Transcript

Swac Wrap up · 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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Day behind, but that's because we had some of our wonderful
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people were at SWEC this weekend and we will definitely be doing
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a recap over that. Yeah, to get us all started.
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Josh, how was your week? My week was not too bad.
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Posts are submitted for a day for next week.
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Not this week, but next week. On the 9th and the 15th or 16th
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they handed the slip back to me saying documentation required.
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I'm sorry, doesn't that mean it's already approved since it
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was more than three business days?
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Other than that it was a pretty decent week.
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Nice tempered weather and then it got cold again Saturday
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afternoon. Hopefully this week coming up
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won't be as horrible. James, how was your week?
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Well, after a couple of days of working, I ended up leaving out
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Wednesday to make the 16 hour trek to Swack and got up to
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Springfield, MO. Before I had to shut it down for
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a nap and then finished the way, picked up Bill at the airport
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early in the morning And then. Attended Swack.
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Whole weekend. That was my week.
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And we're going to get into what else happened this week in this
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episode, so I'm going to leave it to that for now.
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Yeah, Bill decided. I'm going to say Bill decided he
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was going to visit me and not even tell me he was here.
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No, I wasn't going to visit you. No, they got a damn fine airport
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in Charlotte. What the?
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What's wrong with you? So you had Chick-fil-A and
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Cinnabon in there, Bojangles. The hell, Josh, you had your
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damn mind. At a bar 4/3.
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Well, how was your week, Bill? Thanks for asking.
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Let's see. I had Tuesday off for snow and
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then I had Thursday off for snow because they didn't deem it
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necessary to plow on my Rd. till like 1:00 PM in the afternoon.
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And we had over 7 inches. And I spent 40 minutes trying to
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get out of my parking space to get to the road.
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And then when I got to the road, I couldn't get up the road
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because of the incline. And you know, one of the smart
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answers that worked, well, why don't you go down the road the
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other way? And I said because it goes back
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up on the other side. Anyway that's that's not my week
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went and of course I stepped into you know double DPS and
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flats on Wednesday and then I just you know made a deal to
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take care of that you know without involving 8127 time and
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you know got got basically five hours of overtime.
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So you know that worked out for me and then turned around and
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you know, got got to the airport for the the flight to Oklahoma
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City, got in the wrong line and I almost ended up in Jamaica.
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But American Airlines was good enough to book me up a later
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flight at 10:00 at night and then that was delayed for an
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hour and then I saw James smiling face at the airport and
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it's like you dumb ass. And we've got in the hotel was
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really nice, wasn't it? James.
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James it was. Really nice.
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I have. Myself, yeah.
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They they had. I'm.
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Still in the car. Yeah, they had the cloth hand
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towels in the bathrooms down here, the the, the main
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restrooms and it's like, oh, excuse me, but other than that,
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I mean, you know, SWAC was interesting there.
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There was the footnote that we'll be following in a couple
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months, but it's a very exciting footnote.
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So Kristen, how was your week? My week was all over the place.
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Honestly. What did I do?
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Yes, so I worked and I had Tuesday off to take my daughter
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to her first OB appointment. And I did shed a tear when they
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did the ultrasound, I will admit.
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And Yep, there's one baby in there.
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There's a little alien at the moment.
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And then Wednesday I did the final OJT for my new RCA.
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And Wednesday night I had my daughter back up to the ER
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because she was severely dehydrated and got home at 12:30
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in the middle of the night and worked on Thursday and started
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training. Our second new RCA on Friday.
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Did that Friday and Saturday and yeah that was pretty much my
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week in a handbag. I work tomorrow, finish off the
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OJT, the one RCA on Wednesday and then I have a three day.
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I took Friday off, used up one of my ex days and then next week
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and then the following week, excuse me, I start training RCA
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#3. So my my new RCA should be well
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acquainted with the route by the end of the month.
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Yeah, that was my week. Unfortunately I did not get to
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join you guys at SWAC, but sounds like I missed one heck of
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a time down there. Oh, you have no.
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Idea my bad. My week was pretty good, pretty
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excited. I got a new package pick up and
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a they sell a lot of apparel deemed towards first responders
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and military and they send out a lot So hopefully that'll show up
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on the mini mill survey after this one.
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I don't think it's going to do much effect on this one, but and
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then after a year it'll really helped boost my route.
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So hopefully I can start squaring off here soon.
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But other than that, Thursday is my K day.
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Started driving up to to Oklahoma, made the seven hour
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drive for SWAC. Got a lot of information from
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there, so it was nice finally getting involved and going to a
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conference and figuring everything out.
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Yeah, it's a it's a new new experience.
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If it's one you haven't done before, that's for sure.
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Of course, then you get into stuff like National Convention
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and that'll just blow your mind away, won't it, guys?
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Oh yeah, these little. Steroids.
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These little conferences are nice for good information, but
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you can get it when you go to your state convention.
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It's a lot more standard than a regional convention, and there's
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a lot more work to do than the conferences like this one.
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And then National is a state convention on steroids.
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Yes, it is, definitely. But it's not all that bad.
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It's you know, once you get used to it and the dynamics of how it
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works, then you can always help everybody else around.
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That's never done it before. And don't be afraid to ask if
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you don't know what's going on. Ask somebody, because that's
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what they're all there for. These these regional conventions
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are supposedly supposedly a good place to reach out to your
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national board members, but we'll get into the head a little
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bit later as well. But the first things that happen
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is, of course, you get a hotel room, you check into your hotel
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room, and then the conference actually starts.
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And information. The first night was OWCP and
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their retirement and they run those at the exact same time.
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So you have to choose whether you want to listen to OWCP or
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you want to listen to retirement.
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This time I went to OWCP and listen to Devin Cassidy talk
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about OWCP and all the stuff involved with that the OWCP is
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available for. Our OWCP Rep is available only
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for dues paying members according to Devin Cassidy.
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So if you have a workman's comp claim and you are a dues paying
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member, reach out to our OWCP Rep at National office Devin
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Cassidy. His information is listed on the
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union website so you can find it there.
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Alternatively, if you need somebody and you're not a dues
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paying member or you're not getting the answers that you
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think you need to get, contact Ron Speakman of Fed Up because
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he's been in information vessel just for OWCPI did not attend
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the retirement seminar, but somebody that did could speak up
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on that. Let us know what it was about.
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Did you attend it? Toasty?
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Did you attend the retirement or did you attend the Were you
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there for that? I.
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Was I was in the OCWP with you? Oh yeah, that's right.
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These days we're running together with all of us having
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so much fun and. I had to miss it.
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It's OK. And then moving on to the next
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day came the information stuff, including our presentations from
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our National Board. I think it was or what?
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No, it was all the presentations of all the vendors that were
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there like APCUCVS, Caremark and others that were talking for
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that were in SWAC with their stuff.
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And then we got to. From there.
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We went to candidates for national office, of which Bill,
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myself and Toasty stood up and announced our candidacy for
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national board in front of the SMACP.
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Bill did a great job. Toasty did a great job.
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I especially like that Toasty actually involved the crowd in
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his speech. And then I stood up and somebody
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else could say how I did. Ended on a funny note at least.
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But what about the rest of it? I think you are.
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You were able to point out the flaws and the you pointed out
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the good you gave them. The credit that they do for the
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what is it, the National Stewart system with the training?
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And then you called that the tip of the iceberg of exactly what
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we need to start doing and then got pretty serious in there.
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And then you turned around and at least gave the crowd a laugh
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to help them remember you. Yeah, that then that closed the
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events for that day and then the next day started the remarks
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from the national or the the was the, IT was the remarks from the
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national officers, which then LED into the Q&A with the
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national officers. If I'm not mistaken.
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I don't have the schedule in front of me.
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So I'm trying to do this from memory.
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Hello. We can hear you.
