Transcript

Updates · United We Scan

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Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
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carriers. For rural carriers, the views
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expressed in this podcast do not reflect the views or opinions of
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the United States Postal Service or the National Rural Letter
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Carriers Association. We ask that you please consult
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Thank you. Now here are the host of the
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United We Scan Podcast. All right, just a reminder to
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everybody in the live stage, this is our opinions and our
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opinions only. And the views expressed on this
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podcast are ours and ours alone and do not express the views or
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opinions or strategies of the NRLCA or the USPS.
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And welcome back, everybody. What are we, Episode 33?
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Yeah, I'm thinking correctly. Yeah, been a week.
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It's just the three of us. This evening, Josh is off
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celebrating his. Wife's birthday with her this
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evening, so I got Bill and James.
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James, how was your week? Oh, it was quite interesting and
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fun overall. Finally got back to facilitator
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mapping because the postmaster wasn't able to get it done.
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She's she's well trained on and does a good job, so I don't
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bother. But then our supervisor is not
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very computer literate when it comes to that stuff.
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So I ended up sitting down and doing mapping with several
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carriers at the end of the shift.
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I made sure both they and I were on end of shift duties for that,
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but other than that it was actually a pretty easy week
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overall. My my sub on Friday I we got box
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holders on top of other issues in the office and my sub comes
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over and goes, hey, you going to use the little feed tub that we
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stick on the window sill of the LLV to hold the box holders?
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And I'm like I was. I haven't decided yet, he said.
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Well, I tell you what, if you let me use it today, I'll take
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the box holder tomorrow. Done.
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Take the box holder tomorrow. No brainer right there.
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No brainer right there. I'm like, yeah, go right ahead.
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He was perfectly happy doing that for me.
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I'll let him do it, you know? But other than that pretty quiet
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week overall in the office, not many issues other than of course
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people taking time off because it's summertime and every single
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sub in our office working and nobody being able to go, hey,
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I'm not feeling too good. No, if you don't feel too good,
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get your butt in the office. We don't have anybody.
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But if you got heat sickness, don't come in.
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My postmaster is really cool. We did have a stand up on the
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heat illness prevention again. Obviously that's coming down the
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chain because of what's going on on the City side, but I didn't
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actually sign it anyway. Bill, how was your week there?
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Well, same thing with the heat illness and.
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Dehydration, rehydration, we we've had five, two-minute talks
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this week you know Monday to Friday and it's like OK folks I
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guess they have to drum it in there you know that for their
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own protection. The problem of it is is that a
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it's rote they don't really care.
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It got so hot one day this week and we didn't have any waters in
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our office. So you know, I stopped by.
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Giant filled up a 48 pack of. Gatorade and got 2 bags of ice.
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Put it on top and put it in the middle of our floor.
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Told everybody help themselves the two.
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I mean you know I'm the asshole in the office but I care more
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about those people than than management does.
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Light week. Moderately light week As far as
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mail and parcels and flats all concerned.
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Oh don't you just love the Advos AKA marriage mail Red plums,
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whatever. When they have a blow in that
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goes in cock eyed and and you know I case mine.
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Because it makes me, you know, really fast on the route and
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you're sitting there just, you know, turning that thing
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sideways left and right and cussing and then you know, pick
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up the next beat, turn right, cuss sticking in there.
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But it, you know, people sit there go why is why do you do
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that? That saves me an hour and 10
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minutes on my route because I don't even have to think about
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the next mailbox to hit. Everybody's getting one except
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for about 5 people on my route and the the holds are marked and
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everything. So it you just blow through the
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route. Yeah, I really love box folders.
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I do this week. Yours was messed up this week
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too, huh? Yeah, yeah.
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My nine was just all different directions, with everything
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inside of it literally just falling apart.
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I lucked out and the route that I was running Tuesday when ours
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came in was one of the two zip codes out of the three that does
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not get them. Oh.
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So I was like going, oh, that's right, it's ADVO Day.
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Darn sucks to be you guys. Yeah, little bit.
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No, it was in a Monday. Monday was a day from hell for
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me. That was another.
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Didn't help that I was 20 minutes late getting into the
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office on Monday. And then so I started I.
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Clocked in at 7:50 AM and I clocked out at like 7:10 PM.
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Yeah, yeah, that 47 K really royally kicked my behind Monday.
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I don't like it. It did.
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And it was hot too. Oh God, it was even even along
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Lake Huron. The breeze was not of any help
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like it sometimes is. But now, how were your storms?
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How were your storms? I actually was looking forward
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to I thought we were having one come in on Monday, why I was out
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there and I was all prepared for it.
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Rolled the window up because I looked at the at my radar just
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see where it was coming in like all right, let me roll up this
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other window just in case. Yeah.
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I think I got about four or five raindrops and that was it went
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all further even north and and I was kind of bummed I was really
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wanting that rain. Other than that, storms, wise
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hears haven't been too bad this week.
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You guys got pummeled last week. Yeah, we had one the week before
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we were out for almost 24 hours without power.
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But these this week we had them and they actually just missed
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us, went to our South and just devastated areas like
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Southfield. And yeah, they actually had two
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tornadoes down in Jackson and Ingham County.
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Yeah, I saw that down South southeast of Lansing.
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They had two tornadoes, EF zeros.
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They weren't much because they were in open fields, which is a
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wonderful thing. Didn't damage anybody's
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property. But that doesn't give you a good
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answer of what the actual strength of the tornado was.
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Right now I I had one day on just my ox route this week.
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That was Wednesday. No Thursday.
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Excuse me, Was it Thursday or was it Wednesday?
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No, it was Thursday. So no Wednesday.
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Gosh, I don't even know. Sorry, guys.
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It's been an emotional couple days.
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Yeah, Wednesday was the only day I ran my ox route.
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Had the double Friday, Double Saturday.
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I'm on the 47 K Monday through Thursday this week and then I'm
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covering one of the other routes Friday.
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Our once RCA, who I know I mentioned the past, just can't
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seem to even deliver my ox route correctly because I was cleaning
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up mail Wednesday again to miss deliveries and I had a.
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Customer that went on hold Monday.
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Well, Wednesday I was pulling their mail out of the mailbox to
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bring it back to the office. Yeah.
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So on Thursday, why I was running his route because he was
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not available. He came in and put his notice
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in. So, like, OK, bye.
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Another one bites the dust pretty much.
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Other than that work was pretty much, you know, mail was like
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parcels were heavy at least first couple days kind of they
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seem to be tapering off just a tad.
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But I say that now and I'll walk into 250 again tomorrow.
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So I we had some pretty shocking news the personal home front.
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So just kind of put it out there.
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Everybody knows. You know, I talk about my
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daughter off and on, you know, the issues I've had in the past.
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But we lost one of her friends and her circle of friends on
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Friday. He good kid.
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Good good, just adorable kid. I'm going to miss him to death.
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He he would have been 16 this coming Saturday.
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He just got a moped, been got a part time job, got a moped, was
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writing his moped to work. They say he didn't stop.
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He blew through the stop sign. However, That's what the cops
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are saying. Why?
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Because the way he got hit by the truck from behind, there's
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no way that truck was doing only 55.
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He did have a helmet on but unfortunately after they life
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flighted him he did not make it. Well his other his other best
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friend who happens to be the male bestie of my daughter.
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He come over today and we all just kind of sat around for
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probably an hour and a half this morning just sitting around
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shared memories of of him and. First, you know, when you're
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trying to help your kid through something like this, I mean
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that's hard. You used to, you know,
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relatives, older people. You know, when the kids have an
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experience losing somebody that close to age and and as a parent
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that's always our worst fear and having no, you know, met the kid
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and hung out with him when they've all come hung out at the
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house a few times. I just yeah, this is this is a
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huge loss so. I had to take a nap earlier cuz
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I didn't sleep all that much last night with after getting
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the news so well. We're all sorry for your loss on
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that one. Yeah.
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This is, this is a this is a rough one.
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His grandmother, actually, he lived with his grandmother for
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quite a bit of time and she actually lives on the route that
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I'll be taking over when I go full time in a few months.
