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Elephant in the Room & Full SWAC Breakdown · United We Scan

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Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
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United We Scan podcast. Welcome back everybody.
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Episode 112. Yep, we are going to do a full
1:00
swag breakdown that we didn't get to do last week with James
1:03
on the road and then we will definitely be addressing the big
1:08
ol elephant that's in the room with everybody.
1:11
So other than that, how was your week, James?
1:18
Oh, you know, getting back from Slack and getting back into the
1:23
swing of things. It wasn't too bad at the week
1:26
that we had, you know, getting set up for the mini mail survey
1:31
and stuff like that. It print out my forms for the
1:35
carriers to keep track of their numbers for the mini mail survey
1:40
account. Had to modify it to remove the
1:42
powers label since we don't do those anymore, so hopefully
1:45
those will be in there otherwise we're screwed.
1:48
But we don't know for sure if they're in there or not.
1:51
We'll just have to find out. But I didn't have to work today.
1:57
I told the supervisor that if they're going to split her out
2:00
to call me. I'll come in and cover my route
2:03
so they can use the sub on another route because I need the
2:06
X dates for Dayton National Convention.
2:09
So I'm also going to sign up for the relief day work list just to
2:13
bank up those next days to cover all the leaves that I'm going to
2:16
be taking for all these events. Other than that, it was a pretty
2:21
good week overall. Snow wasn't too bad, roads were
2:23
all passable. I got to all my boxes every day
2:26
of the week, which was very good.
2:29
Sometimes I have some roads I can't get down, but we all know
2:33
that that routine, the whole boxes weren't able to be gotten
2:37
to with the piles of snow. I'm sure Kristen will be talking
2:41
about that and how her week went, but other than that, it
2:46
was actually a nice easygoing week.
2:49
How about your week, Bill? Oh, God, it was boring until
2:53
Wednesday. And then I spent three hours at
2:56
the gun range. Yeah.
3:02
And, and you walk in with the the rifle bag and and ammo bag
3:07
and you go into the lane and I tell Kevin I said here, watch
3:09
these. I said I'll be back.
3:10
He goes before I said I'd left the handguns and the other ammo
3:13
bag out in the car. He's like, oh, shit.
3:19
So, you know, they got a little concerned when I kept writing
3:21
names on the silhouettes and sending them down the range.
3:26
But yeah, best three hours of not hearing anything.
3:29
You know, we did did have a bit of a situation and, you know,
3:36
we're always preaching to look out for each other.
3:39
OK. And with the mini mail survey
3:41
coming up, they had to get all their measurements done and all.
3:44
And the girl has been out on one of the routes for a shoulder
3:47
injury. The supervisor took the sub out
3:52
walking to the location where her truck used to be parked.
3:57
But they now have new parking assignments and hers is 1/4 mile
4:01
away. And that, you know, this carrier
4:04
stepped up and told the supervisor, no, that's not where
4:06
she's going to get credit from. She's getting credit all the way
4:09
to this back lot. And that's what it is.
4:12
You, you turn around and you step up for people, even when
4:15
they're not there, even when it's a carrier you don't like,
4:18
as in this case, you know, the right thing is the right thing
4:22
no matter what. OK, so you know, they, they, of
4:28
course, they, they got to their mini mail survey and
4:31
surprisingly, everybody showed up.
4:35
All the normal call outs came in.
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But the fact of the matter is that I've had a good week, you
4:40
know, grandsons looking at a couple properties and, you know,
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enjoying, you know, one of the best things I like to do and
4:48
shooting love it, love it, love it.
4:52
So how was your week, Kristen? My week was interesting, sort
4:58
of. Could be, I don't know, it was
5:00
weird. But yeah, you know, do it day
5:04
after your holiday, blah blah blah.
5:07
And then I still have a lot of snow holds 'cause people don't
5:13
clean. I have one small little
5:17
apartment place who they each have, there's 7 units.
5:21
They have individual boxes in a row.
5:24
Whoever's plowing them plowed the snow up towards the
5:27
mailboxes, knocked the first one off the post, and never cleared
5:32
out in front of them. So none of them are getting
5:34
their mail anytime soon. Yeah, not good.
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And many. Yeah.
5:44
Yeah, like I said, you know, I pretty sure Rd.
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Commission was having a contest to who could take out the most
5:53
mailboxes because they took out quite a few so or I have quite a
6:00
few that are buried too. Got a few of them in the
6:05
beginning that are just completely buried.
6:07
It's like Yep, you're not getting yours anytime soon
6:08
either. So.
6:10
But other than that now it's pretty typical.
6:13
Worked my K day again yesterday. Yay.
6:16
Lucky me with Advos, that's the third month in a row I've gotten
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stuck having to do advos on my K day.
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And yes, I'm going to bitch about it because I did them
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enough as a sub. Just follow along with you,
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that's all. Yeah.
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Yeah, yeah. If you didn't do them on your K
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day, you'd have to do them on your normal work day.
6:43
Yeah, yeah. This depends on when they come,
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but it's even more. It's even hard.
6:47
It's even worse that you got to do them on your day off.
6:52
But no I. I saw an interesting post from
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Alaska today where they have one of the earth graders.
7:00
You know, the the long machines with the the blade underneath
7:03
the middle of it going along plowing a road.
