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On the third episode of the Postal Blue Podcast, we discuss the File A Grievance process that the USPS uses to help stay in compliance of the contract. The problem is they attempt to use the contract to stay out of compliance at every turn in our personal opinions and experience. We will give you the run down on a typical grievance process and how it is supposed to work.

#postalbluepodcast #nalc #apwu #mailcarriers #postoffice

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Transcript

Introduction & Call to Action

00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome to another Amazing Studios session. Subscribe to the Postal Blue Podcast on all streaming platforms and check out Amazing Studios on YouTube for video content. Also follow the Postal Blue Podcast community on X, formerly known as Twitter. We appreciate all the support we're getting and thanks for listening.

Episode Introduction: 'File a Grievance'

00:00:24
Speaker
What up? What up? What up? What up? This is your boy LA styles. I can a ice along with another episode of the postal blue podcast with the co-hosts. The one and only black knight AKA coffee. This is episode three, episode three called file agree.

Understanding the Grievance Process

00:00:42
Speaker
Right. File of grievance on this episode in particular, we will be discussing the quote unquote term file of grievance that we like to hear a lot when we don't like to hear it, but that we hear a lot along with the current what seems to be the current grievance process. We will discuss what the grievance process supposed to be. Right. We're going to discuss what it currently is. Again, we are both under NAOC Branch two. This is that's very important.
00:01:11
Speaker
Right, because although let's say on the carrier side, we are under the NALC, there are minor differences in each other's contracts. So the thing we'll be discussing in particular might might might go to you and it might not. Right. Your people might be following following, I should say, the proper grievance process. So there's not. So again, it shows for everybody. But you can take some from it here and there. You know what I'm saying?

Union Unity & Participation

00:01:39
Speaker
Again, this is for everybody to know what their brothers and sisters are going through, not only maybe in their district, outside their district, or in other cities or states, right? Because we still gotta all come together. When somebody's getting fair treatment, there's a lot of other people that's getting treated unfairly.
00:01:55
Speaker
Right. So again, this episode follow Grievous. We are discussing the current grieving process, what it is in its current state. Adjustments we think probably should be in it. And just just basic conversation about the about the post office in general. You hear banter back and forth. Right. Again, this is another episode of the Post Blue Podcast, episode three called Follow Grievous. What's going on, coffee? How you feeling, man?
00:02:22
Speaker
I don't do that, man. You know what I'm saying? Anytime we're talking about something that don't make us a better company, that people, a stronger branch, a stronger community, I'm always happy, man. You know what I'm saying? Sitting down for a way I like to stop. You know, it's always a good time. And we hopefully, like you said, hopefully we speak on some things that can help
00:02:43
Speaker
a speed up process or to show you how the process should be going. And if you find some anything that's not going on the way it should be, you can talk to Stewart. And just to say this, this is not the bash to Stewart or the branch that you're out of. Everybody is not going to have the same knowledge.
00:03:10
Speaker
than that in serving a lot of different mo use. I've been why certain things are not being done in certain states and in certain branches. So there's a lot of different things that could be happening. So I don't want anybody think that we're trying to ask any Stewart any person, but I want to make sure this is on the record.
00:03:33
Speaker
Vanner Stewart, being in any position in the union is a tight condition.

Role of Union Stewards

00:03:41
Speaker
Very low pay, a lot of hours. A lot of people only coming to you when they are in need. So they are just like a pastor and a doc. When you don't need them, you're not thinking about when you need them. You need them to be right on time. So this is not to bash anybody. This is to encourage you to give you more knowledge and also generate a fire underneath to be able, someone who can help the union and help your union.
00:04:12
Speaker
and internally help the company that we all are, you know what I'm saying, employed by. But hopefully today's show, you know what I'm saying? Show number three, take it off, you know what I'm saying? Throw your threes up for AI, throw your threes up for postal, postal blue and sit back, get your popcorn ready.

Community Engagement & Future Themes

00:04:32
Speaker
Gonna be a great show.
00:04:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Again, y'all make sure to get on coffee in the comments. He was MIA for two shows, right? So we finally found him, you know what I'm saying? He was a POW. Management was holding him hostage. He came back with an unacceptable documentation. True, true, true. You know what I'm saying? That's a different episode, though. Unacceptable documentation. We're about to talk about that. Hey, listen.
00:05:01
Speaker
Listen, management. Now, again, this is not the batch. Anybody on the union side, from my perspective, not on the union side, in no way, shape, or form, or the company side, no way, shape, or form. This is about, because it's still a union. By union, I mean we're supposed to still come together for the betterment.
00:05:18
Speaker
of the company anyway, so when we talk about things, it's not necessarily to talk down on nobody, but this is based on our both personal experiences, so we can't talk about it, right? Now, if things been done wrong, that's why we talk about things that's been done wrong, but we also talk about things that's been done right and how we can get in a better place as a company or as a union, meaning not just the NALC or APWU, but the union of management and craft.
00:05:45
Speaker
Right. That's what we're talking about here. So for a period of time, we're going to use a lot of terms for the title of our shows based on stuff that's coming up. That's why this is file of grievance. You know what I'm saying? I would say do it in file of grievance, but it's a long title. You know what I'm saying? That's the subtitle though. And then on one of these upcoming shows, we definitely going to have to do
00:06:09
Speaker
We're gonna have article three. We're gonna have some everything, man. And we're gonna try to base the topic of that majority of that show based on that topic. We're just gonna go off topic from here to there to make it connect, you know what I'm saying? But we're gonna try to stay on those particular topics so you can go and better find information, right? That's why this is follow grievance. So anything gonna follow in the grievance and what's wrong and what's right, you should be able to come to this episode right here, listen to this episode and get all the knowledge you need.
00:06:37
Speaker
on the next one. That's actually saying the next one, but the right to manage, right? That's going to be the whole breakdown on that process, what they saying, how they saying it, why they saying it, whatever the case is, so you can go get that knowledge. So some of these episodes is going to be for you guys to best get that knowledge. We don't want to dilute a lot of things. Now, there will be shows that incorporate some of everything, just regular conversation where we just talk about the postal service or our postal service experience in general.
00:07:05
Speaker
right? But if you want to, if you need help or assistance, you can look for those direct shows or you can, you can start asking people in the comments. Again, we've got a postal blue podcast community on Twitter, um, currently known as X. You can go over there and when you got those questions or those, those situations, somebody that direct you, Hey man, you need to go listen to episode three, follow grievance, right? That they give you the whole process. If you were Stuart, you'd be the whole rundown, right? To manage you. Why they keep using right to manage? What is that?
00:07:32
Speaker
Hey, they got an episode called that way. They go through that whole thing. You go get that knowledge. You can listen to the other shows for other things. Go to the episode if you just want the basics of what that situation is. Right. So we want to do that for y'all.

Expanding Reach & Content Plans

00:07:45
Speaker
With that, again, this is episode three. Follow groups. Go ahead. Also, we are. I want to we're going to put it. We're going to put a tick tock page together because I think my tick tock community would would support this content and
00:08:02
Speaker
This is going to be beneficial for you when because we're breathing. Sometimes you can stop it from from getting rolled up or happen to breathe. So just by having not some supervisors are new. So I was taught the right way. So when I when we say leaving, we feel like every time it has to be a fight. Sometimes a supervisor just don't know.
00:08:25
Speaker
Sometime a craft employee is don't understand his or her right. So by understanding what goes into a grievance also can stop you from having to agree something or for you have to breathe discipline, you know, for a situation. So that's important to know. Correct. And we'll you'll get more details than that.
00:08:50
Speaker
When I think the episode, I'm going to tell you what episode is going to be to coffee. I'm going to tell you what episode is going to be. Whatever episode is going to be failure to follow because we got one failure to follow is going to give you the breakdown of what coffee just said.
00:09:05
Speaker
Uh, also like not everything is follow grievous. You can't tell me everything. We're going to get there though. You know what I'm saying? Just like not everything gets failure to follow. That's, that's not, that's not true. That's not really, that's not real. You know what I'm saying? That's not a real thing. Hey, you, we just got to see each other in the office or whatever the case is. Ain't failure to follow bro.
00:09:20
Speaker
But it's gonna be what it gonna be. I want you all to understand it. What you're going to get is true. This is really how we be. I don't want anybody to see like, oh, this is the act. Like, this is this is true to who I nature. We're not going to agree on everything.
00:09:39
Speaker
We ain't gonna be at you. We gonna tell you what we feel, what we know, and what we know is more contractable than anything. I'll tell you, don't do what I do. When I say that, don't do it. Cuz I'm just doing it cuz I say it a little bad, a little black guy wanna come out.
00:10:00
Speaker
But for the most part, we're telling you things that's going to, you know what I'm saying? Make your career long and make sure that you're getting all the benefits that you should get out of a federal cultural employee.
00:10:12
Speaker
Also to make you aware of when you being played or lied to. This is why this stuff is important. Because a lot of people, let's just say for the instructions purposes, then off side topic, but again, this is what the show is for. A lot of things that people tell you, hey man, if you don't do this, that's for you to follow. You gotta know what's for you to follow and what's not. Not all instructions are proper instructions. Meaning technically, you don't have to follow because you can't tell me to do that.
00:10:41
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? So, it's not a failure to follow. That's cool. Then, they'll back up a failure to follow if you don't listen with when you say or point out something wrong or something don't add up with, well, management got the right to manage. You know what I'm saying? What does that mean? Well, I'm going to get into that part a little bit later. So, just know that, you know what I'm saying? Uh, everything. Oh, I got it. Oh, go ahead, Koffee. I got one thing.
00:11:02
Speaker
When whatever show y'all have, don't make sure I go to ex formally on Twitter and you know what I'm saying? Let us know the show that you heard first. If it's one, two, three or four, let us show you heard first so we can make sure that, you know what I'm saying? We, you know what I'm saying? We can stop you out, but you know what I'm saying? Coming in. And if you're just coming in on this show, make sure you go listen to all the other shows so you can get caught up in the show.
00:11:28
Speaker
Correct. You know what I'm saying? Again, that's on the postal blue podcast as a community on X, formerly known as Twitter. All right. We do got videos coming. I got some more. I got one thing waiting to put in the studio and then me and coffee are both being house studios on Sundays recording the show. So now you begin the video with the postal blue podcast coming up and then the ice coffee show coming up. I got to get some type of postal.
00:11:58
Speaker
Um, not flyers, um, pictures for the back, for the wall. You know what I'm saying? I can put up, you know what I'm saying? What you call it back there. So I don't make the same foot for every, uh, every type of show. You know what I'm saying? So that's that. So, but again, welcome to the third episode of the post blue podcast, also known as file a grievance.
00:12:18
Speaker
All right, y'all make sure to check us out on all streaming platforms. Apple podcast, Spotify, whatever you want to catch us at. We there should be there about by this week. Make sure you check out ice coffee. Right. That's spelled C O F F E Y. That's the podcast. Make sure you subscribe to ice coffee. Make sure you subscribe or follow. Post a blue podcast. Make sure you share this to anybody that's working in the post office. Hey, you know what you can do?
00:12:45
Speaker
If anybody have an issue with certain things, because we also got one coming up for customer service, right? Yes. And we got one where we're going to be discussing distribution. We got one where we're going to be discussing informed delivery. You know what I'm saying? Make sure to let your customer know on those shows. Hey, man.
00:13:05
Speaker
Here go this link to you. You understand what we mean by we don't know what's coming. You know what I'm saying? I don't know what that is or what you showing me or whatever the case is. So this is not only is for us, the employees were also customers and to make the nation aware between the employees and the customer. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct
00:13:31
Speaker
That's the main basis for this show being created. I got about almost five years under my belt currently with all types of stuff. Coffee has about six or seven pops possible. Probably more like seven then because he got converted when I came in pretty much. Again, what's been going on this week, man?
00:13:55
Speaker
Man, you know, this week has been a hectic week. I've been sick. So forgive me for my voice sounding a little crazy. But it was a great week, you know what I'm saying? Always dealing with a lot of coastal things that's normal. It's going to became normalizing, you know what I'm saying? Get harassed early in the morning about your leave time. Get harassed about what kind of your street time. So, you know.
00:14:25
Speaker
Just, you know what I'm saying? Trying to get everybody to understand what's contractable and what we can do to
00:14:37
Speaker
get away from being harassed every day. You know, like I always tell people, you know, Rome wouldn't built overnight. You just start walking after you, you know, say, came to this world. So everything is a process. Trust the process. Understand what rights you have.