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So yeah, this is. I'm gonna get a card and have
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the regular carrier deliver it tomorrow or.
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They've got a go fund me for his expenses and my daughter and I
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were able to pull some money together and we're going to get
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that to the family. So.
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So, yeah. All right, let's go back to
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topic. Sorry, guys, a little downer
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there. All right, well, first and
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foremost. First and foremost, we want to
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congratulate our brothers and sisters over at U PS:.
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For getting a tentative agreement for them to vote on.
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They have not voted on it yet, but they have a tentative
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agreement with massive benefits to them and wanted to kind of
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just give them congratulations on that and say great job on
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avoiding a strike with that. Hopefully as long as you guys
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vote positively for it, if not vote how your heart feels on it.
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But we also have to talk about the ramifications with the post
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office on this now. What do you guys think?
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There are none. The post office is the post
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office. They don't care what the private
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sector does. They don't care about, you know,
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losing any more people. They don't care about hiring
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many more people. So if they pass this contract on
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Thursday, the while they're supposed to vote on Thursday,
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they'll have all the votes in by the following Thursday and
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Friday. I'll quit and go join ups.
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I I think a lot of people are thinking that though.
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I mean, I've seen a lot of chatter on the social webs.
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About that, yeah, yeah, you know, but there's there's a few
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caveats in this contract also that affect the Postal Service
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beyond just carriers deciding to up and go for better pay.
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Now part of that contract is they're going to be taking
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larger parcels off of the Postal Service and giving them to the
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carriers at UPS to deliver instead of sending them through
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the Postal Service. So that means less large boxes
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for us to handle. It's a benefit for us as
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carriers, but that also means less package volume on our
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routes. So there's a benefit and a
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downfall to it. Could that mean we're going to
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be getting more smaller parcels in our hampers from UPS That way
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you know where it increases in the number of parcels we
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deliver, but less volume size, you know taking up less room in
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the in the vehicle. So we're going to have to see
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how that plays out as well. And even if people leave the
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Postal Service for this, you have to remember we start our
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contract negotiations in April next year.
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February. Well, February, my, my mistake.
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February is when that starts. I thought it was April, but my
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mistake. And when we start doing those,
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we can, even though they don't listen to the private sector, we
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have multiple proofs from the private sector saying this is
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what's going on. And if you want to keep the
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Postal Service running, you're going to have to do something to
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keep these people from just jumping ship to UPS and
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eventually FedEx, because FedEx is going to have to do the same
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thing that UPS did or else they're going to lose people.
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Well, they base, they base our wages supposedly they base our
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wages off the private sector. Similar dealings I think getting
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rid of the two tier pay system. Is a little leveraged for us,
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but not quite. UPS did away with their two
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tier. That's what I'm talking about.
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Yeah. Yeah, so did GM.
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Yeah, and Chrysler's in their talks right now, I should
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correction. Still, Latis is in talks with
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UAW as well, so it's Ford and GM with their new contract.
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So we'll have to see how those play out as well.
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I mean, it's a big, big, big mess right now.
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And people are gonna people are gonna jump ships.
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So, you know, they're going to run like rats fleeing a sinking
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ship. Oh, they already.
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But yeah, they've been fleeing a sinking ship.
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And it's not because the ship is actually sinking, it's because
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of how they've been treated. Meanwhile, we're the, we're the
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orchestra still playing as it's going down.
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Yeah, yeah, we're still standing on, we're still standing on the
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bow of the ship playing our instruments.
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I just picture that scene from. Titanic, you know, and he got to
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remember though, our elections for national officers come up
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and just a couple short weeks. And those are the ones that the
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ones that get elected in are going to be the ones negotiating
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the contract. The ones that you, the ones that
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are going in to be delegates, are the ones that vote for those
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people. So if you have delegates, and
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you know your delegates get with your delegates, tell them who
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you want in office. And why, Bill?
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Because your voice will matter stainless.
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Plug stainless plug. I'm sorry.
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I had something in my throat there.
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Yeah, it sounded like a frog, you know?
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But why err? Bill President, did I say that?
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So now it'll be yeah, I'm happy that they didn't have to come to
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a strike. Obviously I'll be happier if
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they take some of these larger Amazon packages, cuz that is
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what's been killing us lately, is the big stuff.
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I'm looking at one I was supposed to take.
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Tuesday, I was supposed to take the LLV to the shop and use the
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loaner that we have. And I said that loaner has a
15:58
jump seat. He's like, yeah, I said look at
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my packages. I ain't fitting those in that
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truck with a jump seat as you can take it tomorrow or after I
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get back, the trucks running OK for me.
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So that's what they did, Yeah. So hopefully that truck is back
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tomorrow. I've had a couple of days where
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I couldn't fit parcels in and I'm like, well, here you go,
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Soup, you're delivering them. They won't fit.
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Let me see. It goes from the front glass out
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the back door. I can't deliver this.
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Yeah. Now I hate the rain on your
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parade okay, but since I know this from first hand experience
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with Amazon and their delivery algorithms.
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The, the size of the package, the weight of the package and
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the amount of profit on that package dictates what they hand
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off to us. That's why we get all the dog
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food, the Kitty litter and everything else.
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And don't you suppose that UPS also uses that algorithm?
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Yeah. OK.
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They will take the larger packages that we can't handle,
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but I don't see a decline in the dog foods and cat litters and
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and you know like like packages that we've been getting for the
17:06
past five years. Yeah, now, so the client.
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Yeah, and the heavy stuff, no. No.
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So I mean, I'm just happy that FedEx, I'm happy FedEx delivers
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Chewy around here. Oh God, yes.
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Yes, Thank God. Yeah.
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And and and I I wish they would start delivering the tighty cat
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too. Yeah, yeah.
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Oh my God, we have a handle. Lisa has a handle on the top.
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Not always well. I I like our packages because
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they tape over to handle openings, you know?
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So that's why I carry a blade with me so I can cut them
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puppies. Because I get one lady has she's
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a cat lady and she she gets the 2:30 pound bags in the in the
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box. Yep.
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And lives at the top of the stairs at the furthest townhouse
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away from the curb. Yep.
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Yep. The mattresses are another fun
17:57
one to have to deliver too. Yeah, the rolled in vacuum
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sealed mattresses, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
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Yeah, we have. I have one of those in my semi
18:05
truck. Cut the thing and just let it
18:09
pulled out. We had a customer on my primary
18:11
route who's unfortunately their house broke down before
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Christmas. And they have recently rebuilt
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and just moved in and of course they're starting from nothing.
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So yes, we are there every day. But you know, in those
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circumstances I, you know, they're doing what they, what
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they can do and I know they're just like within this last week
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and a half moved into that house.
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And so you know, I, I, I don't have an issue with that.
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But honey, when I have to haul. Your your £40 box of specialty
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Kitty litter up two flights of stairs because you can't take
18:49
your butt to the store once a month.
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So we also want to put out there that there are some corrections
18:55
to the July magazine that were not sent out to people with the
18:59
magazine. It was just posted to the NRL CA
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website and this was on the article from our Director of
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Steward Operations Shirley Baffa.
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The question was who is eligible to bid for a posted PTF rural
19:15
carrier assignment? The printed answer was all
19:18
substitutes and Rca's who have completed the probationary
19:21
period in the office are eligible to bid on PTF rural
19:25
carrier position and the the correct answer is all
19:30
substitutes and RCA's who have completed one year of service
19:35
are eligible to bid on PTF rural carrier positions initially.
19:39
If the position is not filled in the office, it will be posted
19:43
districtwide for all PTF rural carriers substitutes and RCA's
19:48
with one year of continuous service as an RCA within the
19:52
district. If the position is not filled in
19:55
the district posting, it will be once again posted.
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They says that it will once again be posted, but semantics
20:02
in the original office for all non probationary Rca's in the
20:06
office, which means any RCA that has passed their 90 working days
20:11
comments. It's nice to them to admit that
20:13
they made a mistake to air is human and to forgive His divine,
20:18
and they should take that in consideration of our present
20:21
situation. It's it's not surprising that
20:24
they made that mistake because of the fact that a lot of people
20:28
do that. They say they think the
20:29
probationary period is the time print time frame and it's not.