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Can you hear me? OK, I can hear you this damn
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phone. What the hell, I don't.
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You know, I'd. I'd rather have my laptop.
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Sorry about that. Yeah, no worries.
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Anyway, I was trying to give the information in regards to the
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retirement and the the gentleman that did the presentation, he
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did an excellent presentation and probably you know 90% of
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what people don't understand in regards to you know what they
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have to do and I'll put his name up on the chat.
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There is John Embleton and he is a employee of the National World
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Letter Carriers and he specializes in this and he did a
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great presentation. And if I'm not mistaken, he's
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the one that took it out. He's the one that they hired on
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to do that. So it's not put in the hands of
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the vice president anymore, if I'm correct, right?
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You are correct, yes. So you'll have less duties to
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do. You can concentrate on the
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training and the conventions. Awesome, awesome.
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And yeah, that was the one thing that I failed to mention when I
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was talking about the training and the academies and and all
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that stuff was also the job for vice president is booking the
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conventions. Arranging.
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Setting up and arranging the conventions, and I remember at
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my caucus 2 years ago and somebody had asked about that.
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I come from a background of 15 years in hotels and resorts of
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all levels from timeshare to full service hotels.
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I am quite familiar with how that stuff works I guess.
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So I guess that's kind of a from from the hotel standpoint I.
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I So you have to put that in your, you know, speech when you,
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you know, get nominated. Oh yeah, yeah.
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Definitely. And we definitely need people
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that are willing to get up there that'll be at national to
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nominate us. So we're not nominating each
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other all the time. Nope.
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So if anybody out there has the balls to get up in front of
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everybody and nominate one of us, reach out to us and let us
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know. We'll get that arranged.
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Yep. And don't forget, we need.
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We need. Not only do we need the people
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to. People to walk around on caucus
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night. Yes, yes, we have.
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We have people who will walk with the candidates and help
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them with like carrying whatever they need for supplies to go to
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the room, things like that. I will tell you this, last year
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at Michigan when we had a Grand Rapids, approximately 1/3 of the
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Michigan delegation walk with Bridget Boziak.
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The entire board did. State board did.
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Yeah, and and quite a few others walk with her as well.
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So second day started with Don Masten talking with the crowd,
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and I got so frustrated with it that I turned around and I
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started writing what he was saying on the Facebook as fast
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as I could. Billy even talked about it.
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My fingers were moving so fast he couldn't see my thumbs and
14:14
thought one of them flew off and hit the wall.
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Yeah, but I was trying. I was trying to bring the
14:19
information he was saying to everybody because you all
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deserve to hear this. It's important to know what your
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board is doing, what they think, what they say and how they say
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it. Because transparency is the key
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to a strong union. The leadership talking to the
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craft, the craft talking to the leadership, the leadership
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listening to the craft, the leadership not ignoring the
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craft, not turning around and blocking the craft turning
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around. And just I'll get back to you
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later about it. It never doesn't.
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Then we went on break and then we came back from break and they
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made a comment about live posting.
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So someone here is live posting the proceedings on social media
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and while we cannot allow recording or audio or video
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recording, we cannot prevent somebody from posting on social
15:22
media because it's just the same as talking to your Co worker in
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the office. I looked through social media.
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The only person live posting from SWAC was me.
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He called you right out on stage.
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Yeah, and even cornered, right? He.
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He. Cornered me as I was coming out
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of the bathroom and he was going there.
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He cornered me in that, that low corner there and said, I hope
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you're posting everything I say and not just little tidbits, you
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know, like the media does. So apparently he doesn't like
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the media either. Oh, and you can't control the
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media. You kind of have a problem.
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You can't control the narrative, so that set me off even more so,
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I have now made it my mission to tell the craft everything I can
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that is going on, because our craft deserves to know what's
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going on. They've unleashed a beast when
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it comes to taking care of this craft, and I am not going to
16:21
stamp it. Stand by and let them continue
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to push carriers around like they don't exist.
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I've watched. I've heard that they've already
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removed 7 AD Rs or D Rs. That D Rs.
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Agree with the National Board D Rs.
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Yeah, D Rs and then D Rs. Yeah, and 11:50 AD Rs.
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And 11:50 eight. Oh wow, that's even more.
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The numbers keep going up. So if any of you know these D
16:47
Rs. And AD Rs that are good D Rs and
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AD Rs, let them know I'm here. For them, I'm here before the
16:56
craft because somebody has to be, since the national board
16:59
obviously doesn't give a fuck. And the way he was talking
17:02
about, the way he was talking about the SD and CS made it
17:05
sound like he absolutely thought they were amazing.
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All new cases, it's so cool when the parcel bin gets full, it
17:14
pushes out one and puts another in there.
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He may not have said 100% that he agreed with it, but he
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certainly came across like that. It was like having a little
17:23
Dejoy there. Yeah, Neil also say they're not
17:28
all they're cracked up to be, but we'll let them think
17:31
whatever they want. Well, remember, they're smarter
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than us. Oh yeah, yeah, that's right.
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That, that's right. As I as I remember two years
17:38
ago, it being said that anyone can deliver but the mail, but
17:43
not everyone can do this job. Including them.
17:46
Obviously, you know, the craft wants to be heard.
17:51
That's the thing when when they're trying to reach out to
17:54
their D Rs and their AD Rs for help and they're getting
17:57
crickets or they file that grievance and they pass it on
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to, you know, they don't have a local steward and it has to go
18:04
up and they get crickets or they get settled for language and
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nothing gets better. The craft wants to be heard, and
18:12
they're too busy trying to protect themselves than they are
18:17
to listen to what the craft is trying to tell them.
18:19
Well, I I found it interesting that, you know in the course of
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his speech he was talking about the resolutions and the fact
18:28
that the they got like 420 resolutions and they have to
18:33
whittle it down to 20 or 30 and he'd prefer it to be 20.
18:37
And one, one of the resolutions was the CB us having cover over
18:44
them and he said and you know that's not going to go because
18:47
that only effects like 15% of the craft.
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And I have to look at something that you know affects the
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majority of the craft. Well, if you have somebody that
18:58
you know has a problem with that and it constitutes 15% and then
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you have another group of people have a a resolution that's
19:05
another 15%, well, now you're up to 30% and you have plenty of
19:10
issues affecting everybody but you, you just can't sit there
19:14
and say you know on on the basis of percentages that you're not
19:18
going to address it because guess what, you represent all of
19:22
them, you know, not just the majority.
19:26
Same way you have agreements, you're filing it for one, not
19:29
for everybody, but you have to file and follow up on that
19:33
grievance for the individual. Yeah, you, you don't want to put
19:37
the, you know, covers over news. Guess what?
19:40
Make them all curbside then. Yes, curbside CB US are awesome.
19:44
I love pulling up in my truck on those.
19:46
Well, no, I'm talking about curbside boxes.
19:49
Oh, yeah. Outside You, you.
19:51
You, you. Yeah.
19:52
Well, yeah. I think his number is a little.
19:56
You think? He's saying only 15% of the of
20:00
the craft has CB US. So you're saying only 15% had
20:03
routes that were either? Already had them and or have new
20:08
growth in the last few years because all new growth has to be
20:12
CB US. Or all CB us.
20:14
Yep. So you know I thought that was a
20:17
little narrow minded. Then you know guess what if if
20:20
you have 420, you know, past resolutions present all 420
20:26
don't don't marginalized the others because those people are
20:29
paying their dues too. You know, Yes you, you know
20:32
supposedly you're not going to be able to present them all but
20:35
you know you should be bringing them to the table and they ought
20:39
to be part of the discussions and and and you know at least
20:42
you know, pass it on to the post office.
20:46
But for you to make the decision that affects these carriers,
20:50
that's not your job. Your job to represent them.