Grievances: Addressing Complaints

00:14:56
Speaker
Listen to Post In Blue podcast where you can get more great information to be able to help out your management staff. All management is not bad. I want to say that. I want to repeat that and I want to shout it from the mountaintop. All management are not bad. It's just managers and supervisors who haven't been taught the contract. So that's our job as well. Unfortunately, we have to teach them things they should and should not be doing. And if they don't,
00:15:25
Speaker
This is what this show is called. Grieve. We're going to have to file agreements and how to get to that point of doing it. You got to understand the grievance is basically a complaint. It's a complaint that either your employer have, which is the post office or which you have as the worker of the craft. So you have to understand when you, when you're filing a grievance, you got to have
00:15:50
Speaker
a way of showing that they did something wrong to you. You can't just be, oh, I feel like this person is doing it. Why do you feel that way? Has to be backed up with some type of diet. Let's just say using if a supervisor or a manager, you know, say you profanity.
00:16:10
Speaker
You're going to need a witness to back up what that was. And if you do have that, that's a great thing to have, because at that point in time, none of that grievance can get filed in the way it needs to get filed.
00:16:28
Speaker
So you need a written complaint. The second thing that's going to be done is going to be investigate investigation on the complaint. That's even if they're coming, that's one against you. I just want to add this and it's the truth. You know, eventually hit it. They know I'm not.
00:16:46
Speaker
they investigate so it absolutely it doesn't mean they don't you know i mean you guilty when they want to see uh you know stores they do a better investigation and you know i'm saying
00:17:01
Speaker
And then you have you sit down, you conversate about things, and then hopefully you can come to a resolution. But the biggest thing to me in agreements is communication. A lot of agreements would not be filed, and a lot of managers should be filing bullets, you know what I'm saying, discipline, an issue if they have better communication skills.
00:17:27
Speaker
Listen, we have to what communication literally means. I don't know where, what we went wrong with the L.A., what people don't understand. When a person to communicate, listen to what they're saying. Don't listen to respond. Listen, listen to learn. Listen to enhance.
00:17:47
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? Whatever skill set they're trying to give you and then respond. A lot of management. Here you say something, they're upset that they feel like you're more knowledgeable than that. They're not going to listen. Well, carriers, you know you're wrong.

Communication in Grievance Resolution

00:18:02
Speaker
Clerks, you know you're wrong. Brands and poets, you know you're wrong. If they tell you something correctly, you know it's correct. Just abide by the rules and regulations. Y'all have a job.
00:18:12
Speaker
So communication is the greatest gift that we have that we won't be able to find ourselves in a great process. But nevertheless, at this point in time, it seemed like we're having more and more. What you got LA? I would say a pretty uneventful week for me.
00:18:38
Speaker
um as far as uh follow grievance we know it's crazy anytime i'm on the desk i the only grievance i ever get is probably like article eight that i see um that's typically from you know particular instructions that i got for scheduling that calls me to get article eights um outside of that i never have any issues

Understanding Article 8 & Overtime

00:19:06
Speaker
Can you, can you explain to them what article eight is just so what the listening ear, they will understand what article eight is. Um, uh, along, along with us, uh, y'all getting on coffee, make sure y'all get on Watkins. She texted me now. You know what I'm saying? Uh, make sure y'all get on Watkins and she missed the show.
00:19:27
Speaker
I mean, she still can get in if she, if she get back up, I think she said she'd leave and stay fair. Shout out, stay fair for anybody. I want to say for y'all, make sure y'all stay safe out here. And please stay safe out here, man. Make sure you go. Hey, hey, that's what you think, man. You know, safety is everything. Love is everything. This is the love show. We want everybody to have a piece of art.
00:19:47
Speaker
But yeah, you expound on know what article 80 is for people. Article 80 is kind of like rules of engagement for for hours worked. You typically not so not supposed to have anyone going over 12 hours in a day or 60 hours in the workweek.
00:20:07
Speaker
Easier said than done for some stations. The more full of a station you are with the least amount of either restrictions or medical slash disabled personnel that you have, you typically should be fine with 12 weeks. In general, we call them 1260s. In short, if you ever hear anyone talk about 1260s, they're talking about 12 hours in a working day and 60 hours in a working week. Over.
00:20:33
Speaker
those hours right so there's a grievance if someone goes over those um but again typically if your station run like butter you always got a full house or almost a full house your station probably never see 1260s if you always leave at at 5 30 6 30 5 30 well let's just say 6 30 and under you'll probably never run into 1260s uh should nobody be in 12 if they only working 11 hours a day
00:21:00
Speaker
unless they work they 11 hours a day and they off day and it'll be over 60, right? So let me give you an example of how hard it is kind of to get a 60 hour work week, right? We all scheduled for five days a week. You will have to work 12 hours, all five days to be at 60 hours.
00:21:20
Speaker
Meaning to go over that 60, you would have had to come in on your off day, or somehow you built, you was running over 12s, right? Which you shouldn't be running over 12s according to management, right? Even though we used to run, we used to violate that consistently back in the day. That's the thing, right? So they're trying to adhere to those policies, the 1260 policies.
00:21:43
Speaker
Um, so that's how hard it is to go over 60 because you have to do 12 all five of your working days and come in. So that means your station had to be down a lot for you to be having those type of hours to go over 60, but it happens. Right. So that's article eight. We pretty much talking about hours worked. All right. So, um,
00:22:05
Speaker
So we do have those in minds. I have that on my behalf because I do have carriers that go over on the overtime for whatever reasons, right? I don't close out.
00:22:24
Speaker
So I do got people I assign 11 hours and then they somehow go to 12s, but I'll be the already brought them in on a off day. So they should be a 60 on the dot, but for whatever reason, they end up going over about by hour or two or whatever the case is, or they already add. Let's say this is Thursday, by the end of Thursday, they already over.
00:22:44
Speaker
a little bit over 52 meaning tomorrow they're guaranteed if they come in since they guaranteed the eight they're going to go over 60 right so tip on that from what i was told don't know how true this is because i never bothered to really look it up right from what i heard right a long time ago when i came in is that when a carrier
00:23:08
Speaker
Uh comes up on the 60 that they supposed to go home It's supposed to take bring whatever mail they got back and go home when they hit the 60 But we still obligated on the desk to pay them for that for eight hours Which means they should be let's say he was gonna hit he let's say it was coffee and coffee was gonna hit 62 hours If he completed his eight hour day from my understanding i'm supposed to be pulling the mail from coffee But for those two hours when he hits 60 he should be leaving
00:23:34
Speaker
And I don't know what the pay would be under, but I'm still supposed to pay him those two hours anyway, because he was guaranteed his eight hour, his eight hours of work that day. Either way. And I think that comes from not overworking people. You know what I'm saying? Like he was going to work 60, but you don't want to continue to work somebody over that amount because then that's where safety, possible safety issues can come in for him. And coffee might be too tired or too busy, too drowsy, just from exhaustion or whatever the case is, injuries and things like that. Go ahead, coffee.
00:24:05
Speaker
I want to say, don't quote me on this, guys. I want to say, if they say, if you hit 60 hours, somehow you hit 60 hours and you bring the mail back. For pay, I want to say regular pay, a time and a half pay, and regular at the risk for that risk that time to get you for that eight hour a day. If you're working, I want to say those hours are what we call the fee time, which will be dope.
00:24:33
Speaker
So if you had two more hours to work after you get there, let's say you get to 60 at one o'clock and you're not scheduled to be off until three o'clock for those two hours, that'll be V time for those two hours. And if I'm wrong, please make sure y'all go to it and get into the postal blue podcast group and correct. But I want to say that was the last time I had looked that up. So let me know.
00:25:02
Speaker
OK, so that's what I have on my log right now. That was on the log before I got back on the desk. But being at my station in particular, we do I do have medically inclined personnel. So that I typically been running into that issue in my particular station.
00:25:25
Speaker
Um, so I got a lot of routes back on the floor even with my regular not scheduled or they only got two vacant routes right now They got two vacant routes right now only two Um But yeah, so that's to me I listen if I was back in the day
00:25:45
Speaker
1260 was a regular occurrence, man. That was the only thing. That should have been the only thing on the log. I never really heard of too many anything. So that's common. I'm following old school policy. I got 1260s. I'm paying. You know what I'm saying? I don't know. I don't know. So I feel like I'm still doing good. Just the mail cover, everything going out. I pay these 1260s and I keep it moving. I ain't got no, no.
00:26:07
Speaker
no very distinguishing stick out things as far as like on my log. I don't have any dignity and respect. I don't have no bogus EPs. I don't have no investigations for still in time or disallow time or any of that type of things. You know what I'm saying? I ain't got no EOs on my name or coming on my name far as I know. You know what I'm saying? So I feel like I'm doing pretty good. You know what I'm saying? Go ahead, Koff. I think the most important thing for me to believe it
00:26:36
Speaker
is that it's too big. I would like to see a lot more things settled at the end formula. Okay, so we're gonna start it here then. Go into the actual process of what it's supposed to be. Okay, so the actual process from what we know. Again, this is based on our experience in the AOC branch too.
00:27:02
Speaker
So we're going to go from a management side and then we'll go from a carrier one to three.