20:33
And personally, I think the 90 day work rule should be 90 days,
20:38
period, because some Rca's don't get 90 days for after 6-7 months
20:44
because there's not enough work in the office.
20:46
Or even Or they reach their year before they finish their 90
20:50
days, which is also an end of a probationary period by their one
20:53
year or 90 days working days. I think we should kind of, I
20:57
think we could align it more like the City side, whereas it's
21:00
90 work days or 120 calendar days.
21:03
We'll have to put that up as a resolution.
21:05
The other aspect of this is technically the original printed
21:10
answer is correct. After all the procedures have
21:13
been followed. It would also follow up to be
21:16
correct from the previous contract and not the current
21:19
contract, yes. Because that did go in effect.
21:21
With the current contract was the one year for bidding on a
21:24
PTF position. Yeah.
21:26
So then the other one that the other correction they made in
21:29
that same section of our Director of Stewart Operations,
21:32
Shirley Baffa's article on page 11 was.
21:36
It is an RCA who is temporarily unable to fully perform the
21:39
duties of the physician eligible to bid for a posted PTF rural
21:44
carrier position. Printed Answer No.
21:47
The RCA must be able to perform all the duties of the PTF
21:50
position at the time that the bid is awarded.
21:52
Reference So on and so forth The correct answer.
21:56
The RCA must have documentation that they will be able to
22:00
perform all duties within six months of the award.
22:05
For Memorandum of Understanding 7, the documentation must be
22:09
submitted prior to the award. Should the RCA not supply the
22:13
documentation or not be able to perform the full duties within
22:15
six months, they would not be awarded the position.
22:18
Thoughts. It's like having a hold down for
22:20
a national officer who stays in office for years and years and
22:25
years and then you know finally when they do retire you lose
22:31
your your hold down, same thing here just a shorter time period
22:35
that you know for six months time you've got to hold a
22:38
position for somebody. And I'm, I'm conflicted about
22:41
that. I really am I and I I haven't I
22:45
haven't come to terms with you know which way is right.
22:48
So I'll abide by the terms of the contract.
22:50
Well, see, and I'm looking at this from another aspect of this
22:53
as well, you know. What if you got injured on the
22:56
job as an RCA and you put in you were you were eligible for this,
23:01
but your doctor says it'll be 3 months before you return to work
23:05
in this. This position comes open.
23:07
You're saying you don't want them to be able to get that
23:09
position when they're healing from an on the job injury.
23:12
And that's really how I'm taking this is if you're injured on the
23:16
job and you're on leave for that, a workman's comp for that
23:19
or anything like that, this just holds the position for you so
23:22
you don't lose your seniority or your position.
23:24
Or if you're on, let's say maternity leave, yeah, you know,
23:27
a maternity leave and something opens up when you're not quite
23:30
back yet. I mean that's that's basically
23:33
what that is doing is. Yes, instance.
23:35
Yeah, Bill. What if you became pregnant,
23:37
Bill? I'd be rich.
23:42
So would I at this? Point We don't discriminate
23:46
here. You bring up a a very sensitive
23:53
subject in Westchester because we have a certain carrier that
23:56
gets pregnant and delivers at Christmas time, that delivers
24:00
the baby at Christmas time every year for the past six years.
24:04
It's a two year stint. That's talent.
24:08
That's talent. It does.
24:10
I'll tell you what. But yeah, in in the case of a
24:15
pregnancy, OK, so like that but OK, I I also have experience in
24:20
the private sector. So when I turn around and and I
24:23
have a position I have to fill and I know I have a qualified
24:27
employee who is working in administrative position because
24:31
they can't do the physical aspects of a job but I need an
24:34
employee now you know do do I turn around and give it to
24:38
somebody temporarily and they turn out to be a great worker
24:43
and you know fulfill all the responsibilities of the job and
24:46
then pull them off after the other employee is healed up.
24:51
I mean I've I've got to look at at the the good for all
24:54
employees not just the one you know who who's injured.
24:58
That's why I'm that's why I'm conflicted.
25:00
You know when the injured employee comes back they would
25:03
step into that job and make you proud.
25:06
But in the meantime you still have that open position and it
25:10
needs to be filled. So I'll welcome welcome
25:13
anybody's comments in this regard because like I said, I'm
25:16
I'm conflicted with this. I'm on both sides of it.
25:19
I understand both sides of it, do you know?
25:22
But at the same time, I also have to think about, you know,
25:25
what would be fair to a carrier who?
25:28
Did something that you know, they weren't expecting.
25:33
I mean pregnancies are pregnancies can be expected.
25:36
I can understand that. But you know, if you do this,
25:40
you get that. Yeah, but.
25:43
But if you're injured on the job, you know, a carrier slips
25:49
and falls off of a porch because the porch step broke and they
25:53
didn't know it was broken and it falls apart underneath them and
25:56
they were wearing the proper shoes.
25:57
But I guess the the best caveat for this whole situation in
26:01
regards to dictating how you do it is FMLA, You know, basically
26:08
invoking that, you know it, it ensures your rights and
26:12
privileges to be entitled to that position.
26:15
So like I said it, it goes down to the contract, you know as far
26:19
as you know what I would say, how it falls.
26:23
Yeah, now that we're on done with that.
26:27
There are updates to the Rex Q&A.
26:33
It was updated on July 27th. If you have access to the NRLCA
26:39
website, you can actually go in there.
26:42
It is actually underneath the homepage under Rex Resources.
26:50
It's a searchable Q&A so you can search for your specific
26:53
question that you have. They have cleaned up some of the
26:56
contradictory questions and answers, The answers that
27:00
contradicted other answers they had on the question and answer.
27:04
I'm still reading through it personally, but there's some
27:07
really good information in there.
27:09
What do you guys think? I've glanced at it.
27:12
I haven't had a chance to actually sit down and read it.
27:15
But yeah, no, I have to agree with you.
27:17
They did clean up some stuff in there, going through, skimming
27:20
through it. And there is.
27:21
There's always, really. Decent information in there and
27:25
a lot of it's not contradictory like it was before, which is a
27:29
good thing. Yeah, well, I like the fact they
27:33
got Rex training on there. Yeah, that's a whole new
27:36
section, yes. And they have.
27:38
A new Yeah, you have. A new thing for map training for
27:43
your DPM and LTM, which I know a lot of people still ask about,
27:49
which I totally get for those offices that.
27:53
Never did it correctly or maintain it like they should.
27:58
Yeah, we got our updating done on Thursday.
28:03
There's that. There's also the 4241A CHEAT
28:08
SHEET, a Rex Maintenance Job Age Aid, Age Aid, Delivery Point
28:14
Manager, User Guide, Mapping Delivery Point Manager
28:19
Checklist. And a rural route AMS edit book
28:23
maintenance SWI. There's also a diagnostic test
28:27
on that. So the SWI gives you the
28:31
timeframe of how your mapping is supposed to be updated.
28:38
So during the month, the 1st 10 days of the month, your edit
28:43
books must be updated by the carrier then between days 2:00
28:49
and 11:00. Management is to submit verified
28:54
edit books to the AMS office via mail or webby's by day 11 of
29:01
each month. So that means they have to go on
29:03
the computer and input the changes you've put in the edit
29:06
book, and in some districts mail those edit books off to AMS.
29:11
Then days 12 through 20, the AMS office will process changes.
29:17
By close of business on day 20 of each month, they will mail
29:22
the edit books back to each office by day 21 of each month.
29:26
On days 23 through 30 or 31 if it's that kind of a month
29:32
supervisor designee. In the presence of the regular
29:36
world carrier or assigned RCA coverage, whoever's doing the
29:41
hold down is required to log into the Delivery Point Manager.
29:47
Click Download, Plot Missing deliveries, view or clear issues
29:52
and submit. Then log into line of Travel
29:56
Manager and update your mapping on that as well.
