Cindy Connors

This episode features Cindy Connors from Branch 513, Stanton, Virginia. Cindy is a trustee and Food Drive Coordinator.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Welcome to the History of Female Leadership in the NALC podcast. I'm Craig Schaefer. I'm a city carrier in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, branch 1015. Today I'm so excited to have a sister from Virginia. If you don't mind, go ahead and introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Hi, Craig. I'm really happy to be here too. My name is Cindy Connors, and I joined the Postal Service in 1992 as a TE, and that was in Colorado. And then I switched branches and a year later closer to home in Colorado. So and then retired and eventually landed as a member of the Stant Virginia branch 513.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Awesome. Awesome. And um you said, how long have you been with the Postal Service? I'm sorry, I may have missed it.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

No problem since 1992.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

92, that's right. Okay. All right. Well, if you don't mind, how about this? We go back a little before 92. And what brought you to the Postal Service in the first place?

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Oh, sure. Well, to be honest, I moved to Colorado when I was pretty young and naive, about 20 years old after graduating college. And I didn't, I grew up in New Jersey and I didn't do any checking to see how much they pay teachers in Colorado, because in New Jersey they were paid really well. So my hope was to go to graduate school for a couple years and then teach. My daughter came along and I needed a job that was secure and paid well. I got a job offer as a teacher, and I couldn't have lived off of that at all. So I took the postal exam, sort of on a whim, I'm gonna have to admit. And uh I didn't stay, but the rest is history, of course. And I'm so glad I got that job at the postal service. When I saw my first paycheck, I just thought, wow, yeah, this is much better than that, and uh hard work and well deserved. And we probably could have you know could have handled being paid a little bit more also and had some more benefits. The T job was rough as a single mom, but I'm really pleased that I that life took me down that path.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Yep. Yeah, I um I was with you as a T for a little while myself. So uh it it is a tough position to be in, but uh, if you stick with it and you get hired on, it pays off, that's for sure. Um, so you got hired on in '92, um, and then obviously at some point you decided to pursue some sort of a leadership role in the NALC. Was there something that caused you to decide to, you know, kind of take on some kind of leadership role?

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Well, to be honest, I don't I think that's putting the chicken before the egg, maybe a little bit. Uh, there were things that caused me to be really concerned at the Postal Service. And so I went to my first union meeting as a TE, and my uh shop steward was um really supportive and just, hey, you know, come sit by me, you know, I'll introduce you to people. And I got to talking to him, and I just really spent that first year trying to learn the contract. But then I changed to a different branch. I moved closer to home in Colorado, and I thought, oh my gosh, I'm gonna get fired because I can't. I spent a whole year sort of with my head down, not you know, staying under the radar, um, but watching the bosses try to make all the women cry. And I really couldn't take that anymore. And I kept exiting my case saying, watch out, and you know, knock that off. And so I was talking to my shop steward there, and they had uh no alternate. So he said, Well, why don't you just be my alternate? You can learn, it'll be easy, you know. I'll just I'll mentor you. And two weeks later he left and uh took a detail in safety and then said good luck. And I've been uh union rap ever since.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

That's awesome. That that's something that I've heard more than I like to admit that you know, management just being very disrespectful to ladies and thinking that they can push them around. And I'm glad that you we need more ladies to be able to, you know, step up and say nope, you know, and so thank you for doing that. Because I'm sure that other ladies probably saw you doing that and were like, wait a second, she's right, you know, and so that's that's amazing. Um so what positions have you held in the NALC and in your multiple branches?