Steps in the Grievance Process

00:27:09
Speaker
And we'll put it around a failure to follow. OK. So an example.
00:27:16
Speaker
So for you to follow, this will be your group. A supervisor asks you to use Aria. He was already out on your route and they called you and said, hey, you have you have an additional two hours that you have here. And you're like, well, I'm already on my route. They said, well, you don't carry it. You're going to be you're going to be paid.
00:27:42
Speaker
You go and say, Hey, I'm not going to be able to carry that. I got to pick the kids up from day. I'm back. You let them know. Hey, like I told you, I got someone. So next day you come in, the green, the green process has beginning. They have a complaint. They have a written complaint that brings you in office for a day.
00:28:05
Speaker
You are sure going in there. Bring the plane. They're saying it is because they follow to take mail instructions to take them out. Right. At that point in time. It's supposed to be investigating why you didn't take that. And that's usually take one.
00:28:30
Speaker
they come back and you don't say they don't have to bring a steward when they give you your discipline discipline say, well, hey, are you failure to follow? We're going for a seven days.
00:28:45
Speaker
They give you that you're supposed to give it to your, your Stewart. You have 14 days. I've been giving that better to follow this previous team. They get that to you. You pass it to your story. Stewart puts it on the log within the 14 days, which stops the clock and give the Stewart time to work on that.
00:29:08
Speaker
At that point in time, he beats with the supervisor and try to discuss and try to litigate that situation.
00:29:17
Speaker
At that point in time, that that particular, you know, think they could be going on out with an understanding next time. Let's try to do it in a timely manner in the morning. Next time, ask the carrier, can he or can she do some more time? Sometimes that can be done. Sometimes it can be done. It can be like I told you earlier. Communication is the key.
00:29:42
Speaker
Let's say that person don't want to do it. At that point in time, the story can get his information together. Supposedly management get there together, they send it up to the next level, which should only take seven days. If 14 days with your house chief steward should take seven days with, you know, support level. If that's not extended on up should take another seven days.
00:30:13
Speaker
Sittin' on up to arbitration if they don't feel like they're comin' to an understanding. But it should take less than 30 days to move that all the way up. Yeah, I hit everything that you were lookin' for in your life. Yep, yep. All right, now you go into what you was gonna say before. We saw the dynamics process.
00:30:36
Speaker
So the green process is supposed to be a way to communicate issues that we have that we don't understand that we have. And get them addressed. Yeah, get them addressed. So let's say I feel that management is giving out overtime incorrect
00:31:04
Speaker
Right. And I'm just trying to figure out if I do not understand the way it's supposed to be given out or do or management don't understand the way it should be given out.
00:31:16
Speaker
If they don't want to listen, it's a grievance. We put it out and we grieve it. We figure out the correct way. Now we all know the correct way and we should abide by the way the contract tells us to buy a lot of times. The reason why is so many grievance is so many people have opinion is in black and white. We should have an opinion on how it's literally in black and white. If we have an opinion about this, that's a problem.
00:31:46
Speaker
It's too easy. I remember watching any given Sunday. Great Jim Brown had a line. He said on there, we made it dumb enough for you to be able to do it. The contract makes it dumb enough that we can read it. Legible enough for us to read it. And we still mess it up. Both sides. I'm not going to just put this on one side. This is both sides. Sometimes we're fighting the wrong fight.
00:32:14
Speaker
Sometimes, private employees are wrong. Not that often, but we are. So, a bridge is so we can get on one board and understands the rules of regulation. What do you have?
00:32:32
Speaker
Yeah, so the grievance process is a way to address if there's a problem and come to what the proper solution is of that problem and get that problem addressed. Now, for some reason, we are leaving the table with disagreements on what the solution should be, which I don't understand.
00:33:00
Speaker
Right. Because if we both come in with the same understanding on what the actual process is, that's in black and white.

Outcomes & Solutions

00:33:08
Speaker
And I don't see how we leave in a table with disagreements on what the outcome should be. You know what I'm saying? So an example of that is that that failure to follow, right? Let's say it's the person's first time failure to follow.
00:33:25
Speaker
Alright, so maybe they didn't understand what it was or whatever the case is. OK, cool.
00:33:31
Speaker
From my understanding, once we go in here and we do this, you do a verbal warning. Just a warning or whatever the case is. Going off with the individual and the steward. And there's an understanding that this is this person's first time with the failure to follow. Maybe they didn't understand, which should come out in the questioning of the situation, which is the investigative interview. And it comes out that they didn't know that there was a failure to follow.
00:33:58
Speaker
Then it's from my understanding that me and the steward, she both be leaving the table with saying, okay, we'll give him the information. So he'll know what it would, if I, if I fail to follow is and, um, and then we'll leave the table with it with a verbal warning, right?
00:34:19
Speaker
I'm not seeing how we get to the point where the stewarder say, okay, so let's set a verbal warning because maybe for whatever reason, we didn't have an understanding on what she was going for for discipline when we walked in here. Cool. I'm under an impression or let's say if I'm on the steward side that it's going to be a verbal warning or a written warning. How are they going to do the warning?
00:34:41
Speaker
But Leonard say, now I want a warning. I want a seven-day special. I want a seven-day special. I can't agree on a seven-day special. But send it up. You know what I'm saying? I'm not sure. I'm not understanding how we keep getting to this fork in a row when we both know what it should be. You know what I'm saying? If that makes sense.
00:35:03
Speaker
No, no, that completely makes sense. Or like if that same situation happened with that same person and now we up to a job discussion, but then it happened again. So let's say you could go for another job discussion or whatever the case is. But let's just say we get to the point where it should be possibly a seven day, possibly. I'm still going to argue my case on the Stewart side, but it's a possible seven day because we've been in here like two or three times for the same situation.
00:35:32
Speaker
And then you say, no, I don't want a seven day. I want to go for removal, but we know that you probably should be going for a seven day, whether I'm a fighter or not. So I'm trying to see how you even get to the removal though. And now we need a table with somebody saying, well, send it up. I'm like, I don't know how we keep getting this, this fork in a row, man, where things are not getting settled.
00:35:54
Speaker
when we know what it should be settled for. You get what I'm saying? If that makes sense or around what it should be settled for. This is part of the issue, the big issue that we haven't and then why things don't get settled or don't get fixed because nobody can even agree on the solution even though we both know kind of sort of what the solution should be in this particular case, right?
00:36:17
Speaker
Now we are going to get to things where we both know what it should be on. And then the union might back out and say, I can't agree with it. And then we're going to set it up. But that's where it goes, where it's both sides to some extent. Seems more management side, but it is on both sides. Go ahead, Coffee. You going to ask something? I'm going to read this message real quick. Yes. When LA was saying how we get to that point, it's because nobody's teaching management.
00:36:45
Speaker
the steps that it takes, right? So, when you go in, attendance shouldn't matter in figure to file. So, a lot of supervisors been taught, okay, well, he has a seven, he has a letter one and four attendance, so that the next step to be progressive is to go to a seven. That's not true. They're under different articles for a reason.
00:37:13
Speaker
The correct way to do it would be whatever is under article three, one of the article five, whatever article that you're using, the discipline, the discipline this carry you with, it should be separate. So if you got a letter of warning for your article, then you're doing your job the right way. So when you come in at me and say, hey, the story company, he already has a letter of warning.
00:37:43
Speaker
before it is, you know what I'm saying, be able to follow. I could go straight forward and notice what we call an NOR, a simple form out as a notice of removal. It's one of the things that they can do, but they're going based on progressing. So the next step is a seven day, because we already on did, we did a job discussion.
00:38:06
Speaker
Because he said he will. The country's going to be willfully knowing that you're breaking the contract. He said he didn't understand it. We had a job discussion. This happened again. We sat down with him and let him understood that, hey, this is official job discussion on what your job duties are and what you should be doing in your conduct.
00:38:29
Speaker
This will happen again. Now we have seven because now you just you show me that you want to do what you want to do. That's how it should be done. But that's all of a sudden next week, he missed. He got attendance. We back at a job discussion. It shouldn't be. Oh, we're going to go right here. And a lot of times they're not understanding that. That is the reason why they listen it up. And then you set it up and then you don't get anything. And then the first thing they say is it's the union.
00:38:58
Speaker
The union statement. I just want to say this to all management people. Is it not the union job to make sure that you don't do wrong? Is that not what their job? It's a whole you responsible to do your job. So please stop telling us that the union doing a great job because I knew that when I didn't get it. You gotta say that. Just say, hey, I misplayed my hand. What you got out there?
00:39:28
Speaker
Um, yeah, so the, the, the follow grievance process, um, is, is either severely outdated, um, or we've just gotten away from the black and white and probably has been away from it for so long that we probably, you know, how
00:39:54
Speaker
you get off track a little bit, and the further you get down road, you get more and more off track. For people that understand, probably like bullet trajectory, that makes sense, right? If you're looking at something and you might feel like, man, I'm only like a centimeter off, okay, by the time that bullet get 50 feet away, it's gonna be way off. It's gonna be way off, right? You ain't even on target, you know what I'm saying, at all. You like, man, I missed out on you.
00:40:18
Speaker
to the yeah, because we've been traveling that centimeter got water and water as it went down range. So I think at some point in time, we got a little bit away from where we should be. And now these years later, we just far away from the actual target.
00:40:35
Speaker
for what the process actually is. And it also one of the biggest issues is it doesn't work. And we try to use it in benefits where it seems extremely one sided.