30:02
Once they are finalized, the supervisor or designee must
30:06
initial the DPM and LTM portions of the AMS Edit Book Activity
30:10
Log. This is supposed to be done
30:13
every month. If it is not being done, you
30:17
need to contact your designated union representative
30:21
immediately. This is your money and everybody
30:25
hold up your hands. If that's being done in your
30:28
office every month, I'll wait. I'll wait.
30:32
And raised and raised. Only because, you know, I'm a
30:36
facilitator and my management is at the point now of not even
30:41
wanting to touch it so. Yes, it is done every month in
30:45
my office because I make sure it gets done every month in my
30:48
office. Well, in my office.
30:49
As well, we used to have a steward in my office and made
30:53
sure it was done, but not anymore.
30:55
In a regular for over a year. Have yet to update my mapping
30:58
and when asked about it, my supervisor says they don't have
31:01
enough management coverage to make sure it's done.
31:04
Yeah, get a hold of your union Rep The management excuses are
31:09
just file, file, file. You, you know, they can they
31:15
somebody can volunteer to be a facilitator.
31:17
It's just a 2 hour training video on the computer and you're
31:22
certified. Yeah.
31:24
And if you're good with computers, you could actually
31:26
just do it without even taking the training.
31:29
I would highly. Suggest it's that simple.
31:30
It is. But I highly suggest taking with
31:33
training. Yes, absolutely.
31:35
There's also training resources on the computer to look at when
31:38
they actually allow you on that computer, they can pull it up
31:40
through the blue page. The management has access to
31:45
that. I actually, you know, my
31:46
postmaster was gone this week, so I actually had to show the
31:50
supervisor how to get to it. I was like, wait, I'm not used
31:55
to doing it on this computer. And I'm like, oh, here it is.
31:58
And I had to lead her into it and show her where it was.
32:02
So if they're not, if they're not doing it with you, or
32:06
they're doing it behind your back, you definitely need to
32:08
contact your designated and your Rep.
32:10
Absolutely. Because we're coming up on
32:13
crunch time next month, you're going to do the mapping just
32:17
before the mini mail survey. Or as the mini mail surveys just
32:20
starting, depending on how it works out, yeah.
32:24
Yeah, you're going to be right there at the mini Mail survey
32:26
doing the mapping. So you're going to want to do it
32:29
now. I had a lot of carriers when we
32:31
were doing their mapping that were like, well, I've got
32:33
changes in my edit book that I said then that will have to go
32:36
on next month. If they weren't in at the
32:38
beginning of this month. I said those updates won't take
32:41
effect until we do the mapping in another month.
32:44
Oh okay, it's your edit, but it's done.
32:48
Yeah, we've had. I had a few of those where I was
32:50
just like okay, why is, you know, boxes that come up
32:54
inactive that should never have been inactive?
32:57
And yeah, well, I got this one. Right.
33:01
I saw an e-mail on that. I saw an e-mail on that
33:03
management has set the program that supposedly if a mailbox has
33:10
not received first class mail in six months, it automatically
33:14
marks it inactive. And The thing is is this box
33:17
gets first class mail all the time so.
33:20
So there's problems with that system as well.
33:22
And it's the first box of the mail stop too.
33:24
So yeah, it's there, there is issues.
33:27
You know and I just. Have to behoove you to go
33:29
through. Yeah, it does.
33:30
And I have them double check their edit books too, as we're
33:32
doing it just to make sure things are in the corresponding.
33:35
I know I had to change a couple of them that were in the wrong
33:40
order just because we had a hardship that was in a grouping
33:44
and mail, mail, Stop and mailbox grouping and now they're a
33:48
hardship. So we had to ungroup it, move
33:51
the box down to after the group, regroup the group and yeah, I
33:54
mean. Or you get a new box that comes
33:57
in and you're trying to, you know, and management being
34:01
helpful and going in and thinks they're being helpful and going
34:04
in and adding it into webby's prior to you actually turning
34:08
your edit book in. So it's up and then they put it
34:10
in the run. No, it was supposed to be for
34:12
that house, not after that house.
34:14
Yeah, it's. It's fun to see all the other
34:17
little missed things that get done when it comes to the edit
34:21
books when you're going through the DPM.
34:24
But yeah, it's we got, we got ours done this week.
34:27
So yeah, it definitely helps. And the mini mail survey coming
34:32
up starting what, the 25th? Yep.
34:36
And you're going to, I have a question for y'all.
34:39
Do you know when we started this RECS program?
34:42
A while ago. When, When?
34:46
Which start do you mean when it was you know, initially brought
34:52
brought to light that we were going to go to go this way?
34:55
I believe it was 2020. They were talking about it.
34:59
No, no no no no no when the whole.
35:01
We're talking about making it live.
35:03
And then in 2021 they were talking about making it go live
35:07
in April of 2022. Then in April of 2022 they said,
35:12
all right, we're going to go live.
35:14
And they went, oh, we're going to hold off until September.
35:16
And then in September they said we're going to go live.
35:19
And they're like, Oh no, we're going to hold off on it.
35:22
And then April of this year they went live with it.
35:25
OK. I I I think you're missing the,
35:27
the, the gist of my question the the Rex program was initially
35:35
brought forward as a form of compensation course in 2012.
35:41
OK. You know who our President was
35:43
then? Nope.
35:45
Who was? It.
35:47
I wasn't OK Who's a dark horse for the convention this year to
35:53
run as president? He won, and only Jeanette Dwyer.
35:56
I want to know why anybody would consider having her back in the
36:01
saddle again after this fiasco. Well, she has a right to run for
36:06
the position. Do you have a right to run for
36:08
the position as well? I have a right to run for the
36:10
position. Kristen has the right to run for
36:13
the position. Any of our listeners who are
36:15
members in good standing can run for the position.
36:19
I am not, but it's up to the delegates who are in the
36:23
audience at Nashville convention as to who actually gets that
36:28
position. So again, I go back to if you
36:31
know the delegates going for your state, get a hold of them.
36:35
Tell them who you want in office as your national president,
36:39
because the only way you can affect change is to either be a
36:45
delegate. Or get your delegate to vote the
36:47
way you want. Get your people together.
36:50
Get them all together. Get them calling your delegates,
36:53
getting messaging them on Facebook if you can find them on
36:55
there, finding them on other social media sites, getting a
36:58
hold of them that way. If you want to get a hold of
37:02
your delegates, that's on you, because your voice is the only
37:08
way to affect any positive change within the union, because
37:14
you are the union. I'm like, I'm sitting here
37:19
going, wow, I think I should have dropped a mic on that one.
37:24
Yeah, I wouldn't go that far. No, I'm not quite.
37:28
Everybody just went quiet after that.
37:32
Well, sometimes you just have to have let James go on his role.
37:35
You. Know exactly, you guys.
37:37
Let me go on my role. We all let you go do your roles.
37:40
So yeah, no, it's. We let Bill go on his as long as
37:43
he doesn't go down a rabbit hole.
37:47
But I really like rabbits. I do.
37:49
I love rabbits. Hey, they're tasty meat.
37:53
Not a lot, but there's they are tasty.
37:56
Yeah, tastes like chicken. Oh God.
38:00
No, and my apologies, Liz Lightfoot, who would raise
38:07
bunnies for 4H clubs and a prize winning Bunny rabbits.
38:12
I'm sorry, but they're delicious.
38:16
I've never had rabbits so I can't comment on that one at
38:21
all, so. Rabbit.
38:23
Squirrel, raccoon, snake, possum, muskrat.
38:28
Yeah. I have had games.
38:32
Bison, Moose. I've had bison.
38:35
I've had elk. I've had moose.
38:37
I've had Gator, octopus, Oh yeah.
38:43
You know, there's a few things out there.
38:46
I try to eat octopus, but it's stuck to my face.
38:51
Somebody says you're supposed to cook it first, Bill.
38:55
Right. It made you look better too,
38:57
yeah. So the mini mail survey coming
39:02
up is going to run identical to the one we had in April.
39:08
Unless of course, your office really screwed it up and it's
39:13
completely possible they're going to screw it up.