20:53
I I know there's a percentage of those 400 and something that
20:58
were very similar, so I can understand condensing or
21:03
eliminating this one for that one because of the way it's
21:06
worded. That's not what you do.
21:08
That's not what you do. What you do is you start out
21:10
with the one that is the best for the craft, You start out
21:15
with the one that's the best for the craft, and you keep the rest
21:17
of them in your back pocket. If they're identical to the ones
21:21
you have already, then you turn around and when the post office
21:24
goes, well, we can't do that, you bring in the next one.
21:27
That's the best for the craft, the second best.
21:30
You use those as tools to continue to put that in your
21:35
contract and them saying that only 20 or 30 resolutions are
21:41
going into the contract. No, the Kraft spoke at National
21:46
Convention. They wanted these resolutions on
21:50
the wish list to be put into the contract.
21:52
You use every single one of them at the bargaining table.
21:58
You don't turn around and say, Oh well, I don't like this
22:01
resolution, so it's not going in you.
22:04
The craft spoke to you. You do what the craft says
22:08
because the craft put the resolutions in for you to use,
22:13
and if you're not willing to listen to the craft, retire.
22:16
And the craft pays you. How about that one?
22:20
Try to try to remember that when you're doing negotiations, we
22:24
pay you to represent us, plain and simple.
22:27
And you know, then what gives me about the whole situation with
22:30
the resolutions? Here you have people who have
22:34
not carried mail in 20 years making decisions for what's best
22:39
for you, and they have no idea. I mean, I'm sorry, is that
22:45
hypocrisy or what? Oh, but don't forget Bridget was
22:48
the best carrier in our office, at least at at SLAC, she said.
22:52
And two years ago, she said when asked when she last carried her
22:58
out was 2002. So it's been at least 22 years
23:03
since she's carried mail, but she's the best carrier in her
23:06
office. Well, maybe the best rest.
23:09
I mean, you know, the best carrier in her office in the
23:13
Director of Labor Relations office.
23:15
Well, yeah, she'd have you there.
23:16
So talking on back to contract negotiations, I got a good one
23:20
for you guys, remember how? We keep talking.
23:22
About this Mou that keeps getting extended or brought back
23:27
about carriers. Volunteering.
23:31
About this and how and how I have brought this up numerous
23:36
times on If this keeps going, it's going to end up where What
23:42
did you guys hear this weekend? That he's thinking about in the.
23:47
Contract in the contract? Are you freaking kidding?
23:52
I saw that and I passed it on to someone and they said was that a
23:57
resolution that was passed on the floor.
24:00
No, it was not. No, it was not so.
24:03
Therefore, if it ends up in the contract, we as a Craft have a
24:06
right to reject that contract for that basic reason, because
24:10
it is not something that we as a group, that National Convention,
24:15
as delegates, agreed to. What started out as a Band-Aid,
24:20
especially during during COVID, and has continued on as a
24:24
Band-Aid. So instead of ripping that
24:27
Band-Aid off and making management do what they're
24:31
supposed to do for hire and retaining, let's just try and
24:35
put this in the contract so that a management can abuse us even
24:39
more. Because now they're like, Oh
24:41
well, we can mandate you. No, technically, it's still
24:44
supposed to be voluntary, but you know what?
24:46
They're going to turn that into more mandating.
24:49
Or they'll just turn around and say it's a direct order grievant
24:52
and then we'll we'll settle it for language again.
24:55
And and unless we get new leadership in the national
24:58
board, we'll just settle it for language.
24:59
Don't do it again, slap on the hand or management will comply.
25:03
That's the that's their famous line will comply.
25:06
You know the same line they've been using since the 70s since
25:09
after the great postal strike if you're trying to get the users
25:14
to use. It can we at least get a cease
25:16
and desist at the bare minimum. No that that language is is too
25:21
strong. It's too strong.
25:23
The only way this this would work in any way acceptable to
25:27
the craft is if a it's on a voluntary basis and B it's
25:33
double time no time and a half double time.
25:36
If you want to utilize people, you're going to pay for it.
25:40
But like we we like we discussed last year, we brought this up
25:43
last year. I brought up the getting rid of
25:45
the table two and four and and the next thing you know Don was
25:48
pumping on that. The one question I asked that
25:51
they did actually do on the stage was about the the two
25:55
tables and Don's, you know, the question was you know were you
25:59
on the board at the time when the two tables.
26:01
Yeah, yeah. Well, but it was forced on us by
26:03
the arbitrator because the APW, you know, just because the APW
26:07
did it doesn't mean it should have been forced on us that it
26:11
should ever been the consideration.
26:13
But the fact of the matter was you were on the board when this
26:16
was instituted. So guess what, you get to take
26:18
some of the credit for it and it's got to stop.
26:22
You said we're a pack. UPS and FedEx.
26:25
That UPS, Not, not. Not so much like FedEx.
26:29
Oh no, We're turning into a parcel delivery service.
26:32
We're no longer a a mail delivery service, we're a parcel
26:35
delivery service. So.
26:37
Don't, don't expect to be delivering mail much longer.
26:39
Although I have to argue that, number one, you're not going to
26:43
be just delivering parcels because there there are
26:47
politicians that will ensure that their third class political
26:53
ads that are treated as first class mail will still be
26:57
delivered by the United States Postal Service.
27:00
I guess I say good luck in getting that to happen.
27:03
Yep. Well, don't.
27:04
Don't underestimate their inability to do anything.
27:07
The only thing I know is when they were in that Q&A and they
27:10
were giving answers and they were sitting there trying to
27:13
think of the answers when they were given the cards a long time
27:17
before they got to the Q&A. And they're still sitting there
27:20
trying to think of the answers to the cards that they had in
27:24
their hands, not to include the ones that they threw away
27:27
because they didn't want to bother answering them.
27:30
Like mine. Yeah.
27:32
What was your question? They didn't throw them away,
27:34
they just ran out of time. My 2 questions were on what's
27:38
the update on WSH and what is the update on the Step 4 on the
27:42
the pay debacle. Do you remember them ever
27:45
answering those? No, they didn't because you can
27:49
go to the direction guideline and get the information on the
27:52
WSH. You can't find the numbers on
27:55
the radar report. And then you have the the fact
27:59
that they turned around and we're answering questions that
28:03
were already who is crunching? Sorry.
28:07
There, there. That way they were answering
28:09
questions that had already been answered on social media and
28:13
replying with the answers that were already on social media.
28:17
It was hilarious to listen to. Well, they're consistent.
28:20
It was, it was a bit of a farce with the Q&A, it really was.
28:25
But we were available. It always isn't farce with the Q
28:29
and. A though Oh, I do.
28:31
I do remember one question that was asked is why do we have to
28:36
put the questions on an index card when when you could just
28:41
take questions from the floor. And their response was, well, so
28:44
we can get them to the right people and so they can come up
28:47
with the correct answer. And yet they had to take their
28:50
time figuring out the answer after they read the question.
28:54
And then he also stated that we're also available.
28:57
Well. Yeah, they were also available
29:00
for everybody outside of the proceedings for people to talk
29:05
to. Except the problem was every
29:07
time we went out for a break, they were talking amongst
29:10
themselves and you couldn't get a word in edgewise if you tried,
29:13
you know? Surely they put you on the index
29:15
part to prevent chaos? Oh yeah, to prevent chaos.
29:18
And then Shirley and Bridget would be talking to each other
29:21
the whole time, and Pitts and Mastin will be talking to each
29:24
other all the time. The only board member that was
29:26
available to talk to was Kirby Ricketts.
29:29
Who? I didn't see him there.
29:31
Wait. Me.
29:32
Nikki Phillips. Nikki Phillips I get.
29:35
Jesus. I'm tired.
29:36
I'm sorry. Tired.
29:38
I didn't. Say that was the wrong area for,
29:41
yeah. Yeah, Nikki Phillips.