Challenges in the Grievance System

00:40:52
Speaker
But this is this is where it messes up because now you can argue things like harassment.
00:41:01
Speaker
Right. Cause you keep coming to me for the same thing. Now, mind you, let's, let's, let's, let's get it clear. I understand it. A lot of these things that's filed or goes up incorrectly comes back down. Right.
00:41:16
Speaker
When you, when, when this carrier, we're gonna call Adam, when Adam got his, his letter of warning, right? Then Adam had messed up attendance, right? He got too many occurrences then.
00:41:33
Speaker
You went up to a job discussion somehow. Cool. Not cool, but cool. I'm pretty sure y'all didn't agree on that and it was sent up. Right. Then the next thing it was, uh, you felt like Adam was doing something unsafe. Um, and then you went for a seven day, right? Now them three different cases I just gave you the number three different things. Right. But somehow we had a seven day. Um,
00:41:59
Speaker
At this point, I can actually start arguing or start building my case that you harass me. Why? Because at some point in time, all three of these cases are going to come down. And you're going to keep on coming to me with these same things. With these same things, and they're not going nowhere. The problem is they're not going nowhere. Now, let's get understanding. Management can manage.
00:42:27
Speaker
make that clear. They can give you instructions. Yeah, they can talk to performers or attempt to talk to performers depending on what type of performance we're talking about. That is right. So this is that's too wide of a range of a subject to cover. Right now, right? We're at the 42 minute mark. Um,
00:42:48
Speaker
But they can manage you, there's their job. Supervisors can't supervise, there's their job. My job is to make sure that coffee is doing what he's supposed to do. My job is to make sure that coffee is driving safety and my job is to make sure that his license is up to date. My job is to make sure that he's being safe on the street and not feeding dogs and that he's checking the fences where he going in. That's not me looking
00:43:10
Speaker
to write up coffee for anything. My job is to make sure that the people under me are doing their job to the best of their abilities and being safe doing so. And safety is always first priority, right? That's not necessarily somebody picking on you. Know the difference. Everything is not harassment, people. Everything is in a hostile work environment. Also remember that you can be on the opposite side of hostile work environment. You can be at work yelling, screaming, mad at management, forgiving you in structures. Now you creating a hostile work environment.
00:43:39
Speaker
Remember that when you're doing the things that you be doing, right? But in general, the process doesn't work. And to do it and file a grievance, it's like some of the dumbest things. The dumbest, I quote it, the dumbest quote that I've heard. One of the top two, since I've been working at the post office, is do it and file a grievance.

Ignoring Unsafe Instructions

00:44:06
Speaker
I can't find that nowhere in that actual wording. Might say something different, but do it, follow grievance. If it is somewhere, which it might be just in a different wording, I need to read the very details of that, because somehow management feel like they can tell you to do anything, and if you don't do it, they got a problem with it, right? Then they say,
00:44:33
Speaker
Well, do a backflip off it, man. I'm not doing a backflip off there. Hey, man, you got to do the backflip, man. Doing a backflip is a safety issue. Okay, so do the backflip and then follow Grievous. You know what I'm saying? That don't make sense. You know what I'm saying? Do the backflip, but then you got to follow Grievous that I die and danger your safety. That don't make sense. Right. Management likes to play that card, and I'm not sure with the send it up, I'm not getting what the send it up is doing on either side.
00:45:00
Speaker
I'm not even sure at our level that we have information on what is the outcome of all this sending it up? What is happening? Because I've heard a lot of things coming back down when you send it up. So if it's going to come back down, if there's a 85% chance that it's coming back down, 90% chance it's coming back down to what are we sending it up for or what are we sending it up to?
00:45:20
Speaker
their stipulations on if they're not willing to meet, if they're not willing to settle, send it up, right? That's kind of protocol. But what is it doing when they get up there?
00:45:34
Speaker
if it's not working. Because a lot of stuff being coming back down, it's not getting settled. It's arbitration backed up or something. I'm not understanding because I'm not hearing a lot of these solutions for things that's being set up. So I don't think that process is working when we talk about filing agreements because currently in this form, again, we're under NALC branch too. A lot of things has been set up, but I'm not seeing no results from it. Go ahead, Golfie.
00:46:00
Speaker
The thing of it is the reason why they're sending it up because they're they're hoping. So the system is not made.
00:46:09
Speaker
to have 400 reasons, right? Nobody should be at this point, eventually breaking the rules and regulations at this regularly. Oh, no, but going to the coffin. That's what we were talking about earlier. So let me clarify that part. The grievous is somebody broke the contract, right? Right. Let's let's let's sit down, talk about it.
00:46:38
Speaker
Once we talk about it and address it, once we go over to black and white and it says this was wrong, technically we shouldn't be doing that again. We shouldn't be doing it again. We addressed it. We both figured out, okay, this is the problem. Okay, yeah, that should have been done differently. When we leave the table, me as an individual, you as an individual shouldn't be doing that again.
00:47:01
Speaker
Right. Right. That's what the grieving process is. It's not it's not something where you just keep breaking the same exact thing consistently or knowingly. You're doing it. All right. Go ahead. That's what I mean by you shouldn't have four hundred things because technically you all should be settling in these things and then you should be stopping these things. So you shouldn't be having all these grief. Correct. So the whole point of a grievance is to understand to understand
00:47:29
Speaker
communicate and to come to a resolution. So whatever way, whatever way the resolution falls in that individual or that or that entity should be telling the rest of the people that's inside of those entities, this is no longer allowed to do. You shouldn't be doing this because if you do this, they can do that.
00:47:55
Speaker
That's what should happen. So it shouldn't be four hundred agreements for this for a fade and follow because you feel like, hey, you told somebody guy got bit by a doll and you're like, well, do you walk? Yeah. But, you know, sound bleeding real bad. Well, you know, saying, you know, you got you got a shirt in your car. Yeah. Tell your shoulder around and finish that split and then come and then come back.
00:48:23
Speaker
That shouldn't be, that ain't being a problem. That's just, that's just the person who don't care about the site. So when that happens, a grievance is to make sure that don't happen to you. And I know somebody gonna say that's common sense, but hey, common sense ain't coming. A grievance is a way to show that these things should not be happening.
00:48:50
Speaker
So if you're not if you're if you're a person who think like, what's what is agreement work? It's to stop people from doing certain things that the contract say they shouldn't be doing in the first place. So most people don't ever get why it happens so it happens so much because we we can't get them to understand what they're doing is wrong. But the reason it happens so much, I want you to know every
00:49:17
Speaker
every transfer employee as his hat. Now, I have a lot of manager's friends. I know this happened in the manager and the supervisor. When you're not writing statements. When you see something and you don't say so, you're proud of the problem. Shout out to episode two statements.
00:49:47
Speaker
You have to be able to be a co-pilot to the pilot who is writing the grievance. That's how we start communicating to management. And that's how management communicates to us. See somebody being done wrong, you should say something. You should be like, you know, you don't have to take that. You can write it and you can file the briefs. And I don't mind writing a statement.
00:50:18
Speaker
I will say it because I know a lot of people don't like me saying this, but I will say you have to get out of the slave mentality minds. Wow, I really just don't want them to say that to me. They're coming. Your time is coming. Your time is coming.
00:50:40
Speaker
So you have to understand that's not going to be me. I'm not going to sit here, watch somebody else get done wrong and be OK with. No, no, no, no. If something has happened to another employee, you should say so. If you are a supervisor on the desk and somebody is mistreating, that's a manager mistreating the supervisor. The two supervisors should be right.
00:51:08
Speaker
You did a breathing this for you for the workplace to be better. You want a better workplace? How to breathe? You're a copilot to somebody would agree. That's the best way to do it. Go ahead, Ellen. With that, yeah.
00:51:32
Speaker
That's where I was going earlier when I say I don't know if it's we've just gotten away from the original way of doing it or if the original way just also doesn't work. I'm more inclined to believe that the that the
00:51:57
Speaker
The original way works, but it's other things in the contract that negates it working. Right. This is where you get the things of managing, uh, article three management has the right to manage. Right. Uh, to me in a lot of ways goes against, um, or the way it's treated on, on management side goes against, um,
00:52:26
Speaker
follow grievous process because although it in black and white is said that let's just say let's just put the wrong doing management side right early we had it on the uni side it was the carrier doing something wrong on the on the in this particular case we're going to say that management did something wrong right cool um that