39:15
But there are important things you need to look out for now,
39:20
Bill. You got things they should look
39:22
out for. Well one of the things I saw on
39:26
a social media was in regards of remeasurements of you distances
39:30
and somebody said well you could add distance you know in time
39:34
distance equals time while you also could lose.
39:38
So if you're comfortable with what you got earlier this year,
39:43
I would kind of stay away from that unless you have a major
39:46
increase in in your office time there as as far as the distances
39:50
are concerned. A, a point of interest because I
39:54
got a call on Saturday from my sub, they got a every, every
39:59
EDDM, every door direct mailing and it had a bar code on there
40:03
and she says, I just scanned that.
40:04
Right. And I said yes.
40:06
And I said yeah, that's for your delivery confirmation to the
40:09
the, the, the printer. And she goes and that's all.
40:13
I said no, then you have to put it in Rex.
40:15
They thought, she thought that if she scanned that bar code it
40:18
automatically went into Rex and I would have lost value for
40:21
that. Now, mind you, she's been
40:24
trained, but you have to refresh people's memories.
40:28
All the time in regard to what gets scanned, how it gets
40:33
entered, WSS versus WSH, IT. It's constant education folks,
40:40
it really is. And if management sits there and
40:43
tells you that you know you only have to do 6 scans, go get, go
40:48
get your CHEAT SHEET, you know, off of rural Internet, off our
40:50
national website, wherever form that you utilize and learn how
40:56
to use those scans. Okay, don't cheat.
40:59
Learn how to use them. If you cheat then you have to
41:03
defend it. But if you do it the right way,
41:07
then you have nothing to worry about whatsoever.
41:11
And one of the updates that I saw in the Q&A for this Mini
41:16
Mail survey is any bundles of WSH you get are to be counted
41:21
for the Mini Mail survey as manual pieces that is in the
41:26
Q&A. So they become part of your
41:28
manual with regards to what the clerks are sorting.
41:34
Now I've seen it come that it's to be put in WSS, to put it as
41:38
WS, do not put it in as WSS and things like that.
41:42
The Q&A says to count it during the mini mail survey.
41:47
That is what the union says. So you were to count it during
41:51
the mini mail survey if you get any WSH, but I didn't carry a
41:55
description, yes. And and the thing of it is this
41:59
is in direct contravention to what they were telling us that
42:02
these were included in the radar reports.
42:05
The same radar report couldn't justify to the day that you
42:08
received those bundles. So here we are again, a
42:13
conundrum of, you know, trying to write the wagon after it's
42:17
gone off the Cliff. And then the other part of it is
42:19
DPS errors of them is included in your DPS errors.
42:27
They were arguing last mini mail survey that the first day it was
42:31
counted and then the the next 14 days it wasn't and then the last
42:36
day oh up and counted. So it is counted in your DPS
42:43
errors as a letter. Each count upside down is still
42:49
4 = 1. Each upside.
42:51
Every upside down letter is 1/4 of a letter.
42:56
And don't forget your forwards miss sense, miss sorts and all
42:59
that. Yeah, all those.
43:01
All those are considered quote UN quote DPS errors and will be
43:05
added to your manual letters that you've processed from your
43:09
hot case and things like that. Anything that you pull out of
43:14
your DPS, we have to bring back to the office with you and.
43:19
If you case everything in the beginning.
43:21
Take it, take it for a ride, take it for a ride and then
43:24
count it when you get back because management will try and
43:27
tell you oh you got to do this before you leave, no?
43:30
That's end of shift. It's an end of shift duty, so
43:33
take it with you and bring it back.
43:34
At the end of the day, Yes, it's a little bit more work.
43:37
You get straight time for it on end of shift duty, but carry
43:40
your discretion, then you get paid for it.
43:45
Who does the edit book and? Mapping if the route is vacant,
43:48
we have an aux route that has no one assigned to it at all.
43:52
The sub that does it the most, if your most senior sub is the
43:57
one doing it the most often, then that's the person who
44:00
should be doing the edit book and mapping.
44:02
If somebody's holding it down, then they're the ones that do
44:06
the mapping. The issue comes in is a lot of
44:09
Rca's aren't fully trained on all these scans.
44:13
People aren't stepping up and teaching our Rca's all these
44:15
scans and they need to know it just as much as we do,
44:18
especially if they're on a hold down because that's their money.
44:22
I think that you know. Their own money.
44:24
Well, and I told the RCA who's going to be holding down the
44:27
route, coming up here in a month and 1/2 when the regular
44:32
retires. And I told him I said, dude, I
44:35
will cuz I'd be right about the time our seasonals start taking
44:38
off for the for the winter. And I I let him know.
44:42
I said I will. You know, I'll sit, You know,
44:44
you got changes, write them down and I'll sit down and go through
44:48
the edit book with you and show you how to do it.
44:50
There's no reason why a sub can't, shouldn't know how to
44:54
handle a basic change in an edit book.
44:57
And I only say that because if you do become a designated 79 or
45:00
74, you're the one responsible for that edit book.
45:05
If a carrier is off for a long amount of time, somebody's got
45:09
to keep up that edit book. I know in the past people
45:12
didn't, but now that they are supposed to be done monthly, if
45:16
you have a sub that does awesome, you know show them the
45:19
basics of an edit book just. And in the event of if you're
45:23
off for any amount of time, or you retire, or you're fed up and
45:28
you leave, you know they aren't going to be left at the mercy of
45:33
management showing them how to do an edit book.
45:35
No, they won't. Now, do you agree that it should
45:39
be the Oji that should be teaching them this stuff?
45:43
I guess that would have to be on a case by case basis.
45:47
I mean in my, in my instance as being an Oji and also being the
45:55
one that's potentially taking that route over.
45:57
Yeah, I'm going to show him how to do that at a book because
46:00
that's, you know, that's the last thing I want to do is come
46:02
in and have to completely update everything.
46:06
I just think it, you know, once somebody's comfortable on a
46:09
route they're situated, there's no reason why you can't just
46:12
show them. Like I said, the basic
46:14
activating, deactivating a box, specially activating.
46:18
You know, when you have routes that have, you know, changes
46:22
consistently every month, you've got, you know, a house that
46:26
finally sold or you have people that have come in and out
46:30
seasonally. You know, there's no reason why
46:32
they shouldn't know how to activate and deactivate in the
46:35
edit book. Or even add a brand new box in
46:38
and. I'm going to say this, it is
46:41
very difficult to reactivate a box now.
46:44
Yeah, I had a box that I reactivated 2 months ago.
46:47
It finally went fully active in this latest update.
46:50
Yep, cuz I gotta have the bread crumbs shown that you've been
46:53
delivering to it. Uh huh.
46:56
Yeah, we had that. It's difficult.
46:58
Yeah, we had that happen on one of our routes.
47:01
Not this time happen, but the last time where she went to
47:04
activate. A couple more boxes and it
47:07
wouldn't let me do it because when you hit Go into the LTM
47:10
it's throwing up the errors that you have to go back to the DPM
47:13
and it's showing up the errors that it's a potential inactive
47:17
box because there was no breadcrumb showing going to that
47:20
box. Yep, just happened to us.
47:24
One of our carriers does schools and all the school mail for the
47:30
two months that the schools are closed goes to the
47:33
administration building. So the carrier blew by those
47:36
those stop points all month long, went to do her mapping and
47:42
it throws you right back to the DPM because she's not stopping
47:44
at the schools. And so we're putting in a notice
47:48
to upper management that, hey, these schools haven't been
47:54
vacant for 90 days. Why is the DPM throwing an
47:57
error? And even though they'll say,
48:00
well, the informed visibility shown like you would on a hold.
48:04
And form visibility showing they're getting mail that day,
48:06
so it's getting credited, but actually, if it's the system is
48:09
automatically deactivating it because the bread crumbs aren't
48:12
showing. You stopping then, yeah.