29:43
Nikki Phillips, I apologize, I am very tired right now.
29:46
I've been driving for six hours now straight.
29:54
So after sitting through slack for this morning.
29:59
So apologies for the mistake. Nikki Phillips was the only one
30:03
available for everybody and I appreciate Nikki Phillips taking
30:07
the time to talk with people and answer questions for people and
30:12
being a great gentleman to the people.
30:16
I also enjoyed his presentation on how to write a resolution,
30:19
What is non binding and what is binding.
30:22
It was a quick, simple, straight to the point presentation that
30:26
didn't put you to sleep. Yeah, his His was a.
30:29
Lot like they all put me to sleep.
30:31
His presentation was quicker and easier to understand than our
30:35
resolution episode that we did. Let me just say that.
30:41
Which guess what, that time of year is coming up quickly again
30:45
for resolutions. So we may go back and touch on
30:49
that again since you guys got a little quick overview on on how
30:53
to do it quickly. We may do another future episode
30:56
coming up, touching on resolutions again, I know my
31:00
local annual meeting will be in April, so we.
31:03
Will, Yeah, Here's, here's a funny that came up was a
31:07
question. Why do all the national people
31:09
sit together? You know, and it'll disperse
31:13
through the crowd and and, you know, sit among the carriers and
31:17
Don says, well, because we work together, we like each other and
31:21
we're always talking about business.
31:23
Then we had the dinner last night and Bridget and Shirley
31:30
were sitting at a table with a gentleman that wasn't on the
31:32
national board. Nikki Phillips sat with us.
31:36
And I didn't see the rest of them, you know, at all.
31:38
But I thought you guys were friends, you know, I I guess
31:42
they didn't put such a united front together at the dinner.
31:45
That's just my observation though.
31:47
I tell you what, though, I get, you know, if we get on the
31:50
national board and we're at banquets or we're doing
31:54
whatever, you know, I am more than happy to go sit and mingle
31:57
with everybody. That doesn't bother me one bit.
32:00
I I would rather be like we were here at SLAC.
32:04
You know, we're not just in one spot, we're moving around.
32:07
We're talking to people, even if it's just asking them how your
32:10
day's going, things like that. It's important to connect to the
32:14
craft. If you're in a leadership role,
32:17
it's important to get out there, see how things are going, see if
32:22
they have any problems, see if there's any suggestions they
32:25
have. Because guess what?
32:27
When you're in that leadership position, most of the time
32:30
you're sitting in an office working on paperwork.
32:32
But getting out and talking with the craft is your one way of
32:36
finding out what's going on in the trenches, finding out who's
32:39
having issues, who's having problems, who's have has an idea
32:44
for something new that the Union could do that you never thought
32:48
of before. You can get that from your
32:50
craft. Our craft are strong,
32:53
intelligent adults who do a wonderful job out there on the
32:56
streets and they see what's going on, on the streets.
33:00
You don't see that sitting in your office in DC, You don't see
33:05
that in the house in Alexandria. You need to be talking to the
33:09
craft and when you're not listening to them, when you're
33:11
not understanding what they're saying or you're turning around
33:14
and taking instead of listening to what they're saying, you're
33:17
turning around and dismissing it, brushing it under the rug.
33:22
That's when you create issues of malcontent.
33:26
That's when you turn around and you have people become non dues
33:30
paying or as you put it, freeloaders and scabs.
33:35
Now, I think, I think that when you say scabs, I think of
33:41
somebody who's sitting in an office blocking regular
33:45
carriers, rural carriers that are out on the street, ignoring
33:48
rural carriers out on the street, not answering rural
33:51
carriers on the street. That is a SCAP to me, someone
33:54
who is destroying this union from the inside because they're
33:58
too full of themselves to listen.
34:01
Well, tell us how you really feel, James.
34:06
But only James so eloquently put it they instead of answering the
34:11
question, they spend their time silencing their problems.
34:14
Yes. Yeah.
34:16
Yes. There's a busy protecting their
34:19
ass that they don't even do their jobs.
34:22
And if you are there to be disagreeing or arguing with them
34:27
or something, they will remove you from your proposition.
34:31
Yes. And they will do anything and
34:33
everything to silence you. And even if you're just a
34:37
regular carrier, they'll send your union Rep after you to get
34:43
you to be silenced. And if you're a union Rep,
34:46
whether it be a local steward, area steward, assistant district
34:50
Rep, district Rep, or even a regional Rep, they will remove
34:53
you. You disagree with anything they
34:56
say, they will remove you. But I'm going to tell you this,
35:01
Anybody who wants to talk to me or anybody else on this podcast,
35:07
we're here for the craft. Because that's the only thing
35:11
that matters, is the craft. Without the craft, there's no
35:15
union. Without the craft, there's no
35:18
rural mail carriers. And without the Craft the mail's
35:21
not getting delivered. I know, you know, with you guys
35:23
being gone, I know. And James had a moment.
35:25
He was helping me out, but I was fielding, you know, I was
35:30
answering stuff on our DMS and you know, I check that e-mail a
35:35
couple times a day anymore. It's just part of my routine
35:38
now. But yeah, we we're definitely
35:41
here to listen. And you know it.
35:43
It's funny because I always say we have the greatest resources
35:47
available to us. We have 100,000 people out there
35:50
that have knowledge and experience in you know all
35:53
different areas of the contract the Elm six O 3 and and isn't it
35:59
great to draw upon that instead of sitting in Alexandria
36:03
pretending you know all the answers.
36:05
You know we have 100,000 encyclopedias walking around
36:08
that all have some some tidbit of knowledge that that is useful
36:12
to us and it's like to draw on that right there.
36:17
It's like liquid gold right there and people are most people
36:23
are willing to share it with you so why don't you take advantage
36:27
of that and. Then there was another slide
36:30
that Masten showed during his presentation that really got to
36:35
me, that really affected me and that was the slide of how many
36:40
people have left the union in SWAC.
36:45
And the slide said in one state they added ten members.
36:51
But with that 10 members with the other three states, 230
36:58
carriers dropped their due. They dropped them.
37:01
And what does that mean? That means they felt something
37:05
was wrong to have to drop their dues.
37:08
The question is, did anybody go and ask them why?
37:12
Did anybody else try and figure out if they could solve the
37:16
problem to keep them on the dues payroll?
37:19
No, they just let them drop them and walked away because guess
37:23
what, we don't care. We've got our narrative to
37:26
control. They can disappear.
37:28
Even though if we had every rural carrier that was non dues
37:32
paid on the rolls, Don masses says that it would be 17,000,000
37:37
more dollars to be able to fight for the craft.
37:40
But instead of. Fighting for the.
37:42
Craft. They're ignoring the craft and
37:45
when the money gets lower and lower, it doesn't come out of
37:49
their paychecks, it comes out of protecting the crack.
37:53
How would 17,000,000 help them fight for us?
37:55
Seems like an excuse. Yeah, but boy, they they they
37:59
didn't mind putting that out there, did they?
38:01
No, because it's always about the money.
38:04
Well, $717,000,000 is for most rural carriers, especially those
38:11
on Table 2, is a lot of money. But for our national board and
38:16
for anything that we would do to protect the craft, if we were to
38:20
actually protect the craft would go into step three-step 4.
38:24
Paying for those hours that those people are working.
38:27
Paying for arbitration in situations, things like that.
38:33
Paying for materials to help train our stewards and our AD Rs
38:39
or DRS, training them on how to do the proper procedures for
38:42
grievances and things like that. There are so many useful things
38:47
that we could do to protect the craft with $17 million if we
38:52
just tried to protect the craft. Yeah, how about recruiting and
38:56
and and properly training new stewardess and backing them up,
39:01
You know, instead of putting the burden of the grievance on them,
39:04
you know, give them the tools that they need.
