36:33
voice for myself and for people, and I try to make things right,
36:38
you know? And I wanted to tell that story.
36:42
No, that's not unfamiliar with my situation.
36:45
When we had a new postmaster come in and we had a really good
36:50
established city carrier workforce at the time, this
36:54
gentleman came in and started executing, oh, a dictatorship
37:00
for, for the lack of a better word.
37:03
And in one day, he fired three different city carriers.
37:08
One for going to his vehicle after it was loaded, going to
37:13
his personal vehicle to get his lunch bag.
37:16
Another. Another he fired for going to
37:19
his personal vehicle after coming back from completing his
37:22
route. Third one he fired for backing
37:26
up dangerously for more than 150 feet in the parking lot.
37:31
All three were basically exonerated in the next week. 14
37:38
city carriers with more than 30 years of experience retired.
37:42
Weren't going to tolerate that type of atmosphere in our
37:46
office. 14 carriers with 30 plus years up and left early.
37:53
My personal carrier that he delivered to my house told me.
37:57
He says no, I've got 32 years in and he says I'm, I'm 64 years
38:01
old. He says I don't need this
38:03
horseshit. And I I tell him I don't blame
38:06
you. And he was gone in 30 days.
38:09
I can't tell you, Yeah, how many times people will walk by you
38:12
and go 14 days, 11 days, 9 days, counting down to when they were
38:17
getting out of there. Yeah, that the hostile needs to
38:22
needs to be addressed. I it's sad and unfortunately it
38:26
comes from the top and works its way down and until unions, and
38:32
I'm going to say plural, start pounding on that more and more
38:36
and more, they're basically breaking USPS from the inside,
38:42
exactly what they're doing. And it's scary because, you
38:45
know, you've got people on table too, who are trying to find
38:49
second and third jobs, but yet, you know, they they can't even
38:52
do that because of the fact that the, their scheduling is so
38:57
screwed up in regards being sent to other offices or being called
39:01
in at the last minute. Yeah, don't call, don't call an
39:05
RCA up at 10:00. Tell them they have to come in a
39:07
covered route. That that doesn't fly, folks.
39:10
But you can't plan that to generate extra income to support
39:14
your family if you don't know when you're working or how long
39:17
you're working. I mean, even if you had a normal
39:20
schedule, if you're an RCA, oh, we have two open routes today.
39:23
You have to take half of this one and set this one up.
39:26
And it's 7:00 and you're going home and you're beat and you're
39:32
still poor. Oh, I know that one.
39:37
I, I know that. I know that.
39:39
And then add on top of that vehicle maintenance if you have
39:42
a POV route. Oh yeah.
39:44
And then trying trying to get an oil trains, trying to get your
39:46
brakes done, trying to get tires, you know, you're hoping
39:49
that you can get to the tire shop in time to fix that flat
39:53
that you had. Or even even as a regular,
39:57
regardless of the table, but even more so Table 2 regulars
40:00
POV drivers who don't have leave replacements available to them
40:05
working six days a week. It's the same thing.
40:08
Yep, the only day off is Sunday, which most mechanics are closed
40:12
on Sundays. Yeah, unless you got a buddy or
40:14
can do it yourself, but then, you know, that's still not
40:18
guaranteed that you're gonna be able to get it done that one
40:20
day. And on on top of that, if you're
40:23
doing it on Sunday, how much more time are you spending away
40:25
from your family? You know, I hate to point it
40:28
out, but you know, the, the reason we, we have these jobs,
40:31
the reason we've made these careers is to support our family
40:35
and what we do with our family. But we we did not sign up for
40:39
indentured servitude just because we work at the post
40:42
office. But that's unfortunately how
40:45
they see it, as though I literally had a postmaster want
40:49
me to take another part of a route or run the aux route once
40:52
when it was shortly after I had transferred into the office and
40:56
I had already had plans for that evening.
40:59
And I said no, I can't do that, I have to be somewhere else by
41:03
this time. And she just did not like that.
41:09
But how dare I, you know, don't put the post office 1st.
41:14
I'm sorry. I'm already running a big route
41:18
and going to be out there for a while.
41:21
Yeah, no. I've already, yeah, I've already
41:24
fulfilled my commitment for today.
41:28
The emergency on your part does not constitute an emergency on
41:31
mine. Yeah.
41:32
Lack of lack of preparation is not your lack of preparation is
41:36
not an emergency on my part. Well, I had that same postmaster
41:40
I had just got back, I think it was from state convention, and I
41:47
had Stewart enhancement training and I had the an approved leaf
41:53
slip for Stewart enhancement training.
41:56
And I was halfway there when the postmaster calls me and tells me
42:02
that she needs me to come in and run this route because she just
42:06
had to get rid of this other newer RCA and excuse me.
42:10
And I I told her, yeah, no, not happening.