48:14
So that's another error issue that we found with the mapping
48:18
program. Now this is a big one that I
48:22
just saw in the Q&A because I was just scrolling through what
48:26
is coverage factor and what credit do we receive for boxes
48:29
served on a particular day? Now this is quite interesting
48:34
how they answered it. To put it simply, if GPS bread
48:39
crumbs show you spike at the box for any reason it is credited as
48:43
delivered and or if Informed Delivery shows any mail for the
48:49
delivery it is credited as delivered and or if you deliver
48:54
a box holder or walk sequence letters or walk sequence plats
48:58
you are credited with 100% of boxes delivered for that day.
49:02
These items are entered on the day delivered, not necessarily
49:05
on the day received in the office.
49:08
Any of these three conditions above will credit the box as
49:12
delivered that day. Also, on any day you are
49:16
credited with a box holder or walk sequence mailing.
49:18
Every box is credited as delivered, however, right just
49:23
below it. If my centralized delivery shows
49:27
no Informed delivery that day, yet I have random letters
49:30
addressed to one or more of those boxes, how would Rex know
49:33
it was delivered? Answer the system will not
49:36
recognize those boxes as delivered on that one day.
49:40
The coverage percentage will be affected for that day out of
49:44
that one day out of 301 delivery days in the year.
49:47
The coverage factor was imposed on the parties by the
49:50
engineering panel, so they're throwing it off on the
49:52
engineering panel. We are bound by the terms.
49:55
Remember each day you have a box holder or a walk sequence
49:58
mailing. It is credited as 100% coverage.
50:00
Make sure you scan the WSS you want to take this one.
50:10
Oh God, this one here is a major Foo bar.
50:15
Especially when it comes with the cluster box units.
50:19
One one second. Had to get a kiss from my wife.
50:24
Yeah. The Informed Delivery.
50:25
OK, so let's let's say you don't have a box holder that day.
50:27
OK And you have the Informed Delivery and it's telling you
50:31
you have mail for 10 out of 20, you know, CB units in the CBU.
50:37
Does it take an account? Miss sorted mail?
50:40
Does it take account for miss thrown mail?
50:44
Does it take an account forwarded mail.
50:48
What does it take into account? Because it doesn't seem that
50:52
this system, you know, is accurate at all in in regards to
51:00
the the 100%. One in the 30s.
51:01
Well folks, you know 100% is is a matter of conjecture because
51:07
I've never seen anybody post that they had 100% coverage yet.
51:12
Everybody's in the 90s or 80s. Some people are down in the 60s.
51:16
Yeah, we have. I have one in the 30s.
51:20
How can that possibly be? I mean.
51:24
Because they aren't crowning CBU's.
51:26
Exactly. And and and I'm telling you, you
51:31
know, if if you're one of these people out in Texas, Arizona,
51:35
even Kansas, you're out there 190 degrees and you know, sweat
51:40
your ass off and you're throwing mail and you go back and you get
51:44
a 30% you know, coverage factor 35%.
51:46
Forty folks. You you think it's hot outside.
51:50
Boy, I'd. I would light that place up.
51:53
I really would it. Because you know that there's so
51:56
many flaws in this system and the entire system okay.
52:01
And and this, this is what I've heard.
52:04
It's like Obamacare. You have to vote for it and pass
52:08
it before you can read it. The Rex program is exactly like
52:11
Obamacare. You have to implement it to see
52:15
what's wrong with it. We've had three intellectual
52:20
giants in their fields sit there and point by point dictate the
52:28
terms, the times, the values for everything we do.
52:34
And yet the system sits there and says you don't get credit
52:39
for it. I'd love to get these engineers,
52:44
put them in the jump seat and have them run routes, see what
52:48
we really do. This is, yes, Rex can be a
52:51
better system, but right now it's a shit.
52:55
Show folks it. Wouldn't that be them crossing
52:58
crafts? If they were riding in the jump
53:00
seat with us, wouldn't that be them crossing crafts?
53:02
I'm sorry, the engineers, I don't think so.
53:05
They're they're not in the craft, so.
53:08
But here's the other other the other aspect of this Think about
53:13
how hard. Management has been pushing for
53:18
neighborhoods to get CBU's installed, subdivisions with
53:23
CBU's installed. Here's your reason why.
53:28
This is why they wanted you to have CBU's instead of curbside
53:31
delivery. Because they pay you less for
53:34
it. Because coverage factor can't be
53:37
calculated for a CBU with raw mail until they figure out a way
53:41
to actually see. What's going into those raw
53:44
trays that are going to be routed to your route?
53:48
I don't know It should because they're they're obviously
53:51
routing them to the office in those trays.
53:53
So obviously the machines putting them to that that zip
53:56
code already. Well, I I'm going to disagree
53:58
with you about the CDU's about in the post office.
54:02
They did it as a a cost effective measure because now
54:05
you're making one stop instead of 203040.
54:09
OK. And and as a as a cost
54:12
procedure, OK, it makes sense. I I think they then they have
54:17
been doing this for years in regards to new developments even
54:21
before Rex was actually put on the table.
54:25
My problem is here here's a real simple thing.
54:29
Clerk mail how how do they monitor clerk mail?
54:33
They don't. That's it.
54:36
Plain simple. They don't.
54:39
So you know, I I've got mail for 14 out of 30 and I'm going to
54:43
get credit for 14 now I'm below 50% and and excuse my French,
54:48
but are you fucking kidding me? And that and by the way, folks,
54:52
that's not French that, that's, that's full bill, straight up.
54:57
Yes, it is. But it gone Chinese food king.
55:04
But yeah, like like I said, Rex, Rex is a a train wreck because
55:09
everything hasn't been factored in considered.
55:12
You got it. You got to implement it to see
55:14
what's wrong with it. No, now that there's too much
55:17
wrong with this that it should have never been implemented and
55:20
without the transparency, which we still don't have, OK, it
55:25
should have never been agreed upon.
55:29
Mini Mail survey should have never.
55:31
Been still changing the rules on US management.
55:34
Still changing the rules on us. Yeah, I mean, obviously with the
55:38
WSH count now, you know, in the bundled flats, here we are
55:41
again. To do it for this one, yeah.
55:42
You know, I thought these things were set in stone, but now
55:45
we're. Here's a different way to do it
55:48
for this survey compared to the one we did last survey compared
55:51
to what we're doing just before the survey.
55:54
And watch it come down to the very next one, where we're going
55:57
to be counting every flat that comes in anyways, like we did
56:00
back in the day, back in. The day we'll be measured, we'll
56:04
be measuring them with a ruler. Oh, that's in that line.
56:08
Then we'll get those blue rulers back.
56:11
Yeah, they can take my blue ruler out of my cold dead
56:14
fingers. Yep, that's that's how I still
56:18
tell whether it's a rigid part, if it's a parcel or not, when
56:21
it's a rigid article, because my manager has stated that that is
56:26
how she determines what the parcel or not is by the ruler
56:31
size. So I'm not going to argue with
56:34
my postmaster. I actually fully agree with her
56:36
on that one. There is some decent management
56:41
out there. Shocking, but there is.
56:44
Ones that actually learn their job and do their job and
56:47
understand their job and understand the rural contract
56:50
well, you need to clone her and send her to about, you know,
56:53
8000 other offices. I've had five officers ask US
56:57
offices to ask us to send her back to them.
57:02
I'm not the first master of the year.
57:05
We've got her tied down in our office.
57:07
She is stuck in our office until she retires.
57:12
I hope. I hope she's 68.
57:15
I hope she stays on even fast, that personally, I hope she
57:19
stays on until she just, she just can't come walking in the
57:21
door anymore. She's that good.
57:25
I've had good management in the past, but that was when I first
57:29
started, so that lasted A whopping 3 1/2 four.
57:34
Well, wow. It was 3 1/2 years when I
57:37
transferred, so that lasted a good 2 1/2 years.
57:43
It it's funny, I I had a good supervisor for three years, a
57:46
good postmaster for 4:00, and after that they've just gone
57:51
downhill. And just when you think they
57:53
can't get worse, they do oh. Yeah, they do.
57:58
And you know, I am sick and tired of the bullying and the
58:02
micromanaging now to to the point of trying to squeeze every
58:06
nickel out of us. It's gotten to, it's gotten to a
58:10
point is it's it's almost personal.
