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This is a test.

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This is an interview at a normal tone of voice from about four inches away.

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This is a test.

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Interview at a normal tone of voice from about four inches away.

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This is a test.

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This is a test at a normal tone of voice from about six inches away using the shotgun mic.

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This is a test.

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This is a test.

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This is a test.

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This is a test.

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This is a test.

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This is a test.

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This is a test.

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This is a test.

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This is a test.

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This is a test.

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This is a test.

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This is a toast.

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This is Upon you.

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No, he doesn't.

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He's a good man.

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All right, let's get out of here, boy.

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We're going up with him.

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Hang on.

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What's up, Mike?

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Well, we'd like to meet you.

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I bet you're all in tonight, but...

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Unfortunately, we don't have no family.

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You can come get me, so we can remember you.

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Hey, Tommy, man, I love you.

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I love you.

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I love you.

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I love you.

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Where are they going to get a good parent-type of work?

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The only job that you can get in a post-war society.

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They're better off with a good parent-type of work.

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That's true.

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My purpose for being out here is that I'm concerned about my job,

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which is normal.

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I feel that management is not going to be able to do that.

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Management is beginning to put too much pressure on me.

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I'm a willing worker.

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I'm concerned about productivity.

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But for what's happening under the work conditions,

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I can't take it anymore.

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Inflation is threatening me.

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I'm making a living wage at the moment,

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and yet management is questioning that.

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Management says I should make less.

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I should do more and make less.

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Well, no, no.

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Inflation is jumping 4, 6% a year,

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and I get a 7% raise increase?

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No, no.

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At the moment, I'm making $15,000.

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Gross, gross.

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All right, that's a living wage in the city of Chicago

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with the rent situation, the transportation situation, food costs?

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No, no.

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I do want anything for nothing.

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I'm willing to work for it,

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but I feel that I should be giving equal return for my efforts.

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Other than that, I have nothing more to say.

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Would you like to say a few words about working conditions at the post office?

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They're grubby.

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They're physical.

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They're sweaty.

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Many times there's a personal degrading situation

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where you're considered as a nothing.

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Management deals with me as a zero.

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My opinion, my experience,

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my knowledge of the particular work situation

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is never taken into consideration.

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Too many times I'm given orders that are stupid, stupid.

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I have to fulfill them. I have to do it.

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Otherwise, I'm given labor suspension.

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No, no, that's not right.

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Especially when it's snowing, snows up to your hips,

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and they come along and tell you to do something out in the street

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while they are sitting indoors, indoors.

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What else can I say?

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This is just not acceptable.

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Do you think we'll have a contract by July 20th?

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No, no, no, no.

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It may have an extension.

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They may go to August.

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I think that they'll bring a contract into the national convention,

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but the membership won't vote on it.

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The clerks, we, I'm a letter carrier.

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I belong to the Letter Carriers Union.

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We're having our national convention July 30th, August 4th.

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The clerks are having their national convention in Denver in mid-August.

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We all have to vote on it.

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I don't think any action, any contract will be resolved until maybe Labor Day.

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That's my own personal views, what I would call logical, other than that.

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So what's going to happen July 20th when we have no contract?

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If there's a walkout, it won't be until, it will be a Wildcat walkout,

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and it probably won't be until first week of August,

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because people will him and ha, there'll be all types of decision making.

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It's not easy to stop work, give up your paycheck, and go out on your own.

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A lot of us live day to day, unfortunately.

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A lot of us have responsibilities, mortgages, children, car payments,

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and we haven't had the foresight perhaps to score away resources.

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So there'll be him and ha, and then probably maybe in August we'll say,

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hey, enough is enough.

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They're not listening to us.

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They're not taking us serious, and then we'll put our foot down.

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But it will be sporadic, that I'm sure of.

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I think it'll make a difference.

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Nationwide, no.

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In urban centers, yes, if we do it.

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We have to do it in urban centers, because that's our strength.

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All mail nowadays comes through major distribution centers that are located in urban areas,

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and that's what's going to make the difference.

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And if we can get the clerks together with the mail handlers and the letter carriers to say,

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no, no more work, then it will have an effect,

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because it will put strangleholds on the mail.

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It will bottleneck it.

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Urban centers at the moment are like funnels.

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All the mail comes into a certain location and then is redistributed through regional distribution systems.

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Okay, thank you.

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My pleasure.

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We're out here because we want some respect from the President of the United States, okay?

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We want him to treat us like he treated the mine workers.

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The mine workers ended up with over 40 percent as far as their benefit package is concerned,

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and the President is telling postal workers that we're supposed to be satisfied with 5.5,

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and that's somewhat ridiculous.

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We have the, I would say, the worst grievance procedure in the country, okay?

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We have people who are being, we have career employees with 10, 15 years of service who are being forced to work overtime,

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forced to work the holidays, and well, now is the time to voice those complaints,

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and we just can't take that anymore.