42:14
Well, that's not going to, you know, it was going to go on my
42:17
record. I'm thinking I haven't approved
42:18
leaf slip yet. Talk to the supervisor, not me,
42:22
you know, but yeah, I mean, it's it's the biggest issue I think
42:29
with the retention especially, which has then turned down into
42:33
the hiring is not always the wages, but it's definitely the
42:38
the management in those offices. I agree.
42:42
Let me throw 2 statistics in front of you.
42:45
Since the great Postal Strike of 1970, there have been 18
42:51
instances of where harassment went too far.
42:57
I've talked about these incidents before, but there is
43:01
another statistic I need to put in front of you.
43:04
President Mastin likes to talk about how he's been in the
43:07
industry for 30 years. In the last 30 years, there have
43:14
been eight of them. So that is between 1993 and now.
43:21
That means there were ten of them prior to his joining the
43:26
Postal Service. And I'm just going by the
43:29
statistics I could find online about how long he's been with
43:31
the Postal Service is if not an accurate account, please don't
43:35
shoot me on that. But I want to also put out that
43:41
two of them were close to Don Mastan in California.
43:47
So it's been a continuing issue that we've had with the Postal
43:53
Service. It's part of the reason why we
43:56
had the great postal strike in the 1970s, which was a Wildcat
44:00
strike by carriers. But those statistics are
44:05
alarming in general. There is no other countries
44:10
service that has had this many instances of workplace
44:17
harassment going this far. Granted, we have craft unions
44:23
and things like that, but what is that telling you about how
44:29
our leadership in the union has looked at managerial harassment
44:35
and how has management looked at managerial harassment?
44:40
If these many incidences, 18 incidences of going too far, how
44:46
many of them have not gone this far but have been just as bad in
44:51
terms of how they treated the employees or even worse than how
44:54
they treated the employees? Those are some statistics you
44:57
need to have in your mind. Now finishing off his article,
45:00
he does talk about the latest Bipartisan Protector Elated
45:05
Carriers Act, which we support because it helps with protecting
45:12
our carriers. Although it does add an expense
45:14
to the Postal Service in terms of new electronic locks for to
45:18
replace the arrow keys. So it's less likely that
45:20
somebody's going to steal the arrow keys from a carrier and
45:23
harsher penalties for those who mess with letter carriers.
45:28
We are hopeful that using that law alone can help us use it
45:32
against management that perpetrates crimes against
45:36
carriers. And then the last thing in the
45:39
in the newsletter that I want to bring up is in the director of
45:45
Labor relations article about the ARCAM, which is not a
45:49
complete and fully truthful document yet.
45:53
But at the end of her article, she changes topics and goes.
45:56
We continue to receive calls from carriers that management is
46:00
not allowing mapping or that they are not recording the
46:03
safety service talks in RMSS. Those issues are grievable.
46:09
And then she includes a sample grievance on each issue included
46:14
on the following page. So make sure you reach out to
46:17
your steward and submit the an original grievance form to them.
46:21
That is important. Mapping is extremely important.
46:26
I just had to redo a couple boxes on mine 'cause they had
46:29
been moved one due to failing support system and an area that
46:35
they couldn't have it anymore so they move the boxes and another
46:38
one a guy got congressional approval to get his box moved to
46:42
a spot that was basically unsafe 3 months out of the year.
46:47
So he won't get service for three months out of the year.
46:50
But that's his problem now. Mapping is your money.
46:56
Do your mapping right toasty. Yes, do your mapping, especially
47:01
since last year, especially with the other part of the article or
47:07
part of the magazine where he talks about filing that Step 4
47:09
grievance on interim route adjustments.
47:12
For me, I went from 41K last year up to 44 in the next mini
47:17
mill survey to now beyond 48. I didn't get paid any different
47:22
between 41 to 44 or 44 to 48, even though the week after the
47:27
second mini mill survey I opened up two dismounts because people
47:32
moved into those new builds that were in two different
47:36
neighborhoods. Actually it was three.
47:38
I think about it wasn't paid the difference, you know, going from
47:42
41 to 42 and then 42 to 43 and then finally 44.
47:47
You know, for the dismount distance, the collection boxes,
47:50
the CVU E turns. And as I added more addresses
47:57
that are in different Cbus, that adds more time.
47:59
We used to be able to do that in the 4003.
48:01
We don't get that anymore. It's supposed to be done through
48:05
the now quote UN quote E 4003, which is your DPM and LTM.
48:11
So when you do your mapping, make sure that all, especially
48:15
before the mini mail survey go through every address.
48:18
If it's just you know keeping updates right now for me adding
48:21
the new 3 new discounts now that I have from this past week, map
48:25
those where the addresses are and then as more people move in
48:29
you know update those. But before the mini mail survey,
48:31
make sure that you go through the entire thing.
48:34
Make sure every address is correct and that hasn't been
48:37
moved and change the mapping if you need to.
