Area 3 Report

Not All Doom and Gloom

Most of what we read is of the not so happy in nature. Problems and issues that trouble us daily as city carriers fill the pages of what we read. But it is not really that way. All is not doom and gloom.

I have already written about the time I was on a park and loop part of my route and while getting ready to walk some more, a little girl came up to my truck. She and her mom were out for a walk. She came up to my door and in a loud and clear voice said, “I want ice cream.” I didn’t have any of course, but I did have a little box of cookies. She was happy with them.

Another time I was in a business delivering mail, and another small child about three or four walked up to me and said, “Hi, Mailman.” I told her “Hi.” Her mom quickly told her, “I told you never to talk to strangers.” The child put both hands on her hips and announced to her mom, “Mommy, it’s not a stranger, it’s the mailman.” Her mom looked at her, then at me and said, “You’re right.” She then said, “Hi, Mailman.” I replied, “Hi Mom.”

Another time I was walking a loop and came upon three people standing next to a mailbox on the street. Two women were facing me and a man had his back to me. I heard the man say, more than once that he was ready. He did not know when God would call him, but he was ready. I put my finger up to my mouth to tell the women to keep quiet.

I walked up behind the man as he stated again that he did not know when he would be called, but he was ready. At that moment I said in a loud, deep voice, “Tomorrow!”

His knees gave way and he grabbed the mailbox for support. Turning around he said, “Mailman, you almost scared me to death.” One of the women said, “I thought you were ready.”

There are probably a thousand stories like these that all of us could tell. This job we do is one of the best there is because we get to work for good people: our customers. The letter carrier is a part of many families. We see our customers daily and are a part of many lives. We are the only person some of our customers see every day. Do what you do to the best of your ability. Give your customers good service. We are all one family.

25:75

By the time you read this article, the Food Drive will be over and history. But for all the carriers who worked so hard to make it happen, I wish to thank you.

Many, many carriers worked so hard to make the Food Drive a success, and they put in many hours of hard work so that those who need it can have a meal. I believe that many of the people who are in need of our help are children: children who have no control over the life they live, where they live, or what they are given to eat. It is because of our work that they will have a meal.

Too often, the actions of a few people control many people. Only a few people have control of the government, be it at the federal, state, or local level.

It is the same with our great Union. Those in control in our Union have a great responsibility to us, its members. As members, we have much to say about the way our Union is run, and the conditions under which we work.

I have been a members of this Union for over thirty years, and I have learned an alarming fact: our Union is run by about 25 percent of its members. The other 75 percent do nothing to help make it operate.

25:75 is not a very good ratio. The 75 percent who do nothing but pay their dues say that is alright. They have a voice in what happens, but they don’t speak. They see the amount of work that must be done to protect our contract, but they don’t work. They will complain about the things they do not like, but only after the vote is taken.

If you don’t go to the Branch meetings, you have no say in the results oft he vote. Most Branches have only 11 meetings a year, with each meeting lasting around two hours. That’s twenty-two hours a year. That’s not even one full day out of the year.

In over 30 years, I have missed eight meetings. Some members I know have not been to eight meetings. If you don’t go to the Branch meetings, you can’t vote in its business. If you don’t vote, you are part of the 75 percent that are controlled by the 25 percent.

25:75 is not a very good ratio. There are many articles about Union meetings and the lack of members who attend those meetings. I have heard all excuses as to why members could not go to a meeting. Few will hold water; most will sink.

In our Branch, a free meal is offered, and that does not matter. “The meetings are too late.” “I’m too tired after work.” “I live too far away.” “I don’t like the food.”

Your work conditions, hours of work, annual leave, sick leave, your pay, uniform allowance, everything about your employment with the Postal Service is controlled by the contract that the NALC has with the USPS. What if, back in the 1970’s, those brothers and sisters in the Branch in New York City did not show up at that meeting that voted for the strike? We would probably still be working under collective begging and not collective bargaining.

See you at the meeting.

Where Has the Time Gone?

A few weeks ago I was presented my 30 year pin. I know that is a great honor. I was asked if I had anything to say. I guess it’s the rule to say something when you are presented with something. All I had to say was that the Postal Service pays us a good salary and that we must give them a good days work. Obey the rules and treat others with respect-that is how you will survive in the Postal Service.

Since receiving my pin I have given the last 30 years some thought. When I started I was just a few months out of the Marine Corps and in my early forties. I was a PTF for two years and then made regular.