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You know, we don't want no three-year contract,

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and we want our negotiators to know that if they come up with a bad contract,

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we're going to turn thumbs down on it.

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Simple as that.

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Do you think there will be a contract by July 20th?

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No.

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I really don't.

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I really don't.

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I definitely do not think there will be.

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Now, they may come up and attempt to extend the old contract, which I hope they don't do.

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They may end up saying that we have initialed a package, which I still won't believe, you know,

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but for the most part, I really don't expect a contract by the 20th,

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primarily because the postal negotiators have been stalling for the last two months,

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and they have been, well, my local president and I, excuse me, we went to Washington three weeks ago,

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come to find out they were only negotiating one day a week, you know,

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and how can you get a contract negotiating one day a week?

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Now we're down to the nitty-gritty time, and they're saying that, well, we have a mediated end on it.

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They think that's going to help, you know.

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For the most part, they're bargaining in bad faith, and it's up to the rank and file to let them know that,

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you know, we don't want no crap.

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Simple as that, you know, and hopefully all of the rank and file,

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they have to put their bodies on the line now and stand up.

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We want to continue to have that bad, that natrocious, grievous procedure.

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Sit on your hands. If you don't, get out here with the rest of the people, you know.

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Come out and let you put your feet out here in the street, you know.

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So what do you think is going to happen when there's no contract July 20th?

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I think, well, I hate to really second-guess our president, the national president, or the negotiators,

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but whatever it is that they come up with, I hope it's worthwhile.

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Just don't give us, don't expect us to turn over and play dead, because if nothing else,

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I would like to see the postal workers vote a contract down once, and this may be the very one to do it.

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Because as people have been saying on the line, postal management think that we are machines, and we're not machines.

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And if they take us for granted like that, the main thing that we have is the right to turn that contract down

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and to send a message to Mr. Carter that there's a Jerry Brown in California.

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And I take it for granted that Jerry Brown would love to have the support of postal workers at the national level

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and all the locals that we represent, because Mr. Carter could have a fight come 1980.

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Now, I'm not saying that it will happen, but, well, I like the way Jerry Brown talks.

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He has not turned against postal workers. He has not been throwing out propaganda against postal workers,

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propaganda like what was in the media yesterday saying that postal workers, how high they are paid and this type of thing.

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But I still would tell Mr. Carter, he didn't tell the coal miners that. He did not tell the mine workers that.

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So don't make us scapegoats. Don't take advantage of us like that. Don't disrespect us like that.

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Labor went all out in voting for Carter. I think that, I hope he hasn't forgotten where he came from.

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Because if he has, I'm sure a lot of people will be willing to send him back.

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What issues do you think people are going to look at besides the money when they're deciding on the contract?

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Well, I think they will be concerned about a security package.

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I have seen five women at my facility that were fired and told that they had to go through the grievance procedure.

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I've heard about instances at the BMC and down here at the main where people have been put off the clock.

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So I think as a whole, I think all of the workers are concerned about a security package.

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Yes, they're concerned about money. They're concerned also about that coal rolling.

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They're concerned about that grievance procedure.

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We have got to correct that grievance procedure.

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Too many people, they're tired of being told what to do with no recourse.

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And mandatory overtime, that's crazy.

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We have teenagers out here that need jobs. We have women out here that need jobs.

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We have men who are still with their families that need jobs.

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And we in the post office are seeing forced overtime, mandatory?

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No, let's do some hiring.

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And I think if we do some serious hiring, we can take care of the unemployment problem.

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Anything else you want to say?

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The problem is...

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

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Host the workers!

257
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Host the workers!

258
00:25:02.140 --> 00:25:07.820
Host the workers!

259
00:25:45.900 --> 00:25:58.260
Host the workers!

260
00:26:02.140 --> 00:26:17.140
Host the workers!

261
00:26:34.900 --> 00:26:39.280
Host the workers!

262
00:26:39.280 --> 00:26:54.280
Host the workers!

263
00:27:19.320 --> 00:27:23.220
Host the workers!

264
00:27:50.100 --> 00:27:52.920
Host the workers!

265
00:28:04.220 --> 00:28:09.280
Host the workers!

266
00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:29.400
Host the workers!

267
00:28:55.020 --> 00:28:57.360
Host the workers!

268
00:29:24.280 --> 00:29:26.900
Host the workers!

269
00:29:33.780 --> 00:29:37.280
Host the workers!

270
00:30:06.540 --> 00:30:11.900
Host the workers!

271
00:30:43.420 --> 00:30:53.500
Host the workers!

272
00:31:16.180 --> 00:31:19.000
Host the workers!

273
00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:21.740
Host the workers!

274
00:32:13.180 --> 00:32:16.680
Host the workers!

275
00:32:16.680 --> 00:32:22.980
Host the workers!