48:40
I know for me none of my new builds show up on the original
48:44
map that they have on there. You have to go into the
48:46
settings, the gear icon and change to global.
48:49
I think it was a global view if I remember the name correctly.
48:52
And that one shows me the aerial view of the the area and
48:55
grayscale. So it's kind of black and white
48:58
Gray, but it at least shows me foundations and I can count out.
49:02
OK, you know one O 1 is here, one O 5 is here, One O 9, OK 113
49:07
is the one that's moved in. That's the 4th foundation that's
49:09
laid right there. Make sure you do your mapping
49:13
'cause if they do finally agree or get this settled for Step 4,
49:18
you can possibly get more money. You can possibly move up to the
49:21
next hour or get an extra day off.
49:24
Make sure you do your mapping please.
49:27
Yes, I agree. I am still, you know, eight
49:30
months of taking this route over six months as the regular.
49:33
I'm still finding things that weren't pinpointed correctly by
49:38
the regular carrier. When she did the initial
49:40
mapping, I was she was actually the only carrier in the office.
49:44
I did not facilitate supervisor did that.
49:48
So I just even this last time had to pinpoint mailboxes in the
49:53
correct location 'cause I was watching my LTM and I'm like,
49:57
that's not right, that's not right.
49:59
And jot down the notes. I was like, all right, I'll fix
50:01
it next time because I didn't want to spend another two hours
50:04
there. And this past week, Super
50:08
Postmaster said the AMS uploaded again.
50:13
So if I, if I wanted her just to run it through, if I wanted to
50:17
do it. And I'm like, Oh, no, I'll do it
50:18
so I can fix these boxes now. Some of them just were mistrown.
50:23
So when you're watching the LTM, it looked like I was backing up
50:25
to hit the boxes. And some on the wrong side of
50:29
the cul-de-sac. It was, it was crazy.
50:32
I had one that was like in the middle of the river.
50:34
I don't know why, but that's where it was.
50:36
So yeah, doing that and making sure those things are correct,
50:40
making sure that your park points and to the door spots are
50:47
as accurate as possible. And I was finding stuff on my CB
50:51
US. They were just pinned at the CB
50:52
US and out at the business and it's a mess.
50:55
And I said, you know, doing this route for the last eight months,
50:59
I am still finding stuff. I am tweaking every month to fix
51:02
it. But definitely stay on top of
51:04
your mapping and your edit books.
51:08
No, no, no, no, that's that's not right.
51:10
Don't worry because if you don't get your mapping done, Bread
51:13
Crumbs will lay it out for you. OK, I heard that.
51:18
I heard that one last week that a carrier said I, I haven't had
51:23
time to get my mapping done. And I said well, then file a
51:27
grievance said no, no, no. The supervisor told me the bread
51:30
crumbs is doing the same thing. I just said, OK, you, you go
51:36
ahead with what the supervisor tell you because they have your
51:39
best interests at heart. I said, but I would recommend to
51:42
contacting your local union representative.
51:45
You know whether it be a Stewart ADR, you know area Stewart, but
51:49
please don't believe anything management tells you.
51:52
Yeah, definitely don't, not in that case for sure.
51:56
That's not always right. All right, I'm going to pull in,
52:00
back in for some talking about more that you made your notes on
52:05
for the SNDC and. Your route cuts.
52:09
Christian Lynn was talking. Oh, oh, sorry.
52:14
I had it muted for the background noise on my side.
52:17
I'm sorry, I just wanted to say in life, people say you don't
52:23
have the time to do this. You don't have the time to do
52:26
that. It's important.
52:29
You have to make the time or it's or you're never going to
52:31
have the time to do it. Just make the time.
52:34
You're protecting yourself, please.
52:37
That's all I wanted to say. Exactly.
52:40
It's your money. And if you don't do your
52:43
mapping, number one, you're leaving money on the table.
52:46
And if management is not allowing you to do the mapping,
52:49
you need to grieve it and grieve it every single time, every
52:53
single month. It should be done near the end
52:56
of the month, every month. And you need to be present and
52:59
they should allow you to do whatever needs to be done to
53:02
your route. If you need to go through and
53:04
make sure all the boxes are put in the right place or you need
53:08
to make sure that the line of travel is right.
53:11
Or you need to make sure that the electronic 4003 at the end
53:16
of the line. Travel manager is actually
53:18
saying that when you need to make a right turn, it says right
53:21
turn and not left turn. And it does that a lot.
53:24
It says a left turn where you should make a right turn.
53:27
You need to have the time to do that.
53:29
And if management is not allowing you to do that, grieve
53:32
it. And we do edit that line of
53:34
travel because I know I've had to go on and do mine.
53:37
Mine was horrible. Don't try and do all the edits
53:42
and then save. You actually have to do a
53:44
handful of edits, save it, and then go back and continue where
53:49
you left off and do a few more and save it.