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Well, I was shop steward for 20-something years, and I served as a step B, an alternate step B for a while. I have to admit, not my favorite job in the union. I am really impressed by people who can sit in an office with management all day long, and management that is clearly not all that cooperative or interested in the joint process it's supposed to be. Um, it was a really uh rough time for me. I just I like being outdoors or working with my own, you know, my own people that I knew in my office, et cetera. But I'm really proud of having done it. I learned a ton when I did it. And I've I'm an arbitration advocate. I still do that in my retirement. And I love the legislative side. So when they did the field, the quote, it's not new anymore, but the field plan, our state, Colorado, already had built in um effectively congressional district liaisons in our bylaws, and they also had a chair of the congressional district liaisons, in addition to our state chair, our president. So I snatched that right away. I love, love lobbying and doing the political work, etc. And so I did that and I worked really well uh as a team. Our our state officers were uh very robust, you know, interested in having a program that the politicians knew about. And so that was really fun. And I went on our first lobby trip to DC, things like that. I also was on release staff for elections, three cycles in Colorado. And one of the things I'm really proud of, which is not a position, but I helped during the transition in Colorado uh talk to elected officials about what it's like to deliver mail while we were doing the process of going from an excuse absentee balloting state to an all-malin balloting state. And that was really exciting. And let's see, I'm a trustee now. I've served as food drive coordinator at a couple different levels. I worked at headquarters a few times doing the food drive, and I'm now the regional coordinator for region 13 for the food drive. And I'm did some other things, I'm sure I have a couple other things, but I can't, those are the things that are stand out.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's that's a lot, actually. Uh I could see how you could maybe miss a few things because you listed a lot of things. Um, and you kind of had lost me because the the step B thing, I just went through leadership and there were a couple of step B people in with uh with me in there. And you know, they they were you could tell they loved their job. They they were super passionate about it. And I'm, you know, I'm looking at it going, I'm so glad there's people like this because this sounds like a nightmare to me. I hate being in the office for a couple hours in the morning with management, and I'm you know, I'm with one of you know 50 other carriers and there's only a couple managers. I don't have to sit face to face with one by myself all day long. Nightmare scenario. Oh, that's horrible. So I'm so glad there's people like that. But when you started talking legislation and political stuff, we're vibing now because that's that's my love. I I absolutely love it. So yeah, I uh you you've covered everything. That is that is so cool. Well, um I I you were saying that you're your regional uh food drive coordinator, and I'm not sure that I've had a regional food drive coordinator on the podcast. So if you don't mind, can you kind of explain what that entails, what you do with that?

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Well, I work directly with uh one of our REAs, Hugh McElroy, who um, as part of his duties oversees the community services type things within our region. But the I just got the job a couple months before this food drive. I was this Virginia State Coordinator before that. So I'm learning it as I go, but a lot of it was reaching out to all the branches in the region, first to get them registered, but also to answer questions. I did a training at our regional rap session on how to beef up your food drive and just as much support as I can get. I also drove around the state delivering food drive bags and cards and things like that. So I'm just getting to know the food drive coordinators around the region, and I look forward to hopefully doing maybe um after national convention, doing a monthly little Zoom training for anybody anybody wants to join on and just helping people go that extra mile on the food drive. So that's what I hope to create out of the job.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

That's awesome. Um, we actually have a new food drive coordinator. This first, this was his first year doing it. And so if you do some kind of like training, online training for anybody, we will definitely be looking you up because he he's excited about it and um did a phenomenal job this year. He really took it to the next level for his first year, and I I was so excited for him because he he was he really put in some work so that uh not trying to get off and and give him all his make his head any bigger than it is, but he did a great job.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Um that's great to hear. I really it is. It warms my heart. Am I allowed to do a little plug for my branch?

SPEAKER_01 10:48

100%.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

So my little branch, Stanton, we won uh this year nationally uh for a branch our size. So, and that's three out of the last four years. One year we got unseated the second.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Wow, that is so I'm super proud of our team.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

It's just we really uh they really rock it here, and it's a community effort. So I'm I'm very proud of uh it's not all me, it's a team work and a community effort. It's really fun.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Yeah, yeah, it is. And you know, we used to we we had a really good one years ago, and then I think honestly, COVID kind of threw a wrench in everything, and uh, you know, people kind of got lost the interest in it there for a couple of years, and then we're we're slowly getting that interest built back up and everything, and I'm sure you've dealt with that there as well. Uh, I think it was pretty much nationally, but I feel like we're on the upswing, and I think you know, with just getting everyone to understand how important that is, and you know, understand, you know, I personally with my job, I don't have to worry about me or my kids having something to eat tonight, but there are so many people that every single night parents are wondering if they're going to be able to feed their kids, and I can't imagine how that would feel. And so I want to do anything I can to keep that from happening. So, and for you doing that and stepping up and doing that, it thank you so much. I'm sure you have impacted more lives than you even know by all the work you put in. So that is that is really awesome to hear. Um, we kind of touched on this a while ago. Um, but have you know, this is it's kind of a darker question, but it it's important. You know, uh in your time here, you kind of touched on the way that you were the you and the other ladies in your office were being treated by management. Uh, could you, if you don't mind, kind of go into that a little more and explain the harassment, the dis discrimination or whatever, and what you did to deal with it, and and do you feel like you got it resolved?