'Right to Manage' Clause

00:52:51
Speaker
management, quote unquote, has the right to manage. They take that meaning they can do anything. Right, which is false. It's false.
00:53:02
Speaker
Far, far from being true. Right. We'll get into that on another show. Or we can also talk about it on the postal blue podcast community on Twitter, currently known as X. Yeah. Make sure to go check that out. Hey, make sure to go subscribe on YouTube to amazing studios where you can catch all the podcasts from iced coffee, the postal blue podcast, unjustified behavior. All right.
00:53:30
Speaker
So I was saying right to men. So when they do that, they feel like they're not wrong. So typically when you do put paperwork on and you're going to offer to talk about it, they're never going to agree typically that they was wrong. So they send it up, even though the black and white said it was wrong. They're going to say, oh, but the other black and white is I got the right to manage. So there's almost like a big contradiction in the contract.
00:53:57
Speaker
that contradicts other parts of the contract and it don't make sense. And this is what we got to get to the point in a long term on, it seems like to me personally, that the contract, if someone has to, we'll have to look over it in depth as far as legally, outside of the post office, outside the post office, is that it contradicts itself so much
00:54:21
Speaker
And last time I checked legally, a contract had to be, had to be clear. It couldn't have vague statements in there. Management has the right to manage is a vague statement. Right. And contractually. Right. And I can pull this up on my phone legally. Right. In the contract, nothing in the contract can be vague. That's, that's legal. It says that legally. Right. So.
00:54:52
Speaker
Management has the right to manage means what? Because typically what I see them use that when I see them say that is because they've mismanaged something. So management has the right to manage, right? So does that mean you can violate anything in the contract because you have the right to manage? Is that what that statement means? Because it doesn't say that in any word that I read that, but that's what you're using it for.
00:55:22
Speaker
Right? So to me, that's a vague statement. So I'm definitely going to have to get some, some senior, some senior, uh, stewards up here, some senior people in management up here. Uh, and someone's going to have to, I ain't going to say they have to, I want someone to explain it better to me.
00:55:39
Speaker
right? From an unbiased perspective, or you can come to a biased perspective. You know what I'm saying? We open for debates. If you're a senior steward somewhere, if you're a senior supervisor somewhere, if you're a senior manager somewhere, no matter what location you at, what city, what state, what department, even if you're in distribution, if you have some knowledge, if you want to debate somebody, if you've got some type of information, you're welcome to hit the show.
00:56:05
Speaker
You welcome to hit the community. Give us this insight, because again, just from my understanding, and I typically when I don't understand stuff, I just start researching stuff, right? I researched stuff. And I came across the other day, eight things, right? It says eight ways a contract can be void, right? And being vague says, if there's any term that's vague, the contract is void.
00:56:35
Speaker
Right. This is what says in a contract, everything has to be clear. So both parties understand what's what, what are we agreeing to? Right. So I read that read that you look that up.
00:56:49
Speaker
um and right to manage or manage management has the right to manage what does that mean man i don't know what that means to be honest i don't know what that means i can tell you what i've seen it used as right i i can't go over 12 cool i come back i bring the mail back let's say no letting you gotta take that back out man as we say i can't go over 12
00:57:12
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? So I'm coming back so I can leave. Can anybody go over 12? Well, because it's going to be agreed. Well, management got the right to manage, so you got to take that back out. And it's going to be failure to follow instructions. So now, are you telling me, going into what Koffee said earlier, right? When they like to use on the craft side, you got to be normally breaking the contract. Management normally breaks the contract a lot.
00:57:35
Speaker
intentionally willing knowingly breaks the contract, but are they held responsible for normally breaking the contract? Where's the discipline that comes from that? Because on my side, it says you can do progressive discipline on me if I normally break it. But where's the progressive discipline on you when you normally break it?
00:57:53
Speaker
Right. So I don't understand that. Right. So the grievance process, again, to me as a standalone thing, it makes sense. Right. Or can make sense. But it's not used correctly with other things in the contract. And that's why I say it's almost like it can be you can look at it as almost void because they use things in other parts of the contract to negate the file agreements process.

Delayed Payments & Contract Violations

00:58:21
Speaker
Right. Let's look at this.
00:58:23
Speaker
When you file a grievance, let's say you file a grievance on management, right? Let's say that grievance comes with a monetary value. Now, unbeknownst to a lot of people, not all grievances come with a monetary value. Not every single grievance come with a monetary value. But let's just say in this grievance series, let's say it's a 1260 violation. Comes with a monetary value. When y'all settle on that,
00:58:49
Speaker
That pay should be hitting that person's check for those people's checks, those carriers, clerks, whoever it is checks and that next pay period. Now, depending on what fall in that pay period might not make that pay period, but it should be making the next pay period. And if that, right, cool. But then management, but then you don't get that pay.
00:59:08
Speaker
right come to find out management just trying to hold off on paying you so they're just not paying you which also breaks the contract again so you broke the contract to get the grievance in the first place and then you follow that up by breaking the contract again
00:59:20
Speaker
Right. And then you would you would answer that. Well, we're really not having an answer because you can't tell me why you're not paying me, which is continually breaking the contract at that point in time. And you know that you're breaking the contract. So it's not necessarily that the follow that the grievous process doesn't work. I just think really on certain sides or at certain times, which seems to be more management side in this particular in these particular cases.
00:59:48
Speaker
is that they're using other things in the contract to negate the follow Grievous process, which makes it don't work. Right? Which is why to me is, is things in there together that kind of makes it void because you can't put things in there that negates other things. And then that negates other things and that negates other things. So now you got a circle of an infinite sign that, yeah, this supposed to be black and white, but the thing next to it can negate that. But the thing next to that can negate that. And the thing next to that can negate, so don't none of that work then.
01:00:17
Speaker
No, nothing worked, you know what I'm saying? Because you just getting out of everything that you're obligated to do by using other things and really just prolonging it. So the Grievous process is up there. It definitely needs to be tuned. It definitely needs to be tweaked. It is not perfect in any means, but it's far from being broken. The only thing that really makes it broken is other things in the contract that's used to prolong or interfere. Let me say interfere in the Grievous process.
01:00:47
Speaker
uh everything should be set up the arbitration we should be settling that's on both sides the union side and management side we should be settling a lot of these things shouldn't even be leaving the office people the grievance process is short y'all should be in there 10 minutes 15 minutes at the most that's the most that's like extreme 15 minutes good coffee especially when if you know as on the management side you're you're breaking the contract
01:01:17
Speaker
We go in there and we write the agreements up. Excuse me. You should be ready to sign and go into tax and pay it. Why do we even have to have another conversation? You ask the person to go over another vow to work 12 hours at it.
01:01:40
Speaker
I'm gonna tell you something that I heard, coffee. I think me and Coffee done talked about this before, you know what I'm saying? So you probably gonna laugh again. This is for y'all. Now, mind you.
01:01:51
Speaker
Some of y'all are not experiencing these problems. A lot of you might not be experiencing these problems with being paid or having your grievance paid out in situations like that. Again, your brothers and sisters in other places are, right? So again, the show is about addressing issues in general that we have at the postal in general. Our sister in Ohio, she don't got a lot of problems that we have, but she do got other problems that go on on her floor. Like a lot of dignity and respect goes on over her floor. Now she's a part of it.
01:02:19
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? She definitely repaired a fender. You know what I'm saying? Yes. But, but it don't nothing be happening. So I don't know if she knows somebody, but Felicia definitely should be put on EP. I'm going to work it and say, I guess I ain't even sorry for it. My sister needed to be put on EP a long time ago.
01:02:36
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? Without pay. But let's neither here nor there. So, but a lot in a lot of other places, that is the case. And you got to be mindful of that. We had an adjuster. On side note, we did have an adjuster come through recently.
01:02:54
Speaker
So I don't know if that's going through nationwide, I believe so. Going over disallowed time. This is just side notes, you know what I'm saying? Because men have disallowed a lot of time and people are missing money. Now y'all might not know what that is. We can possibly talk about that on another show. Y'all let us know in the comments on whatever you see in this on or on YouTube or in the postal blue community on Twitter slash X.
01:03:15
Speaker
if y'all want to talk about what disallow time is and where that's coming from. But they just, they doing a large payout for disallow time right now. But, but yeah, so it shouldn't, it shouldn't take that long. Now, going into that, this is where I heard it going to work off. Let's say we're going back to the 1260. This is just as an example. I've heard a manager say, I'm not paying them for violating 1260s.
01:03:43
Speaker
because I didn't give them enough mail to violate 1260s. I've heard that.
01:03:55
Speaker
Now, the same person didn't pull them off the street, though. Didn't tell them to come back before the 12 or before the 60. You left them out there to do the mail because the mail is the most important thing in the postal service. It was supposed to be the mail, which incorporates the packages. So when I'm saying mail, we send letter mail, magazines and packages, all mail, anything with posters on, considering mail at this point in time. Cool.
01:04:20
Speaker
All mail has to be done first in, first out. Got it has to get done. Most important thing is the mail getting delivered and the customers being satisfied. Right? Y'all just don't know if you are customers or residents listening, the things we have to go through behind the scenes to get your mail delivered.
01:04:38
Speaker
Right. And your carriers or clerks or material handlers or mail handlers, whatever I forget what they call it. And I think they mail handlers. Truck drivers be going through the most to get that stuff delivered to you guys. Um, but the follow grievance process to me, um,

Effectiveness of Grievance Process

01:04:53
Speaker
It is being utilized a lot. Shout out to everybody that's utilizing it the way it should be utilized. Again, going over what Kofi said, that should be an open and closed case. People with 1260s, you should be paying 1260s. On the flip side, somebody arguing for management side, but I didn't get enough mail, so I'm not signing off on it. So we're going to send it up. It means what? Because you're going to have to pay that at the end of the day because it happened still.
01:05:19
Speaker
So I don't even get why we arguing, even if it goes with the arbitration, you still gotta pay it. You know what I'm saying? Because they did it already. You can't take the time back, right? Cool. So I think the grooves process works, it's just other things in the contract that's interfered in the contract.
01:05:40
Speaker
I mean not interfering in the contract, but in the process. With that, I don't think that there's too much more to speak on the grievance process. Again, you go in as a rundown. If you're on the craft side,
01:05:56
Speaker
There's a thing called progressive discipline. Progressive discipline is when you keep violating or breaking. Let's just say you turn violating the same thing. You keep doing the same thing, which is a violation of the contract, whether you're doing something unsafe, whether you fail to follow or something of that nature, or you keep having a performance issue for whatever reason. Again, performance issues varies.
01:06:22
Speaker
So let's just say fail to follow, right? Progressive discipline is I move up to the next step. Let's just say the steps are letter warning, right? Which could be a verbal warning. But let's just say a letter warning. You could probably do two letter warnings depending on the severity, but you know what I'm saying? Typically the next step could be, um, um,
01:06:45
Speaker
a job discussion, right? Maybe you can do two job discussions, depending on what it is. Typically, you can do one job discussion. Then you go up to a seven-day suspension. Then you go up to a 14-day suspension. That's four write-ups right there. Well, really three, because you're not really writing them up on the letter of warning.
01:07:04
Speaker
But you have an official job discussion and then you give them giving them a seven day suspension and a 14 day suspension. Then if need be or possibly then you can do an EP depending on what the situation is or should be doing an EP depending on what the situation is. If we talk about a failure to follow something like that, then you don't have to you that you don't have to be utilized. But then after that 14 day up there with the EP, depending on what that is, is a removal, a letter removal after the 14 day.
01:07:32
Speaker
But that's that's given the fact that you're doing the same thing all in a row. Now, let's do two different examples for failure to follow. And we're going to do safety. If you do failure to follow, I bring you for a letter warning.
01:07:49
Speaker
A week later, you have a safety issue, right? You're doing something unsafe on the street. I bring you in. I don't go to a job discussion because that's the next thing after letter warning. I now have to give you a letter warning on the safety issue. You can't skip steps. These are not the same things. So it should be, as Kofi was explaining earlier, different things. If I got four different types of violations, I should have four different letter warnings for each of those.
01:08:16
Speaker
If I'm doing progressive, then I should have four different job discussions for each of those. You shouldn't be jumping around and doing, I'm gonna do a letter of warning. For this, I'm gonna do a job discussion for that. I'm gonna do a seven day for that, but they for three different violations. Each violation has its own progressive discipline. This is another reason why the disciplinary action not working or not sticking because you're jumping around various disciplinary actions for things that don't coincide with each other.
01:08:45
Speaker
I just got a letter of warning for failure to file an instruction that I got a job discussion for doing something unsafe. Now, somehow you want to go for a notice of removal on attendance. You know what I'm saying? How we get to the removal for attendance if I don't got a clear attendance issue. You know what I'm saying? You talk about something else. Now, this is what we talked about earlier where you mixing
01:09:07
Speaker
two different things in to apply discipline to me and you can't do that. Disciplinary actions for the one thing, you can't try to tie two different things together to try to make a case. But with that, that's all I got to say about the follow grievance process. Again, if you want to go more in depth with it, you can go to the to the Twitter community slash currently known as X postal blue.
01:09:31
Speaker
podcast. Go over there. Go to communities poster blue podcast. You can text whatever you want to text up there. Make sure you tag us in it as well. You can send your, your pics, uh, the pictures of, of your daily, your daily life, things that you didn't came into in the community. You can ask questions to get answers in the same community. Um, we will get back to doing live spaces as the community grows. So you guys can participate right now. We're recording on sound trap.
01:09:59
Speaker
So, top community members or moderators. We are looking for moderators for that community. So make sure you notate that in the community. If you message that, we'll definitely look at your history and reach out to you.
01:10:14
Speaker
But we also can invite guests on through soundtrack and we can invite listeners So y'all can actually participate and listen to live discussions again as the community grow on Twitter We will have live spaces where everybody can be heard and we can sit and chat and whatever the case is Regular
01:10:31
Speaker
podcast on Sundays, but then through the community, you know what I'm saying? That's where a lot of the discussion throughout the week is going to be taking place,