7:07
As they came to a driveway, an extra little panel came down,
7:11
Yeah, and kept the snow, you know, from getting pushed into
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the driveway. As they got to the end, it
7:16
lifted up and it's I'm sitting there going.
7:19
God, what a blessing that would. I've worked way too much.
7:23
I just. Friday was my youngest
7:26
daughter's 8th grade band festival in Petoskey.
7:35
They were the second to last band to play.
7:40
Hey, it's Bill. Yeah, that's a scary photo.
7:43
That's my permit there. Yep.
7:45
And so if anybody knows, James knows what I'm talking about, I
7:49
get home from work, I changed my clothes and we drove the three
7:53
hours to Petoskey, was in Petoskey for an hour and 45
7:58
minutes and then drove the three hours home at home about
8:02
midnight and then had to go to bed and then get up and work my
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K day yesterday. So it was just a cluster for me
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yesterday. I'm surprised you're still awake
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right now. I know, right?
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Oh, it was it was a day for me. It turned out to be a 10 hour
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day and I only had 66 scans. Yeah.
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Damn. I know 2 trees of DPSA tree
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pulled down 66 scans and advos. Definitely must have been the
8:37
first day of the mini mail survey.
8:39
And the first day of the mini mail survey, yes, I, I, I took
8:43
time before I left the for the route.
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One of our newer Rcas that was working, the one that I trained
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most, not the most recent one, but the last one I trained, was
8:55
coming in to help split a route. And I took the time before I
9:00
left to explain to him what he needed to do out on the street
9:03
for mini mail survey and explain that all to him.
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So I actually didn't even get out of the office.
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I could have left till it like 10, but it was closer to 10:30
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because I took that time to coach him through it and explain
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it to him. So yeah, that was my week.
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Wow, they're lucky in Westchester to get their parcels
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by 10, let alone 1030. Yeah, it's been fairly light.
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You only have so many hours, you know?
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You have so many hours to run so many packages for so many
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different offices in this DNC. If you don't have the manpower
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to affect that, you're screwed from the word go.
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And management needs to get on then.
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Then management needs to get on the damn machines and start
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running stuff. Yeah, but the problem with that
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is, James, that when they do get involved there, you end up with
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more on the end of the damn line in the wire cages that they have
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to hand sort later on. They're the worst.
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You know, they they have no idea how to throw a label up.
10:09
OK, I'm sorry, maybe the post office is worse.
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They didn't get a 360 reader to put on those lines about that.
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But yeah, well, let me tell you because I haven't worked my way
10:21
up through the national steward system in the NRLCAI.
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Don't know what I'm talking about, so I'm not qualified.
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Snide remarks. Snide remark.
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All right, look at the get the show on the road, James.
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Let's go over SWAC first. All right, since I didn't have
10:42
my notes available last week and people were wanting to know all
10:46
the stuff that I talked, that they talked about on there, I
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wanted to go over what exactly I went through and I took 16 pages
10:56
of notes at SWEC. But let's just, I'm going to go
11:01
over the highlights a little bit.
11:04
On Friday night, Michael Gann did the legal seminar and we
11:09
wanted to talk about the grievance process and remedies
11:14
and the remedies should align with the violation and would be
11:20
clearly understood by both the stewards and carriers.
11:24
Remedies vary depending on the issue, such as reinstatement,
11:27
back pay, front pay, notice postings, and bargaining orders
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for unfair labor practices. He he emphasized that they're
11:38
often overlooked and when running remedies, you need to
11:47
make sure that when you fill out the grievance form, especially
11:51
if you do not settle the remedy requested at the bottom is what
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you started with, not what you guys got to before you guys
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decided it was an impasse. But you have to have it at the
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initial point. So you're you're battling,
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you're in the ring, you're going into the center of the ring to
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fight. When you go to pass that up,
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your remedy needs to go back to the corner and start over.
12:18
That way the next person can fight all the way up again with
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the next level. He talked about MOU 25, the one
12:27
we talked about with removing management.
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And the Postal Service argues that it can't be used to remove
12:35
management, of course. And they claim it would violate
12:41
their due process for management employees.
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They just wanted to be, oh, we'll just do more training, do
12:51
more training, do more training. You know, you know they
12:57
management resists. Swift action on management
13:00
prefers slower processes and the lack of clear, unitive language
13:07
in the contract means that the union must rely on make whole
13:12
remedies rather than direct disciplinary measures.
13:16
Arbitrators and legal professionals would have to
13:20
advocate for stronger enforcement to ensure contract
13:22
compliance. On Saturday was the management
13:28
Q&A. I'm going through this really
13:33
quick. They are talking about getting
13:36
vehicles for every route in the Postal Service eventually and
13:43
it's not going to be the NGDVS for rural carriers in most
13:47
cases. It's going to probably be a
13:49
commercial off the shelf vehicle, probably like the
13:52
Metris or some other right hand drive vehicle that they can
13:56
procure as a regular vehicle. I'm hoping that maybe somebody
14:00
like Ford will come out with a a Transit.
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They did have a transit they were building right hand drive
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for Canada. Yeah.
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And then also you have Canoe is one of the manufacturers they
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are working with as well. As for the name of the one that
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the Canadians have that looks like the LOV, you know which one
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I'm talking about though. Jonesboro, AR will get an SNDC
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May 31st 2025, potentially improving vehicle availability
14:36
in Arkansas. And if you need casing
14:40
equipment, they should go through the postmaster and
14:43
escalate to the M Poo or POOM, however you want to call them.