39:07
You know, how about going after these, you know, people in
39:10
management who are treating their carriers like shit and
39:13
going after them in the court, not just, you know, through the
39:15
grievance process to get them removed.
39:17
Go through the EOS and the National Labor Relations Board.
39:21
You know, our people put their asses out on the line every day.
39:26
They don't deserve to be treated like this.
39:28
I've. Spoken with.
39:29
Like the one lady said, we have the joint form on on dignity and
39:33
respect and yet, you know they don't abide by it.
39:36
But they'll beat us over the head with it.
39:38
Oh yeah, yeah. They'll.
39:40
Like you know you'll be on. Emergency placement.
39:42
Yeah, they'll put you on emergency placement pre
39:46
preceding termination for violation of that, but
39:50
management won't be put on emergency placement for it.
39:53
We have AD Rs and D Rs that are working hundreds of hours each
39:58
week, 100 hours a week, protecting this craft.
40:02
Those people deserve to be paid for those hours, but they
40:06
aren't. They're getting less than
40:09
minimum wage per hour that they're actually working for the
40:11
craft from the national board because the only people that are
40:16
paid. Quote Quote UN quote Paid by the
40:19
Post Office is local stewards. Everybody above that is paid by
40:24
the union. There's a lot we could do to
40:27
protect this craft if we just sat down with the craft and
40:30
figured out how to protect them the best.
40:33
So here's my thing. If they're going to get rid of
40:36
AD Rs and D Rs or whatnot because they got into an
40:40
argument or they disagree with them on something, what about
40:44
these AD Rs and these D Rs that you hear crickets from and
40:48
aren't doing their job? See, this is when where you're
40:52
here all the time about how their loyalties lay with the
40:55
board. This is why.
40:57
Away from my point of view, and this is only my point of view,
41:00
this to me seems a lot like a Purge, yo, get rid of some of
41:04
the people that supporters of Don and were of Ronnie's.
41:10
You know what? Once you do, you pull a Purge
41:12
off like that, Then everybody's, you know obligated support you
41:17
for your job. Because guess what?
41:19
If you don't, we're going to get rid of you.
41:21
To me, it reminds me of when you get discipline at the post
41:25
office, this investigative interview may result in
41:30
discipline up to and including termination.
41:33
So if you don't follow what we tell you to do, we're going to
41:35
get rid of you. What?
41:37
What's the point of getting rid of people who have, you know, 20
41:41
years experience just at a whim? I mean, yeah, I think that
41:45
should be a. That should be a.
41:47
That should be a question put on one of those index cards for the
41:50
board to throw out. Well, the thing of it is, if you
41:53
want to strengthen the union, you don't turn around and get
41:56
rid of the people protecting the craft, you know?
41:59
Especially if. You have.
42:01
A disagreement. Oh my God, yeah.
42:04
If you have a disagreement with something that you, then you sit
42:07
down and you talk it out and you've come and find figure out
42:10
why there's the disagreement and where you can come to equal
42:13
ground on you. Don't just get rid of them
42:16
because they disagree with you. I.
42:18
Mean hell, you know, if that was the way to of the world, I'd
42:22
have been divorced 32 times in 36 years.
42:25
Right. At least at least.
42:31
If if that was the case, none of us would be continuing to work
42:34
on this podcast with each other. Yeah, we disagree all the time,
42:37
but we resolve it because we're adults and we actually listen to
42:42
each other. And there, and James has, so we.
42:44
Just and there are times where we just agree to disagree on
42:48
something because well you know that's that's what you do that's
42:52
you can't be it's my way or the highway all the time.
42:56
It it just doesn't work out as we can see.
43:00
You have to be able to take other people's experiences and
43:03
notice that they grew up different, or they learn
43:06
different, or they had a different life experience and be
43:10
able to have sympathy and empathy to go ahead and try to
43:14
figure out, OK, that's why they think this way instead of just
43:17
saying it's my way or the highway.
43:19
You know when it when it comes to you know with grievances and
43:23
you know you could have a grievance about the same thing
43:26
but it could be with two different grievances pertaining
43:29
to the same contract violation or or or a disciplinary for
43:34
something similar. Yet they're two completely
43:36
separate, different grievances, and they need to be viewed that
43:40
way. And.
43:41
That's another thing in the grievance process, to get rid of
43:44
the language you know as a precedent for future grievances.
43:48
Hell no. I'm going to get everything in
43:51
my arsenal that that I I have available with the pound
43:55
management. Yeah, it like I said, it's like
43:58
me to defense attorney. You learn and you take from each
44:02
case that you you prosecute and you learn along the way what
44:08
works, what doesn't work, what works with this judge, what
44:10
works with that judge. But the fact of the matter is
44:13
that you're drawing on that experience the same thing with
44:16
the grievance. The grievance should be built
44:18
off of what precedingly was, you know, settled in our favor so
44:24
that you know what worked and that, and that's the kind of
44:26
stuff that should be training at the stewards, you know, instead
44:28
of just sitting there going, OK, somebody didn't work on Saturday
44:33
and they're on the overtime list, but another person who
44:37
wasn't on the overtime, no demonstrate, walk them right
44:42
through a damn grievance from step, you know, filling it out
44:45
all the way to completion, you know, to a settlement, and
44:48
demonstrate your ability to teach that too.
44:50
And we, and what's this thing? I mean we've got stewards that
44:53
were elected before the holidays that are still sitting waiting
44:57
for their steward training. Yeah, who is the one guy was.
45:00
He's in his fourth month waiting the good train.
45:03
I know of two that are in their 123 going on their 4th month as
45:11
well. They were told on last month
45:15
that it would be at the end of the month, beginning of the next
45:18
month. And they and that was they were
45:20
told that in the middle of the month and it's still no word
45:22
sense and we're almost to the end of the second.
45:24
Month. And that's not right.
45:26
These people were elected in their office to be a local
45:29
steward. Their job now, after being
45:32
elected, is to protect that office.
45:34
And we're sitting on our hands doing absolutely nothing to get
45:38
them up to where they need to be to be stewards in those offices.
45:42
If I were the Director of Steward operations, I'd be
45:45
getting on those D Rs to train those guys.
45:49
It doesn't matter if it's one student or 15 students or
45:54
whatever. Each steward needs to be trained
45:58
in a reasonable amount of time after they are elected.
46:02
And if you can't do it, pass it up the chain because they need
46:06
to be in those offices fighting for those carriers.
46:08
Can be getting steward training is a longer process than getting
46:13
hired at the post office. Just about.
46:16
I don't know, they're kind of evening the scales lately.
46:20
Well, your office, but not nowhere else.
46:22
I'm still a shit shell across the country.
46:24
Yeah, yeah, I'm just on a marathon of training urcas,
46:28
that's all, While we wait for our elected local steward to get
46:33
trained for being a steward. Well, guys, I know James is
46:36
still on the road and Bill's still at the hotel.
46:39
And do you guys want to wind this down for tonight?
46:42
Make it a short one. I think the editor would
46:44
appreciate that. I am the editor tonight.
46:47
Like I said that and tell you that little stories.
46:53
I recently I saw someone I can't remember where posted that
46:58
they're the local. I can't remember if they
47:00
actually were trained or not, but they were told they're the
47:04
only local steward in their district.
47:07
That's just pathetic that there's.
47:09
You know, local stewards. In that district.
47:12
Well, it's a shame that nobody wants to do it, you know, I
47:15
mean, you know how many, how many local stewards have quit of
47:18
their own accord because of, you know, not wanting to put up with
47:21
the the grief and the bullshit? You know how you going to
47:24
retain, you know, Rcas when you came to keep stewards in there.
47:29
It it speaks more to the national board than it does to
47:32
the local people in those offices.