Community Engagement on Twitter Spaces

01:10:38
Speaker
right? And then again, through the Twitter spaces, that's really not a podcast setting, but we will get in there, chop it up. We're going to be talking live, taking calls or whatever the case people want to put your hand up. You got a question about something. We'll talk to you. Let y'all talk to each other, whatever the case is. And across the nation, we should be, we should be doing this to get an understanding. This is how on Twitter spaces is going to be our biggest reach for community.
01:11:01
Speaker
togetherness where we get together to try to stop a lot of this workplace either harassment or hostile work environment or discrimination that's going on behind the scenes. Again, everything me and coffee said today is our personal experience based on our personal experience.
01:11:16
Speaker
right? None of this is to be the meaning. We'll talk down on any one side. Again, there's issues with both sides, right? We both typically extremists and we haven't even gotten extreme about this topic at all because I'll tell somebody, man, if you're talking to me, man, I failed to follow some and I'm waiting to go into what you call it because I know it don't sound right.
01:11:41
Speaker
I know it. I didn't did it. I didn't did it. And I'm going to the office tomorrow. You know, that day they were trying to. Well, you weren't there. They were trying to get me to take out somebody else's packages. Then it was four CCA's and a regular. We came in at Western Station. We came in. We were supposed to take like four pumpkins each for four routes. Some one of us are taking five. I forget who might have been a regular steel.
01:12:09
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like me still, uh, Dylan and somebody else, but it was five of us. You know, it's 19. Somebody had five and a rat and everybody else had four. Right. Um, and then two people was late. We was there on time. I did. I got all my stuff loaded. I come back in like three and a half hours, almost four hours, something like that. It's a pumpkin still there.
01:12:35
Speaker
So I said, oh, that's yours. I'm like, what's mine? Uh, yeah, I need you to take that out. Why would I take that out? That wasn't one of mine. You know what I'm saying? I took all mine with me. Right? That was, that was, uh, so and so. He came late. I'm like, what they got to do with me?
01:12:50
Speaker
He still got time on his back. I did mine. You know what I'm saying? And then they said some inappropriate why people don't listen. You know what I'm saying? I'm giving instructions and you know what I'm saying? Calling somebody else. Man, listen, it was a whole thing. I didn't do it. I didn't do it. You got to put me to the office, man. It went to starting to get loud. Somebody said something inappropriate. I said, you know what? I feel unsafe. I feel uncomfortable at this time. And I'm clocking out and going home and contacting my union. Right. And I did that.
01:13:21
Speaker
All types of dirt on my name the next day, tried to put me to the office for throwing vehicle keys at Adam. All types, I'm like, man, what? Why would I throw vehicle keys at a female? Mind you, when I took the keys out, because I forgot that I was on the dock. When I took the keys out of my pocket, the female supervisor was already outside.
01:13:41
Speaker
He's already on the dock. So I would get ready to walk through the double doors going through the vest of you to go outside. And when I realized my vehicle on the dock, not already clocked out, mind you, you're not supposed to work off the clock. That's a safety issue. So when I'm getting ready to go through the double doors, I open the double doors. Then I see my vehicle on the dock. Dang, I forgot my vehicle. So I go.
01:14:02
Speaker
Yep, yep, yep, okay, there we are. We should be back in business. But yeah, I didn't do it the next day, you know what I'm saying? I had an investigator interview, you know what I'm saying? And they're trying to put dirt on my name, you know what I'm saying? But long story short is, it was just management was trying to leave early. So since I was back, quote unquote, early, or whatever the case is, they were trying to get to work with me instead of waiting on the person that belonged to, right? They got nothing to do with me. Your job is to sit there and wait till everybody get back regardless. That's what you've been paid for.
01:14:32
Speaker
Um, but I didn't feel like that. That was fair. Now, technically, right. If I didn't have that way out, that could have been a failure to follow instruction on my end. Right. But I seen my way out when she said what she said and I took it. I don't feel safe. I don't feel safe.
01:14:50
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? That's just going to be what it's going to be. So that's what that was. Again, it's the group's process in a nutshell, man. Again, it works when it works outside of the outside interference and other things that's in the contract. Can it be adjusted or tweaked? Sure. Maybe union people should be
01:15:14
Speaker
should be allowed to put grievances on management. You know what I'm saying?

Progressive Discipline in the Workplace

01:15:19
Speaker
I don't know. You know what I'm saying? Again, it works when it works, but
01:15:24
Speaker
It is what it is. But that's the process in a nutshell. So if you are a steward, make sure to do a progressive discipline. If it's not progressive, get that thrown out. That's easy. Easy peasy. And management, do progressive discipline. Stop jumping around while quote unquote progressing it because you're not progressing it if you're jumping around trying to discipline people.
01:15:47
Speaker
while you're doing progressive discipline, but for different things, then that's not progressive discipline. You and your head is progressive because you're moving up a step, but it's going to come back down to a letter of warning. I'm going to go to a 14 day on this thing. Got nothing to do with the other steps, but they're going to get that just knocked back down to a verbal warrant. So if you didn't know, that's why your stuff is getting knocked down. And again, follow grievance, EO process. Again, same thing as last time. Use your tools.
01:16:16
Speaker
Use your tools on both sides, all sides,

Podcast Promotion & Giveaways

01:16:19
Speaker
whatever the case is. But outside of that, make sure y'all subscribe to the Postal Blue Podcast on all streaming platforms. On all streaming platforms. And by all, you know what I'm saying, I can name some, but all, you know what I'm saying, we on Amazon Music, YouTube Music on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Deezer Stitcher, Spotify Podcasts, we on Pandora, iHeart Radio, whatever it is that you mean. You know what I'm saying?
01:16:44
Speaker
make sure to subscribe to ice coffee. Make sure you listen to unjustified behavior. You can catch all three of those in one place.
01:16:51
Speaker
on YouTube. Go to Amazing Studios, all three podcasts right there. We're back with Red Circle as the host. Red Circle, eventually, as we grow this community, what I also do as, and we will be doing things for our postal community. Giveaways and everything. Things like that. As we do get into the making money aspect, which we definitely ain't there, but consistency has been part of our problem, not with this, because we just brought this here.
01:17:18
Speaker
with five years of experience on my end, the seven years on Coffee Inn. Again, we both form a military as well, so contractual. It's stuff that we know about on the federal side. So make sure you tune in. Make sure you subscribe. Make sure you share to your brothers and sisters, because that's how they're going to get that information. Also share with your customers, because that's how they're going to get that information, because your customers don't know the things that you might be going.

Advocacy & Information Sharing

01:17:45
Speaker
Right and and and people gonna put dirt on your name. Why? You're saying you're not delivering people gonna make it seem like man, dude Just do just keep on calling in but really y'all say maybe you calling in because you doing your fight You know I'm saying so your customers just think you trash that people put dirty on the name But you know I'm saying so anyway go use your tools man Make sure you share this sharing is Karen come get the knowledge and get into the fight man cuz we are at war you seen the last statements yes episode two
01:18:14
Speaker
statement. We are at war. Right. So with that, those are my closing remarks. Make sure you subscribe again. Amazing studio. This is the postal blue podcast. Make sure you subscribe to everything postal blue. Right. Hit up that, that community. We got to grow that community. Right. And with that, man, again, y'all have a good one. Y'all be safe out there. Make sure you check this out on Monday.
01:18:40
Speaker
Listen on Monday, 9 a.m. Mondays. 9 a.m. Listen to this when you're on the street, when you're sorting mail, when you're distributing mail, when you're doing certifiers, when you're doing whatever it is that you're doing, but make sure you're being safe while you're doing it. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Monday is the heaviest day, the biggest workload, so we're trying to give you something on those Mondays that's going to entertain you for about an hour or so.
01:19:00
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? Your time. Any closing remarks, coffee? And then we're going to get up out of it. Shout out to our sisters. See, shout out to walking. Shout out to the NALC.