53:52
Because if you try and do it all, it'll error out and not
53:54
save it. I'm speaking from experience.
53:58
Thank you. Me too.
53:59
I've been there too. Yeah, yes, so, but yes, you
54:02
can't go in and edit. You just have to click on the
54:05
little button above it that says edit the lines or whatever it
54:08
says right off hand and. Edit the lines, merge the lines,
54:12
delete the lines. Yeah, yeah.
54:14
And then you can go in and edit what you need to edit.
54:17
And yeah, I did mine quite a bit.
54:20
You know, it's like the postmaster was saying the other
54:23
day, because we're doing my route inspection Tuesday, that
54:27
she wasn't too worried about my line of travel 'cause she knew I
54:29
already gone in there and fixed it.
54:31
So that's the one thing she was going to be looking at people
54:34
with on route inspections was the line of travel.
54:37
But I already fixed mine, so we're good on that.
54:40
All right. And my go ahead.
54:43
The last time I got into mine, I did the entire thing and from
54:49
the end of my route to back to the SNDC, which is like 1/2 an
54:54
hour drive, all my traffic were traffic control points were not
55:00
there. So they had to be re added to
55:02
again. You know, like we can't trust
55:07
the the system, the system, Yeah, the system they're using.
55:13
You can't. Well, yeah, because the bread
55:15
crumbs 'cause you get one of those days to where you're just
55:17
hitting all green lights and that's the day the bread crumbs
55:20
are being recorded in there. And so it doesn't signify that
55:25
you've had to stop, so it clears out the TCP.
55:28
Yeah, crazy all. Right, I have one left.
55:33
Go ahead. James, one last one last thing
55:36
in the newsletter. The biggest thing that this
55:39
newsletter has in it is the articles for candidates that are
55:43
running for national office. So if you get the chance, make
55:47
sure you get into there and read the articles.
55:50
Can't see them? Ask a Beast team member to see
55:53
them and let them know who you who you like, how those articles
55:58
and stuff like that and that. That's all I have.
56:02
Go ahead with the SNDC stuff, Kristen.
56:06
All right, Lynn, I know you made some notes from last time and
56:10
you're on the cusp of having your route cut, so go ahead and
56:14
fill us in. Yes, and Can you believe this,
56:18
Kristen? I made notes and I came over to
56:24
my guy's house and I left my notes at home.
56:27
But I can do it. You can.
56:31
Do it. I have faith in you can.
56:35
You go back to right before we moved in, if I could talk about
56:40
something real quick, because it was super important and it was
56:44
kind of a shock to everybody because the office that we're
56:51
moving into was very formalized before we moved.
56:57
It kind of threw, well, the seniority works for our days a
57:03
month. So the people that were already
57:08
in in, in the ASIN or the, the ASIN DC that are in that
57:13
building and they already had their days off set that weren't
57:16
Saturdays could not, they could not be taken away from them.
57:22
So we got when everything was set and they kind of had, they
57:28
knew how many days, like how many people could have off
57:32
Mondays, how many people could have off Tuesdays, who could
57:36
have like the rotating Friday, Saturday day off.
57:39
Our office was sent a list of there's this available and this
57:43
available. And then we, we each had to send
57:46
in a paper to choose what we wanted, like first, second and
57:52
third choice. And I was senior in my office.
57:58
So my first choice was I, I actually, I, I didn't think I
58:04
was going to get Saturdays even with being senior in my office
58:08
because I'm going from six carriers to 38.
58:13
I had, I had high hopes that I would get Saturday, but I was
58:17
going to be good with 11 every Monday off.
58:20
You know, I would have liked Mondays off.
58:22
It's a busy day and I didn't even give Mondays because this
58:29
the office was already formula. My choice was and I still got a
58:35
pretty good choice. I got I got the rotating Friday,
58:41
Saturday. So I work one week, I work 6
58:44
days. I have Sunday off the next week.
58:47
I work Monday through Thursday and have Friday, Saturday,
58:50
Sunday off. It's a it's, there's not many
58:53
offered. I don't know how many there is
58:54
in our office, but it's different everywhere depending
58:57
on how many Subs you have. And I got the Friday, Saturday
59:01
rotating and all the other five carriers in my office had to
59:08
choose either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday day off.
59:14
Now, fine, everybody's doing well with it.
59:19
But there is a carrier in the SDC.
59:24
There's only been regular two years and he's got Mondays off.
59:29
He's got Mondays off before I got it.
59:32
And I've been regular at this time nine years.
59:35
It's just a little thing that I don't know.
59:39
I don't really completely understand it yet, but if if
59:45
this SNDC wasn't formulized before we moved and our move in
59:52
caused it to go formula, that wouldn't have happened.
59:58
But because it was formula before we moved, those days
1:00:02
couldn't be taken away from people that the carriers that
1:00:05
were there, which is understood completely.
