Karrie Blough

This episode features Region 10 RAA, Karrie Blough. She is a member of Branch 283, Houston, Texas.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Welcome to the History of Female Leadership in the NALC podcast. My name is Craig Schaefer. I'm a city carrier in Cape Garden, Missouri, branch 1015. Today I am honored to have a sister from down in Texas. If you don't mind, go ahead and introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Hi, I'm Carrie Blau. I'm uh I'm a member of branch 283 out of Houston, Texas. And I've been a member of the NELC since I was hired in January of uh 2000. So uh just over 26 years.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Nice. Okay. Um so we're gonna go back to begin with. We're gonna go back and what brought you to the post office? Like what were you doing and what brought you to the post office in the first place?

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Uh well, it's uh kind of a family business for me. Um so I grew up in LaGrange, Texas. It's a small town outside of Austin. Both my parents worked at the LaGrange post office. So I spent a lot of time there growing up. Um I uh remember as a kid seeing the LLVs, the postal vehicles, and uh just wishing I could drive one. I just have a vivid memory of wanting to do that, to just be trusted to drive an LLV one day. Um, my mom was initially a carrier, then she was a clerk, and then she went into management. Uh she was a postmaster in surrounding areas. Again, it's a small town, so there's nothing but small towns around us. Um my dad was the postmaster in LaGrange for a number of years. He just retired a few years ago, in fact. Um, and so I growing up, I spent many mornings upstairs in the break room at the post office, asleep on the couch, waiting for school to start, um, because my mom had to start so early and then she'd, you know, I'd get she'd get me over to school when it was time, um, which that kind of thing wouldn't fly anymore. But um, but it really was like a second home to me growing up. I had a code to the door and full access to the office. Um, my first ever speeding ticket was issued in the employee parking lot at the post office in LaGrange when I was 16. Uh so it was very, very much incorporated into my life. And then when I moved to Austin after I graduated high school in LaGrange, um I eventually ended up getting a job at the post office. My uncle was also a postmaster and he ended up working in the Austin GMF at one point, doing something with employee compliment. I can't remember what. So he uh signed me up for the test when I was around 21 and I got hired on not long after. And uh I started in January 2000 and finally got to drive an LLV for the first time, and I was super excited and couldn't believe they trusted me with it.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

That's awesome. That is it is in your family. I thought I had it in my family, but you got next level, so that's awesome. Um, so you're at the post office. Was there anything? I mean, basically, what led you to decide to kind of jump into the NALC and uh start pursuing leadership roles?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Well, uh, so when I first started, you know, given my family background, the thought was that I would hire on and end up in management. I know that was their their thoughts. Um and so, you know, growing up in Texas, I had never heard of a union before. I had no idea what it was, what it meant. Um, and when I was in Carrier Academy, the newly elected branch president of Austin, her name was Emery Edwards. Uh, she ended up being uh a great mentor to me uh over the years. She passed away a few years ago, though. Um, she came to the Carrier Academy to talk to us, new hires, and to sign us up for the union. And I thought the union sounded great. I like I said, this is the first I had ever heard of one. Um so uh, and during the course of the group conversation, there was talk about I can't remember exactly the conversation, but it had something to do with medical documentation and how management considered it or really didn't. And I made a comment about them not being doctors and made some remarks uh, again, that I just really don't remember. But what I remember is Emory saying, You're gonna make a great steward one day. I was very pleased by that. Uh so I signed up as a member that day. I called my mom on the way home. She asked how the day went, and I told her that the union came in and what Emory had said and that I signed up and she went, no. But you know, she was not uh very pleased with that, but I don't know. I didn't, I just didn't really understand any of it. Um and so when I started uh delivering mail, I started at North Cross Station in Austin, and the carriers in that place, uh, the union just really had that place locked down. They were very strongly represented there. Um, I'm not sure if I would have ended up on the path that I ended up being on if it wasn't for starting in that office, because as I found out later on over the years, that was probably the strongest union represented office in the in the city. Um so I saw quickly how management acted in the city, which is vastly different than how they act in the in the AOs and the smaller offices, which is where my parents were and what I thought I knew. Um, and so I learned pretty quickly that I didn't want anything to do with going into management in Austin. I just wasn't okay with treating people the way that our supervisors and our manager acted. Um I personally didn't have any issues. They were pretty nice to me, but I I felt compelled to help others with their problems based on how I learned how it was supposed to be by my fellow uh carriers at that office. Um, and so a couple of years later, I transferred to another office in Austin, which, like I said, wasn't quite as well represented. Um, I eventually became an alternate steward and quickly became one of two stewards there. And a lot of that had to do with everything that I did learn at the very strongly represented office. Um, and so at that point, I was all in. I was just 100% NELC. Uh anything NELC was putting on, a convention, training, school, event, anything, I wanted to be there. Um, and so that was uh, you know, uh being becoming a steward at that point, that was over 20 years ago. And and so I still love every bit of it.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

All right. So that leads me into my next question, which is what positions have you held in the NALC?