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Uh well, on my first station when I was very new, uh, we had a lot of business routes and this big business complex area, and the address didn't, you know, the addresses didn't make a lot of sense, all that stuff. So I went up to one of the regulars and said, Hey, can you, you know, draw me like a little map, because the real map didn't cover it. And you know, he's he said, he gave me kind of a hard time, and he said I was stealing a man's job, and that he didn't really think that uh he should spend the time teaching me how to do that. And um I'm pretty honored when someone says that something like that to me. I the Irish German me comes out, and and so I was like, okay, watch me. And I really worked hard to learn my craft because of that. I didn't want them to be right for sure when they said things like that. And I would say also using humor and other things too, determination, but humor, etc. I ended up, I believe, getting the respect of my federal carriers, but there were only, I believe, four female letter carriers in my first station. And two of us were TEs, and there was two PTFs. That's it. And so that the my boss, his mission in the morning was just to make every the female so stressed out that they he wanted to see them cry. And you know, I have cried in my postal career, but never in front of my boss. You know, you do that at home and your family or your friends, but not at work. And it was never gonna make me crumble. But I I knew that when you stand next to someone and say, I'm here too, you know, it's okay. It that just really doesn't take a lot to support somebody that way. It's just I'm watching and I see you, and um, don't let this person, you know, run you down like that. You're a good carrier. And uh, if you some of the females I've met aren't good carriers, same as maybe you know what, maybe that wasn't their forte in life. They have other skills and working outside isn't their forte or whatever, but it has nothing to do with being female or male or any of those things when you do the job. The next the next station I worked in was not quite as bad in some ways, but they really still the bosses really still thought we were kind of stupid, and so and that we were too nice or something, and so they were trying to get over all the time, like you know, oh no, I can mandate you to work overtime because uh X, Y, and Z. And they'd make something up. Like, I like I can't read the contract or talk to my shop steward, or they thought that we would be too scared to ask our shop steward, things like that. I think we got it taken care. I could go on and on on little things like that, but rather focus on the positive, which you asked, did we get it resolved? I would say how we got it resolved is that from that point on, once um almost all the shop stewards we had in my office were female. Nice. And so I had my one of my good friends, Dawn and I did it together for quite a long time, uh, until we lost her. She passed away, unfortunately, from lymphoma. And um, and then another another woman named Cindy uh and I did it together. And so we used to tell all the new people, if you need help, just yell Cindy, and someone will come help you. And I think you know, that's really and then we you know we earned the respect of the carers there. And after that, many of the men were uber supportive. And then I did work with a couple other shop stewards uh that were male, and they just we just worked as a team without any any of that nonsense uh getting in the way. So good.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

That's good to hear. Um another question that's kind of a little not on the positive side a lot of times, unfortunately, is you know, you were discussing that you you've done a lot of different things uh for the NALC. Um, and especially, I'm sure I I'm by no means do I know anything about step B or arbitration advocacy. I know just the basics, but I would assume that that would take a lot of your time and then also doing your traveling and things like that. Um, has that caused the time that you spent doing uh different activities for the NALC and different jobs? Has that uh caused you any issues with family or friends with your time away from them?

SPEAKER_00 17:54

I would say the only issue with uh family that I ever had with being a union rep was with my ex, who when I he's a letter carrier, and um he had aspirations in the union of uh official titles and things. And we I'm more of the I just want to do the work, I really want to do the work, and you just let me do the work, right? Uh, but there were times when he thought that he should be the one that got to exit the home and I should be at home because he was more entitled to do the union work than I was. And you know, that can be that was interesting to navigate. And um in the end, he went into management, and in the end, we aren't married anymore, right? So, but I will say my daughter was really supportive of it all along, from when she was little. I used to take her to the union hall all the time. Uh, when she was eight, we had it was um Obama the first time President Obama ran. Uh and we also had right to work on the ballot in Colorado. And I had to take her with me a lot because it was just entirely too important work to not do. And I set her up with the t-shirts, and she's this spunky little thing, and she said she's only eight years old, but nobody got two shirts. She was great, and I just took her all along, and while she's not a union activist now, she is super spunky, knowledgeable legislation, supports workers, and we did that as a team. So for me, it was a little bit of each, positive and negative. Well, uh I would never give it, I would never uh I'm I don't regret it a minute of it.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Good. And uh it I think it's super awesome that your daughter got to see how strong you are and see other strong females uh doing the work and uh you know giving her a very positive role model in you and then the other ladies, you know, that I think that probably went a long way to make her the lady she is now. So I I'm sure she is very thankful for everything you did. Um and I'm having a feeling that probably my next question may involve her as well. What do you like to do when you uh do call it a day or call it a week or whatever and take some time off? I know you're retired, but it you're not really retired. You still have many hats you're wearing. So when you take them all off and you're just gonna enjoy your evening or your day, what do you like to do to unrel unwind and relax? Do you have hobbies? What do you enjoy doing?