City 29 came up for bid. I knew I would not get it because I was the junior carrier but I bid on it just to practice. It turned out I was the only bidder, and the rest is history. May marks my 28th year on city 29.

Involvement in the union has always kept me busy. No matter what the job, it is all important. All the work by many different carriers is what makes the union work. Nobody is born a union member. It just turns out that way.

One of the jobs of being a union member, no matter what the job, is writing newsletter articles. These different articles come from many different carriers with many years of experience and knowledge. The articles are for carriers to read and learn from.

I am sorry to say that many of our brothers and sisters do not attend the monthly meetings, mostly because they don’t have time. Maybe these articles will give them a little knowledge on how to survive in the Postal Service.

When I started this job we had five children. We now have six. We had no grandchildren but now we have twelve. One of them, Sarah, typed this article.

It has not all been great, but for the most part it has been fine. This can be a fun job but at times can be stressful due to the pressures we must put up with. Roll with it, deal with it. Do your job the best you know how. Treat all with respect. Do this and you will survive.

Some day you will ask, “Where has the time gone?”

Integrity

I don’t know what the rest of the world was told about the new scanners, but I know what we were told. When we heard that they have GPS built into them, we all asked “what is that system for? Was it there to track us out on the street?” The answer we were given was that it is there so that if we are needed, management would know how to find us. If that is not tracking us, I don’t know what else to call it.

A few weeks later, management informed us that headquarters will start interviewing the two carriers who come in last each day. The interviews would be done by local management with the data taken by the scanners. I and two other carriers were called in for interviews a few days ago. When it was my turn I asked, “Why am I here? I have done nothing wrong.” The answer I was given was, “We’ll find that out.”

I was told to watch the computer screen and explain my every movement as tracked by the scanner GPS. My every stop, turn, and movement was tracked.

The reason I am writing this is very simple. I am not a rich man or an educated man, but the one thing I have and will always have is integrity. I live by that code of behavior. I told management on that day that I felt they were questioning my integrity. I took the whole procedure as an insult to my honest service to the postal service.

They will do this witch hunt to any of us. They have proven they can track our every movement on the street. This is not done so they can find us at all; they know where we are. They want it for two reasons. One, is to see if we are doing anything wrong. The other is to try to set a street standard.

If you go out on the street and do your duties as you are supposed to and do not deviate without authority, you will have no problems. If you do something wrong, you will be caught. Believe me when I say that their system is good. It tracks our every movement.

I was found to not have done anything other than what I was supposed to do. Since it is an investigation, I believe I should have been read my Fifth Amendment rights. I sometimes doubt the integrity of the postal service, or should I say, the lack of it.

Geese

I knew the title would get you to read more. What could Bob be thinking about this time?

While driving to work this spring I saw something that I thought was special. While traveling down Huff Drive behind the hospital one morning all of the traffic in both directions came to a halt. Not a vehicle was moving.

There are some woods in that area and one of those large retention ponds for rain water run over. Three or four gaggles of geese (flocks) have made this area their home.

What brought the traffic to a standstill was a goose (mom) being followed by about 12 goslings (babies) in a long line behind her followed by a gander (dad). The adults were always on guard and caring for the young ones. Teaching them to stay in line, what to eat or not to eat, but always caring for them.

Our union is like these geese, always teaching the young and new carriers, caring for them and trying to teach them the right way to be letter carriers.

There is so much to learn and very little time to learn what is necessary to survive. Always on the watch, always teaching, always there.

We are taught very little by management. Remember the new scanners? I am still waiting for a class to teach us how to use it. I guess we are expected to know things no matter what. Figure it out. It’s not hard. A baby could do it. Those are just a few of the words of training that I have received from management.

I know from time to time we may be given the answer to a certain question that we may not like or agree with. We are quick to scam the union or those who are trying to help a member. I see this all too often. What we are not remembering is that we work under a contract, a contract with many rules and regulations, a contract that is not so easy to figure out.

Sometimes we make it very hard for the steward who is trying to help us. Our contract is there to protect all of us. Yes, even those who are not members are protected by the same contract that protects all of us.

Those little baby geese learn from mom and dad and in a couple of years they will be the teachers. When will you step up?

On a different note. While on my route one hot day this summer I was at a park point on a park and loop section of my route. While I was filling my satchel for the next loop I noticed two ladies with two little girls coming my way. They were next to my truck and one of the little girls, about three or four years old, stopped next to my door. She looked straight at me and in a loud voice said, “I want ice cream!”