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Uh well, uh, you know, I started out, like I said, as an alternate steward in uh January 2005. And then I was the second steward in my office not long after that. Then I became uh branch secretary in 2007. Uh I not long after that, I started handling all the grievances for the city at the formal step A level. Um I did a couple of the joint route inspection processes that were during that time and uh eventually became chief steward of my office. Um in 2010, I was certified at step B and became a primary for the district that was Rio Grande District, but it's still Rio Gran District if you're going by step B terms. Uh that and that occurred in April of 2011. Um, somewhere during that time, I was elected vice president of Austin. I did that for a few years until around 20 or 13, whenever I transferred my membership to San Antonio Branch 421. Since I had been down in San Antonio a couple of years, I I just uh transferred uh to a route down there, you know, just in case, and uh ended up transferring my membership. So um I so I moved to San Antonio in 2011 for the step B job. I worked there until November 2017 when I started my job as RAA for Region 10. That was under MBA Kathy Baldwin at the time. Uh and then I served under Javier Brunel and now under uh Sean Boyd. So I've been there since or I've been here since 2017.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

All right. And I've I always have to ask, what are you, and I know you're gonna have to probably pick your top five or so, but what are your duties in the position that you hell hold right now with the RAA? What what do you have to do?

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Yeah, that that's tough because uh as an RAA our responsibilities are so many. I mean, there there are so many things that we do on any given day. Um, but I would say consistently, um I oversee the step B teams for uh for our region. Um so we have seven primary teams, um, which is considered you know a lot for a region. Um so we have seven primary teams and and several backup teams. I also handle a bit of um everything else having to do with grievances, arbitration, OWCP, pre-arbs, joint statement issues, carrier academy, um just pretty much any issues presented by carriers who call our office and they need you know help. So there's just so much we do. There's so much that I've learned as an RAA that I would have never knew existed as a problem. And it's our job to solve that problem one way or another. So that's what I do.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Yeah, I've uh had a couple RAAs on, and um yeah, you guys earn your keep big time, probably not getting paid enough, honestly, for what all you guys do.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Um yeah, I I would agree. It's a very very involved job.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Yes, yes, it is.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

I've I'm biased because I'm doing it, but uh it is. It's a very involved job.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Yeah, well, we uh down here on the ground level appreciate all you guys do for us because I know that your job isn't just an eight to five or whatever nine to five job, it is around the clock. Um my next question, it's a little bit more personal. Um I know that I've talked to a lot of different ladies and uh they've uh had different forms of I don't know, discrimination or just you know, treated differently because being a female. Um have have you had any of that, whether it's either and and a lot of times it's not even in the NALC, it's management has treated you differently or whatever. As far as being as in the postal service, NALC or just post office, have you dealt with any of that?