14:47
Yeah, Doug Tulino did sign MOU 25.
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We're talking about the MDD devices taking over DPM and LTM
15:00
functions, reducing the need dedicated computers.
15:05
Yeah. They want us to do everything on
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the scanner, including our DPM and LTM updates.
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I don't know how that's going to work, but we'll have to check
15:15
it. Yeah, Bill, I see your head.
15:18
Yeah, but I would like the ability to GPS ping the
15:23
mailboxes for the addresses myself when I have a problem.
15:27
Like when one of those SPMS come up and it says I'm 150 feet away
15:31
from the address, I can ping it at the mailbox and make it 0.
15:37
Unfortunately, management's answer to harassment was it is
15:42
not tolerated, but disciplinary actions are handled
15:45
administratively. Remember my conversation about
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MOU 25? And again, management
15:54
accountability, contract violations and wage theft claims
15:57
should be reported. However, discipline actions
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against managers are not publicized.
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They should be. They should be, yes.
16:06
Earbuds are deemed unsafe in SNDC's and while driving.
16:13
Now in your case while you are casing, we still have the rule
16:18
that we can have an earbud in to listen to something while we are
16:21
casing but as soon as you step out step to go out of that case
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you need to take the earbud off for safety.
16:29
Employees should be paid for all hours worked and future plans
16:33
and operations. They want a private enterprise
16:37
model. The PMG wants USPS to operate
16:40
more like a private company, partnerships with FedEx, UPS,
16:44
Amazon. USPS is monitoring their
16:46
operations closely. Waiting for them to drop the
16:49
ball and say, OK, we've, we've going to have to pay that 9%
16:52
because we can't handle all these packages that we've got
16:56
now. They said 28,000 new vehicles
17:01
are expected in the next year as part of ongoing improvements.
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28,000 vehicles, that's it, Michael.
17:08
Then we went into Michael Gann talking about Mackey background
17:15
checks and the termination of people after they've already
17:19
passed their probationary period and not adhering to just cause.
17:26
Oh, the best part? Contract negotiations.
17:29
I know we just had a video released by Mr. Mastin himself
17:32
on what they're going through, but he says the one sub per
17:39
route rule is outdated and USPS struggles with higher retention.
17:45
Union is looking for ways to help USPS solve these issues,
17:49
hence the MOU. Current status of contract
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negotiations. We're still negotiating.
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Did you expect anything else? If progress stalls, negotiations
18:05
will move to the next step. Bargaining or interest
18:10
arbitration. Any else?
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NRLC as position is aiming to lead negotiations by securing a
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strong agreement for ratification.
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Mark those words. No postal union has settled a
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contract upon expiration in years.
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Resolution is expected soon. So I'm guessing we're still at
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99% completed, Bill. Yeah.
18:38
John Mastin first not to engage in back and forth discussions.
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He actually said this as he started his statements.
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He doesn't want back and forth discussions from carriers.
18:51
This is in the Q&A. He criticized the uninformed
18:57
management that appeared at SLAC.
19:01
He also brought out issues with scan integrity.
19:04
Management only cares about errors in One Direction, extra
19:07
or erroneous scans, and also took the time to chastise people
19:12
doing extra scans on the floor in front of carriers.
19:17
He's yeah and said that if they can't stop doing that, that
19:21
they'll bring out the editing of scans.
19:23
With management, concerns over locality pay cannot be resolved
19:27
at the local level, but MO Use can help with that.
19:31
He did say that. He did emphasize the importance
19:34
of going home safely at the end of the day.
19:37
A rising number of fallen carriers, seatbelts and avoiding
19:41
distractions are crucial. USPS struggles with hiring
19:45
retention, especially RC as he said.
19:49
He says rail carriers are underpaid compared to other
19:53
crafts, even though management thinks we're overpaid. 1 sub per
19:58
route rule again is broken and needs fixing.
20:01
Preparing for arbitration is if necessary.
20:04
Won't drag negotiations out indefinitely.
20:09
Union solidarity and national issues.
20:12
Reports showing solidarity with other postal unions.
20:15
Unions criticism of the $0.50 raise for our CAS.
20:19
It does not align with wage jumps career and carriers
20:23
receive. Then you went into anti
20:25
privatization efforts and federal worker protections are
20:28
major union battles. Several MO use and discussion
20:33
are bank time issues, carrier carriers volunteering for other
20:39
routes, voluntary work should not prevent USPS from hiring,
20:42
RCA's and territorial routes adjustments, ongoing disputes
20:47
about volume data affecting pay, issues with letters of demand.
20:52
Grievances can be filed, but winning depends on the
20:54
situation. He said that the once a day
20:58
truck delivery mostly effects mail handlers and clerks waiting
21:02
to see rural impact route drops from Rex.
21:06
Consolidation and excising could occur under Article 12.
21:10
Leave carryover for this year has not been addressed by
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management. ETFs are necessary due to a
21:17
shortage of leave replacements. The goal is a stable, career
21:20
oriented workforce. Yes, he wants PTS in every
21:23
office too. Just like management grievance
21:26
remedies. Carrier should request more than
21:28
just time and 1/2 for forced work violations under the MOU.