You Just Never Know

When Richard first asked me to write an article a few days ago, I had at least 20 different topics cross my mind, each one being better than the first. However, I soon lost interest in all of them. I personally believe that it’s not the length of an article but its quality that makes it great. I have read many publications in my day, many of them long, and I find myself skipping to the final paragraph to discover the outcome. I could have titled this article “By the Time Clock,” but something happened on Saturday that changed my mind.

As union brothers and sisters, we must always strive to be an example to those around us. I have heard some pretty wild stories while standing in line at the time clock, and some of them are not so nice. I hear carriers talking about how they tell customers this, that and another thing, how they cut off their mail, tell them they must put up a box when they don’t. This is not the way business should be conducted.

Some of what we talk about at the time clock is management’s business, and management’s only. We must always treat everyone we come in contact with with respect and dignity, remembering that what we say to them may have an effect on their life.

For example, while I was walking one of my relays on Saturday, a young woman drove up and stopped. She said, “Mr. Bob, I heard you were still working. I had to come and find you.” She asked me if I recognized her and I told her that I knew her face but could not recall her name.

She told me her name and I immediately remembered who she was. This was a young carrier who had been fired by the Post Office over 10 years ago simply because she was disliked by management. She came to me and asked what she should do and I told her that a grievance could be filed although it probably wouldn’t go very far. So we filed an EEO.

She then went on to tell me that she had been working for the Social Security System since 2004 and that she simply wanted to come by and thank me. When I asked what for, she said, “For my EEO settlement.”

Then, with her signature smile, she explained that the settlement was of a substantial amount. And with that, I smiled.

You never know what affect you may have on a person’s life, but always remember to take care of your brothers and sisters.

Vacant Is Not a Last Name

One morning not too long ago, we were on our morning office break and the subject of mail delivered to vacant houses came up. One carrier stated that even when the box is marked “Vacant,” mail is still delivered to that location. He then went on to comment, “’Vacant’ is not a last name.”

I have heard it said by carriers that when they are on a route that is not theirs that they may be running late and they do not have the time to read all of the information cards put in the mail by the regular carrier for the route.

I have also heard “I do not have enough time: too many times.

How often have you been on your route and your scanner would not function properly? We all know the equipment that we must use will not work under certain conditions, like sunlight or rain. Sometimes the barcode is damaged or it simply just will not scan. We must then type in the number and it may still not enter.

Many carriers have stated that they do not have the time to fool with it.

“I do not have enough time” is not a reason to not do your job as it should be done. We all have enough time. We have all the time in the world.

If management cannot get the mail to us in a timely manner and get us on the street in the morning, that is not our fault. That is management’s problem, not ours. We cannot use the fact that we get out of the office an hour or two late as the reason to run and the reason not to do our job.

The 3996 is a great tool to use. When used properly, it can be management’s worst enemy. When we tell management that we will need X number of hours and minutes of overtime to complete our assignments, that is their worry, not ours.

Do your job right and do it safely. You have the time; you have all the time in the world.

Remember what is not a last name.

By the Numbers

3984: The number of a small NALC branch in Eastern North Carolina that Charlotte recognizes as a pain in the backside. You may have heard of this branch.

126.3: An often forgotten paragraph of the M39. Because of a recent grievance filed by this branch, overtime money is now being paid to those carriers who want it.

30: The number of minutes in a lunch time. Because of another grievance settled by this branch, carriers are no longer working through their lunch breaks so they can finish a bump or a route. The “no lunch” settlement may be the only one of its kind in North Carolina.

These two grievances put the money where it belongs—in the pockets of letter carriers.

2: The number of children sent to MDA camp by one carrier from Branch 3984. At MDA camp these two children were able to have fun and just be kids, maybe for the first time in their lives.

60 plus: The number of years the NALC has been a corporate sponsor of the MDA. Our union has vowed to stay with the MDA until a cure is found. Much progress has been made in the battle against this disease and we hope that a cure can soon be found.

3000 plus: The total weight (in pounds) of the food we collected at our first Food Drive. We didn’t really know what we were doing then. We had to make our own flyers and pay for them with branch funds. We thought that we did pretty well in our first year. This past year we collected over 65,000 pounds of food. That food fed needy people in Onslow County, many of whom were children. We must start preparations now for this year’s Food Drive so that we can keep the ball rolling.

2: The number of non-union members in Jacksonville. Maybe we can improve on that in the days to come. One-hundred percent membership would be great.

