Latest / United We Scan / The Flavors of the Week
Transcript
- 0:14Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
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- 0:47Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
- 0:50United We Scan podcast. Welcome back, everybody.
- 0:53Episode 78, Flavors of the Week. I'm going to apologize in
- 0:59advance. You're stuck with just myself
- 1:01and James this week. Bill's having some technical
- 1:03issues, so he was not able to join us to where we could
- 1:08clearly hear him. And so on that note, James, how
- 1:12was your week? Yeah, We haven't been able to
- 1:16clearly hear him for a couple weeks now, so hopefully we can
- 1:18get that figured out for the next episode that we do for him.
- 1:22But my week was our state convention, of course, started
- 1:27the week out for me. That was really nice.
- 1:30It was great to see a lot of the people that I knew met some new
- 1:33faces as well. It was great to see a lot of
- 1:35first timers there, you know, standard business procedures
- 1:40through the entire state convention, which we'll talk
- 1:43about next week. Hopefully Bill's back, he's got
- 1:46his state convention this week and that's when we'll talk about
- 1:49all the state convention stuff and wrap everything up then.
- 1:53But then went back to my route and it was normal mail flow for
- 1:59me on my route every day and got to Friday.
- 2:03And because of the short week due to state convention, I
- 2:06actually thought it was Thursday on Friday.
- 2:08So a little screwed up on that, but got through it and got
- 2:12through the weekend here and getting gearing up for the
- 2:16hottest week of the year so far for the state of Michigan.
- 2:20In fact, we're looking at excessive heat watch for an
- 2:25entire week. And I talked with our Weather
- 2:28Service here in Detroit and the meteorologists there and they
- 2:32said that this is the first time they've ever issued 1 for five
- 2:36days in a row. The last little longest period
- 2:39prior to that was 49 hours. So this is a record-breaking
- 2:44week of heat for us down here. How about you, Kristen?
- 2:47Well as like with James, I was at state convention alongside
- 2:51James and yeah it was a good week.
- 2:55I initially had planned to stay for the post convention board
- 2:59meeting, however I had to bring my daughter back Tuesday night
- 3:02and decided, well, I'm off. I took off Friday.
- 3:06So I actually go back to my route tomorrow.
- 3:11I've been off all week. We Wednesday my youngest
- 3:14daughter says hey, can you come get me after work?
- 3:16I said hey, I'm not working, let me get dressed and I'll be on my
- 3:19way. So I made that 4 hour round trip
- 3:21to go pick up my youngest and we had Ruby's doctor's appointment
- 3:28Friday. Things were actually looking
- 3:30pretty good. So yeah, it's been a pretty laid
- 3:35back week for me. Like I said, I'd go back
- 3:37tomorrow and yes, it's going to be warm, going to be warm.
- 3:41Not looking forward to that. I already have my bottles of
- 3:45water in the freezer for the morning.
- 3:46And yeah, what a Monday to go back, let me tell you.
- 3:51But other than that, hasn't been too bad.
- 3:53Well, then Wednesday's the holiday, so we don't have to
- 3:56work Wednesday. So that's regulars anyways.
- 3:59So that's kind of a bonus on that.
- 4:02But other than that, yeah, it's been a fairly laid back week for
- 4:07me. I think Wednesday, Wednesday's
- 4:11gonna probably be one of the hottest days of the week for us
- 4:15down here too. Well, let's see.
- 4:17Right now it's telling me 89 for Monday, which is actually 3°
- 4:21cooler than what it was saying before, and then 87 Tuesday and
- 4:24Wednesday, but we'll see what it actually tops out at.
- 4:27I usually add another 5° or more on that, so we shall see.
- 4:33At least I know. I do know my central air works.
- 4:35I did try that one day this week so my daughter will thank me for
- 4:40having that turned on. Yeah, ours is 9394959492 a week.
- 4:49That's gonna be, it's gonna be a scorcher.
- 4:50I got my cooler ready, so I'll pick up ice in the morning at
- 4:53the gas station, fill the cooler up and that lasts me through the
- 4:56entire route. So, yeah, so that's actually
- 5:00going to start out our topics that I got for this week and
- 5:03that is stationary events. We've heard it before, we've
- 5:09talked about it before. Management has been getting down
- 5:12on not only rural carriers, but city carriers too on this, Cory.
- 5:17And from 8, arbitration talked about this, that there's
- 5:19actually an e-mail out there that they are to talk to three
- 5:23up to three carriers that are on the list of stationary events
- 5:28every day. And they're going to be pushing
- 5:32that, especially in these hot conditions.
- 5:35So I wanted to first start off with that, especially with the
- 5:39heat wave that's building across this country.
- 5:41So Kristen, have you experienced anybody talking about the
- 5:45stationary events in your office?
- 5:47Have you heard anything and things like that?
- 5:50Nope. All I know is a couple weeks ago
- 5:53our 2O4B did a training on stationary events, but it was
- 5:58geared towards the City side. That's the only thing that we've
- 6:02heard in my office about stationary events that I'm aware
- 6:05of, anyways. I've, I've had a few discussions
- 6:09with my supervisor over stationary events and I'm like,
- 6:13OK, show me where they are. He pointed to them.
- 6:16I said, Oh yeah, reload spot, reload spot, reload spot.
- 6:20Because I actually set myself up with specific reload spots that
- 6:25are also cooling spots. I can park the truck in the
- 6:28shade to do my reload and stuff like that.
- 6:33So after the second day of him talking to me, I turned around
- 6:36and I said, if you bring this to me again, I'm going to file a
- 6:40grievance for harassment based on me doing my job.
- 6:43And he has not come to me ever since.
- 6:46And that's the thing. You need to take care of
- 6:49yourself out there, especially in this heat.
- 6:52But you definitely do not let them harass you about them
- 6:57because it is harassment. They're setting benchmarks for
- 7:02how long it takes you to move stuff around in your truck, how
- 7:05long it takes you to take a cooling period outside of these
- 7:09easy bake ovens on wheels and things like that.
- 7:13Don't let them do it. You agree, Kristen?
- 7:16I agree. Yeah, I, I've got my spots too.
- 7:19If they were to ever question stationary events, you know, and
- 7:24if they pinpointed it, we all have our spots where that is
- 7:27easiest for us to move our mail around, realign our packages, do
- 7:33what we got to do. I mean, everybody, I mean, every
- 7:36route I've ever ran, any amount of time, I've always had select
- 7:39spots where I did those things. So yeah, I mean, if they ever
- 7:43questioned me, be like, yeah, that's my reload spot.
- 7:45You got a question about it, Meet me out there tomorrow.
- 7:47Same time, same place, you know. Well, not in the same time, but
- 7:51same place every day. Yes, and disciplining you over
- 7:55GPS data is not allowed. We have MO, us and paperwork on
- 8:01that. That GPS data alone cannot be
- 8:04used for discipline and that is what the stationary events are
- 8:08is GPS data. So take care of some.
- 8:11Carriers getting dinged on on stationary events when they're
- 8:15servicing CV us. Yeah.