1:00:08
But I just wanted to talk a little bit about that first
1:00:12
because the last time I talked about this, I wasn't.
1:00:16
I want to prepare. You're robot in a little bit,
1:00:19
Lynn. I'm sorry, I wasn't really
1:00:22
prepared the first time to talk and I forgot to talk about that
1:00:29
part, which it was a big deal when we first because we were
1:00:34
all used to having our own Subs. Still, we were pretty good
1:00:38
office in the in the in the office before we we were moved
1:00:44
to us in DC. So on the cuts, I was a 48K
1:00:51
still I am they're caught in 85 boxes from me.
1:00:56
They're getting part of it to, they're giving it to two
1:01:00
different routes, but they, they say they're only cutting me down
1:01:04
to A45K, which, you know, I, I'm kind of happy with.
1:01:11
They could have caught me to a 43, but I honestly knew they
1:01:14
couldn't call much for my root because ten years ago we
1:01:21
management in my office dissolved an ox and pretty
1:01:28
squared up the six roots in my town.
1:01:33
So they were pretty clean. They there wasn't much that was
1:01:37
touching on the roots, so they cut those 85 boxes off.
1:01:44
Mine gave one road to a guy that is already doing the other half
1:01:48
of that road and then another Rd. which is the most dangerous
1:01:53
part of my route. Those accidents constantly
1:01:55
people drive. It's a people treat it like it's
1:01:58
a highway and it's it's a curvy Rd.
1:02:01
There's no shoulder. So I'm definitely going to warn
1:02:07
the younger girl that's getting it.
1:02:11
But everybody's pretty. I mean, you have to take it.
1:02:14
You have to try to stay positive.
1:02:17
And because there's nothing we can do with these cuts.
1:02:20
I didn't want it, but I'm accepting it.
1:02:25
Some of the other cuts that's happened, I've heard another
1:02:30
town in, in SNDC, there was two that were overburdened.
1:02:39
They're taking a bunch of both of those routes and they're
1:02:44
giving it. There's an ox that they're
1:02:46
building up. They're actually kind of happy
1:02:50
that they're going to be. They didn't want it at first,
1:02:52
but they're actually kind of happy now.
1:02:54
And the guy, the one carrier, he's a great guy.
1:02:59
He listens up to this every week.
1:03:04
His route was caught a bit and given to the ox and the higher
1:03:10
level management guy actually cut his root but made the
1:03:15
mileage go up somehow 'cause he made it.
1:03:18
He's he's driving it in a different way.
1:03:22
It's and they also cut a root. It wasn't even supposed to be
1:03:30
cut. They cut her like 10 boxes
1:03:34
because another root had one box on there and she had ten boxes
1:03:42
on that road. So they took them all away from
1:03:45
her. She was not 47 or 48.
1:03:49
But they say, oh, it's not going to affect her evaluation.
1:03:52
We're going to take it off here and give it to this carrier to
1:03:56
make it more clean and more efficient.
1:03:58
And they're also talks. There's also talks of it doesn't
1:04:05
matter if you're a 47 or a 48, we're coming into these S&D CS
1:04:09
and we're optimizing all the roots they're getting.
1:04:13
They're going to get away with cutting the roots, call it
1:04:17
optimizing, making them more efficient and and clean.
1:04:21
So it's, it's a lot. I don't know if I explained it
1:04:28
well or if you guys want to ask me questions and maybe that
1:04:31
would help if you want. They tell you the formula of how
1:04:37
they're doing it or they just tell you, you know, we're
1:04:39
cutting off this many boxes and this many miles and that should
1:04:42
put you at this. Or they kind of tell you like,
1:04:45
hey, you know, this many boxes obviously equals this amount per
1:04:50
the, you know, 4241 M or A and you know, this many miles.
1:04:55
We're taking a percentage of your drive time.
1:05:01
Did. Did they give you any of that or
1:05:03
they just tell you, you know, this is what we're cutting off
1:05:05
and this is what it's going to be?
1:05:08
I heard I did not get that information yet.
1:05:11
I did hear that one guy 1 carrier did go in asked, he
1:05:17
asked for transparency, wanted to see everything he did.
1:05:21
And he said he went in there with the with the management and
1:05:25
they explained everything to him and he was in there for close to
1:05:29
an hour trying to to understand how how it was all going.
1:05:35
I didn't ask for it. But I also heard that when the
1:05:38
root cuts happen, we are going to get a packet to try to
1:05:46
explain it and have everything down and I don't know what
1:05:52
that'll look like. I also heard one of the other
1:05:57
carriers asked to see how they got that and management said,
1:06:02
well, we don't have the time. You know, it's, it's, it's good.
1:06:06
It's not going to hurt you. You don't.
1:06:08
So it depends, you know, you get different, you get some people
1:06:14
ask and they don't allow what other people ask and they do.