47:35
You got to also ask in that district, how many of those
47:40
offices actually know who their current union Rep is, who their
47:45
current officer is, that's that's protecting their, their
47:48
office. And I know that for me, it was a
47:52
few years before I knew who my Rep was in my office.
47:57
And that's where I ran. Why I ran with it because nobody
48:02
else knew exactly who it was or would tell me, and I had to find
48:07
that out myself. And that's pathetic that there
48:10
are offices out there with carriers that are 1015 years
48:13
into their careers who have absolutely no clue who their
48:17
union Rep is. Yeah, that that's a little
48:20
disheartening, isn't it? I just got a message saying that
48:25
the someone's local elected Stewart has been waited six
48:29
months to get training because the ADR doesn't want that person
48:34
as the local, so he's been trying to not have the training
48:39
with them. See.
48:40
And that's what I mean, that's what the one in my office and
48:44
the one in the other office are. You know, they're even raising
48:48
their eyeballs and questioning that because of their
48:51
association with me. I'm wondering why it's taking so
48:54
long to hear back on when they're going to have their
48:57
training. And you know I I hate to bring
48:59
this up, but I think I have a target on my back every time I
49:03
go to these places. You know these conventions.
49:06
The people at the registration know who I am.
49:08
I go up and I go I we couldn't walk out the.
49:11
Door at National without people knowing who you were.
49:14
I couldn't, couldn't even get my name out.
49:16
We know who you are. No, I'm not.
49:20
Sure, if that's a good thing or not.
49:23
My favorite part at any of these things is I recognize that
49:26
voice. I don't recognize the face, but
49:28
I know that voice. It was the one guy there that we
49:32
met there. He says, oh, I want to come over
49:33
and say hi and all. He goes, you know, you're you're
49:36
you're not what I thought you'd look like.
49:38
I'm like, really goes, yeah, I thought you'd be, you know,
49:40
Stouter, you know, I was like, OK, I'm sorry to disappoint you.
49:45
No, no, no. It's just your voice sounds
49:47
like, you know, you'd be shorter.
49:50
Well, you know, I can stoop if you want me to, but what the
49:53
hell, That was funny. Yeah.
49:54
Yeah. And it's it's always nice
49:56
putting the face with the face. Oh yes, really.
50:00
Is it? Always is.
50:01
I agree. Yeah, now you have, you know,
50:03
some kind of, you know, grounds to go on.
50:05
When you you hear them on the podcast or anything else, it's
50:08
like, yeah, I know him. He's an asshole.
50:15
I'm. The best I can be.
50:17
OK, what can I say? You know, I, I, I have worked
50:21
years and developed this attitude and I and I'm proud of
50:24
it. But yeah, it was good to see.
50:27
I mean all those people there and like I said the 40 or so
50:31
that, you know, come over and you know, said hi and you know,
50:35
told us their stories and you know, the consequences of what's
50:39
going on in their offices with, you know, lack of
50:42
representation. You know, the the fact that the,
50:45
you know, management has no knowledge of what a contract is,
50:50
it's like, you know, you got to be kidding me.
50:52
No, they're not. You know you you can't make this
50:55
shit up and and they don't. You know it goes on every day
50:59
across the country and it's got to stop.
51:02
I have the copy of our office contract at my case and I
51:07
periodically grab one of those little post it note tabs and I
51:10
stick it where I think they need to read and then I go back over
51:14
and put it on their desk. I'm.
51:18
Very good for printing. Language out and highlighting it
51:21
and leaving it on the desk when I get in the morning, because my
51:24
management doesn't show up until half hour after the carriers
51:29
most of the time. And which is also against the
51:32
M38, by the way. But I am well known for just
51:37
leaving language highlighted on the desk and walking away.
51:40
That always gets them it. It's great, 'cause they come in,
51:43
they look and they look up at me and they look down at it and
51:47
swipe it off the desk and walk away and shaking their heads and
51:50
mumbling and yeah, it's fun. That's how I fight stuff in my
51:54
office right now. Whatever works.
51:57
Whatever worked. Exactly, exactly.
52:00
Really. You, You talk about being an
52:03
asshole. But so the real thing is, is
52:06
that the reason why you are is because you're so passionate for
52:11
this craft. Just like everybody else on this
52:13
podcast, we're here for the craft.
52:16
And that's the bottom line. It doesn't matter if you're just
52:22
a arc, an RCA regular carrier, if you're a local steward, area
52:28
steward, any of them. We're here for you guys.
52:33
We listen to you because all that matters is the craft to us.
52:39
And somebody said, what if? Somebody said, what if you're a
52:43
scab? Well.
52:44
I personally don't pick scabs off.
52:46
So you know, yeah, If you're a craft, if you're a member of the
52:50
craft, we're here for you, yeah. And the only way to heal a scar
52:58
with a scab is to let it heal, fix the issue, and then there
53:05
was no lock and scam. Exactly.
53:07
You got, you know, you give them a reason to be part of it again
53:12
and where they can trust and see that it's going to work.
53:15
People will rejoin and people will join.
53:18
But if you continue down the road that is going on, more
53:23
people are going to walk away, they're going to withdraw.
53:26
I mean not just. The Union.
53:28
But I mean, look at these offices where the carriers are
53:30
all getting together and walking out together, quitting.
53:33
They got something lined up outside.
53:35
They're just, they're walking off.
53:36
You know, they're they're tired of being treated at the way
53:39
they're treated. They're tired of not getting the
53:42
help that's needed from the union that is supposed to have
53:45
their backs. And so they're just, they're
53:48
done. They're walking away in droves.
53:50
No, you're misinformed. That doesn't happen.
53:54
Oh, I'm sorry. Don't believe everything you see
53:55
on social media. OK.
53:57
Yeah. Don't.
53:58
By the way. Their numbers?
53:59
Don't worry. All right.
54:01
Yeah. You know, don't believe
54:04
everything you see on social media, even though there's a
54:08
Facebook page for our union, which is social media, correct.
54:13
OK. And and and when he was going
54:16
through his slides, there was the one about the evaluations
54:20
and on average before the mini mail survey, rural carriers were
54:26
getting done about 5 hours under evaluation. 7/7.
54:32
Seven, but between 5:00 and 7:00, depending on which one
54:36
which sliding you were looking at.
54:38
And then? Going through.
54:40
And then after the mini mail survey, real carriers were going
54:45
an hour over evaluation, a week under average under and A and
54:53
think about that. You know he's one of those that
54:55
likes it. On the bell curve.
54:57
On the bell curve. Well, guess what?
54:59
If that's the median. There's people that are way over
55:02
that. There's people that are way
55:04
under that. You're telling me that?
55:07
That's. The average.
55:08
So I feel sorry for everybody that's over that.
55:12
I'm glad for the people that are under it, but I'm sad for the
55:15
people over it. There is still a ton of under
55:19
evaluated and extremely overburdened routes out there
55:22
and and unfortunately a lot of these routes are in offices that
55:27
have no help. They have very few, if any,
55:31
leave replacements. They, you know, it's it.
55:36
It's so disheartening to hear of Carrier friends working their
55:42
overburdened routes under evaluated routes, working six
55:46
days a week for year two years three years and there's been no
55:52
nothing to help them whatsoever. Yeah.
55:55
And don't forget, they're getting letters of demand for
55:58
being over 2280. Yeah, 22402080. 40, yeah.
56:04
Yeah, it's 22. I'm tired 2080.
56:11
Trying to wrap it up 10 minutes ago, but we see how well that
56:14
did I. Know.
56:15
Yeah. I believe there's.
56:18
So much. There's so much information to
56:20
put out there for everybody. There's so much I got to say
56:24
this the the national Board, while they were talking and they
56:29
were going through their presentations and then they went
56:31
with the Q and AI, heard a lot more Roans, Sighs and Oh my
56:40
gods, out of that crowd. And these are Southern people
56:43
and they're saying, Oh my God, then, oh, that's good, that's a
56:49
good answer. I didn't hear that from anybody.