- 8:18Exactly. Oh, looks like Bill's trying to
- 8:21hop back in. We'll see if it's working for
- 8:23him. I'm trying is it working?
- 8:26You are clear at the moment. Clear for now.
- 8:31I just won't move my head. How was how?
- 8:35How was your week, Bill? Uneventful.
- 8:40I'm still out on medical and taking calls from carriers and
- 8:45questions. One of the most particular ones
- 8:48was a result of the SD and C where they lost 4 Subs from an
- 8:54outlying office because they didn't want to drive so far.
- 8:57But they think that's OK because one sub from our office actually
- 9:00wants to transfer there. So you know, a four to one ratio
- 9:04is acceptable to them. Makes sense, doesn't it?
- 9:07Oh yeah, always does. Catch you up here, Bill, We were
- 9:10talking about stationary events and management harassing
- 9:12carriers over that. Like Corey talked about on Form
- 9:158 arbitration and how they're doing 3 carriers a day they have
- 9:20to talk to on a stationary event that they're on the list.
- 9:24And I told them that I've actually been on that list and
- 9:28my, my supervisor talked to me about it.
- 9:30The first time I went over there and he showed me where it was.
- 9:33And I'm like, Yep, reload spot, reload spot, reload spot.
- 9:37And the second time after he got done talking to me about it, I
- 9:42said, if you come to me with it again, I'm going to file a
- 9:44grievance for harassment on this.
- 9:46And he hasn't messed with me since.
- 9:48But there are a lot of carriers that are getting treated this
- 9:50way. And we've got excessive heat
- 9:52watches here in Michigan this full next week and this heat
- 9:58stuff, you know, you're going to be stopping.
- 10:00You're going to want to get out of that truck to reload.
- 10:02I've actually started putting my reload in the back of my truck.
- 10:06So I have to get out of the truck to reload the truck so I
- 10:10can get out of the heat and cool myself off while I'm reloading
- 10:13and stuff like that. But would you like to speak on
- 10:17on the stationary events and keeping yourself cool out there?
- 10:22Well, the first thing I'd like to remind people is start
- 10:24hydrating the day before. You know, don't don't wait till
- 10:27the day of or when you start sweating.
- 10:30It's too late then. You can't get enough fluid into
- 10:32your system. Second of all, the post office
- 10:36is very good in putting some of these warnings into your
- 10:39scanners. Use those messages from the post
- 10:43office against them that tell you to slow down, to take a
- 10:47break, to rest in the shade. Their own messages are giving
- 10:52you clearance to have a stationary event in case of
- 10:55excessive heat. The other thing is you know you
- 10:58can fill out a 17676767 in regards to unsafe conditions
- 11:07because of the fact that these vehicles are microwaves on
- 11:11wheels. I mean, you have a 21 square
- 11:14foot windshield that does nothing but let the heat in.
- 11:18You have a firewall that does nothing but let the heat from
- 11:22the engine comes right in on your feet, your legs.
- 11:27Folks, don't play with your safety.
- 11:30We, we've already had the a couple deaths last year from the
- 11:33heat. You're, you're probably going to
- 11:35see some this year. And God help us, I hope we
- 11:38don't. But people are going to push
- 11:40themselves and they're going to get pushed by management.
- 11:43Fight back. Stand up for yourself because
- 11:45your life is worth more than this damn job.
- 11:47But use the information that the post office actually posts on
- 11:52there. And if you want, you can
- 11:54actually request their messaging and print it out and say, look,
- 11:58you're telling me to take these stationary events.
- 12:01I'm taking them. And if they tell you to take
- 12:03them, you're on the clock because that is a instruction
- 12:07from management, so therefore it isn't on the clock.
- 12:10Not a break. Nope, it is not.
- 12:15And just want to remind everybody, them harassing people
- 12:22on stationary events, that is what killed our city brother,
- 12:26Mr. Gates. They harassed him about his
- 12:30stationary events, threatened him with discipline up to and
- 12:34including termination because he was having stationary events to
- 12:38cool off in the Texas heat, and it killed him.
- 12:42Management killed him. Don't let it happen to you.
- 12:46Your life's not worth his job. Now you got to take care of
- 12:49yourself first and foremost. Yeah, so.
- 12:53And you know, these, these, these, like you said, on average
- 12:59becoming a three carrier, that's a form of benchmarking.
- 13:03Yeah. They've got to meet quotas in
- 13:04regards to who they talked to, like.
- 13:08Yeah. And from aid arbitration talked
- 13:10about it. It wasn't just from district
- 13:12managers. It was further up the chain in
- 13:15in upper management that was bringing this directive down.
- 13:19Yeah, got to take care of yourselves, guys.
- 13:20That that's the number one important thing.
- 13:23Yep, I mean, you're here outside of Philadelphia, they have a
- 13:29heat index over all week long and there is no rain, no relief,
- 13:35nothing. So, you know, detect yourself
- 13:40you're most safe and sound to your family.
- 13:43Next next topic I had doesn't isn't as major as that, but I
- 13:49got messaged by a carrier that they've been getting messaged on
- 13:55the scanner to return for late DPS.
- 13:59They don't return from the route in the middle of the route, they
- 14:02wait until the end and then management has them run the
- 14:06entire route of DPS on a second trip.
- 14:10I had this instance in my office and it actually should be
- 14:14straight time. However we did settle pre a
- 14:18class action grievance was before a grievance could be
- 14:21filed. We did settle for the second
- 14:23trip pay at the time as long as everybody got paid for it, but
- 14:30going above myself at the time to seeking guidance, I was told
- 14:35it should have been straight time.
- 14:36Actually there is a second trip scenarios and compensation
- 14:41issued out by our union and it says management requires you to
- 14:45return to the office at some point during your route to pick
- 14:48up and deliver late arriving mail or parcels that weren't
- 14:50sorted before you left. Basically at issue here is
- 14:53management is expecting you to leave the route and come back
- 14:56in, then go back out to deliver first.
- 15:00Do not answer your phone or acknowledge scanner texts while
- 15:03on the route. Cell phone use on the route is
- 15:06prohibited by management and the Union except in cases of
- 15:10emergency. Real carriers are not to be sent
- 15:13or acknowledged. Scanner text Operational
- 15:16concerns are not emergencies. Management does somehow arrange
- 15:20for you to return and go back out.
- 15:22Compensation As it stated below, the NRLCA position is that real
- 15:27carriers should be compensated at the carriers FLSA overtime
- 15:31rate time and 1/2 as defined in article 9.2 dot A .1 dot K.
- 15:39The same method to use to calculate the Christmas overtime
- 15:42rate. You should also receive
- 15:44additional EMA if you drive apov.
- 15:47If management refused to compensate you in this way, file
- 15:49a grievance. The only time you should be paid
- 15:52for second trip rate is if you have parcels leftover that you
- 15:58couldn't fit in your vehicle or mail leftover that you couldn't
- 16:03fit in your vehicle. That is the only time you should
- 16:05get second trip pay. Great guys.
- 16:08Correct. That's 100% my book and if it
- 16:13doesn't fit and you know, requires a second trip, that's
- 16:17second trip DPS or miss sorted mail or you know, mail that
- 16:24that's coming at the time and and the fact that outside, you
- 16:29know your has nothing to do operations on the deal.