21:33
Speaking on our Met National magazine, due to publishing and
21:36
mailing constraints, especially with holiday related content,
21:40
they had a failure in the system and that's why we didn't get our
21:45
November, December magazines actually in time for November,
21:49
December. You're saying he blamed the post
21:53
office for that? No, he blamed and the post
21:58
office actually, he actually said that they can't release
22:02
that magazine until they get the overtime stuff from management,
22:06
then they can release the magazine to be shipped out.
22:09
Then it became the failure of the post office hold.
22:13
It there's a failure by management in the post office to
22:17
get us that information in an expeditious time frame.
22:21
All of that, everything, everything piled together to
22:25
make that happen. But it's on both parties.
22:28
The Union Apparel store, they talked about this, they tried to
22:35
make them kind of like we did on our store.
22:38
They tried to make them as close to cost as possible.
22:42
The proceeds that are above that go back into the store and
22:47
anything above that goes back into the general fund to support
22:50
union initiatives. And then he went into the
22:55
talking about the loss of the number of lost retired members
23:01
on the list. I know where I'm at.
23:04
Yeah, no, I mean the ones that left the union, but a lot of
23:10
retirees do remain members to stay informed with something
23:14
because of the road carrier benefit plan.
23:17
Only falsifications and emergency placements.
23:20
Grievances should be filed for falsification and wrongful
23:23
emergency placements. Instead of actually addressing
23:26
the issue that management is bringing these pods out here.
23:30
Like I said before, they just went, oh, well, if they place
23:33
you on emergency placement, file a grievance.
23:35
In the meantime, you're sitting at home, you're not making any
23:38
money, your bills are falling behind.
23:41
And the union's thought is, well, we can't stop management
23:44
from doing this. We can't put something out to
23:46
tell management we're not doing this.
23:48
But they didn't even know what a pod was, so they asked about
23:53
the. Washing machine, right?
24:00
Then they asked about having the information like city carriers,
24:03
do you know where we can look it up on light blue or on our
24:07
scanner? And they said it, it was
24:09
different data tracking and route visibility systems apply
24:12
to city carriers only. And that's that's my summary
24:19
that I shot down from 16 pages down to six.
24:28
Now on the pod thing though, with the pods now, if I heard
24:35
right, listening for me to arbitration management let the
24:40
unions know back in December that this was going to happen,
24:46
that they were doing this. And you know, if they let 1
24:51
union know, they let the other one know as well.
24:56
And I'm sure they gave them the E mm hmm because they did
25:01
nothing. Because they are not just
25:03
targeting city routes, they are also targeting rural routes,
25:08
which we know first hand or we have heard from people who have
25:13
been affected first hand. And if you go by the statistics
25:17
that my old postmaster Darren said, 120 rural carriers got
25:22
placed on emergency placement in one day.
25:25
Yeah. Yeah.
25:29
Oh, that's what I have for SWAC. There was a lot more to it than
25:34
that, but I wanted to make it shorter for the pod.
25:38
I'm sure you guys thank me for that.
25:43
Thank you. I do appreciate that.
25:48
All right, I guess it's time. To I don't appreciate, I don't
25:51
appreciate some of the lies, he said.
25:52
But you know it's. It was hey, you're, you're don't
25:56
shoot the messenger. Don't shoot the messenger.
26:00
Why not? That's the first casualty in
26:02
war. Right, right.
26:07
We'll get a drink really quick here for this one.
26:12
All right, all right, wet your chops down there, James, because
26:17
I know you're going to need it. And I guess we'll run off to
26:23
address the elephant in the room.
26:27
Got your pen ready, Kristen? Yeah, it's right here.
26:32
I've already got two times down on there so.
26:35
So we have one article that came out from the Washington Post
26:44
that was stating that President Trump was going to sign an
26:48
executive order on Friday to put the Postal Service back under
26:55
presidential control under the cabinet of the Department of
27:00
Commerce. As soon as that came out,
27:05
everybody started flying off the handles through all the unions,
27:09
including ours, the city carriers, the mail handlers, the
27:14
APWU, as well as the supervisors union and the postmasters union.
27:21
They all put out a call to action for everybody to step up
27:26
and call Congress and get them to bring in President Trump over
27:32
this. And I sat back and watched this,
27:36
and I was more surprise than anything at the comments that
27:44
we're coming across on all these posts, especially in the groups
27:48
that we're in. And I want to get your guys's
27:50
take on this, but I have something I want to say on it,
27:53
too. So let's start with Kristen on
27:56
this one. We'll let Bill gather his
27:57
thoughts first. I have 2 words.
28:00
Fear mongering. You're going by a a news article
28:08
on a not so trusted source anymore.
28:18
And you know, when I first saw it, I just went, oh, well, here
28:24
we go. But that's all I did.
28:27
And, you know, I get to work the next day and I'm hearing it from
28:30
coworkers and everything else. And I'm thinking it's all a
28:34
bunch of fear mongering. Because then what happened next?
28:39
There was another statement put out by the White House.
28:43
And I, I think they, they instead of going to the source
28:52
and waiting to find out exactly what's going on, because nobody
28:56
knows exactly what's going on yet, not even the president at
29:02
this moment knows what they're going to do yet.
29:06
And it's to, to jump so quick. And it was to me, it was all I
29:13
can say is I saw it as fear mongering in, in the greatest
29:16
proportions. Go ahead, Bill.
29:23
I have 3 words for this. It's called burrs of fear.