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Uh absolutely. I I think that's um I you know I I've thought about this question. I appreciated getting the questions ahead of time so that I could put some thought into that. Um I so yeah, I would say yes. Um and uh and I'll start with uh on the management side. So when um I think there's just an inherent lack of respect when going into an office to try to handle an issue. Uh whenever it's a woman coming in, when it's a male-dominated office, um it's uh there's going to be a dynamic there that's uh they where there's some sort of superiority issue on their end. And uh, you know, I've been called, I've been called names. I've been called uh, you know, that I'll get called that woman recently. It was that effing woman that, you know, and it's like why, why, why are you throwing woman in there? Like that's like it's a bad word, you know. Yes, I'm I'm a woman and yes, I have now annoyed you, but um, you're also just kind of showing yourself on on who you are and just proving my point. Um, so uh that being said, on the NALC side, I I've never had anyone like as blatantly do that as they do with management. You know, it's a little different with management versus NALC. I think NALC it's more subtle. Um, I've not had anyone say, you're a woman, so uh now I'm gonna treat you differently. I think that just within NALC, it is a male-dominated field that we're in. And so you're gonna have um a certain level of good old boy practices that happen where some men may think they're superior to others, and uh that's reflected in how they treat uh they treat women in particular. Uh, I've said this before in interviews because I've I've you know had these kind of interviews before, and and I I stand by this, that I I think strong women who don't cower to these types of men are then called emotional or um nagggy. I I can't think of another word at the moment. Um, you know, just whatever adjective you want to use that implies weakness and being annoying. But then you have those same men who act equally as aggressive and they're called passionate and assertive, uh, trying to make it sound like more of a positive thing. And I think men with those personality types uh just don't like being told what to do by a woman or being corrected by a woman, and that shows in the lack of respect that they give. Um I and I I know the second part of the question, I'll jump ahead to that, is how do I deal with those situations and you know how to how to resolve those types of situations? And I just tend to handle any adverse situation head on. I like to confront issues, I like to find resolution one way or another, even if it only means resolution for myself, so that I generally walk away feeling like something is resolved, whether it is or not for the other person. I'm I'm still going to make sure that I have my say. And uh whether you accept that or not, I'm not gonna walk away feeling like less than just because of what my gender is. I think that's just kind of ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Yeah. And I personally think a lot of it is jealousy because uh I've sat through I was very lucky to get to sit through one of your presentations at a training and you know your stuff. You know, it's not like you're you know trying to figure out what you're doing, you know your stuff. And I'm very fortunate also to have an RAA in our region, Larissa Pardee, and she's a same way. I love her, I say she is the same way like you. You know, it's it's like no nonsense. I'm here to do my job, I'm gonna tell you the way it is, and that's the bottom line. And um I personally I love it because I'm like, oh, I want her fighting for me because she knows her stuff, you know. And but I also see what you're saying that you know um it's it's it's kind of I don't I don't get it. I I I've just been raised and I am surrounded by strong women and I'm just used to it. And I know that in my household I'm the the dumbest person here. All of my my family, my daughters, and my wife are all very uh educated, and I'm I'm not, and so you know I I appreciate what you guys do, and and I know that you do deal with a lot of adversity on that st side, and it it's ridiculous, and I I hate that, but I'm glad that you guys fight through it.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Um thank you for that.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Another question I have that's on a little bit more on the personal side, and this one um I've said it before, but it comes from Leadership Academy. We had an ask me anything with the facilitators, and one of my uh brothers or sisters, I can't remember there at leadership asked um the the panel, have you know, with being in a position like you're in, um you're away from your family, your friends a lot. Does it cause any personal issues, you know, with your family or friends? You're in a in a position just like them where you are traveling a lot. Do you have any of those kind of issues?