- 16:34It's the one today and it's at the time.
- 16:40Second trip or second? You're still breaking up, Bill.
- 16:45I don't see how it all right. I've.
- 16:50Tried. I've had everything I could.
- 16:52Guys, I'm going to go to the bar.
- 16:57And that's the clearest thing we've heard yet.
- 17:06Something important is going on and it's like, fine, I'm going
- 17:10to the bar. It's like clear.
- 17:15Sorry you're having technical difficulties, Bill.
- 17:17I'll get with you a little later and we'll talk about what what
- 17:19to do with that. Try and figure this out.
- 17:26But yes, no it it shouldn't be second trip pay.
- 17:29The reason we settled that in my office was because my postmaster
- 17:34didn't want to pay anybody anything because they were all
- 17:38back. Those that did take their DP, we
- 17:40had one carrier at the time who chose not to take her DPS and
- 17:44just case it up for the next day.
- 17:48Those that did go out and run it, we're still back from
- 17:50running both times under evaluation.
- 17:54So she, because they were under evaluation for the whole day,
- 17:58didn't feel that she should have to pay them for that.
- 18:01And that's where we we settled before it became a class action
- 18:06grievance on being the second trip pay.
- 18:11If she wasn't going to at least settle for that, then yes, it
- 18:15would have gone higher up. But that was the case of my
- 18:18instance on that one because she well, they're all back within
- 18:22their evaluation. Why should I have to pay them
- 18:25and I? Was fair wages for Fair Work?
- 18:28Exactly, exactly. So actually a couple of the
- 18:34couple of the routes actually made out better doing second
- 18:36trip pay than they would have the other way around for the
- 18:40actual time it took them. So, so, yeah, technically it
- 18:46should be. And no, they're not supposed to
- 18:49call you or text you. I I have that hanging on the
- 18:54bulletin board, but you know that we at least stop the
- 18:57scanner texting, messaging on the rural side of my office.
- 19:01But then when they text me or call me on my phone, I don't
- 19:05even bother answering it or looking at it.
- 19:07I wait till I get back at the office.
- 19:08Well, did you get my text? I don't know, Did I?
- 19:14Exactly. Oh, here it is.
- 19:17Oh, here it is. I see it now.
- 19:21Yep. Yep.
- 19:24All right. I had somebody reach out to me
- 19:29because a current manager wanted to kick up a grievance to Step
- 19:352, would not, was not willing to discuss it, was not willing to
- 19:38sit down and have a discussion about it, even though the
- 19:41carrier had filed a similar grievance to this one, pretty
- 19:47much identical grievance to this one previously with a previous
- 19:50manager. What's your take?
- 19:55Repeat that again. What was was that about?
- 19:59So a carrier this, this actually was a steward reached out to me.
- 20:04They had filed a grievance for a situation that was identical to
- 20:09a grievance they had previously filed with another manager.
- 20:13And this current manager does not want to even discuss it,
- 20:17does not want to settle, it just wants to kick it up to Step 2.
- 20:22Well, that would be fair to comply to the first one, number
- 20:25one and he wants to kick it up to Step 2 then then make sure
- 20:29you include that I would include that previous grievance in the
- 20:32settlement with it and pass it up to Step 2.
- 20:36Yeah. If local management doesn't want
- 20:38to talk about it, then yeah, I got it.
- 20:40Should go up to Step 2. I also think I also think that
- 20:45manager is also failing to bargain in good faith.
- 20:48Yeah, yeah. And I think it would fall under
- 20:51a failure to comply because it's that grievance is still within
- 20:53that office and they're not replying.
- 20:56So regardless of that, it's a different manager, it's still
- 21:00the same office. Yeah.
- 21:02I would send it to Step 2 and let District hash it out.
- 21:06Yep, exactly. And you're going to get This is
- 21:10Stewart, you're gonna have new management.
- 21:12And even though you've got previous grievances that are
- 21:17identical, the ones you're filing.
- 21:18Now, the issue is, is that some managers don't want those
- 21:22grievances on their record. They don't want it shown that
- 21:25they had a grievance filed in their in their office under
- 21:28their name. Now, this could be a situation
- 21:30where this manager came from another office where they had a
- 21:35lot of grievances filed under them.
- 21:37And so when they moved to this new office, they want it to look
- 21:40like they're they've changed their tune.
- 21:42They've become a better manager without all these grievances.
- 21:46So that way they can get off the list of grievance issue
- 21:50management that could result in an MOU 25 S, Yeah.
- 21:56I would you know that would be a manager management refuse to
- 22:00meet at step one automatically goes to Step 2.
- 22:03Plain and simple. Exactly.
- 22:07And I think that would actually look even worse upon management
- 22:10for refusing it then it would be trying to trying to hash it out.
- 22:15And if they couldn't come to agreement, then it went to Step
- 22:172, that'd be one thing. But if they're flat out
- 22:19refusing, not want to do it, yeah.
- 22:22So it's Step 2 that districts, yeah.
- 22:24Yeah, all right. I've actually talked with a
- 22:28carrier who's dealing with managerial harassment to the
- 22:35point that they are counting down the minutes to their
- 22:40retirement that. Sounds familiar?
- 22:44And this this goes to show that management doesn't care how much
- 22:51they violate the joint statements on workplace violence
- 22:54and harassment. They don't care that a manager
- 22:57is causing issues. This carrier alone, without the
- 23:03elder carriers in the office has filed 40 grievances against
- 23:08this, this manager and six EE OS.
- 23:13And yet the manager still works in this office and the other
- 23:22two. Common though.
- 23:24And these other carriers are filing too.
- 23:25And my question is, is I know that our union tracks grievances
- 23:31with management. I know they keep an eye on who's
- 23:34doing what. But my question is, is when is
- 23:37enough enough? Yeah, and unfortunately, we
- 23:42can't control management. I mean, a grievance process is
- 23:47the only thing we have, but when upper management just wants to
- 23:50move the troublemaker around because they don't know any
- 23:54better or I, you know, they don't have to answer to their
- 24:00faults. They don't have to be.
- 24:06Oh, what's the word I'm looking for, James.
- 24:09Accountable. Yes, thank you, accountable.
- 24:12And they know they don't have to.
- 24:14I mean, and that's quite obvious with the way that some of these
- 24:17managers handle themselves and, and treat, treat carrier, you
- 24:23know, treat people on the floor, not just carriers, clerks too.
- 24:27They don't, you know, they know that they they're not going to
- 24:31be held accountable for it. So why should they change their
- 24:34behavior? It's sad and it's nerve wracking
- 24:39because I mean, management's never been great.
- 24:42I mean, there are great managers out there.
- 24:44Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful managers out
- 24:48there. Unfortunately, it's just a small
- 24:51handful and and majority of them feel like they're untouchable
- 24:59and that's how they act because they know.
- 25:00Well, yeah, they'll just move me.
- 25:02Maybe I'll go someplace else better.
- 25:05Maybe I'll get a pay raise while I do that too.