29:30
I, I just sat there and laughed and, and because people, it's a
29:35
knee jerk reaction. And, and that's what people do,
29:37
they get angry, you know, they don't think of, you know, how
29:41
this process might even be implemented.
29:44
And the fact of the matter is that it's basically an act of
29:48
Congress, You know, 38 states change the Constitution.
29:51
You, you just can't go in and assume the post office dissolve
29:56
their hierarchy as far as the Board of Governors is concerned,
30:00
put us under, you know, the Chamber of Commerce and say, OK,
30:03
the post office is now under chamber.
30:05
It doesn't work that way according to the US
30:08
Constitution. There's a process and it's a
30:12
long drawn out and it's an uphill process.
30:16
How many congressmen or House of Representatives or anybody else
30:19
in in the the federal or state governments going to go along
30:25
with the program that supports their continued politics
30:30
politicking OK, because we're the cheapest way for them to
30:33
advertise, you know, their intentions and running for
30:35
office. I mean, hell was raised when
30:40
Westchester caught on fire and they said they weren't
30:42
rebuilding and you know, and and their hell Hell's still being
30:44
brought up. But the fact of the matter is
30:46
that you take a whole country. They are not not going to let
30:51
this happen There. There's no way in hell.
30:56
Be prepared. All your Congress people don't
30:59
get into a panic. You're not on the Titanic, OK,
31:03
not on the Lusitania. You know, you're, you're on the
31:07
USS Indianapolis. We've got sunk after it dropped
31:10
the atom bomb. So, but the fact of the matter
31:14
is that, you know, we're, we're afloat as an entity and, you
31:18
know, we will be afloat as an entity long after, you know,
31:23
Trump is gone and and his successor.
31:25
But the fact is they can't do this without major, major
31:29
manipulations. It'll never happen.
31:34
That's my, my, you know, look at it.
31:37
OK, there's you can spin all this stuff.
31:39
And, and the funniest thing is that who is the person who,
31:43
who's the entity that brought this out, you know, to public
31:45
light first, The Washington Post.
31:48
Well, would you believe them if you stepped in a pile of dog
31:51
shit and they said it stunked? You'd have to smell your own
31:54
damn shoe because you wouldn't believe them.
31:58
Oh, I'm not giving any credibility to it because of the
32:01
fact that there's too many machinations that have to be put
32:04
in place for it to be even considered, let alone actually
32:09
acted on. You know, for me, it wasn't
32:16
about the post office being brought back in underneath the
32:21
presidential power. It wasn't about, you know, the
32:26
possibility of things happening to us over all.
32:29
The overarching thing for me is for too long we watched as their
32:33
craft has been pushed aside, overburdened, underpaid and
32:37
ignored. We've seen decisions made at the
32:40
top with no regard for the carriers to keep the service
32:43
running. And yet, instead of standing
32:46
together, we're fighting amongst ourselves, letting management,
32:50
Congress and anti union forces divide us.
32:53
That's exactly what they want. This latest situation has been
32:58
clear. Knowing just how divided we are
33:03
that are coming together to fight for our future, we let
33:06
distractions, personal opinions, and infringing infighting take
33:10
over. That's not how we win.
33:13
That's not that's exactly how we lose.
33:17
This fight isn't about politics. It's not about personal
33:21
opinions. It's about survival.
33:24
Of making sure we have a future in this job, that we're paid
33:27
fairly for the work we do, and that we're not left behind while
33:31
those of the top continue to make decisions about considering
33:34
us. The truth is, we're not going to
33:37
fix it by waiting for someone else to step up.
33:40
The union has failed us in many ways, but that doesn't mean we
33:43
give up. It means we push harder, we
33:46
demand more. We don't have a time for
33:50
division, we don't have a time for excuses, and we sure as hell
33:54
don't have time for name calling.
33:57
If we don't come together now, we may not get another chance.
34:02
We need to come together for something bigger than ourselves.
34:06
This call to arms to call our legislators could have been a
34:10
point where we could have talked about all the issues that we're
34:14
facing and we could have talked to them about resolutions that
34:18
are in the offices right now, like HR70 or HR1065 and Senate
34:24
Bill 463. These bills directly affect the
34:28
future of rural carriers and the Postal Service.
34:32
We don't speak up and make our voices heard.
34:35
We risk being left out of the conversation completely.
34:39
The time for hoping is over. The time for action is now.
34:45
We are not weak, we are not disposable, and we are not going
34:48
to let the future of our craft be decided without us.
34:52
This time to show them who we are.
34:54
And it's time to show them we're all in this together.
34:57
Because we are the voices that need to speak up, not just the
35:05
national board getting together with all the other unions for
35:08
whatever reason. We need to speak up on the
35:12
problems that we're having. We need to put our voices out
35:15
there. And this call to arm showed me
35:18
that we're not ready to be together yet, but we can get
35:22
there. And even if we don't support
35:25
what we're calling arms for, we could do something to call to
35:28
arms to actually benefit the rural carriers.
35:33
And that's simply yeah, we've got to come together.
35:43
Yeah, you know, and I like, you know, if, if things were to to
35:49
change or go about, however people are trying to predict
35:52
whatever it's going to do, we don't know how it would affect
35:57
us carriers in general to begin with.
36:01
I think honestly, a lot of it will affect the desk jockeys,
36:08
upper management, those that are sitting behind a desk playing on
36:11
their phones and not doing anything and getting paid the
36:14
big bucks before it's going to actually come down.