1:06:17
It seems, you know, I didn't ask.
1:06:19
I'm just going to wait until I get this packet.
1:06:22
I guess the and the root cuts, they haven't happened yet.
1:06:27
They're saying the end of June, beginning of July maybe.
1:06:32
So it's it's all in the works. I don't know how we're going to
1:06:37
be notified. I don't know if they're just
1:06:39
going to say, oh, here's your new set of labels.
1:06:42
You know, I'm not sure yet. The guy from higher level
1:06:46
management is not in our office anymore that I know of.
1:06:50
He's he's, I think he went back home and then he's working on it
1:06:56
on the computer, I'm pretty sure.
1:06:58
So it's a lot. It's it's.
1:07:02
Yeah, 'cause the, the only thing that I could even think of when
1:07:06
they're doing these counts is do something like the 4241 M, which
1:07:10
if you copy and paste all the numbers and put them in, you can
1:07:14
kind of see how much you're going up, how much you're going
1:07:17
down. And what I used to do personally
1:07:20
is just do a percentage. So I did 10% increase because I
1:07:24
had about 10% more boxes for my, you know, small parcels, medium
1:07:29
parcels and large parcels. But I'm thinking I'm hoping that
1:07:34
they're doing something like that.
1:07:36
We never never told, you know, by our union even going to mid
1:07:40
States and to swack on how they're going to do this or you
1:07:43
know, what's involved in the process.
1:07:45
That's something I would like to see because I'm a numbers guy.
1:07:48
I like to make these excel spreadsheets and see it all.
1:07:52
So I'm not sure if they're even accounting for small parcels
1:07:56
that, you know, they cut it off if they're doing percentage of
1:07:58
all parcels because what I want cut off doesn't have any parcel
1:08:03
lockers because it's no CD us there.
1:08:07
So I'm not sure if they're going to even account for that number
1:08:09
or if they're going to mess that up and it'll jump me back up
1:08:12
once the next mini mail survey happens.
1:08:14
But I was just trying to see if they had given you anything yet.
1:08:17
But if they when they get that packet to you, I guess go ahead
1:08:20
and hop back on again and let us know what it says.
1:08:23
Yeah, I can. I can ask tomorrow and let you
1:08:27
know. I can ask the guy that actually
1:08:29
told me. He went in and spent an hour and
1:08:32
I'm I can ask him what they showed him and everything you
1:08:35
know. Sounds good.
1:08:38
Actually, I'm off tomorrow, Tuesday.
1:08:41
I got a question for you, Lynn, in regards to the Rcas.
1:08:46
How's this affecting them? If it is because of the fact
1:08:49
that, you know, if they live on the other side of where they
1:08:52
used to deliver, you know, post office wise, now they're
1:08:56
traveling even further to get to work and you know, further to
1:08:59
get home at the end of the day. And this is a question you you
1:09:04
probably won't have an answer to, But now that you've combined
1:09:07
it into the SDCS, does that mean they have to reconstitute the 50
1:09:13
mile rule for Rcas? I don't know, it's definitely, I
1:09:20
mean it's it's a longer drive for me, it's a longer drive for
1:09:24
some people, other people it's a shorter drive, but RCA is it's
1:09:29
it's harder on them. They don't know their schedule,
1:09:31
you know, and it's I don't know, I I could ask that with to
1:09:36
management too. I.
1:09:38
Didn't know if you've had any losses of Subs because of the
1:09:43
you know you know conversion into the SD and CS.
1:09:47
We did lose a bunch from our office.
1:09:51
It was my sub actually got a job with New York State Finance.
1:09:57
Another one of our Subs was had graduated with an engineering
1:10:01
degree. So what was our other one?
1:10:07
Oh, we lost a sub and it wasn't right in my opinion, in a lot of
1:10:14
people's opinion. He was working.
1:10:17
He, he was a good worker and he was fine with working Saturdays
1:10:26
in most days, but he couldn't make it on the sub, just the sub
1:10:35
money alone. So he got another job truck
1:10:37
driving and he, it wasn't possible for him to work
1:10:42
Sundays, which I get why management had a hard time with
1:10:47
it, but he, we had just moved to the SNDC and he, he was totally
1:10:55
told them about it, you know, and he was on the list.
1:10:59
And at first, management said, you know, it probably won't be
1:11:03
that big a deal at first because we got quite a big list for the
1:11:08
rotating Sunday work. You know, it will rotate through
1:11:13
and you're not going to come up on it every week, you know, but
1:11:16
at some point you're probably going to get, he's like, I want
1:11:19
to keep you, but you're probably going to get in trouble at some
1:11:23
point if you can't be here on a Sunday.
1:11:25
And the care, the sub was like, OK, I understand.
1:11:31
So I don't know the whole story, but he talked to someone in the
1:11:35
union. Union hadn't even got back to
1:11:39
him yet and one morning him and I are walking in to work.