58:13
It is. It is borderline harassment in
58:15
my eyes. Oh, it's not borderline.
58:19
It is. Yeah, it is harassment if they
58:21
continue to push that. Oh, why are you in putting this?
58:24
Why are you in putting that? My question is, is why aren't
58:27
these other carriers in putting that?
58:29
Why aren't you talking to them about not inputting it?
58:32
Why aren't you working on? Why aren't you working to up the
58:35
evaluations in your office so you can earn more pay?
58:39
Well, you'd have to think that far ahead, James.
58:41
No, you need to ask that to your postmaster.
58:43
When they start coming down on you on that stuff is why aren't
58:46
you helping us? Make sure that we get the right
58:48
scans in so that way we can increase our evaluations to
58:52
increase your budget. That's how you got to phrase it.
58:55
Our routes going up increases your budget.
58:57
Why aren't you working with us for over everybody to ensure
59:02
that every carrier increases their route evaluation to
59:05
increase your office budget? But then you have the all they
59:09
care about, but then you have the pooms and the impos,
59:11
whatever you want to call them. Get them for it.
59:14
Have been overheard. Keep the routes as small as
59:17
possible. And there's a reason why the M
59:20
who's are doing that, because they don't want to hire people
59:22
to cover the routes. They don't want to hire Subs,
59:24
they don't want to hire more people to pay.
59:27
They want to keep the routes small, get everybody down to H
59:29
route so they don't have to have Subs in the offices anymore,
59:31
even though it's in the contract that every route gets a sub.
59:34
In my district you have management, you know, from the
59:37
postmaster down to 204 B, who are in fear of their jobs.
59:42
Yes. So it's it's it's a, it's a
59:46
disastrous atmosphere. It's it's toxic in the post
59:51
office. It really is my office.
59:53
So if your manager comes to you and talks with you about your
59:58
inputs on your scanner, make sure you say I wish to have this
1:00:03
discussion with my designated union Rep present.
1:00:07
Your designated union Rep needs to be involved in any
1:00:11
conversations regarding Rex. Management has gone too far
1:00:15
making unilateral decisions when it comes to Rex that the union
1:00:19
needs to be involved. No ifs, ands or buts.
1:00:23
And what if you can't get a hold of your designated union Rep?
1:00:27
Go above them. You can't get a hold of your
1:00:29
designating Rep Contact your assistant district Rep If your
1:00:32
assistant district directly isn't available or you don't
1:00:34
have one, contact your district Rep If your district Rep doesn't
1:00:37
get a hold of you, contact the Director of Stewart Relations.
1:00:41
Bridget Bozio or up in Or the Director of Labor Operations
1:00:45
Bridget Boziak, or Director of Stewart Operations Shirley Baffa
1:00:49
up at National OH. You got to hit the nros first,
1:00:52
but. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:00:54
You have to get the Nros first. No, I just go right to them
1:00:57
because they're the ones who are in charge of all of them.
1:00:59
So. And they'll say they're the ones
1:01:00
who tell them. Yeah, they don't tell them what
1:01:03
to do. And if.
1:01:06
You talk to your NRO, though. And if you go to your NRO and
1:01:10
your NRO says, did you contact your ADR?
1:01:13
Yes, I've tried. No response.
1:01:16
If you contacted your Dr. Yes, no response.
1:01:21
And you're talking to your NRO and they take down your info.
1:01:24
All right, I will get a hold of your Dr. And you have yet to
1:01:27
hear back from your Dr. Anybody. Can you contact up above, but
1:01:33
don't fit on your Don't sit on your heels.
1:01:35
Be active in this. Be proactive.
1:01:38
Rattle the cages. Somebody's got to do something.
1:01:41
The one thing that just breaks my heart across the board is
1:01:44
seeing and hearing all the complaints of union reps that
1:01:48
blow people off or don't return phone calls or seem to have play
1:01:54
in the pocket of management. And I have no assistance.
1:01:57
I've seen way even. We're here.
1:01:59
Way too much of that recently. Here we're here to get you
1:02:02
engaged and talking with your union reps, because this right
1:02:07
here is the most important thing in the world for rural carriers
1:02:11
is the rec system, the mini mail survey, everything involved with
1:02:14
your paycheck, getting everybody to get a hold of their steward
1:02:19
system, even if you have to work your way up to the top.
1:02:22
But rattling those cages and getting them to go?
1:02:25
Hey, pay attention. To me, this is important.
1:02:28
Is the only way to get this union working for you?
1:02:31
I hate to say that, but if somebody's not doing what
1:02:35
they're supposed to be doing, you need to go up the chain.
1:02:37
Because at the most, if they're not doing what they're supposed
1:02:40
to be doing, they could lose their certification.
1:02:44
They could actually get a labor charge with the NLRB for failure
1:02:48
to represent it can become a big mess all the way up to national.
1:02:53
They want to solve it at the lowest level possible, and if
1:02:55
the lowest level possible is not working at it, you need to go to
1:02:59
the next higher level. That's simple.
1:03:01
And don't stop until you're satisfied, Correct.
1:03:05
Even if they say oh this this, we can't argue that you are
1:03:08
entitled to file a grievance or anything you feel management is
1:03:13
violating. And just as a reminder
1:03:15
everybody, we are the only craft to where the employee, the
1:03:19
carrier, the craft employee has to initiate that grievance with
1:03:24
the exception of a class action. With the exception of a class
1:03:27
action. So if you contact your steward
1:03:30
because you want to file a grievance, and then you get
1:03:32
upset because your grievance didn't get filed, it's because
1:03:36
you didn't file it. You have to fight.
1:03:38
You have to be the one to file that grievance in.
1:03:41
All stewards on all levels are upheld to the same timeline once
1:03:45
that grievance has been filed. Unfortunately, that is the way
1:03:48
it is and a lot of people are afraid of retaliation.
1:03:51
And I'm going to just say this, most likely people are going to
1:03:55
be retaliated against, but that's another grievance.
1:03:59
Yeah, I know. The biggest thing any carrier
1:04:07
can do is stick to their guns when they're right.
1:04:11
So if you file a grievance and you win it, and management
1:04:14
starts retaliating at you file another grievance, you're going
1:04:18
to win that one when they're retaliating against you.
1:04:21
And if they're starting to retaliate against you on the
1:04:23
workroom floor, say hold on, let me grab my case mate over here
1:04:27
as a witness. Document, document, document,
1:04:31
document, document and have witnesses.
1:04:33
If you because guess what, your management doesn't like
1:04:36
witnesses. And witnesses don't have to be
1:04:39
your specific craft. If there's a clerk that standing
1:04:42
there that witnessed the whole altercation, put them down as a
1:04:46
witness. If there was a city carrier who
1:04:48
came back in and witnessed the altercation, they are a witness.
1:04:52
If the janitor or maintenance witnesses it, they're a witness.
1:04:57
Does not have to be Craft specific.
1:04:59
And when it comes down to it, when you're asking questions as
1:05:02
as this goes on, your steward should be sitting there and
1:05:06
supporting you through this all and helping you through this
1:05:08
whole process, helping you understand how to fill out your
1:05:12
grievance form and work walking you through the whole process.
1:05:16
And there are some people who are willing to step up and
1:05:18
actually be a steward in their office.
1:05:21
And we applaud you. We applaud you because it's
1:05:25
better through the craft as a whole to have a steward in every
1:05:30
single office in the country that has rural carriers in it.
1:05:33
Even if it doesn't matter if you one route off, Yeah, it doesn't
1:05:36
matter. Yeah, If you have 300 routes and
1:05:39
you have 5 stewards or 6 stewards, or if you're a one
1:05:44
route office working by yourself and you're the designated
1:05:48
steward in the office, every office should have a steward
1:05:51
because you're there watching what's going on.
1:05:55
You're there telling management to to.
1:05:58
That's not right in the service talk.
1:06:01
You're there holding management accountable.
1:06:04
Even if there aren't grievances being filed over everything,
1:06:08
you're the first line of defense to the rest of your carriers.