36:19
I mean, I think at first it'll be a minimal effect on any
36:22
carriers if anything comes down. But until then, I'm not going to
36:27
worry about it because there's nothing coming down just yet
36:31
that says this is what we're doing or this is what we're not
36:34
doing. It's business as usual right
36:37
now. People go to work, do your job.
36:39
It's the mini mail survey, do your stuff at the end of your
36:41
shift duties, keep track of your inverted letters and your DPS.
36:48
You know nothing's changing right now.
36:51
So I think the fear mongering and the fighting and the
36:54
bickering amongst people and it, I don't care what your political
36:58
stance is, who you voted for, that shouldn't matter.
37:06
What was that? Hatch Act.
37:10
Exactly. Yes.
37:11
Yes. Don't forget about the Hatch
37:13
Act. Yes.
37:15
I mean, yeah, we're. Yeah.
37:18
Anyways, I'm not. I refuse.
37:24
No, but I refuse. You know, I'm not going to go
37:26
there, but you know, But that's The thing is, is it should not
37:30
matter who voted for who or whose political views are what
37:37
when we're all together under the one, under this craft, we're
37:41
all doing this job. We all want to save our own.
37:43
We want to save our jobs. We want to save our craft.
37:46
We want to save each other. So we shouldn't be fighting over
37:50
the bullshit. OK, that's it.
37:53
I'm off my box now. You're right, Kristen.
37:56
And that's the thing. Things haven't changed yet, but
38:01
we have to be ready at any time to mobilize for anything that
38:06
could affect us. And that means we need to be
38:09
together as one union, one group, the rural carrier union.
38:16
We can support our brothers and sisters in the city craft.
38:19
We can support our brothers and sisters in the APWU.
38:21
We can support our brothers and sisters in the mail handlers,
38:25
but we are the rural craft. We are one people working one
38:31
craft. It doesn't matter what your
38:34
background is. It doesn't matter if you're
38:36
male, female, choose to identify in any other shape, way, shape
38:40
or form. We are one craft together, right
38:47
Bill? Percent, man.
38:53
And the problem of it is that, you know, we, we get together
38:57
every Sunday and you know, we, we put forth our efforts in this
39:00
podcast, we answer questions, phone calls, texts, IMS all
39:04
through the course of the week. And yet our leadership dismisses
39:10
us. And, you know, not only that,
39:15
but the spouses of our leadership dismiss us.
39:19
So to address that issue, you know, you, you know, you would
39:24
never find my wife on Facebook saying these things.
39:27
And I, I am appalled the fact that there hasn't been a
39:32
retraction, there hasn't been any type of, you know, apology
39:36
over this. And I, I have to be an insult
39:41
for has been freeloading off the system for the last 3-4 years.
39:45
Michelle, so you know, why don't you keep your remarks to
39:49
yourself until you get back to work and carry your route, OK?
39:53
Otherwise, stay out of our business.
39:56
Leave that in there, Kristen. Only because you asked me to.
40:04
Thank you. And there was no direct name
40:07
calling. So, well, no, no, no, no, I
40:12
wasn't going to go there, but I know you were.
40:13
So. But no, I, you know, in all, in
40:18
all honesty, though, we have to have each other's backs
40:20
regardless of what our views and opinions, you know, may vary.
40:24
As you guys know, you know James Bill and I, there are things
40:27
that, you know, we don't agree with all the time and you know,
40:31
but we agree to disagree and we respect each other's opinions
40:35
and I. Disagree with that?
40:38
Bite me. But but you know, it's just, you
40:47
know, I yeah, we we we just need to stand together.
40:51
I mean the rank and file needs to come together.
40:58
We are one craft, one family, yes.
41:00
We really are. I mean, and you know, like Bill
41:03
said, we do, we take phone calls and, and text messages and
41:09
Facebook messages. And I know I, I took a phone
41:12
call today. I've answered a couple different
41:14
Facebook messages. You know, it's, I don't mind
41:18
helping when people are like, where can I find this in writing
41:21
or what not, you know, and it's like, oh, here, here it, this is
41:24
where it, the, here's what you're looking for.
41:26
And this is where you can find it.
41:29
You know, it's, that's the biggest thing.
41:31
And so helping each other out, that's what we need to do.
41:37
We need to stand by in even when it's when it comes to this.
41:41
But you know, just in your every daily operations, you know, mini
41:45
mail survey started yesterday. We have two brand new Subs in
41:48
our office that haven't been there for one yet.
41:51
The one was working yesterday. So I spent the extra 15 minutes
41:55
I had between finishing loading my truck and and leaving for the
41:58
route and explaining to him what he needed to do for the next two
42:02
weeks and kind of going over it so he knew what to do.
42:07
It's still, you know, that type of stuff.
42:10
And I'm sure when the other new guy comes in on his next day,
42:14
I'll be over there explaining it to him too.
42:16
But I think the regular might pop in and kind of observe.
42:20
But we'll see. But you know, you got to help
42:25
each other and have each other's backs.
42:27
And in this time we're nothing is certain on what's going to
42:32
happen. We need to take a step back and
42:35
stop attacking each other, plain and simple.