1:11:46
We walk around the corner to where our cases are.
1:11:49
His case was only two down from mine and there was a different
1:11:54
sub working on it. And I'm like Rob, what's going
1:11:58
on? He's like, I don't know, I guess
1:11:59
I'm done. And management came over and
1:12:04
management just said to this carrier that don't do this to
1:12:08
me. It's not right.
1:12:11
You can't, you can't do this. You can't not be available on
1:12:14
Sundays because then I'm going to have, I'm going to have
1:12:16
carriers that are going to be having grievances.
1:12:19
And they pretty much forced him to sign a resignation paper.
1:12:23
He hadn't even come up on the Sunday for his turn on a Sunday
1:12:28
yet. And they just kind of made him
1:12:32
feel like you're not needed here anymore, you know?
1:12:36
And he was a good worker. He had little, he's had young
1:12:40
kids, you know, and I don't know, I, I, it wasn't, it wasn't
1:12:45
right in my opinion. What do you guys think of that?
1:12:50
Oh, we, we had a situation. Go ahead, James.
1:12:55
And that is exactly why we need a steward in every office across
1:13:00
this country. It doesn't matter if it's a one
1:13:02
route office, a 20 route office, and SNDC.
1:13:05
There used to be at least one steward in every single office,
1:13:09
and they need to have the ability to stand up to
1:13:11
management, tell them to not do that, and file agreements on
1:13:16
behalf of the carrier. Yeah, well, he signed the
1:13:19
resignation paper and he gave me in another carrier in there a
1:13:24
hug. And he's like, I'll miss you
1:13:25
guys, you know, and I'm like, I'll, I'll miss seeing you too,
1:13:28
you know, I appreciate your help.
1:13:30
You were a good worker. And he, I don't know how many
1:13:34
kids he had, but he was just trying to make it, you know, And
1:13:40
there wasn't one day that he wasn't available.
1:13:42
He was there. He came to work when he needed
1:13:46
to. He didn't do anything wrong.
1:13:51
Well, we, we had a situation with an RCA who would work
1:13:55
Saturdays and would work every Sunday.
1:13:58
And he had a full time job Monday to Friday.
1:14:02
Some of the other Subs complained about the fact that,
1:14:05
you know, he wasn't available Monday to Friday.
1:14:08
Now he ran into a problem on Sundays because of the fact that
1:14:12
his mother had gotten ill and he was calling out on Sundays.
1:14:18
So they said that we can't keep you as a sub.
1:14:22
We're going to, you know, release you.
1:14:26
And he says, oh, basically fire. He says, but I can come in
1:14:29
Sundays. I just can't promise to be there
1:14:31
Saturdays and Sundays. I have to pick one day or the
1:14:34
other. So I explained to him, I said,
1:14:37
well, just just become an arc, you know, that way you come in
1:14:41
Sundays or holidays. And management was totally
1:14:45
against that because of the fact that they needed him to be more
1:14:48
of more availability throughout the week, which for seven years
1:14:54
they didn't have a problem doing this in violation of the
1:14:57
contract. But when push came to shove for
1:15:00
Sundays now we had a problem. Yeah.
1:15:03
And it it, it just smacks of the indifference because of the fact
1:15:07
that it didn't fit their scheme. Yeah, all that time, you know,
1:15:12
that guy was a good worker and they turn around and do that.
1:15:18
They shit on him. Yeah.
1:15:21
And you don't have to edit that one, Kristen.
1:15:27
But we are, we're over an hour now guys, so we're going to
1:15:30
start winding this down for tonight.
1:15:34
So Lynn, you got anything else you want to send off with for
1:15:38
this evening? Sure, just something short and
1:15:41
sweet. Please stand up for yourself,
1:15:44
people carriers, just make sure your mapping make sure you're
1:15:50
finding out, not just you can't just ask management something
1:15:55
and get and get the right answer.
1:15:57
Ask a bunch of people and see how many different answers you
1:16:02
get and just get a hold of of your sewer, get a hold of
1:16:08
someone that you know knows the contract.
1:16:11
And please, please protect yourself.
1:16:15
Have a good night. Toasty, you're send off this
1:16:19
evening. Prayer is up for all the
1:16:24
carriers affected, you know, these past couple of weeks
1:16:27
through tornadoes and these crazy storms.
1:16:30
As the weather continues to change, reach out if you know
1:16:33
some people that were affected, you know, see if you can host a
1:16:36
meal or if they need some supplies or whatnot.
1:16:40
I know several locals are posting their own things and
1:16:44
their own Amazon shopping lists and whatnot, but other than that
1:16:48
I know for me one of my biggest things now with the heat coming
1:16:52
in and some are rolling in is hydrate.
1:16:55
Make sure you hydrate. We can try to get the 0 sugar or
1:17:00
low sugar Gatorade, powerades, even off brand sports drinks to
1:17:05
help replenish those electrolytes.