65: The number of years that Branch 3984 has been in existence. We must continue to grow the branch and train its new and upcoming carriers.

I have given you a lot of numbers, but they all add up to one thing: We are one of the best branches in North Carolina, and we must continue to lead so that others may follow.

“We” Before “Me”

In front of the school on my route, a sign has been placed on the lawn which read, “We before me.” The young students at that school are being taught a very important life lesson. Our Founding Fathers wrote on a document, “We the people”--it has been realized that “we” is a more powerful word than “me”.

Too many of us as Union members have forgotten this. For many of us, the first thing that we utter when we are told something is, “What’s in it for me?”. We think only of what we, as individuals, can get out of it; “me” comes first, is all that matters. When you are part of a Union as we all are, we must always say, “What’s in it for us?” Only as a strong Union will we survive.

I believe that this great Union has made it too easy for its membership. The proof of this belief is in the attendance of our members at our Branch meeting and state Training Seminars. A lot of our members are of the belief that everything is great and running well, and there is no need for them to do anything. Only a small few do all the work and the rest are just along for the ride.

This is not so, brothers and sisters. Only when we operate as a “we” wil we be strong and achieve the goals we desire. Only as a “we” will we get what the “me” needs to survive. Your job depends on you becoming a “we” person. Your Union depends on you becoming a “we” person. Your county depends on this issue. If all else does not matter, your family depends on the “we” factor. It takes a “we” to make a family.

Your Union needs you now more than ever. Times are hard and we have much work to do for you. We need your hlep. Come to the meetings and add to the work. Be a part of the fight. See you at the meeting.

Where Do You Stand?

There is a show on television that I enjoy watching called “After Humans.” It shows what happens to the world after all the humans are gone from the face of the earth. I sometimes think the planet would be better off.

The postal service is in position to be like the earth. If the higher ups get their way with the help of a not-so-friendly Congress and Senate we could see a show called “After the Postal Service.”

All postal headquarters wants to do is close plants, cut hours and cut service. They have no real plan, no idea what to do to save the postal service. They want to cut a day of service, and if that does not work, they can just cut another day. They want to get rid of curb and door delivery and make this a country of cluster boxes

A whole lot of city carriers would be out of work. The USPS would be a bunch of part-time workers. The postal service as we know it would be gone.

Brothers and sisters, we have a real fight on our hands. Our NALC headquarters is very busy trying to save our jobs and the USPS. It appears that the NALC is on the right track to save this company.

What bothers me is the fact that some of our members do not have a clue as to what is going on in the House and Senate. They think it is business as usual. With a wrong vote on the Hill we are in big trouble.

We need to get involved and stay involved. We need to attend the branch meetings and be a part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Since 1985 I have missed five meetings. One I was away in Arizona and the other four I was in class at Coastal Carolina Community College.

How many have you missed?

We need to be together in this fight. You are needed at the meetings. Your input is wanted. We need your ideas. Your help is needed.

It is easy to get off and go home. It takes a little extra effort to attend the branch meetings after a full day’s work.

Your officers are there for you. You need to be there for them, to show your support. Your help is wanted.

Where do you stand in the fight?

Who Are We?

We deliver the nation’s mail. We bring messages of joy and sorrow, bills to be paid and money to be spent, informational papers and books full of fun.

We deliver toys and baby ducks, chickens and bees, ants and butterflies, food, and anything else a person may wish to mail.

We visit the elderly and the shut-ins, the rich and the poor, black or white, Indian or oriental, Catholic or Jew, it makes no difference. People are people.

We may be the only person someone has for a visitor that day, the only smile to share, the only words to speak.

We have saved lives and property and have been there when there was no one else to help. We deliver to places that no other brown or white truck will go six days a week.

We collect food for the hungry and we work in our communities to build homes and help in our schools and churches. We care about all of America because that is who we are.

There are some people in this great country who would like to see us gone. Why? I don’t know, perhaps they think they see a way to make a buck. None of us are rich people. We get enough to care for our families and loved ones, but not much more.

We care about our country and our friends and we have even been known to pet a dog or two. We are good people who work hard and share what we have. We don’t want much, just enough.

Those who are trying to make us go away do not know us or understand what we do, and they don’t want to because they only care about what they want.

We are the men and women who wear the blue. We are the veterans and civilians who have chosen to serve our great country. We are the letter carriers of America.

Have peace of mind in what you do for you are a good person.

The North Carolina Letter Carrier

Area 3 Report Bob Wahoff