Building a Supportive Postal Community

01:19:07
Speaker
Shout out NALC branch to shout out the District of Milwaukee. All right. Closing remarks is like always that I tell people all the way. I got uncles, aunties, siblings, kids. Why? We're a postal family. It's personal, but
01:19:30
Speaker
Uh, this is no shot at the post office, but sometimes you got to get family business. Correct. I need everybody to do your job and making us a better, a better work. Sometimes they're going to be filing grievance. Sometimes there's going to be right statement. Sometimes that's going to be, you know, so making sure your behavior is better.
01:19:53
Speaker
Like we say, it's a show. Statements are to help agreements which helped the workplace, which helped the company, which helps you have a better place to come to work to, better place to provide family, a better place for we can all have a great job.
01:20:12
Speaker
Like L.A. said, make sure y'all support us on all platforms. Make sure y'all get those subs up on YouTube. It helps. We want to be able to, you know what I'm saying? When we on our vacation, take postal balloons to other states that might be going through some. We want to be able to help in the fight.
01:20:32
Speaker
We're not just sitting here talking to talk as we get more monetary value. Not trying to tell you how to give us money, but as we get bigger and bigger, if there's a state or city that's going through some, we want to bring the podcast. We want to go to I want to be we want to be on the front lines of where change is made.
01:20:53
Speaker
or again with that togetherness, you know what I'm saying? In that community, when y'all do have a fight going on, when you do have a rally going on, you know what I'm saying? You put out the data, the information, we can help other people, swear the word and help other people get there for that date, right? You need that support.
01:21:08
Speaker
Right? We're here to build that system so we all can get that support across the nation. We got the biggest workforce in history. You know what I'm saying? Besides the military, we got the biggest. It's hundreds and hundreds and thousands of us, man. Nobody should have a rally under the APWU and there's 20 people there or 30 people. That's just, that don't even make sense. That don't even make sense, man, with hundreds of thousands of people and you might have easy
01:21:38
Speaker
Man, you might have maybe 10,000 people in your own district and you show up to a rally with 10 or 20 or 30, even 50 is absurd. 100 people is absurd if you got 2,000 workers in your district.
01:21:55
Speaker
under the APWU. You know what I'm saying? And that's, that's the other thing again, we was talking about earlier. You know what I'm saying? The previous podcast is that the fight is the fight is, is under the APWU. It's not just under your branch of the APWU, right? So even if we NALC,
01:22:12
Speaker
and the MBS or MB I forget what the what the truck drivers uh one is called it's MBS I think it's like MBS or uh BNS whatever the case is you know what I'm saying I'm pretty sure that the the B what the BS stands for you know what I'm saying is it's on the management side but you got the clerks and the mail handlers if y'all gotta fight y'all having a rally the other three should be there correct
01:22:33
Speaker
Whoever can make it. Whoever wore it blue. This is why the podcast is called postal blue. It's not called the carrier podcast. It's not called a postal carrier cast. It's not called a clerk carrier cast. It's not called a truck driver carrier cast. The male helmet is the postal blue. Emphasis on blue. That's it. Correct. Everybody who wears the blue. All for one. One ball. It's what it is. Y'all feel uncomfortable with something going on. Who doing it? What station? We there.
01:23:03
Speaker
Why are we there? Because you violate. You violate. You violated the blue. Because one thing y'all got to realize too, a lot of stuff that's in one of our contracts is in the other contract. Like dignity and respect is part of the contracts. So if they violated you right over the workroom floor, then they violated me over the workroom floor.
01:23:24
Speaker
So if they did something, everybody that was on the floor got violated. That means it was two crimes violated for dignity and respect. So when I went to fight for this violation of dignity and respect, y'all should have been there too, because you was there. You was witnesses and I didn't get statements.
01:23:40
Speaker
You know what's going on? Got to be better. There's a divide there. And on the management side, they lean into that divide. It's not even something that they have to worry about. So with that said, we have to worry about it. We got to get better on the blue side. We got to get better. Stick together. Do your statements. Use your tools.

Understanding Harassment & Dignity Rights

01:24:00
Speaker
Follow grievance. Know what's a grievance. Know what's not a grievance.
01:24:04
Speaker
Again, they can supervise you, they can manage you, but that is limitations on that supervision and on that management to where you cross over to harassment or hostile work environment. Know the difference. Go define harassment, hostile work environment. Those are going to be your two most constant things. Also, you can look up dignity and respect in the contract and look at the verbiage for dignity and respect as well. Know when you being respected, everybody even outside the post office should know when you being respected or disrespectful.
01:24:34
Speaker
Right. Okay. Just no postal postal blue is to help you understand how personal this thing should be for you. You didn't make it personal for you.
01:24:50
Speaker
And if they're not doing right about you, then you're not being a good mother or father for your kid because they're taking money out of your pocket. They're taking it out of the mile for your kid. And if you're not being a good employee for the post office, guess what? You're taking food out of you. We have to make this thing so personal that when you wake up in the morning, you say to yourself, I won't let them. I don't call you my brother and sister. I don't take those words.
01:25:19
Speaker
I don't take them for granted. You are my brother and sister. When I left my house, my momma said one thing, you better do right by yourself. We need to do right by each other. The change begins with one and another. I got your back, you got mine, and we continue to carry on that no matter what. We want management to be a part of this. We want us to be a team, a dream team.
01:25:49
Speaker
But if they don't want to be apart right now, then we keep pushing. And to everybody who's on this train, if you get rammed over, you get on it. And that's what this got to mean. Postal Blue podcast want to be able to get messed out of there that we don't have enough. We're tired and we ain't taking. You got a rally going on. You having a problem getting that message out there? Let us know.
01:26:14
Speaker
Hit us on, hit us on X. Go to YouTube, drop a message. If you just drop a message down under the video, we'll see it. Hey, that show, we'll put it in there. We might do a short, a short show just to make sure that get out of here. We want to be the voice of change. Last but not least, what side of history will you be on?
01:26:42
Speaker
Hey 2024, 2024 got to be a change. We're in the midst of a new contract right now and we got, we got to, we got to get her bro. Like this, this ain't, this ain't, I mean this contract ain't going to last anyway. It'll probably be done a year and a half and they work on another one because they only last like two or three years anyway.
01:27:01
Speaker
Starting this year is the year that we got to get together and we got to take over whatever our rights is and our representation. If you don't feel like you've been represented correctly, then you should have an issue with that and you should figure out how you can come up with an answer to that to that problem.
01:27:21
Speaker
We are being represented and we ain't even part of the representation. People making decisions for us and not even talking to us about what we want to change. That's a problem. I have a problem with that. Going into what we were talking about earlier, again, we gave you the basic information on filing the grievance, the issues with the process, which is mainly other parts of the contract, which is the issue with the process.
01:27:47
Speaker
and and what possibly they need to do about the process which is just maybe fix other things or tune out other things in the contract or just get to the regular what's what's black and white and live right you know i'm saying um other than that man i ain't got too much more to say again we're gonna go more in depth then this is just to point out certain things leading up excuse me leading up into
01:28:11
Speaker
The regular podcast where we're going to be discussing some of everything just on the week. So maybe in like a month or so when we get these basic, these basic ones out again, we set in the ground level, right? This is why the pod, these early podcasts are named the way they're named. This is why you got the foundation.
01:28:27
Speaker
which sets you to where we at today. This is why you got statements. This is why you have follow grievance. You can also have right to manage. You can also have failure to follow. These initial podcasts is to set the foundation for when we start going off in about four weeks time and you hear this show and it's going to be about whatever it's going to be about on those shows. You'll know what we're talking about. You can always go to these early podcasts and
01:28:52
Speaker
What is Leonard talking about? He said this, he said that. I don't get it. He said, but he said he failed to follow. Ain't he wrong? Go back and listen to the failure to follow episode and then he'll tell you. Go back and listen to this. This at the foundation on this is where we at though. A lot of things is what it is. But again, at war, when you blur the lines and live in a gray area, somebody can't tell me what's wrong and we're living in the gray. Anything goes in the gray area.
01:29:18
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? You can't tell me to stick by the black and white while you go by the gray. You know what I'm saying? That's part of the contract issue. One side going by what's in gray, the other side trying to go by what's in black and white, and that ain't helping.
01:29:33
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? And I just said, in general, you know what I'm saying? Blatant, the union attempting to go by black and white. Management is going by gray area. They going by, they in the white. They don't even care, they in the gray don't work. They got in the white. They don't even write. Whatever book they got, they ain't even know words on the page. You know what I'm saying? Whatever they going by. So, now there's fella again.
01:30:00
Speaker
Not against management, not against the union. They both need work, a lot of work. Neither one of them work together, which is part of the problem, because they both supposed to work together for the betterment of the employees, which is us.
01:30:11
Speaker
right so but shout out to both sides respect to both sides been on both sides take part in both sides me personally and again we have a lot of years and a lot of a lot of sides on this show right myself carrier
01:30:32
Speaker
been an active supervisor and technically been an active manager, right? I've never had an active manager title, but I've been in the stations where I was the only person in management for weeks at a time. So I had to do everything the manager had to do because I'm the only person there and I didn't know what nobody else was. So Carrier been acting supervisor, been an active manager.
01:30:54
Speaker
coffee, uh, carrier, um, union, uh, steward experience and the safety cap fee carrier and union steward, right. Watkins, who you'll see on some shows and she wants to take part from time to time. She, she welcomed. She also a carrier in the steward, right? Um, uh, uh, cousin Reese truck driver, right? So we cover a lot of basis.
01:31:20
Speaker
around here, you know what I'm saying? Only thing we're missing is the clerk need, and it'll be like, you know what I'm saying? Like the seven dwarves around here. We have the whole group. So you got management side and union side along with craft employee side all on one show.
01:31:35
Speaker
Right? So again, the information is there. Get the information. You know what I'm saying? Be happy with the job you chose or the career you chose. You know what I'm saying? You shouldn't come into the post office and feel like, man, maybe I made the wrong choice or I should have to go somewhere else. The system's supposed to work for you. There's people that's taking advantage of the system, right? And they're taking advantage of you not utilizing the system. Utilize the system. We're here to help build the system. Stop living in the matrix.