- 25:07Yeah, you know, they don't care. They really don't.
- 25:11I mean, and it's sad that upper management will keep bouncing
- 25:13the same ones around for the same reasons from office to
- 25:16office to office without really negating.
- 25:20I mean, it negates anything that the union tries to do or, or,
- 25:24you know, people filing the grievances or EOS or anything of
- 25:28that matter. It totally negates all that when
- 25:30they just move them to another office and they repeat the same
- 25:33thing. Well, move them to another
- 25:34office, repeat the same thing. When's enough enough management
- 25:38and why can't you? Obviously you see a pattern
- 25:42here. Why aren't you doing anything
- 25:44about it? Because Lord knows we can't keep
- 25:46enough people in the carrier, you know, on the floor
- 25:48positions. But, you know, let's hire more
- 25:50management, OK? I agree.
- 25:56I agree completely on that. You know, you, you got managers
- 26:00that are coming in off the streets.
- 26:01A lot of them only have business management degrees that they've
- 26:05hired off the streets. Or you have people that have
- 26:08never carried a piece of mail in their life being management now
- 26:14and they have no clue what it takes to do this job.
- 26:18They just do what they're told from the person above them and
- 26:20the person above them's in the same position that that person
- 26:23below them is. They never carried a piece of
- 26:25mail. They never delivered a piece of
- 26:27mail to a customer. They never got to see the joy on
- 26:30a customer's face when we delivered them their needed
- 26:32medication, things like that. And.
- 26:36They never gave a hug to a customer as you're returning
- 26:40their loved ones cremated remains.
- 26:43They've never shared in the tiers of that.
- 26:45They've never, you know, been the one to hand a a college
- 26:50graduate their college degree or you know, or you know, anything
- 26:57of that nature or whether it's, you know, the end of life, the
- 27:02beginning of life, the the steps through life that we all see
- 27:05with our customers on our route. You know, whether it's a newborn
- 27:09or a graduation or sadly, you know, we lose a customer, they
- 27:14don't understand because they don't deal with it.
- 27:17They've never had to deal with that on a personal level like we
- 27:20all have. Yep.
- 27:23And then they also have the mindset of, well, I'm the boss,
- 27:27you have to do what I tell you. I'm the boss.
- 27:31It's my way or the highway. You're just a little peon who
- 27:36means absolutely nothing to me. You're a number on a
- 27:39spreadsheet. You're part of the bell curve to
- 27:41the Postal Service. And I'm going to look at them,
- 27:45be like, you know, I can do my job without you.
- 27:47I am an adult, but you do to my job without me.
- 27:50Then we'll see how that matters. Yep.
- 27:55So it's it's one of those things that I do not tolerate
- 27:59harassment in any shape, way, shape or form in the Postal
- 28:03Service. You know, you can have joking
- 28:06and ribbing with each other as long as it's mutually done.
- 28:10When it's one sided, it's bullying, it's harassment, it's
- 28:15intimidation, you know it's treating.
- 28:20It's disparagement, especially if you're only pinpointing out
- 28:25one craft or another, or one carrier over another.
- 28:29It's. Or one gender over another.
- 28:32Oh yeah, I mean, I've seen all three of those in my office.
- 28:36But anyways, yeah, no, it it's, I swear management just
- 28:44completely removes the humanity out of the job anymore.
- 28:48I know, and a lot of that has to do with technology.
- 28:53Yeah. Everything they have to do with
- 28:56with monitoring carriers today is on the computer.
- 29:02Except if you actually read the M38, they're supposed to be
- 29:07physically monitoring carriers. They're supposed to be
- 29:11observing. They're supposed to do route
- 29:13observations. They're supposed to do, you
- 29:15know, we're getting back into doing route inspections again
- 29:19when mine will be rescheduled for.
- 29:21I have no clue. I think there's stuff going on
- 29:23with the City side with the routes right now.
- 29:25So they're concentrating on that.
- 29:27But you know, there there's, if they think that you're just
- 29:32sitting there on a stationary event, then get off your butt
- 29:35out of your chair, be from behind the computer and get out
- 29:37there and see what's going on. That's where we lose carriers is
- 29:42because, well, they're going to bitch about stationary events.
- 29:45But when a carrier is sitting still for hours and they don't
- 29:48go out and check or don't do anything, that's what happens.
- 29:53And it has happened, and we've lost some really good people
- 29:56because of that. Yeah, even here on the rural
- 30:00side, our good friend David Troutman.
- 30:05Yes. So yes, it's, you know, yeah.
- 30:12Dog pammies. Yeah, we'll go down a rabbit
- 30:17hole we don't want to go down. Exactly, exactly.
- 30:22But another one that I've gotten this week was Order of
- 30:28consideration. An RCA was not called for their
- 30:32primary route due to being in overtime.
- 30:38That is a double. That is in, but the order of
- 30:44consideration says that even if they're in overtime, the primary
- 30:47relief carrier's responsibility is to the primary route.
- 30:51Yes, and they are entitled to the evaluation of the route when
- 30:53the carrier's gone. And I have heard of a lot of
- 30:57Poms and poms, whatever you want to call them, that are trying to
- 31:01restrict RCA overtime. 40 hours. That's it.
- 31:05They can't work over 40 hours. This includes my Pomeria too.
- 31:09This has been said and it's BS. So you'd rather pay regular
- 31:14carriers overtime than pay an RCA in overtime?
- 31:19I don't care if you're table one or Table 2 regular carrier,
- 31:22you're still paying out a lot more on an OT for them than you
- 31:26are for an RCA. And on top of that, it's a, it's
- 31:30a violation. It's a violation of the order of
- 31:34consideration if that relief carrier is assigned to that
- 31:38route and that route is available to be worked.
- 31:41I don't care if you have an RCA doing clerk work or an RCA doing
- 31:45janitorial work and already in the office.
- 31:48You have to contact that RCA first and see if they're
- 31:52available to come into work. Yep, and if they're sitting at
- 31:56home and you have somebody else run that route, that RCA sitting
- 31:59at home has a grievance. Yeah.
- 32:02And that's when I told him I said that RCA needs to file
- 32:05agreements for loss of available work and talk with your
- 32:09designated union Rep because that needs to be filed because
- 32:12that RCA should get paid and that RCA is now going to get
- 32:16paid the evaluation of that route for sitting at home.
- 32:21And yeah, I mean, that was like this, you know, with me being
- 32:25gone this week. I was gone Monday through
- 32:28Friday. I did work my K day on Saturday,
- 32:31last Saturday, I should say, just 'cause they needed my sub
- 32:35on to assist with a newer RCA and she was looking at what day
- 32:43to give him as a relief day. I'm thinking you don't.
- 32:45He's entitled the evaluation of my route, so he's entitled to
- 32:49those 46 hours and those five days that he's scheduled on my
- 32:52route, plain and simple. And he did work all those those
- 33:01five days on my route. It's amazing to think how much
- 33:07management tries to get away with and 9099% of it is coming
- 33:13right from the district manager. And I guarantee you at least 70%
- 33:18of that coming from the district manager is coming from the
- 33:20regional manager and at least 50% of it's coming from national
- 33:24office down to down to the district manager.