42:41
Sounds like I said earlier, I had a carrier at my office, ex
42:44
office turn around and stand up for a carrier who's out on on
42:49
the work related injury because management was mis measuring the
42:56
distance to their vehicle. And even though this isn't a
42:59
person that everybody in the office particularly likes,
43:02
nobody does. But I don't want to bring that
43:04
up. The fact of the matter is that
43:07
she was looking out for her, you know, and you know, she said
43:11
hopefully that she would do the same for her.
43:13
It's like you never know. But you the better person look
43:18
out for people you know, don't expect it in return.
43:22
You know you should never expect anything in return, but be the
43:25
best person you can be, and if that means standing up for
43:29
somebody who wasn't there, do it.
43:33
Yeah, you know, like I said it it don't let this cause an even
43:38
bigger divide than what we already have in our craft
43:40
currently. I mean, the divide that we have
43:44
is not great. I mean, I I've seen it, I've
43:47
been blamed for it. So I mean, we, and that's not
43:54
what this is about. This is about we need to come
43:56
together, put your political views aside and support each
43:59
other as a craft and as a family.
44:02
Because like I said, nothing is certain of what's going to
44:05
happen right now. It's business as usual.
44:07
You know, I'm going to get up and I'm going to go in in the
44:09
morning and wait for my mail to be counted before I can touch it
44:13
and do my job and get back and do my end of my shift duties, my
44:19
mini mail survey, counting stuff.
44:21
Then put my stuff away, clock out and go home and do the same
44:27
thing over Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
44:29
I'm off Friday and Saturday for a change.
44:31
So you know, we got to, you know, business as usual.
44:35
People don't don't let the fear mongering get to you.
44:39
And you know, I didn't, I it's like said stuff to start with
44:42
getting heated conversations at work yesterday in the morning
44:46
between some carriers and supervisors.
44:48
And I'm like, it's all a bunch of fear mongering.
44:51
Nothing's coming down, nothing's positive what's going on.
44:53
Let's just do our jobs. That's what we're here to do.
44:58
Yeah, let's take care of what you can take care of.
45:01
Yep, exactly. And if you can make calls to
45:08
your legislators to support the Postal Service or the rural
45:11
craft, do it. Their numbers are open.
45:14
Your representatives and your senators need to hear from us.
45:18
They need to hear from every carrier out there and push for
45:23
the resolutions that benefit us, push for them to bring back the
45:28
buyback time for our CAS, push for them to support protect our
45:34
Letter Carriers Act, stuff like that.
45:37
You can still make a difference stepping up.
45:40
Even if it's not on the call to arms that the union leaders put
45:44
out for you, you can still make a difference for this craft.
45:48
Absolutely. And you know, and go, go, I know
45:52
booster season is, is upon us. And if your state hasn't had
45:55
their booster, you know, go to your booster, you know, 'cause
46:00
there might be some information come down there that we don't
46:02
get anywhere else. You know, it is just try to
46:07
raise up your, your, your fellow carriers because I know it's
46:11
probably going to be a big topic.
46:12
I know our boosters in a couple weeks and.
46:16
I'll see you there. Yeah, I'll see you there, James.
46:19
And I know we'll have some first timers there too.
46:22
One of them is listening. But you know, we're support each
46:28
other. That's all I can say at this
46:30
point is just to support each other.
46:32
It's business as usual right now.
46:35
Nothing's for certain what's going to happen or even if any
46:38
of it would actually affect us in a negative way and or
46:42
minimally, we don't know. So until then, I'm not even
46:45
going to worry about it. I'll go in, do my job, come
46:47
home, play with my grandson, anticipate, you know, my son
46:53
moving back in a month, back to the States and all that stuff.
46:59
So yeah, you know, business as usual guys and have each other's
47:04
backs. That's all I got to say on it.
47:11
Anything else we want to cover real quick?
47:16
No, you're good too, Bill. You got anything else to say?
47:23
Probably not. I'm for the record.
47:26
I'm I'm just wondering if I can be retired and steward at the
47:30
same time. Yes you can.
47:34
You can be an area steward. My my office is in trouble and
47:41
and before anybody says, oh, it's not your office anymore,
47:44
well, since I spent 26 years at the post office, which is the
47:48
the better part of my life and and I'm still helping people.
47:53
OK, guess what? Y'all are still family to me.
47:56
And when somebody needs help and they reach out, I respond as
48:00
James and Kristen does and others.
48:01
OK, so don't tell me, you know, it's not my post office.
48:05
It'll always be my post office. If you don't like that, come to
48:09
415 Holly Tree Court, Chester Springs, PA.
48:12
We'll talk it out. Man, the man, man the woman,
48:15
whatever, you know, you all you are, you're my people.
48:19
And I, I hate seeing you being stepped on and being, you know,
48:23
just crushed with this toxic environment.
48:27
Like I said earlier, we have our, one of our senior Subs is,
48:31
is quitting because of what happened today.
48:33
I don't have all the specifics, but he's, he's been through the
48:37
grinder and he's, he's sick and tired of it.
48:41
You know, he he, he's probably up for a route within the year,
48:43
but you know, he's he's out, he's done, you know, young guy
48:48
full of energy and pep and all that helping out diligent, you
48:52
know, pays attention and you just crush the fucking life out
48:56
of them. Two years.
49:02
Is this up? Wish you could have held it out
49:05
until he got a full route and then he could have done a
49:07
district fit out of there. Yeah, James, I I'm telling you,
49:13
you know, you, you look across the different platforms that we
49:16
all explore and it's not much better anywhere else.