56:52
No, no, that you'd have to give one to be able to say that you
56:57
know, the, the, the nobody gave a good answer at anything.
57:00
No, they did not. And up next is what Eastern
57:07
states in March. Eastern states?
57:09
Yep. Yep.
57:10
And then we got Western in April and mid states in May.
57:16
Mid States wraps up the area conference circuit, so I do
57:23
believe most of us will be at Mid States.
57:29
I know I will. All right, as.
57:32
Will I will. As will James.
57:35
I'm going to try my damnedest. So you know it's I'm I'm, I'm
57:41
going to, It'd be interesting if anybody's going to be at the
57:45
other two conferences and wants to give us some feedback even if
57:51
it's on the down low, feel free to reach out to us and just so
57:55
we can kind of compare notes. And I will definitely be
57:59
comparing what's been said coming up with mid states as
58:03
well. I know I have to work on my
58:06
speech and I think these guys will be tweaking theirs up a
58:10
little bit more from mid states prior to the big show in August
58:15
at National Convention. And I do want to.
58:17
Yeah, James, James got to use that line.
58:20
You know, they that they instead of answering questions, they
58:24
rather silence the problem. That's so apropos.
58:27
And I do want to apologize to our Eastern and Western State
58:32
Conference members. Unfortunately, I am unable to
58:36
afford to be able to attend those conferences because,
58:40
number one, I don't have enough leave available and I don't have
58:45
enough funds on on table 2:00 to be able to attend.
58:48
So I I will be there in spirit with you guys and if anything
58:52
comes up, you can message me and I will respond as long as I'm
58:55
awake. Yeah, I didn't afford.
58:57
To go to either one either at this point in time, so.
59:01
I'll I'll vouch for James responding if he's awake because
59:03
that's all he does is respond. You're like a first responder.
59:11
Well, I kind of haven't since I left the hotel because I've been
59:14
driving and I don't touch my cell phone while I do that.
59:18
I do using my screen to mute, unmute so you guys don't hear
59:22
all the all the traffic noise and I'm talking while staring
59:25
out the windows. It's like talking to you while
59:26
I'm while you guys are in the car with me.
59:29
But I will respond. I will respond when I stop for
59:33
the night. I will go through every
59:35
notification that I have on Facebook before I fall asleep
59:38
tonight to try and get back to everybody that responded to the
59:41
posts that I've made these past few days.
59:44
And I will respond to any messages that are sent to me at
59:46
that time as well. Because unfortunately, being
59:50
safe is more important than responding to messages.
59:54
Bill, you got asked if you're going to either Western or
59:56
Eastern State Conference. No, I I won't be going to either
1:00:00
one of those. Eastern States is a smaller it's
1:00:06
it's a really compact conference and since it's on my side of the
1:00:11
country, you know, nobody there knows who I am and don't think
1:00:16
the my presence would make any, you know, difference there being
1:00:19
there or not, OK. As far as western states is
1:00:23
concerned from reliable source that because of the Colorado, it
1:00:29
won't be so greatly attended as it should be because they have a
1:00:36
ton of rural carriers out there. But it's not supposed to be
1:00:40
greatly attended. It's not as informative and it's
1:00:44
not as carrier friendly in regards to the Q&A sessions they
1:00:48
exercise over the past. So you know, all right, where do
1:00:52
I want to go? You know, let's go to mid
1:00:54
states. You know, look at all the
1:00:56
ballots that are available for, you know the, the pick up in the
1:00:59
mid states because of the number of carriers are there.
1:01:02
I mean between you know, swag mid states, you know you control
1:01:06
2/3 of the votes for the delegates.
1:01:09
So that's where I'm going to focus my energies time on.
1:01:12
I'm and and I hate to say I'm being political about it, but
1:01:15
you know, that's what I'm doing. I mean I can afford to go to
1:01:18
both or the other two. But like I said, Eastern States
1:01:22
is not a, you know, a big to do and why I understand the other
1:01:26
Western states is poorly attended.
1:01:29
So the only people that will really attended are the, you
1:01:32
know, the, you know your state presidents and officers and you
1:01:37
know whatever NSS people that are, you know, required to be
1:01:41
there. And that's not, you know, our
1:01:42
target audience. Our target, our audience, is the
1:01:45
regular everyday carrier. Yeah.
1:01:48
And the people on the national board did.
1:01:49
Not, you know, last. Year.
1:01:51
'S last year's mid states. I remember getting stopped by a
1:01:55
gentleman from another state asking me if I was going to be
1:01:57
running again last year. You know, and I didn't run last
1:02:01
year, but. And I, you know, when I got the
1:02:03
bombshell of going to be a grandma in August.
1:02:06
And yes, her due date is literally the day before state
1:02:10
or National Convention starts. And I have told her many, many
1:02:15
times, if you want me there, I don't have to go, I don't have
1:02:19
to go. And she every time looks at me
1:02:22
and says, no, mom, you need to be there.
1:02:25
That's where you need to be. So I have the blessing of my
1:02:29
daughter to be out in Reno in August and that's where I will.
1:02:32
Be and got a lover. And let me say this, we are not,
1:02:36
we are not putting down those regions, we are not putting down
1:02:42
any way that are in those regions.
1:02:44
We are putting down the way they put on those proceedings.
1:02:49
Yes. Those proceedings should be
1:02:52
craft. Those proceedings should be for
1:02:54
the craft should be for the people.
1:02:56
Every one of these should be for the people.
1:02:58
And unfortunately, SAC Eastern and Western have gotten away
1:03:05
from that programming, so honestly.
1:03:07
I would go if I could afford it and had the extra time.
1:03:12
Exactly because I want to. I want to hear.
1:03:14
Can't afford March that. I mean it's my birthday weekend.
1:03:18
It's been a great to go, but I can't afford to go.
1:03:22
I've got too much going on the, you know the next couple weeks
1:03:25
anyways and I and that just going to carry over into the
1:03:30
first part of April. So that's really the only reason
1:03:32
why I'm not going, because I just can't afford to go at this
1:03:35
point. Yeah, I can't afford to go
1:03:38
either, but I wish I could because I do actually want to
1:03:42
see how the board has changed what they say.
1:03:45
I do want to see how they've adapted their speeches because
1:03:51
the speeches that the current national board is going to put
1:03:54
on are going to be trying to recruit votes without trying to
1:03:59
recruit votes because that would be politicking while being paid
1:04:03
to be there and they're not allowed to do that.
1:04:06
So that will be interesting to see how that how that plays out.
1:04:10
But if somebody's there, please let us know.
1:04:14
Multiple people, anybody that's there, reach out and tell us
1:04:16
what's going on. We'd love to hear from you.
1:04:19
Yeah, send us an e-mail, send us Adm, whatever.
1:04:22
You know, we we'd definitely love to hear some feedback from
1:04:26
the next two area conferences that are going on that we
1:04:28
unfortunately cannot attend. So we are now going to wrap this
1:04:32
up. Guys, I do want to get some
1:04:36
sleep tonight. One quick question.
1:04:40
Does it work like an electoral vote for the delegates when you
1:04:44
get your delegate ballots in the mail?
1:04:47
Each. I can't really say.
1:04:49
It works like an electoral vote each state.