Networking for Postal Support

01:32:03
Speaker
Right? This is real world. Post a blue podcast. Come get the information. Come into the community. Build relationships. Build friendships in the community. Yes. Network. Yes. Network in the community. You know what I'm saying? We can say, oh, you got something going on? Okay, who links to branch 62? Hey, anybody in the community. If your branches buy branch 62, they got a rally going on, so on, so on, so on, so blas and skippy. On this day, we needed as many of us that could be there to be there.
01:32:31
Speaker
Whether you got to travel 30 minutes away, 20 minutes away, the closest, probably going to be there the most. Hey, we got to get there. There's a fight going on. They need numbers. The strength is in numbers. We need to be taking up whole blocks here. That's if you work. That's if you off. You know what I'm saying? I'm not telling nobody to take off work to go whatever the case is, but I'm saying if there's 10,000 people in any, let's say state or district,
01:32:57
Speaker
Uh, any, any 10,000 people in the district or something. And then, uh, there's people that need help. Man, out of 10,000, how many of y'all are going to be off on that Saturday or that Friday? You know what I'm saying? Cool. Maybe, uh, maybe 900. Okay, cool. We need like a hundred people there. Take a watch. Maybe the 30 minutes of your day or your day just to go show face, especially if you're going to be cameras there, we got to go swarm. Hey, take a watch. We got to go swarm.
01:33:23
Speaker
Everybody get a lunch, take a lunch. If it starts at 11 o'clock, I'm going to take my lunch at 11. Go ahead. Right. Right. Give it 39, 39, 71. So you can have your documentation at 11, 11, 11 a.m. I'm taking. Go right there. Stand right there. Hey, pay yourself to be on. Ask for a standing lunch. Do what you got to do to show your support.
01:33:50
Speaker
Especially wing. Typically coffee, just to add this. Watch how crazy this sound. Typically they do the rally outside of the headquarters. How many people work in headquarters? Craft. They got three shifts in your headquarters because it's typically a distribution in there. Distribution and processing in there. You know what's crazy? When we had our rally, I didn't see nobody come out of that building.
01:34:16
Speaker
I know we've got to be a couple hundred people in there. I know it got to be some hundreds of people in there, bro. You got three shifts, man. Come on. But then nobody come out, man. Be on the right side and put that on paper. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We dropped the ball at that rally. We got to be better. If if somebody is having a rap and I'm just going to say it to you like it, any person in the post office community
01:34:42
Speaker
lose their life. They like been threatened. They been assaulted. And we're having a rap. Just ask yourself if that's your wife, your husband, your child, your mother, your father, what you want this. And if the answer is yes, then you should be there in every
01:35:04
Speaker
to add that support uh going off coffee you know what i'm saying before he go off i just want to add this make sure you we should be also telling our customers yes all the carriers that plan on going to the rally we need to be telling our customers on our on our routes customers can show up to the rally yes support your mailman support your clerk support your whoever it is that help you all the time you like miss debra when you come by stamps guess what miss debra needs you to come on down to the rap
01:35:32
Speaker
You like, you like, you love your mail, like you love your mail, man. Well, I'm gonna need you to come show. How much do you love me? Cause I love me. So come down to the rally where I met. The little boy who love to see you coming as you can get the mail. Hey, let your mama know we having a rally for the mail carriers. Cause you know what I'm saying? We don't feel safe. I might not be here. I might can't be your mail. Can't get crazy out here.
01:35:57
Speaker
You know the ones who get mad about their mail being laid all the time. I got my mail at five o'clock. But that's because I'm running. I'm running. I'm trying to get out here. Come support. Support is where change begins. You start supporting everything. Think about this. If 500 people is outside in front of any business, what do you think the local news is going to be at? It's going to look crazy too.
01:36:29
Speaker
guess what? They want to know what's going on. And the great thing about the news, they keep on digging long after everybody's gone. And that's what we want. We want people digging and buying into all the situations that are going on. That's what a change will go.
01:36:48
Speaker
I just I got I got some for you too on that. You ain't gonna like this. You don't like it. Because I said it. And I stand on what I say. You don't like it because I said it. Okay. But you're gonna you're gonna have a problem with it because you know what to be true. Okay, anyway, go on and go on into last episode. How many people when the cameras was out there for that rally? How many people went on camera game of state? No.
01:37:17
Speaker
If you're scared to speak up for yourself, I don't even know why you can play in private. My mother got a saying, if you ain't gonna see it to somebody's face, why say it? That's what a statement is. A statement is saying it to your face. Now, if you're scared to say, hey, if you're scared, don't go to church. Jesus ain't never been scared.
01:37:47
Speaker
I'm going to podcast lady. So, I'm telling you guys, stop being scared. Write your statement. Support. Let us know what's going on in your local stations. Let us know what's going on in your local branch. Let us know what's going on. We want to be on the right side of history. We want to be a sounding board, but everything is going on in the postal community.
01:38:16
Speaker
be everywhere. We want we want to be on the right side of history. When you see us, I would be rather better known for poster blue pie cat. If I was on the road, but if that's my if that's my attribute, if I if that's what I give to the world, I'll be OK. Because this is what this is how much it means. I breathe
01:38:47
Speaker
that I love my postal community. Because this is the way I, this is not only the way I eat, but these people have welcomed me into their community and they have held the doors open. So they pass the baton to, what are we going to do? How are we going to lead a post office for the next committee? For the next group of people coming? This your boy Black Knight 24. That was my final thoughts.
01:39:16
Speaker
Mike T, you can still hear me off. OK, again, I am your boy, L.A. Styles, AKA Ice, also known as Ice, you know what I'm saying? Make sure you all subscribe, man. Post a blue podcast, man. We come to you all. We keep it in the real. There's a huge problem needs to be addressed. Again, these first few, maybe four to six podcasts, we send the foundation, right? We stack in the foundation. First episode was the foundation. Now we're building the walls to that foundation.
01:39:46
Speaker
right in these follow grievance, right to manage, failure to follow, that's the groundwork for the roof that we're going to be building when we get to flying off the handle later on in about six weeks, when we just talk in general topics, like call for what you good this week, what happened this week, and we just get to tell you what happened. It's all on top of that house, right? We done built that for you, right? Those first about six podcast, you can go there and get that information.
01:40:11
Speaker
It ain't just entertainment, you know what I'm saying? I believe everything that I'm saying, it ain't entertainment, you know what I'm saying? For better or for worse.
01:40:19
Speaker
It is what it is, you know what I'm saying? Again, it's both based on our personal experience. This is not us trying to put down on no one's name. This is not us trying to talk down, per se, on the company that we both work for. This is for informational and educational purposes. This is us getting the word out on things that's wrong on either side, right? Because, Union, you're not off the hook. You got a show coming yourself. Yes, you do.
01:40:49
Speaker
He hit it
01:40:50
Speaker
You got you gonna have an individual show coming yourself because ain't enough being done. Management gonna have a show and then it's gonna be what it's gonna be. Well, management kind of getting part of these shows, but we're just talking about the union in these these these shows because again, ain't just management side. We both it's both sides. Correct. Hand to hand. Again, this is your boy ice. That's your boy. That's your main man coffee. This has been episode three. File of grievance.
01:41:20
Speaker
Post a blue podcast, man. What else can I say, man? Hit that subscribe button, support the system, support your community, support your career, support your job, support your kids, support your family, support each other. We here. Yes, sir.
01:41:37
Speaker
And then, hey, we're going to continue to build, man. Make sure you all join the community. Again, that's where we're going to get the most, the most conversations going. That's where you're going to get the most networking going. That's where you're going to build our future relationships going. Somebody in another town over in the same state as you could be going through the same problem. Y'all can have the biggest connection. Just having that conversation there. Just, just getting that, that those text messages in. Just when we hit that spaces and start pulling people up, you're like, man, dude,
01:42:02
Speaker
Dude, at the station right on. Man, I know that. I came up at that station, you know what I'm saying? Hey, man, I know. And then they say, no, boom. You got another contact or some information. I mean, I can give them this information. I can do whatever the case is. I can talk to my union steward and have him, you know what I'm saying, represent whatever the case is just because you got that information, you know what I'm saying? So we got to get here and build, build, build, build.
01:42:21
Speaker
It's only episode three and we building. Not just us, we're building the community. This podcast is meant to bring the community together for voices, to give a voice to the postal blue community. We're going to be the voice along with y'all being the co-voices. This is why we're going to be taking it to the Twitter spaces where you can be heard, where we can get your gripes off, where you can get your information. This is what that's going to be for.
01:42:48
Speaker
So make sure you hit that subscribe button. Make sure you hit that follow button. We are all streaming services, YouTube, music, YouTube in general, Spotify, Apple podcast, Stitcher, Deezer, Pandora, whatever you name, Amazon music. We're going to be over there. If we're not there, then we're going to be coming there, but we should be there by now.
01:43:07
Speaker
Right?

Engaging & Sharing for Community Building

01:43:08
Speaker
And get your voice heard. You know what I'm saying? Tell us how you feel. Every Monday, 9 o'clock Central Time, we're going to be there on whatever streaming service you're listening to. In the middle of the week, that's why you got to be part of the community. You're going to get that notification that we're going live. We're going to try to get a set day on like a Wednesday or Thursday. We're going to give it a little while to build more of a community so we get more people.
01:43:33
Speaker
So it makes sense, right? And we're going to get a scheduled date and you'll know when we're going to be live and you'll know when you can ask questions. And we have a safe date and time where everybody can come up or get their information in and be one over there. It's not going to be like a party over there. You know what I'm saying? And we're going to get this movement happening and we're going to get you that support that you need or your branch need or your union need or you need to get your mental state, your mental state right. Remember, growing postal used to be a real thing.
01:44:02
Speaker
People now, they just quit, but you shouldn't have to quit something that you think is your career. Just because somebody else is doing something wrong, no, we should be able to correct that.
01:44:11
Speaker
On either side, we should be able to correct that, you know what I'm saying? So with that, make sure you hit that subscribe button, man. Subscribing counts, sharing is caring. In the most truest form, sharing is caring. Share this to your coworkers on the floor. Share this to other craft. Make sure you share it to your customers to get that information, man. The post office needs as much help as it can get. And somebody got to be there at the forefront of it. So if we're going to have to be it, as far as the community growing, then we're going to have to be it, man. We all, we got, you know, Brown said, you know what I'm saying?
01:44:41
Speaker
New Jack City. We all we got. Am I my brother's keeper? You know what I'm saying? So with that, man, I'm gonna chop this up. Coffee gonna get up out here. I'm gonna get up out of here, man, and I'm gonna get this uploaded so I can get on a video game. All right? Subscribe to the podcast for all future episodes and make sure to share with someone. We appreciate everyone and there's a lot more to come.