- 33:28So these guys are on a power trip from the top down to two
- 33:34Ras carriers. And it's our job as well
- 33:38informed and educated carriers to hold management accountable.
- 33:43And it's up to our stewards to also help these carriers hold
- 33:48management accountable all the way through the whole chain.
- 33:51Yeah, because once you get out of the office, all they're
- 33:54looking at is spreadsheets and numbers.
- 33:56And obviously if an office is having issues, aren't you want
- 33:59to go go to that office, say OK, why are we having these issues?
- 34:05What can we do to help? Do we have to get more people
- 34:08in? Do we have to see if we got our
- 34:10CAS and another office that are available to help come in, do
- 34:13you know? But they're not the So shit
- 34:17rolls downhill, basically. Yeah.
- 34:21Instead of addressing the issues at the office level like they
- 34:25should be, it all rolls downhill to all the offices in the area.
- 34:29No, RCA is over 40 hours. None of this, none of that.
- 34:33Don't do this, don't do that. Instead of addressing the issues
- 34:37where the issues are at. Instead of solving the problem,
- 34:42they're kicking the can down the road by making these changes
- 34:45that make things worse for everybody else, and it's one of
- 34:51the biggest things that has been going on since before COVID.
- 34:56Oh yeah. And it hasn't stopped.
- 34:59There were managers that were saying, oh, RCA should only work
- 35:02six days a week, RCA should only work 13 days and two weeks,
- 35:06things like that. You know, in some offices that
- 35:10may work well, there are some Rcas that are still only working
- 35:13Saturday, Sunday and Monday at offices that have good managers
- 35:18that people want to continue to work underneath.
- 35:21But there are some offices out there that the Rcas are working
- 35:24seven days a Week, 2 routes a day.
- 35:27Been there, done that. I mean, I have that stretch
- 35:32between when I that last Christmas season as an RCAI had
- 35:36that stretch between that Sunday after Thanksgiving.
- 35:39I did not have a single day off till Christmas Day, 27 days
- 35:43straight. And I had one other regular that
- 35:46had just gone full time, you know, that September before he
- 35:51and I were the only two of that whole office currently not, I
- 35:54was the only RCA at the time, but he and I were the only two
- 35:58that worked those 27 days straight.
- 36:00We had a couple of the regulars that volunteered to come in on
- 36:03Sunday here and there, but we, we got her done.
- 36:07Oh, that's there is nothing. I mean, yes, some, some, some
- 36:13districts, some areas have their little rules on, you know, not
- 36:17working. RCA is over six days or nine
- 36:21days, 13 days, whatever it be in a row.
- 36:24But contractually there is no nothing out there like that.
- 36:29RCS could work 365 up to 12 hours a day and there nowhere on
- 36:35there some RCS that would do it, but good luck.
- 36:41Yeah. It's just it's sad that they
- 36:43want to try and do that when they're already short anyways,
- 36:49and then to turn around and yeah, I'm trying to behave.
- 37:00That's good, that's good. You're not going to go off like
- 37:02into a rabbit hole. We're not going to take this
- 37:05where way too far. You know, it's, it's the
- 37:08biggest, the biggest things about all of this is management
- 37:12is going to do the best they can to mismanage the office, abuse
- 37:16the carriers, break the contract, violate the Mous and
- 37:19other documents that we have. And it's our responsibility as
- 37:24carriers. And even if it's not you that
- 37:26it's being affected to still to step up and say, hey, that goes
- 37:31against this, this and this. Because the only way to protect
- 37:35this craft is to become united together and working for a
- 37:39common goal, which is the protection of this craft in
- 37:42every document that has ever come forth.
- 37:45There's a lot of documents out there, but you know it.
- 37:49It doesn't mean one carrier needs to read them all.
- 37:52If you can try and at least get other carriers in your office to
- 37:54educate themselves to one point or another, especially if it's
- 37:58something particular they may be going through themselves, you
- 38:00know, point them in the right direction.
- 38:01Hey, read this. Hey, check this out because you
- 38:05know, the more you know better that you can try and nip it in
- 38:11the bud. Try.
- 38:16Yep. And for the carriers that need
- 38:18to know information and are trying to understand the
- 38:21contract and things like that, there is the R Cam, the rural,
- 38:25the rural carrier administration Manual.
- 38:30And that is basically a translation of the articles of
- 38:34the contract, a little bit easier to digest than the lawyer
- 38:38speak that's in there because unfortunately contracts have to
- 38:42be in lawyer speak so that they are enforceable in a court of
- 38:45law. Yeah, definitely check that out.
- 38:49I know you can get it up on the new website and stuff.
- 38:52It is a definitely a helpful tool.
- 38:54It said it took so long to get it out and definitely could use
- 38:57some tweaking, but it is a definite tool to use, especially
- 39:01when approaching management on issues.
- 39:05And if anything in the RCAM text that the translation of the
- 39:10article contradicts what's in the article, the article
- 39:15supersedes the RKM translation. Yeah, what?
- 39:20He said. Basically, out of everything,
- 39:28the contract supersedes anything management puts forth.
- 39:32It is the law of the land for rural carriers you can have.
- 39:39The Art Cam basically has given you what is supposed to be a
- 39:42joint agreed upon interpretation of the article it's explaining.
- 39:52So, well, that was literally all I really had.
- 39:56If Phil was here, this would have been an hour long episode
- 39:58at least. Let.
- 39:59Me. Let me see if I got anything
- 40:01here real quick. I know I've had a few things pop
- 40:04up, but we'll see. If anything important.
- 40:09And if anybody in the chat has anything they want to bring up,
- 40:14you know? So what if you you know you need
- 40:20an RCA to cover a route and you're you're reaching out to
- 40:23offices but you have local managers in other offices nearby
- 40:31saying no or telling their Rcas you do not want to go work in
- 40:34that office because management is blankety blank?
- 40:41Wow, uh huh. Wow.
- 40:47That is quite interesting. So management against management
- 40:50there, huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 40:53I've I've heard of, I've heard of them doing that to Rcas that
- 40:57they don't like saying, you know, we're not gonna go to any
- 41:00other offices. You're not allowed to volunteer
- 41:02at any other offices or we'll fire you.
- 41:05But I haven't heard that one before.
- 41:07Management telling their their Rcas, you don't wanna go work
- 41:11there because management sucks. Yeah, yeah, I can think of a
- 41:19couple instances not too far away.
- 41:23Yeah. So Neil's to say most of if any
- 41:29borrowed Rcas that we have any more are driving pretty darn
- 41:34close to that fifty mile range. Yeah, so one of our listeners in
- 41:41the chat said. And when my leave was denied
- 41:43because of six day rule, I asked Are you sure?
- 41:46Article 10 says nothing about six days.
- 41:49Are you sure the next day it's magically approved?
- 41:53Exactly, Exactly. Standing, standing up to
- 42:01management and just saying, hey, that's not in the contract,
- 42:05that's not in the PO6O3, that's not in the M38, you know, can
- 42:10you show me in writing where it says that that's that's the
- 42:12case? That's the biggest way to get
- 42:15management to shut down on things.