1:04:52
It's 1/2 and 1/2. Yeah, it each state gets, it's
1:04:57
one delegate per 100 members for that state and those that have
1:05:04
either self nominated to be a delegate or somebody else sent
1:05:08
their nomination in, Those are the names that are going to
1:05:10
appear on the on the ballot. You may have more than whatever
1:05:13
these one per 100 is. I know Michigan, it usually
1:05:17
varies between 43 to 45 depending on what the membership
1:05:20
numbers are. So you don't have to vote the
1:05:24
full amount if you don't know who those people are or they
1:05:28
don't align with you or what you want to see a delegate that gets
1:05:33
going to get voted, those ones that have the highest votes are
1:05:36
than the delegates. Those are the ones that go and
1:05:39
have the voting capabilities and are able to speak on the floor
1:05:43
at National Convention. That's why we talk about when
1:05:46
your delegate ballots come out, please vote.
1:05:49
And when you have an estate as big as mine with over 4000
1:05:54
members and for over 4000 ballots get sent out and only
1:05:59
500 something get returned, you know that's that that's very
1:06:04
disheartening. And that's where we just say you
1:06:05
don't vote. If you don't know who somebody
1:06:08
is, ask somebody, you know whether that that's, you know,
1:06:13
go to your meetings if you can, if you can try and get to you
1:06:17
know, like these area conferences that are going on or
1:06:21
you know, reach out and ask somebody who somebody may be.
1:06:25
Because yes, retirees can be delegates as long as they are a
1:06:28
dues paying retiree. They are allowed to be a voting
1:06:31
delegate. And you know there are some
1:06:33
great retirees out there still fighting for us and then there's
1:06:37
some retirees out there that are pretty questionable.
1:06:40
But you know, again, you voting for delegates is your own
1:06:44
choice. I mean, if your name's on that
1:06:46
delegate ballot and you only want to vote for yourself,
1:06:48
that's all you got to do. Or if you want to vote for
1:06:51
whoever you want to vote for, I mean, it's definitely your
1:06:54
choice, but just please vote for the delegates when they come
1:06:57
out. Yeah.
1:06:59
All right. Josh, your final commentary for
1:07:02
this evening. I don't have much to add to
1:07:05
what's been said so far tonight. Just be safe out there.
1:07:10
Tomorrow's day after a holiday. Don't get yourself overwhelmed.
1:07:13
If you do, take a step back. Take a deep breath.
1:07:17
Step back in. Have a good week.
1:07:19
We'll catch you next time. Toasty Final comments.
1:07:23
If you ever get a chance, try to get to one of these conferences
1:07:26
they can. You can have all these different
1:07:29
sessions like we were talking about the beginning, where you
1:07:31
can either go to OWCP, learn about that, learn about
1:07:34
retirement. There's a lot of good
1:07:37
information out there. There's also nice little vendors
1:07:42
there, Apcu and and whatnot. Fun little door prizes.
1:07:49
I was very pleased and happy with the way Slack was run.
1:07:53
Pretty organized, nice and neat. But try to get to 1 of you can
1:07:57
just to one just to experience it so you can know what goes on
1:08:01
during these area conferences. And of course, try to get to
1:08:04
your state, go to your local, make sure that you can get over
1:08:07
to your state convention, and if you can, try to get nominated
1:08:11
for your the National Convention so we can get those votes.
1:08:15
James. You know, we get very, very
1:08:17
passionate on this podcast, and for good reason.
1:08:22
Because we see how our craft is being treated.
1:08:26
We see how our craft is being treated by management.
1:08:28
We see how our craft is being treated by leadership.
1:08:32
And unfortunately, leadership would rather hide the problem,
1:08:37
sweep it under the rug, make it disappear, then actually solve
1:08:41
the problem. We're here for the craft.
1:08:43
We wouldn't be doing this podcast if the leadership was
1:08:49
answering people's questions. We wouldn't have to do social
1:08:53
media if leadership was talking to the craft.
1:08:57
But we're here for you was. Doesn't matter if you're just an
1:09:02
RCA ARC, PTF regular, or you're a district representative or an
1:09:10
area steward. Any of those, we're here for
1:09:14
you. And at the end of the day, no
1:09:16
matter what, we're all in this together.
1:09:19
Bill, it's your turn. Dear your, your.
1:09:21
Your. Final I'm overwhelmed.
1:09:24
I'm overwhelmed. I really am.
1:09:28
Well, you know, all I can say is that, you know, we had a great
1:09:31
time at SWAG, met a lot of great people there, gave some useful
1:09:37
information. We were not disappointed by our
1:09:40
national leadership. They were all that we expected.
1:09:44
And you can take the sarcasm as heavy as you want, but you know
1:09:49
it's it's there and you know, just appreciate, you know, James
1:09:54
and Jock and Chris and Bill and Chris Svoboda and and all the
1:10:00
other people that you run into. And it's just you know we get we
1:10:04
got there early we were there Saturday, Friday morning and we
1:10:09
were building the units for this one display that does the
1:10:14
T-shirts, the parcel markers and are we putting you know build a
1:10:17
coat rack for them and everything and you know we just
1:10:20
helping helping them out. You know no expected pay or
1:10:23
anything. A lady did offer to give us some
1:10:26
T-shirts or hats but you know it's it's nice to be able to
1:10:28
help people and I got a couple T-shirts made that say carrier
1:10:33
first on the front and then Bill Maple present on the back and
1:10:37
they were they were embroidered. So you know it's like the nice
1:10:41
touch and the food was you know good.
1:10:44
I mean you know the location is good and everything.
1:10:47
So All in all an enjoyable way. You know to spend the weekend
1:10:50
you know learn learn stuff meet people and you know find out
1:10:55
what what's really important to people.
1:10:57
The issues that really mean something to them in regards to
1:11:01
you know, how they perform their jobs how they're treated and you
1:11:04
know how they're represented. So it it's nice to meet these
1:11:09
people and like I said yeah you you you put a face with the
1:11:12
voice you know I'm, I'm sorry to disappoint the one gentleman
1:11:17
thought I'd be stouter you know but OK.
1:11:21
I'm a, you know, semi tall glass of water and and it was good to
1:11:26
see Ronnie looking so healthy. Ron.
1:11:28
Ronnie Stutz was there and Ronnie looked like a different
1:11:31
man from when he retired last year and walked off the stage.
1:11:34
So it's good to see that. You know, he he's in good
1:11:37
health. That's it.
1:11:39
I mean, go out there. I mean, what's it today?
1:11:42
Today's Monday. OK.
1:11:44
Monday. I can't remember the days.
1:11:47
Tomorrow's, you know, a day after a holiday.
1:11:50
Everybody's like you slammed. Take your time.
1:11:53
Do your job the best you can. You know, do it as
1:11:56
professionally, efficiently as you can and make sure you get
1:12:00
your ass home. Because like I always tell you,
1:12:03
you are the most important delivery.
1:12:05
And we had several instances that we prayed for in regards to
1:12:10
rule carriers during our invocations of the the meetings.
1:12:15
And it just tears you up to, you know, hear that people are being
1:12:19
hurt or even losing their lives on the job.
1:12:23
So everybody you know, get home. You are the most important
1:12:27
delivery of the day. God bless Kristen.
1:12:31
Thank you, gentlemen. I know I kind of think I gave my
1:12:33
last two cents prior to the guys there, but definitely have AI
1:12:38
Want everybody to have a safe week out there.
1:12:42
Yep, the Tuesday after Monday holiday.
1:12:44
It's going to be fun for all of us, isn't it?
1:12:46
I know I'll be working in the morning and then right back to
1:12:49
training again, but yeah, training marathon for me, as I
1:12:55
said before, outside of that guys, you know, just just stay
1:13:00
safe this week and we'll look forward.
1:13:04
Like I said, unfortunately you know we're not going to be at
1:13:06
Easterns or Western Conferences, but we'll hope to see everybody
1:13:11
at Mid States that will be fun and interesting at the same time
1:13:15
and we look forward to it all and we'll be back next week.
1:13:32
I'm taking a dozen home and there's a couple lamps my wife
1:13:35
wants me to steal too. So yeah, I've got to do that
1:13:38
tonight and pack them up.