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Sure, I think it's uh it would be just about impossible to not have those types of issues. Um and so in terms of family, um, I try really hard to have a good balance. I do have I have three kids. One of them is 26, so he's not so much a kid anymore. Um, but the other two are young. So I have an 11-year-old and a uh daughter who's turning eight um on Saturday, actually. So I do have younger kids, um, but I I try really hard to make sure I have a good balance for them. And I'm very lucky to have a supportive husband. Um, the kids are very understanding of my job. I try to try to have them involved. They go to meetings, they go to schools. Um, they're pretty well known within the region. I try to just really incorporate them and as much as possible. And they see and understand um when they hear me on the phone that I'm helping someone. I I like to think that they're proud of that. Um sometimes they'll chime in and you know, we'll, you know, what what was going on with them isn't, you know, what were you helping them with? You know, so they they kind of want to know about that. Um in addition to uh my husband, though, I also have great parents. So my parents, um, who I was referring to earlier, uh, they've both retired. They've not been at the post office in years at this point, and they moved here closer to us so that they can be here for their grandchildren, which I highly appreciate. They're a couple miles down the road. And anytime I do have a trip um or something that I've got to take care of, everyone understands that that has to happen. I've I'm going to New Mexico for a few days next week. It's just something that has to happen. And I just have to let them know this is this is what's going to happen. And then they communicate amongst each other and they make it work. Uh the kids are happy when they get grandma and grandpa time and they're happy uh regardless. They end up taken care of. Uh so I really feel lucky about with the family that I have that they all really do band together to make it work for me. I can't imagine being able to do this job without them. Um, I do think that there's a natural strain at times uh when I'm on leave or when it's an evening or a weekend and I need to help someone, but it's generally pretty quickly understood and they understand that I've got to continue on with the call. Um, I think everyone understands that this job is very important to me. I love it a lot. And making sure that the members know they have my attention whenever they need it is important to me. Um and my family knows my position on this. I know that there are stewards that are working from home at night and on weekends, because I was that steward once upon a time. Um, you know, they're at home uh working to help the carriers in their offices, and I feel like I need to be available when they need me so that they can get back to their lives faster too. I don't want to keep them waiting. They don't, they shouldn't have to wait until Monday morning at 8 a.m. to get an answer to their question that they're trying to resolve on Sunday, whenever they're also trying to get back to their lives. So if I can take, you know, a few minutes out of my uh my day and make their day easier, I I think that's just uh absolutely vital to being um to feeling, but you know, on my part, to feeling successful in this job. Um so as for friends, so same question, but with friends. Um I think it's hard to have true friends uh in this job, which is a little sad. But um, you know, I also I have plenty of people that I care about and that I know care about me. Uh, I don't think I could do this job if I didn't have that kind of sense of community within NALC. But unfortunately, there are a lot of opportunities for fake friends, you know, that kind of speaking back to what you were saying earlier about those who, you know, might be jealous or whatever the case may be. Um, and so those are the friends who will be friendly uh until you're in the way of something that they want. My goal with those types of people are to stay professional with them, but not get too close. Those people are generally insecure and not confident enough in their own abilities that they need to try and tear you down to get them where they want to be rather than to get there on their own merits. And uh those those people are dangerous for me because I um I just absolutely will not tolerate being um treated in any way other than what I feel like I've earned. I feel like I've earned with all the time um and passion that I've put into this job. I feel like I've earned a level of respect that um just because you uh don't have uh enough confidence in yourself to get where you want to go based on what you can do, um, don't try to bring me down to where you are in uh to try and pass me up for whatever it is that you think I've uh I've taken from you.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Yeah. Well, I I I think that, you know, obviously from the outside looking in, I know I've heard people say about like business agents, RAAs, you know, if you don't ever have any real interaction with you guys, it does look like oh, they just you know, they get to sit in their office all day and I'm out here in the heat or I'm in the cold. I I really feel like more more carriers should have to go and just see what you guys do and just uh actually see it with their own eyes because and it it I think that at that point, uh unfortunately, I think though a lot of times that might run people off because they'd be like, Whoa, I don't want any part of that. I mean, personally, I wouldn't want any part of what you do because, like you said, you are doing it all the time, and it is it's very uh big strain on you, you know, but you're willing to do that for the membership. And it's it's amazing. It takes special people to do it, is what I'm getting at.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

Yeah. Well it's a very fulfilling job. It's a very hard job, but it is very fulfilling. And I do try to make sure that that message is there whenever, you know, because what you're saying is absolutely true. You know, it was and this doesn't happen often, but it does happen sometimes out in the field where uh somebody will say, oh, how do you you know how how do you get that job, you know, lucky you and oh well actually NELC is always looking for people to step up and do things. And I tell them about the different things that they can do and um and how they can do those things. And then I tell them what you know kind of my story, what I've done. I've I've spent years uh learning and and studying on my own time, doing things on you know learning on the weekends, filing grievances, uh try you know the post office doesn't pay you to learn how to do this. There you have to learn all of this on your own and uh you know on your own time. And after I explain all of that, generally they they are like, oh I don't you know I don't have time for all that. And like well I, you know, that's that's what it took to get here. So it's kind of like either you want to do that, you want to put that time into it or you don't um but don't think that I've walked some easy path to get where I am um be you know just because I'm what I'm not I'm not carrying mail that doesn't mean that I don't have a a difficult or complicated job. I mean I remember uh the days of carrying mail and I I remember the end of the day you're you're done. Mail's delivered and you're done and you go home and you know no one's calling you to say hey I need you to go back and uh and deliver some more mail at at 10 at 10 o'clock or midnight when somebody's up working grievances, which I do get calls at those times. You know I I answer emails at 3 a.m or uh you know all the time that I do put into this um I you know sometimes it's it's like wow I you know I could just be carrying mail you know after having done both jobs they're both fulfilling jobs they're both hard jobs and um but to say one is harder than the other or one is easier than the other I I don't I think you're comparing apples and oranges. It's just not it's just not the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Yeah it definitely the commitment level though for doing what you guys do it's there's a much heavier load that you guys are carrying you know not necessarily physically but mentally to keep up with what you guys do.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Um there's definitely a trade off I mean like you said it's apples and oranges but at the end of the day there's uh there is a lot of extras that maybe a lot of people don't see that you guys yeah I think that that's all I think it's exactly what it is that they don't they don't see it but then I also see how difficult it is to you know to be a carrier it's not you know it it's the level of especially now I feel like it's more it's just worse than ever the harassment on the work floor the bad behavior by management and that comes from poorly trained management and uh you know management who are recently hired as CCAs and then you know months later they think they know everything and now they're running the floor you just you just have this um this disconnect with reality and the carriers suffer for it which is you know makes my job all the more satisfying being able to go into an office and really um really make change for them which is what I try to do is to make change make things better because I want things to be better for them.