49:19
I mean, the Unicorn offices are just that they're unicorns.
49:23
They're few and far between. Now we're waiting on our next
49:27
postmaster ourselves in my office.
49:29
Again. Yeah, 'cause the one that I told
49:33
you about that I was butting heads with that thought he knew
49:36
everything, but it was one of those that had very little
49:39
information and thought he knew it all.
49:42
And ours, like I said, ours is a level 20 post office, and he
49:47
decided to bid out to a level 22 and so he left within a month.
49:52
Yeah. And so that brought back our
49:56
old, old 2O four. He was a 2O4B in our office and
49:59
now he's our post, our temporary postmaster.
50:02
Oh, I see. Yeah.
50:04
Yeah. And I see too.
50:11
Yeah. Yes, I'm still an asshole, but
50:16
it's. It's OK.
50:17
I mean, if I have to train a new postmaster, I have to train a
50:20
new postmaster. It's OK.
50:23
They're the best kind. Sometimes.
50:29
All right guys, we'll, we'll wind this one down for tonight
50:33
and I know tomorrow's going to be another long day for me Why I
50:39
had a 10 hour day yesterday with only 66 scans.
50:43
Oh yeah, I was tired. Now you had.
50:44
Box holders. Yeah, Advos M Sparks.
50:47
Yeah, yeah, and snow. Pills always adds, box holder
50:53
always adds an hour to the route minimum.
50:55
Oh, I know, I know. And I was getting done around
50:59
233 o'clock the rest of the, you know, Wednesday and Thursday.
51:02
So in fact, I was back by to the office by 5 on Tuesday.
51:08
So I don't know. It is what it is.
51:12
Ruby did go have to redo her fingerprints on Tuesday, so she
51:16
got that done. And yeah, now we're just waiting
51:20
to see if she makes it through this time.
51:22
I really think what happened last time, what was those four
51:25
days before she turned 18 when she initially applied?
51:28
So yeah, fingers crossed, fingers crossed.
51:34
She will be at Booster with me, so you know.
51:40
Well, she'll beat me up again. Yeah, yeah, she will.
51:42
He. Likes it.
51:49
Oh, yeah. All right, so we'll wind this
51:53
down. As I was saying before then I
51:54
went and sidetracked. Yay, James.
51:58
Your final words for this evening.
52:03
Oh yes, that's been a hot potato for the for this weekend so far.
52:12
But the lack of carriers coming together either one way or the
52:17
other was the biggest problem of it all.
52:20
It wasn't a matter of what was, whether it was true or not, we
52:26
still could have came together and actually done something.
52:29
Just support the rural craft. And if this was just a test run,
52:38
we've done training in the fire department.
52:41
When I was part of the fire department, we trained for the
52:44
worst case scenarios and we trained for them over and over
52:49
so that when we get into the worst case scenario, we can get
52:54
ourselves out of the worst case scenarios.
52:58
We don't want to reach a worst case scenario with the world
53:01
craft. We want to make sure that our
53:03
voices are heard and we step up and we do something before
53:08
things get to the worst case scenario.
53:11
And that's not fear mongering, that's not pushing the issues.
53:15
It's just being prepared. And we have to be prepared to
53:20
step up and fight for this craft because at the end of the day,
53:25
we're all in this together. Bill, can you hear me?
53:30
Yes. OK, I had to switch my phone.
53:33
My battery went out on my laptop here for some reason.
53:37
Just went blank. Anyway, you know whether it's me
53:43
or the Crown Royal. Island it.
53:45
Went like anyway, you know, you're you're in a critical part
53:49
of your year here. You know one of two of the mail
53:53
mini mail surveys, again, supposedly worth 6%, but you
53:58
know that's 6%. Take 6% off of 100,000 and
54:03
you're out $6000. We'll be right back after a
54:05
short commercial break. I hear Bill just fine.
54:09
If you if you're losing the 6% off of 50,000, you're losing
54:13
$3000. Who?
54:15
Who wants to lose that kind of money, folks?
54:17
So pay attention, be diligent, and get your numbers correct.
54:21
Check your scanners, check your dismounts, all your parcel
54:25
lockers and your collection units.
54:27
Do it effectively. Do it professionally.
54:30
Most importantly, do it safely, OK?
54:33
You are the most important delivery of the day.
54:35
Get home to your loved ones, whether or not you know you
54:39
you're going to stay with the job or not.
54:42
Do what you need to do, get home to your loved ones and be safe
54:45
every day. OK, Kristen.
54:48
Thank you, guys. Yeah, definitely.
54:50
You know, we are starting off the spring mini mail survey and
54:57
one day down and 11 more to go. So but just remember guys, like
55:04
I was saying throughout this whole thing, have each other's
55:07
backs. Business as usual out there,
55:10
stay hydrated. Weather is going to be kind of
55:13
weird coming up. I know it's supposed to warm up
55:15
again with some rain and then freeze again by the end of the
55:19
week. So, you know, be prepared, be
55:22
vigilant. Excuse me, Can't talk right now,
55:27
but we'll definitely be back next week.
55:30
I'm hoping we can go over edit book stuff.
55:35
I'm hoping I can get that presentation done.
55:37
I'm not going to make a promise, but that's going to be maybe a
55:41
goal. So other than that, well unless
55:45
something else big pops up this week we will see y'all back next
55:51
week. Normal day.
56:07
Normal time.