- 42:17Ask it to be shown in writing. Yep, had that instance too,
- 42:21where, well, you need to put a leaf slip in for your K day
- 42:24'cause you're on the relief day work list.
- 42:26Just swap the K day and I'm like, here, here, here's all the
- 42:30information you need and then put it out.
- 42:33Looks at her and says will you show that to me in writing,
- 42:36please? Yeah, that changed real quick.
- 42:43Yeah, that's the biggest way. If management's trying to wants
- 42:45to try and impose something or come up with their own rules,
- 42:48you just ask for that stucker in writing.
- 42:53And if they give you some little hand type thing in writing that
- 42:57says here, this is what I said, it won't hold up, Grieve it.
- 43:06Do want to put a a little somber note here.
- 43:10We do wish our friend Josh all the best.
- 43:14He had to put the male cat down and so we wanted to wish him the
- 43:19best on that. Yes, we're here for him.
- 43:23That pulls up the heartstrings. Definitely we're.
- 43:27Going to miss the all of us we're.
- 43:28Going to miss male cat pictures. Yes.
- 43:33No. But anything else you got that
- 43:38came to you in the past few, few weeks, Kristen?
- 43:41I'm looking, I'm looking. Let's see here.
- 43:45Let's see. One was about a route
- 43:50inspection. They did get it resolved.
- 43:52But here's The thing is you know when you have your own,
- 43:55especially with PO VS and route inspections.
- 43:58And I know quite a few carriers that may or may not have right
- 44:02hand drives, but they take all the seats out that they don't
- 44:04use, so they have more room for parcels and whatnot.
- 44:08And then route inspections come up.
- 44:10They were able to, that was the biggest question on that.
- 44:14And they were able to come in an agreement where management
- 44:17followed behind them on the route inspection.
- 44:21How that worked, I don't know, but that's what they were able
- 44:24to come up with. I know route inspections have
- 44:26kind of been a big one, especially with those that Dr.
- 44:28mattresses and those that have Povs that they have retrofitted
- 44:32for their needs. Yeah.
- 44:37And if you do not have a safe location to for that manager to
- 44:43secure themselves in that vehicle, that means a seat with
- 44:46a seat belt. A lot of states it's illegal to
- 44:49not be a seat belted in a vehicle safely.
- 44:54You know, yes, our LL VS have that crappy little bolted in
- 44:57seat that wouldn't survive an accident if it tried, but it's
- 45:02still a seat belted seat that is installed in the vehicle and
- 45:07that is required by most state laws and and as postal manuals
- 45:11say, you have to abide by federal and state laws when
- 45:14driving on the roads all. Right.
- 45:16I do have one and this is about brand new Rcas.
- 45:19This will be a good one. We have an issue here in my
- 45:23office. We've had four new Rcas in the
- 45:25past two months. The first girl got three weeks
- 45:29of training with five different trainers because she couldn't
- 45:32get along with anyone and refused to do anything.
- 45:36The 2nd girl I trained 3 days and got and another got trained
- 45:42one day and she's doing great now.
- 45:45We had two guys come in yesterday.
- 45:49One guy was put with a trainer and the other guy was tossed
- 45:53around. Nobody wanted to train him so
- 45:56they ended up giving him one row off of my case to deliver since
- 45:59I was off today. He came in and they put him on a
- 46:02route but since we only had one jump seat and the other guy is
- 46:05riding with his trainer, they told him to come back at 11 and
- 46:09carry half the route. No training, no casing, no
- 46:13learning where to get the mail, parcels, etcetera.
- 46:16No learning either the return to write, where return to writer
- 46:21mail goes, etcetera. They will then schedule him to
- 46:24do the route by himself Saturday.
- 46:26The regulars upset because it'll affect his route evaluation as
- 46:30well. I'm not happy he carried on my
- 46:32route yesterday. Is there any recourse?
- 46:37I did send her the article on training so.
- 46:42I mean if the if the steward could file grievances on behalf
- 46:46of the carriers that that carrier would be protected if
- 46:51the carrier. Had a proper oji in place.
- 46:56DOJI could file a grievance. Well, not only that, but if they
- 47:00had a proper OJI in place, then the scheduling of the new
- 47:04trainees would go in order and the OJI would be working with
- 47:08that new trainee on their primary route, not the Oji's
- 47:12route, the primary route that RCA is assigned to.
- 47:17And that Oji would get Is it P time right now?
- 47:22Yeah, it is P code for a regular yes.
- 47:25Yeah, you get P and that would mean you.
- 47:26Your route evaluation for training on another route.
- 47:30Yeah. And if you do it, and if you do
- 47:34it on your relief day, it's a daco Y and you get an X day.
- 47:40I know I've done that twice. Yeah, and that is setting up RCA
- 47:47for failure is what that manager is doing.
- 47:52It is setting up Rcas for failure, it is setting up for
- 47:55evaluation failures, It is setting up for year long
- 47:59problems in that office. And it's sad to hear.
- 48:04It's sad to see. I understand the manager wants
- 48:07bodies to to cover for mail and stop the bleeding of 2080 and
- 48:142240 times for regular carriers and stuff like that, but that's
- 48:20not the way to go about it. And in fact, the carriers that
- 48:24are getting that RCA to touch their route, they should be
- 48:27filing a grievance because technically that that RCA should
- 48:31not be touching that mail until they are properly trained on how
- 48:34to run a route and that includes the OJI time.
- 48:37And they're supposed to be on their primary for the first two
- 48:41full pay periods following the OJT, with the exception of
- 48:46running parcels. So in my opinion, the district
- 48:50refs to be involved in that. I completely agree.
- 48:55That would be the one that you'd want to get on the horn forward
- 48:58to your ADRDR immediately. Yeah, and.
- 49:03That's one of the reasons why we can't keep our CAS either.
- 49:08Yeah next one is the 50 mile radius is crap.
- 49:13Some people already travel to their office due to bad
- 49:16management in their own town. From our listener chat.
- 49:20Yeah, yeah. And it's 50 miles as the crow
- 49:24flies. It's not.
- 49:26Easy, I really. Thing is.
- 49:29Is I really? Find you.
- 49:32You rarely actually find the 50 miles in writing.
- 49:36Yeah. And I also think of areas like
- 49:40the UP of Michigan and down along the the lake shores where
- 49:46it's less than 50 miles across the lake.
- 49:49And so you're sending the guy over into Wisconsin 50 miles as
- 49:54the crow flies. He's driving 130 miles to get
- 49:57there. Yeah, I don't think gonna have
- 50:00that happen too much, but no. That's that's all worded.
- 50:05I know, I know. Unfortunately, yes, it.
- 50:13But you do have the FLSA standards on travel pay.
- 50:18We have that in our our top, our Discord server.
- 50:24Which which section is that in Kristen, the Discord server that
- 50:27you put that in? That's a good question.
- 50:32I think I put it under gonna be under useful info, yeah.
- 50:39Well, you guys post it in. You can always post it in the
- 50:42helpful info. Yeah, it's in the.