SPEAKER_00 20:41

Well, uh, I love to garden. I don't I only have about 10 blades of grass in my yard. Every other thing is a flower or a tree or a garden, a path all through it. It's really uh bird sanctuary, love that. And I have a cat, and she is Henri as all heck, so I love spending time with her. And I screened in my porches on the front and back so that we could be outside together. So it seems kind of silly, but it really is a nice way to chill. And you did touch on that. My daughter is really important to me. I have two grandchildren also, one is 16, one is 13, and they live in co they were in the military. My son-in-law was in the military, and so they were traveling when I retired. So I felt I could move back to the East Coast, which I always wanted to do, but then they moved back to Colorado. So I'm lucky enough to I'm not gonna move back there. And we talked, my daughter and I talked about it, but I do try to see them as much as I can. We were just in Phoenix all together and had a really good time. Thanks to my letter carrier job and my um my retirement and uh my family. Um I have the means to go see them. So that's really important to me. I love to travel.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

That's awesome. That's awesome. That's crazy that you guys are just kind of crisscrossing each other. That's the way it goes. Yeah, yeah. And you know, the thing is, it's this now, I mean, you're I'm sitting in the very southern tip of Illinois and you're in Virginia and we're having a conversation. So even though, you know, you may not be right next door, you can well, my daughter and my wife were just FaceTiming five minutes ago when she's in St. Louis. So, you know, it it's uh it it's a different world, that's for sure. It's it's much smaller, I would say. But um, well, that's awesome. That that's really cool. Um, you know, once again, you have obviously done a lot, you've seen a lot, you you have a ton of knowledge. Um, if someone is listening to this and thinking, you know, maybe I want to get involved a little more, what would be a piece of advice you'd give to them as they just start their journey into uh the NALC and like a leadership role?

SPEAKER_00 22:59

I would say focus on your strengths and don't worry about titles. It's okay to be the worker bay. In fact, it's really needed. Um, it's not it's not about titles or accolades, it's about the results. We talked about the food drive earlier. The reward is in the result that we fed so many hungry people. Um, but you know, find some people that you care about and you trust and you can work together and have fun while you're doing it and really, you know, support each other. I think that's essential. I've always felt part of a team, and that's what I would want for other people in their career.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, um, I'm out of questions, so I'll just kind of toss it back to you. Is there anything that I forgot? Anything you want to add? The floor is yours.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

I can't think of anything, but I really appreciate this opportunity. It's been really fun. It's nice having a chat with you.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Good, good. That's that's my goal, is every time I I I just look forward to listening to the stories everybody gives me. And your story is as amazing as the every other one I've heard. I I've been looking forward to this interview. Um I I I didn't know how to get in touch with you. I mean, we're Facebook friends, but it's one of those things where we just, you know, in ALC, we added each other. And uh fortunately, um my la one of my last episodes with Annette Taylor, she was like, You gotta reach out to Cindy. And so I was like, Okay, you gotta let her know. I'm not just gonna text her because I'm not gonna be that weird dude. And uh, so I don't know if she ever messaged you or not. So you may have thought, oh my god, what's this weird dude texting me for?

SPEAKER_00 24:48

But no, I'm so glad you did.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

I I am so glad you uh accepted. I I know that there's a you got other things you could be doing, and you chose to spend a little time with me this evening, and I really do appreciate it. Um I I can't thank you enough, and I thank everybody else out there that is listening. Uh, be safe and be kind.