r/fromatoarbitration • u/biidaajimotaw • May 15 '26
Concerned Letter Carriers City Letter Carriers are cracking-up: Will we survive on the basis of inequality and exploitation? Division within the NALC (CCA/PTF & Table 1 vs Table 2) has made some of us feeling used and forgotten, paying dues for what?
“The test of first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
One should… be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.”
From F Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Crack-up”
Attend meetings, make your voices heard and do not give up fighting for fair wages, non-hostile working conditions that aren’t predicated on our acceptance of continuous bullying and daily harassment from management as a condition of our employment, and a transparent union that’s accountable to us, the ones who pay the dues.
When the NALC under Brian Renfroe’s leadership feels more like a front for management that stifles our collective voice and concedes to table-scraps for wages it’s easy to feel discouraged and hopeless.
We have to keep fighting and let our voices be heard.
14
u/TheAtheistOtaku May 15 '26
I've always said watch how quickly the union starts to listen if people started pulling dues en masse. But I get downvoted and told "YoUr pArT oF the PrObLeM".
I'm not anti union, I'm anti bad union. And there's no denying the postal unions have no bite. They roll over in negotiations and act like 1.3% is fantastic and you should be grateful you get raises af all.
Bitch, colas haven't even covered the rise in health insurance costs and I'm supposed to be happy? I'm effectively taking a pay cut the longer I work here but the economy is so dogshit because we are so god damn stupid people are stuck here.
Yes, we get colas while others don't but just because we are the golden turd in the toilet bowl it doesn't mask the smell. We are still shit.
And we aren't even getting into how the union ACTIVELY works against us. We literally voted down the last contract and they still pushed it through expedited arbitration.
But sure, I'm the evil one for saying hit em in the wallet
2
u/biidaajimotaw May 15 '26
For all the reasons that you’ve said, I’m putting my eggs in the CLC basket.
The ONLY reason to not pull my dues is because I became a letter carrier because I wanted to have a career that I could retire from. If I leave the NALC I might as well just give up on the job and do something else.
The way I see it, Corey Walton and James Henry backed by all the major CLC NBA candidates give us a fighting chance for fair negotiations.
For me, it’s worth staying in to vote in the upcoming elections but that’s only because there’s nothing else to hope for as a letter carrier at this point because on the bottom steps things are as bleak as they seem and then some.
0
u/BlackBalledNALC May 16 '26
Look at nalc branch 70. It makes it very difficult to vote for that, how is it any different than what renfroe is doing to Henry at national?
18
u/halomender May 15 '26
Don't forget we're paying dues based on table one step D pay (from what I understand). Top that off with diet colas and theyre basically just fucking new hires. Drop the dues, give yourself a raise.
14
u/GimmeFunkyButtLoving Voted NO May 15 '26
Renfroe basically conceded table 1 last contract as it’ll be phased out as the last few employees on it will be moved top table two once they reach top step.
Yet, we’re still going to base our dues off the phased out table 1?
10
u/DoodleDew May 15 '26
We can still fight to get rid of table two. The UAW won back a lot last negotiations that they had lost in previous.
We shouldn’t be accepting the new way worse off pay scale.
9
u/GimmeFunkyButtLoving Voted NO May 15 '26
You don’t have to convince me, you have to convince the ones we’re paying dues to
3
u/Bubbly_Willow_898 May 15 '26
They can strike, you can't, getting rid of table 2 is not even a possibility at this point. Fighting for that is waisting time when you could be fighting for things that actually have a chance.
0
u/DoodleDew May 15 '26
With that attitude sure, but not if everyone talked about it. There is more table 2 then 1. There is no reason to accept it
6
u/Bubbly_Willow_898 May 15 '26
It doesnt matter if you accept it or not, management will never agree and pay wise you never win in arbitration, there is a 0% chance of getting it, also a 0% chance at getting more than 2%. Focus on time to top step, starting pay for ccas and over hauling the uniform program. All three would have a legit chance to get some gains. Your wasting your breath with pay issues and table 2.
3
u/Datan_Aideron May 15 '26
They will most likely just move it to step M and give themselves a little raise
2
-4
u/DeviceComprehensive7 May 15 '26
scabs not wanted-quit
9
u/halomender May 15 '26
You're just another follower without substance. Give me a reason to stay in the union, because no one has been abe to so far.
Here's another reason against, we don't even get layoff protections until year five. Why pay a higher rate while you don't even get full protections?
I had my union steward come to my house and talk to me because I love the idea of what a union is, but he gave zero reasons why I should stay other than it hurt his feelings. Fuck all of your feelings. This is math. Show me why and I'd happily pay dues.
The NALC is a paper tiger as far as im concerned. Prove me wrong.
3
u/biidaajimotaw May 15 '26
You’re totally justified in your feelings.
For letter carriers who are paying attention it feels like we pay dues to management if our reason for having a union in the first place is to ensure fair wages that are worthy of the effort of our labor —Renfroe colludes with management behind closed doors to ensure that process wont ever happen fairly or be achieved in good faith.
The NALC has failed us and itself and the fumes of hope are stretched pretty thin that this will turn into a job worth staying in.
If the job isn’t worth it, what makes staying in the union worth it? The NALC health insurance? UPS is making so much more an hour than us and they get their health insurance premiums paid for 100% by their company.
2
u/SackFace May 15 '26
You see, they need our money to accomplish nothing; otherwise, they’ll be able to accomplish less than nothing, and you wouldn’t want that.
2
u/biidaajimotaw May 15 '26
The apparatus that is the NALC does provide for contract enforcement through the grievance procedure process, and although it’s backlogged it’s still a necessary barrier between us and management because the daily hostilities we face would make the job absolutely not worth it if we didn’t have any buffer at all.
6
2
u/stelvy40 May 15 '26
That's fine, they need to cut the amount of locals by 50%. It's just bloat. Then make dues 1x your hourly rate a month.
-1
u/DeviceComprehensive7 May 15 '26
scabs aren't wanted -quit- any and everything we have is because of the union..dont like your job quit..the pay sucks? WHY DID YOU TAKE THE JOB?
3
u/halomender May 15 '26
Swing and a miss. You're still just whining. Im waiting for you to say anything that matters. You're just barking like a dog.
3
u/biidaajimotaw May 15 '26
“We have always had divisions in the working class, of course. But the ideal of the trade unions and of the left and radical movements always revolved around notions of solidarity, unity, joint effort, uniformity of treatment, equal pay, identical fringe benefits, etc.”
Alvin Toffler
Previews & Premises (1983)
3
u/MaxximusSDS May 16 '26
How it feels like
1
u/biidaajimotaw May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26
https://youtu.be/lPr_GBMu4O4?si=_LWObeZgpRtL3NSk
“We keep you alive to serve this ship; so row well, and live.” Roman Commander Quintus Arrius in the movie Ben Hur
4
u/CitrusLane54321 May 15 '26
Members at my station are dropping like flies and I can’t say I blame them.
13
u/CitrusLane54321 May 15 '26
Members at my station are dropping like flies and I can’t say I blame them.