- 50:45Discord and it's also on our our group on Facebook, you can find
- 50:52it and it talks about how they should be paying you for that
- 50:55travel time to those offices and you should be paid from your
- 51:01office to that office and back and it's good.
- 51:08And it also applies to your 12 hour rule for the day.
- 51:11Well, 11 1/2 + 1/2 hour lunch. All right, the next one
- 51:18unscanned parcels. They want proof.
- 51:23Well, that's if you got it right there in the office.
- 51:27I would just say unscannedable parcel.
- 51:29Here's your proof. There we go.
- 51:32If you're out on the route and they didn't see what you took
- 51:34when you went in, carry your discretion.
- 51:38Here's my argument. I you want proof, show me in
- 51:45writing in the rural information where it says what an unscanned
- 51:51parcel is. There is no definition as it
- 51:55stands because our contract, the latest contract, deleted the
- 52:00mail count section of the PO6O3. And as I stated earlier, the
- 52:05contract supersedes any and all manuals that the post office
- 52:09has. So if they try to bring the
- 52:11measurements back to you, as discussed at last year's state
- 52:16convention with our Director of Labor Relations, Bridget Boziak,
- 52:20they're still in discussions on what an unscanned parcel is.
- 52:24Still is no answer on what an unscanned parcel is from our
- 52:27union or management, but I have come to the conclusion that if I
- 52:34have to handle it differently than a flat or a letter, meaning
- 52:38it doesn't fit in my case, it's an unscammed parcel because
- 52:45you're handling it differently so you're doing an extra step.
- 52:49You should be paid a different rate for touching that object
- 52:52and delivering it no matter where it is that you're
- 52:55delivering it to. I've delivered diplomas into a
- 52:58large farm box mailbox as an unscanned parcel.
- 53:02I've had U lines that were more than an inch and a half thick
- 53:08that one that was an that one. Management.
- 53:12Management argues that it's not a a an unscanned parcel.
- 53:15It's a flat. But if you read the postal the
- 53:19PO6O3, it's a one inch slot for flats.
- 53:22So being 1 1/2 inches, it does not fit in the one inch slot for
- 53:26a flat. Yeah.
- 53:29And I do know Upper Union will say you lines are flats, but
- 53:36that's why we'll just leave that as a carrier discretion.
- 53:40Exactly, and that's why you've got to tell them show you the
- 53:47definition of an unscanned parcel.
- 53:51There isn't one for rural, there's one for city, there's
- 53:55one for clerks, but there is not one for rural.
- 54:01On top of that, on top of that, if they're, if they're asking
- 54:04you to come and show them something, it's 8127 time.
- 54:10Or do it under start load either way. 8127 time gets them to stop
- 54:20quicker that. This is true.
- 54:23You're outside of my normal route duties.
- 54:26That would be 8127 time. OK, here's a good one.
- 54:32Process for overtime if needed to assist a down route.
- 54:37All right. If you are volunteering to
- 54:42assist on a route that's down, the correct way of handling this
- 54:47is to run your route in its entirety.
- 54:50First hit your return to DEU duties, finish up your end of
- 54:57shift. And then when you go and then
- 54:59just hit PM casing and then change over to the other route
- 55:04in your scanner, which is option 6.
- 55:08And then you would, when you go to load that portion of the
- 55:12route, you're going to hit start load and your end load and then
- 55:18go run the route and track of your time from the moment you
- 55:22started over to that route. So that moment you hit PM
- 55:25casing, that's your start time on that other route.
- 55:29And then when you get back and you finish all the duties that
- 55:34you were doing with that other route, you change your scanner
- 55:36back over to your route and hit clock out.
- 55:40That is supposed to be the proper way of doing it.
- 55:44If it's a portion of a route that butts up to your route and
- 55:48you know you could easily take it while you're out on the
- 55:52street. My suggestion from experience
- 55:55would then be to flip over when you get load your route or any
- 56:02time you're loading the other route.
- 56:05Flip your scanner over to the other route, hit the start load
- 56:08and load, then back over to your route.
- 56:12And then when you go to off your route and into the other route,
- 56:16you would then just hit the change this route over again.
- 56:21Watch your time, keep track of your time for the moment you
- 56:24left your route to the moment you come back to your route and
- 56:26that will be your time for that other route.
- 56:30And then of course, when you get back to your route, flip your
- 56:31scanner back over again and then that you know you're going to
- 56:35watch. I know in my office they prefer
- 56:38if I work an hour and a half on another route.
- 56:40They just prefer me to write the 90 minutes route 2 or something
- 56:44on the end. It's easier for them when they
- 56:46go and put it in the dropout rather than trying to, OK, you
- 56:49started at that time, you started at that time, you did
- 56:51this, you did that. You know, just keep track of
- 56:54those times that you were doing the work for the other route.
- 56:58And when they put it in the system, it'll actually deduct it
- 57:01off for your complete time from your clock into your clock out
- 57:04on your your route. The only thing I would add to
- 57:12that is, and this is just my opinion, it should be what we
- 57:17do. But it's my opinion is if you do
- 57:21the first one where you come back, do your end of shift PM
- 57:24casing and you go deliver the route, when you come back to the
- 57:28office, you should hit start load and then hit end load when
- 57:32you're done with the route. So you give that route the end
- 57:35of shift time of you putting the stuff away from that route.
- 57:40That's my opinion. It is not what is written in the
- 57:42books, but that would be my opinion just to help the
- 57:45evaluation of that route out. All right, James, you got to do
- 57:48the talking. I got to take a phone call real
- 57:50quick. So going back to our previous
- 57:58discussions, one of our listeners said we have GPS on
- 58:02the scanner tell them to go get it.
- 58:04We don't get paid to document that.
- 58:05Speaking of the unscanned parcels, that's another great
- 58:09argument you can make with management.
- 58:11You know where we did it, Go look and see what it is.
- 58:15I don't remember what it was. I delivered it and I forget what
- 58:18I delivered when I get two boxes down the road from it.
- 58:21Great way, great argument to have.
- 58:24Sherry says if they throw it in my in my cart instead of doing
- 58:28their jobs, it's an unscanned. Otherwise I don't get credit for
- 58:31it. There is a step four out there
- 58:33that if it is in your cart, it is an unscanned parcel.
- 58:38Doesn't matter if it's a flat, doesn't matter if it's a letter
- 58:42as if it's in your cart, it is a parcel.
- 58:45And that was actually back during the old mail counts.
- 58:48But it is a step four. It is still valid.
- 58:51It doesn't say anything about mail counts in the actual text
- 58:54of it. It just says anything in the
- 58:55card is considered an unscanned parcel.
- 58:57So you can still use that Step 4 for anything that's in that
- 59:00parcel. I guarantee you if you use that
- 59:02Step 4, management's gonna try and pull every unscanable parcel
- 59:06they think is a flat out of your cart to stop you from getting
- 59:10that unscanned parcel credit. But then again, that's
- 59:13benchmarking. Using the the unscanned parcel
- 59:17numbers to harass carriers is benchmarking.