1:17:08
Drink water, lots of water. I've heard great reviews about
1:17:12
Liquid IV. Make sure you take care of
1:17:14
yourself. Don't wait for management to put
1:17:20
out the hip training. Make sure that you know what to
1:17:23
do. Identify the signs of heat
1:17:25
stress and heat stroke. Stay safe out there.
1:17:29
Games. Now, we talk about managerial
1:17:33
harassment and problems within the Postal Service a lot, and
1:17:38
there's not to say there aren't good managers out there.
1:17:41
It's not to say there aren't good employees out there.
1:17:43
It's not to say that there aren't, you know, diamonds in
1:17:47
the rough, unicorns, whatever you want to call them, but it
1:17:51
beholdens us to know what our rights are, where we stand and
1:17:57
what we can fight against. And it starts by learning
1:18:01
yourself and getting involved with your designated union
1:18:07
representative. As it stands right now, as soon
1:18:10
as we're done recording this, I have to get off of here and
1:18:13
contact a district representative in another state
1:18:16
about an issue that I just found and try to help protect the
1:18:20
carrier's job. So with that said, I'm doing
1:18:25
that just to prove that no matter what, we're all in this
1:18:28
together. Thank you, James.
1:18:31
Bill. Well, hats off and kudos is
1:18:35
James, because you don't have to be a steward to be able to help
1:18:38
somebody. Of course, you should go through
1:18:41
the channels and contact your local union representative as
1:18:46
per the ad hoc from our national steward system.
1:18:52
But you can reach out to carriers around you, you know,
1:18:54
on the work floor, people that you know on Facebook or any
1:18:58
other media platform and get the information, get the help, you
1:19:03
know, ruralinfo.net. There are so many sources of
1:19:06
information that you can glean what you need in regards to
1:19:11
protecting yourself, and I think that's the most important thing,
1:19:15
is that, like Lynn said, stand up for yourself.
1:19:18
You have to protect yourself. If management's telling you
1:19:21
something, it's because it's in management's interest, not
1:19:25
yours. I have not seen a managed person
1:19:29
in management in my office in 20 years that would step up for us.
1:19:36
That's a shame. First supervisor I ever had went
1:19:41
to bat for us day in and day out for the five years that she was
1:19:46
there as our supervisor. And I miss that.
1:19:50
And I'm so sad to think that I'll never see that again.
1:19:55
But with the upcoming collection at the National Convention,
1:19:59
maybe we'll have a national board which will enforce that
1:20:02
ideal. That we are to be protected,
1:20:06
that we are to be educated and promoted as an essential service
1:20:10
to the United States Postal Service, and hopefully people
1:20:15
will stand up for themselves. I believe it was several
1:20:21
episodes ago where Games has shown where 50 bripes were
1:20:27
turned into 50 grievances because of how stewards looked
1:20:32
at them, how how the situations were portrayed to them and they
1:20:37
found just cause of file grievances to protect the craft.
1:20:42
If you have a question, contact your local union representative,
1:20:47
contact a friend, contact us, look for the information that's
1:20:53
available for you to protect yourself.
1:20:56
It is your job, it is your income and it is your future and
1:21:03
if you don't take interest in it, who will?
1:21:07
That everybody go out and have a safe week.
1:21:10
Like Toasty said hydrate and don't wait till the day of.
1:21:14
Hydrate today for tomorrow and Monday for Tuesday.
1:21:18
You have to get the fluid in your system before you find the
1:21:22
need for those fluids. They take care of themselves, do
1:21:26
their jobs. It's best professionally,
1:21:28
efficiently, as and safely as possible.
1:21:31
And remember, you are the most important delivery get home to
1:21:34
your loved ones. Thank you everyone and
1:21:39
definitely as the summer heat is setting up on many out there and
1:21:45
working its way up to me in the northern areas, yeah, hydration
1:21:49
is definitely key. Keep cool loose fitting
1:21:52
clothing, you know, if you got to crack, if you're in an LLVFFV
1:21:57
and you got to crack that other window, just don't roll it all
1:21:59
the way down. You know, mail will fly out when
1:22:02
you make a turn. Don't want to do that, you know,
1:22:05
get that airflow. Wear loose fitting clothing.
1:22:07
Stay hydrated mostly, you know, watch.
1:22:10
Keep low on the caffeinated beverages and the sodas.
1:22:14
Just, you know, water, Gatorades, low sugar stuff if
1:22:17
possible. And be safe out there.
1:22:21
Everybody, we'll be back next Saturday at the same time care.
1:22:42
The mini C-section right now, that means we'll be precedenting
1:22:46
something like that. What did you say if?
1:22:53
I said win. I said win.
1:22:55
Did you not hear me clearly? Do I?
1:22:57
Do I need to enunciate a little bit better?