SPEAKER_00 25:43

Yeah yeah well and I've only heard good things about you from anybody I talk to that you're very well respected and liked in region 10. So I think you're obviously making some people happy down there. Um I hope so I try I really try definitely um so on a more positive easy note uh so when you aren't answering the phone you aren't on your computer when you're at home with your family when what do you what do you like to do? What do you how do you unwind? How do you relax? Do you have hobbies? What what do you like to do on your off time?

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Uh well I love to travel um my my kids my husband we love to travel we um if there's time that we can take and go on a trip that's what we do. We're always thinking of fun places to go and things to do. And whether that's traveling or just trying to do something locally we like to get out and do things. My husband and I are two states away from our goal of visiting all 50 states together. So we just and we're hitting Alaska up in in June so then we'll be down to one we just have to get Hawaii and uh we'll have visited all states together and then we also like to go to uh we're trying to hit every national park um and presidential library and I've got little passport books that I like to get stamped and um it's a little nerdy but I I fully enjoy that and um otherwise my kids keep me busy and uh they are otherwise what I would consider to be my hobbies.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Yeah that sounds like a good time um and lastly you know someone new that is sitting here listening to this thinking you know what this might be something I want to do I might want to pursue some kind of uh leadership role in the NALC would you have any advice for someone like that I I would I would say to just just uh jump right into it and and uh be be 100% in whatever it is that you're going to uh that you're gonna do it's gonna take a lot of time a lot of learning um don't let anyone stand in your way or make you feel um like you're not like you've you're not uh worth whatever it is that you're trying to get to um hold people accountable don't take responsibility for someone else's bad behavior you're going to encounter people that uh that behave badly like we've been talking about um and I think women in general have personalities that make them uh feel responsible for others in ways that may not necessarily be healthy for them i'm I'm I'm working on that for myself so I know that from uh experience uh it's what makes um women great protectors of our membership I think but it's also uh what makes them vulnerable to being taken advantage of um and so I you know I thought about this uh this question and I uh I wrote down this quote for it it's a quote that I that I say whenever I go out and I do an installation especially if I'm going into an installation where I know that the branch has been facing some kind of challenging issues and um you know maybe it's a new president coming in. And this quote is from uh Jim Rohn he was a motivational speaker um and I I think I I'll just end my answer to this question with this quote. And so what he said was the challenge of leadership is to be strong but not rude be kind but not weak be bold but not bully be thoughtful but not lazy be humble but not timid be proud but not arrogant have humor but without folly so um I just I I love this quote I think it's uh it it shows a great balance in what you should strive to be as a leader.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

That is a really good quote I I like that um uh we we're you know I I know a lot of branches in ours in fact we're dealing with a lot of stuff locally and that's a really good quote I I like it I appreciate you sharing that with us um well that's the end of all I have question wise do you have anything else that you'd like to throw out there or did did you cover everything uh no I think I covered everything I I um trying to think back on everything I said to I I hope I didn't say anything wrong.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

That's all I'm hoping for. I hope it I hope anyone who listens this takes uh takes everything that I said for um you know just kind of what it uh what it's worth um you know my experiences have brought me to where I am and my have brought my thought processes to where they are and uh that's uh I am who I am in that regard.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

And that's what this is all about. I that's what I do this for is because I just want you to be able to get your story out and let someone else that might be re listening to this that might relate to some of the stuff you've dealt with to know that you know they're not alone in this so no you're I I really appreciate you jumping on here with me. Like I said I know you guys are crazy busy all the time and um for you to spend an hour of your time this evening with me I super appreciate it. I appreciate the opportunity thank you for thinking of me for this of course of course you you made an uh impression on me down there at that uh training I was super impressed so thank you for that thank you so much uh and uh thank you everyone for listening and be safe and be kind of