- 59:22I'm back. So welcome back, yeah.
- 59:26No, there was a little incident with my car in the parking lot
- 59:29where my daughter parked it for work.
- 59:31So nothing major. Yeah, yeah, nothing major.
- 59:35They just, they kind of, I don't know if somebody backed into it
- 59:40or hit or something. It's just kind of like a little
- 59:42scratch below the tail light. But they were bringing the, the
- 59:45guy was bringing over the insurance info and the bar next
- 59:49door in the back parking lot there, they have the camera
- 59:52footage too. So nothing major if I ain't
- 59:55worried about it might just be something I probably barely
- 59:58notice. I don't know.
- 1:00:01Wow, not just that, but also in the chat.
- 1:00:12Wow, yeah. If a carrier is getting harassed
- 1:00:16about it every week, like I said about the stationary events at
- 1:00:20the beginning of this episode, that carrier needs to turn
- 1:00:24around and say, you've asked me about this multiple times, You
- 1:00:28asked me again, I'm going to need an 8191 grievance form
- 1:00:33because this is turning into harassment.
- 1:00:36Yeah, I would definitely be harassment if they're doing that
- 1:00:38every week. Yeah, obviously there's a
- 1:00:41pattern. So why is it now becoming an
- 1:00:44issue? It's not.
- 1:00:46It's no longer benchmarking because it's a constant,
- 1:00:49constant pattern. So obviously it shouldn't be
- 1:00:51showing up as a benchmarking marker on the on the scanner
- 1:00:55stuff, but. That's crazy.
- 1:01:03So she's doing it for each sack and they're complaining about it
- 1:01:10versus all the parcels that she's actually delivering.
- 1:01:16Wow. Yeah, I mean, I I'd be
- 1:01:18threatening the same thing. If they were getting mad about
- 1:01:20the sacks. I'd be like, well, then I'll
- 1:01:22just claim every individual package in there and bite me.
- 1:01:25At least she's just, you know, doing it the proper way of
- 1:01:28counting the sacks. So.
- 1:01:30Yeah, she's not opening the sacks and giving them the
- 1:01:34parcels. She's giving them the the sacks.
- 1:01:36So I would ask management, if they're not an unscanned parcel,
- 1:01:39I want to see you case it. I want to see you case this sack
- 1:01:43into my case. Get it to fit.
- 1:01:49Yeah, wow. I management just never ceases
- 1:01:53to amaze me at times of their levels of ignorance and
- 1:01:57stupidity at times. Yeah, yeah.
- 1:02:05The route dropped from a 48 2K to a 42 J Ouch.
- 1:02:10Ow, that makes me hurt. And I was a 42K, so yeah, I
- 1:02:19mean, that's oh, man. And I mean, I'm guessing that
- 1:02:23if, if she really wanted to, she could, I guess the question
- 1:02:27would be, are those USPS bags that she's delivering?
- 1:02:31And if that's the case, she probably should be taking those
- 1:02:34parcels out of that bag and delivering them individually
- 1:02:37when she gets to the jail and counting them each one as an
- 1:02:42unscanned parcel if it's a USPS bag, and bringing the bag back
- 1:02:48when she comes back from the route and putting them in the
- 1:02:50proper receptacle on into shift duties.
- 1:02:56I don't know. There's a lot of underlying
- 1:02:57variances that we obviously don't know from not being in
- 1:03:00that office. So.
- 1:03:02Exactly. Yeah, I know.
- 1:03:09My old office, they had AT shirt printing company that you know,
- 1:03:15would get bags or returns and pick up.
- 1:03:18Well, I didn't, the pick up was part of a city collection route
- 1:03:22or part of the city route collection wise to pick stuff up
- 1:03:25there. But once in a while I would have
- 1:03:27to run and get collections and everything was already in the
- 1:03:30bags. I didn't have to, you know,
- 1:03:32touch any of it. So yeah, it should count as, you
- 1:03:36know, each bag if you're not having to do anything else with
- 1:03:39the packages inside the bag. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we rotated
- 1:03:44bags too. I did the same thing at one of
- 1:03:46the other companies or home based business that sold the
- 1:03:50lot. We'd go and pick up the bags and
- 1:03:52we'd leave bags there or they could stop by and pick them up
- 1:03:56and yeah, rotate them out. But yeah, they should be.
- 1:03:59Each sack should be counted as an unscannable parcel at that
- 1:04:01point, because that's how you're.
- 1:04:04And. Then if you have additional
- 1:04:06trips, that's additional trips to the door.
- 1:04:09Yeah, door miscellaneous in in in some instances.
- 1:04:14No, that would be a dish. That would be trip to door.
- 1:04:16In the pickups. In the pickups, yeah,
- 1:04:20Authorized. It's an authorized dismount.
- 1:04:22So yeah, it would be authorized discounts.
- 1:04:24Yeah, that's correct. You got anything else in your
- 1:04:31notes, Kristen? I don't.
- 1:04:34So if we want to wrap this up tonight, make it somewhat short
- 1:04:38and sweet. Yeah, I mean, we're what, at
- 1:04:40about an hour now? Yeah, we are all.
- 1:04:45Right, Yeah, I think we can wrap this up pretty much just
- 1:04:49remember everybody, management's gonna do what management does
- 1:04:53and it is our responsibility to hold management accountable to
- 1:04:57what they do. Whether it is telling us an
- 1:05:00instruction that goes flies in the face of the contract, or the
- 1:05:03PO6O3, the M38, or any other documents that we have, it's our
- 1:05:08responsibility to step up and let them know that it's
- 1:05:12incorrect. And if they are not willing to
- 1:05:14correct it, then we have to grieve it because it's your
- 1:05:21money. Fighting for your money is worth
- 1:05:25it. Even if it's just a penny, it's
- 1:05:28worth it because you're holding management accountable to a
- 1:05:32contract that was negotiated in good faith and should be adhered
- 1:05:37to. So same for stewards.
- 1:05:40They should be fighting for the craft and fighting for the
- 1:05:43carriers and getting the carriers renumerated and made
- 1:05:48whole. Because no matter what, at the
- 1:05:52end of the day, we're all in this together.
- 1:05:57Absolutely. Guys.
- 1:05:59Remember, especially with this heat coming up in most areas,
- 1:06:02stay safe, stay hydrated, stay cool.
- 1:06:05No, we are a first line of defense against management.
- 1:06:08You know, I get it, some people don't like standing up for
- 1:06:12themselves or don't they just want to write under management's
- 1:06:17radar. But you know, if you don't stand
- 1:06:21up from yourself, nobody else will do it for you.
- 1:06:24Just have to remember that not every office has people that are
- 1:06:28going to stand up for their entire office, that's for sure.
- 1:06:32So sometimes you just have to bite that bullet and and stand
- 1:06:36up for yourself. Definitely it does does help
- 1:06:42against management at times, definitely does.
- 1:06:44But all right, guys, you take everybody take care of this
- 1:06:48week. Stay safe, stay hydrated, try
- 1:06:50and stay as cool as possible, and we'll be back next week.
- 1:07:07Testing 1-2 three. Testing 1-2 three.