1:06:12
Sure, both sides are going to be mad at you, especially when some
1:06:16
grievances get lost or at Step 2.
1:06:20
It gets settled for language, things like that.
1:06:23
But it's you're there to benefit the craft and your brothers and
1:06:27
sisters in the craft. Sometimes it's a thankless job
1:06:30
very much. Sometimes you get the highest,
1:06:33
sometimes you get the highest praise in the land.
1:06:36
Sometimes you work for the postmaster who you just sit down
1:06:39
and have a conversation with and then they go, I see your point.
1:06:42
I see it in the contract. Don't worry, we don't have to
1:06:45
have a grievance on this. I'll get this fixed right now.
1:06:48
Those are the best offices, by the way, if you can just sit
1:06:50
down, have a conversation and they fix it.
1:06:52
Best offices in the world. Then you have some managers that
1:06:55
take it all the way up to Step 4 because they're that stubborn.
1:06:58
I like the I like the office where the you know the PM has a
1:07:05
fit. I'll, I'll tone down has a fit
1:07:09
because the carrier filed A grievance and then goes out in
1:07:13
the floor and berates the carrier in front of everybody
1:07:18
and then they turn around and there's bill handing.
1:07:21
We carry here another grievance form.
1:07:23
And and the postmaster goes, what's that for?
1:07:25
I said, oh, hostile work environment, threatening,
1:07:28
harassment. And he and he turns around, he
1:07:32
says you can't prove that. And I said anybody else hear him
1:07:35
holler and everybody's raising their hand and it's like the
1:07:38
funniest thing because you just see him shrink and walk away.
1:07:42
I love that feeling. Yeah, as stayed in here.
1:07:46
Management bullies are cowards and once you stand up to them,
1:07:49
they know they leave you alone and.
1:07:52
Move on to their next victim. And that's when you just, you
1:07:55
know, trying to push everybody to stand up for yourselves.
1:07:58
I mean, that's really, especially if you don't have a
1:08:00
local steward, if nobody has stepped up, are you, You know,
1:08:04
you're not in a position to step up.
1:08:05
You know, still step up for yourself, even if it's not in
1:08:09
the entire office. Step up for yourself.
1:08:13
That's so true. Because in my office, people,
1:08:16
you know. In the past would say, oh you
1:08:19
know, they they don't mess with you Bill, because you're the
1:08:21
Stewart. They haven't messed with me for
1:08:23
over 20 years. And it's not because I was
1:08:26
Stewart either. I knew the contract.
1:08:29
I read things I I got on the website Rule Infinite.
1:08:33
You know, I, I I taught myself and you know when it came that
1:08:37
you know came push the shove and I did most of the pushing.
1:08:42
And you don't have to be a steward to do that, to push back
1:08:45
times. It takes just one carrier
1:08:46
stepping up and standing up to management to change the entire
1:08:49
dynamic of the office. Oh yeah, I'm definitely ending
1:08:52
up and enforcing and enforcing the contract on management and
1:08:55
saying that's not right can change the entire dynamic.
1:08:59
It is. It's like certain carriers
1:09:01
change the dynamic in the office by their actions, you know, and
1:09:05
I'm not talking about good actions, OK?
1:09:07
In the same sense, you know standing up the management can
1:09:10
change the dynamic in a positive way.
1:09:13
Absolutely. Wow.
1:09:15
Wow. If Kristen can do that or Bill
1:09:17
or James can do that, then maybe I can.
1:09:21
Yes, you can. Yep, Yep.
1:09:24
And on top of that, every every USPS employee is required by a
1:09:35
joint statement to be treated with dignity, fairness and
1:09:40
respect. There are two joint statements
1:09:43
out on this one because of Royal Oak, and I can't remember what
1:09:47
the other one was for. But I know Royal Oak because
1:09:49
that one's actually very close to me, not just geographically,
1:09:54
but I knew somebody who was assigned to Royal Oak, who
1:09:57
luckily wasn't working that there, there that day, was
1:10:00
assigned instead of Royal Oak to Farmington Hills that day.
1:10:04
But if they would have been there, they probably would have,
1:10:05
would have tried to stop the person knowing their
1:10:08
personality. But everybody, dignity, fairness
1:10:12
and respect should be the motto of every person in the post
1:10:16
office, and management does not like doing that in a lot of
1:10:20
offices. No, and it's your, your.
1:10:24
It's your job as a rural carrier to enforce that.
1:10:29
And then you got the, you got management that.
1:10:32
Treat the different genders differently and yeah, yeah,
1:10:40
yeah, yeah. Or they have their special
1:10:43
special carriers that they work with.
1:10:46
Yes, yes, yes. Familiar with that as well?
1:10:52
You want to make sure that you follow your contract, the PO 603
1:10:57
and all the other postal manuals you can get your hands on and
1:11:00
they're all you want to know. Your job inside and out.
1:11:03
They're all available whether on ruralinfo.net.
1:11:06
You can search for them online, you can find you can find the
1:11:10
city carriers ones online too. You can find out what they have
1:11:13
to do. Yeah, the NALC, you can access
1:11:16
them right on their site. You don't even have to be a
1:11:18
member of their site to access them.
1:11:20
All right, guys, we're going to wind this down tonight.
1:11:23
We're going to wind this down tonight and call it so we can
1:11:27
get the editing done and. Get stuff up.
1:11:30
I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, and it's been an
1:11:35
emotional weekend, so we will. We understand that.
1:11:39
Oh yeah, definitely. So your final words for this
1:11:44
evening, James? Well, you know it's it's coming
1:11:47
to crunch time again for the mini Mail survey and it's going
1:11:50
to come every six months. So take your time now to learn
1:11:54
all the details you can. Get yourself prepared.
1:11:58
Know. Know what you're supposed to be
1:12:00
doing. If you can access the Q&A, go
1:12:02
through all the mini mail survey training stuff they have.
1:12:05
You can access that on the nrlca site or on ruralinfo.net.
1:12:10
Just be prepared and ready to go because this is your paycheck.
1:12:14
Every scan you do, every input you make is your paycheck.
1:12:19
And if you start feeling overwhelmed, take a step back,
1:12:23
take a deep breath and step back in.
1:12:25
Since Josh isn't here, I figured I'd make his statement.
1:12:31
Happy birthday to his wife, by the way.
1:12:33
Yes, but just do do your job. Take care of yourself, take care
1:12:38
of each other and be safe out there.
1:12:43
Bill. All of you out there, you're
1:12:45
you're new inalienable rights of respect, understanding,
1:12:50
compassion. And if you're not getting it
1:12:54
from your, your. Post office?
1:12:56
Then stand up for yourself. I know that it's hard for a lot
1:13:01
of people to do based on their personalities or upbringing or
1:13:05
whatever, but the first person to stand up to management will
1:13:12
set off a chain reaction and the momentum will grow and everybody
1:13:17
will start standing up for themselves for their rights
1:13:21
under the contract under federal law.
1:13:25
And you can make that a better workplace situation.
1:13:28
We have too many people bailing. RC A's people are retiring
1:13:33
early. They're just getting out of the
1:13:35
toxic situation. Well, the toxic situation won't
1:13:39
change until you decide to make that change.
1:13:42
And it starts with you. Get involved, get educated,
1:13:46
learn the rules. M38PO6O3 Elm The contract.
1:13:53
Everything. Anything you get your hands on,
1:13:55
take 10 minutes and out of your day at the end of the day and
1:13:59
educate yourselves because the only person going to protect
1:14:03
your paycheck is you. Everybody go out, be safe,
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hydrate, pull over, take needed breaks.
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When you feel overwhelmed, get out of those tin cans that you
1:14:15
know the post office gives you and you know, just make sure you
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get home to your family. You're the most important
1:14:21
delivery at the end of the day. Make sure you make that
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delivery. Everybody take care.
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God bless. Thank you, guys.
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Yes. Again, we're still in July, so
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definitely keep hydrated, try to stay cool as much as possible
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and be safe this week and we'll see you back next week.