A question about seniority and bidding a route

[saynotoford]

Hello Ladies and Gentleman,

I have been looking around the Cafe for a couple of weeks now and am really excited to have found this place.

I have a question about a situation that I find myself involved in currently:
I have been a full time driver for 2.5 years now (just went to full scale, woohoo). I currently don't have a bid route.
There is a route that is coming up for bid in our center in the next couple of weeks. From what I hear around the building, just talking and listening to the other drivers, there is not much interest in anyone wanting to put their name on the bid sheet except for me and one other guy. Of course this is all just gossip, but it is from this hearsay that my question stems. The other guy that has voiced interest in bidding this route has ten years as a driver, BUT, he just moved to our center last month. So he has more company seniority that me, but less center seniority. My question is which matters more when bidding on a route, and in this situation, assuming that we were the only two to actually bid on this route, who would get the route?

I thank you in advance for you knowledge and look forward to partaking in many stimulating conversations with you all in the future.

 

[JonFrum]

Seniority and bidding are covered in your regional Supplement. The details vary from one Supplement to another.

 

[Jones]

Hello Ladies and Gentleman,

I have been looking around the Cafe for a couple of weeks now and am really excited to have found this place.

I have a question about a situation that I find myself involved in currently:
I have been a full time driver for 2.5 years now (just went to full scale, woohoo). I currently don't have a bid route.
There is a route that is coming up for bid in our center in the next couple of weeks. From what I hear around the building, just talking and listening to the other drivers, there is not much interest in anyone wanting to put their name on the bid sheet except for me and one other guy. Of course this is all just gossip, but it is from this hearsay that my question stems. The other guy that has voiced interest in bidding this route has ten years as a driver, BUT, he just moved to our center last month. So he has more company seniority that me, but less center seniority. My question is which matters more when bidding on a route, and in this situation, assuming that we were the only two to actually bid on this route, who would get the route?

I thank you in advance for you knowledge and look forward to partaking in many stimulating conversations with you all in the future.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "center seniority". If he was already in your building and just bid into your center from another center, then he will get the route. If he transferred from another building then my understanding is that in most of those cases the transferee loses his seniority and starts at the bottom in his new building, in which case you would get the route. And like Jon said, check your supplement.

 

[shrimpfire]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "center seniority". If he was already in your building and just bid into your center from another center, then he will get the route. If he transferred from another building then my understanding is that in most of those cases the transferee loses his seniority and starts at the bottom in his new building, in which case you would get the route. And like Jon said, check your supplement.

The other driver would go to bottom of list for bidding, u r suppose to get it, now whether they give it t u is another matter.

 

[NHDRVR]

This is one of those situations that I wish was in the national contract. As long as you are in our Local, when the bids go up on Feb/Mar you bid on your route based on your seniority date. That's pretty straight forward...

Last year our center had 4 runs that went to an earlier start time because they now had to run off the early A.M.'s since those were cut out by our center manager (a whole other story). This all happened because one driver felt these routes should have been up for bid since he wanted one of them and went to the B.A. to complain.

Anyways...

This particular situation was only an 'in-house' bid and not open to other centers in our Local and only the drivers affected by a 'bump' were allowed to pick a route held by a junior driver. Then, those drivers who were bumped could do the same until 3 bumps happened and then the 3rd driver is ****** out of luck.

My point here (bored yet??) is that it is too easy for UPS to manipulate language on this when drivers careers are defined by the routes they are on. There should be clear language, somewhere, about any/every situation when a route comes up for bid.

I heard that in Fed-Ex you have a route for life. Imagine being stuck on a Mall route for 30 years?

 

[No such person]

To put in my 2 cents worth, I've got 3 years seniority, and am a cover driver like you. I would much rather be a cover driver than have a bad route. If there is little interest in the the route there could be a good reason for that.

 

[TheDick]

In the nor-cal neck of the woods transferring to another bldg means forfeiting your bldg seniority. Bottom of the pile means first laid-off and last to bid the route, so you'll get it if it comes down to you. But if things get worse ie economy, you might go home for the day before he does.

 

[Jones]

The other driver would go to bottom of list for bidding, u r suppose to get it, now whether they give it t u is another matter.

That depends. In my building we have 3 centers, and we generally have 2 or 3 drivers a year that bid into another center when a route opens up between the annual bids(which are strictly in-center). Those drivers do not lose their seniority, they dovetail in to their new center according to their building seniority. If you had ten years seniority in your old center, you'll have ten years seniority in your new center.
We can't transfer between buildings here, but I know they can out west and my understanding is that drivers who do lose their building seniority and go to the bottom of the bid list in their new building.

 

[JonFrum]

In the New England Supplement, your seniority applies throughout the local union's jurisdiction. So in my Local we have one building which has two centers, but one overall full-time seniority list.

In Local 25, they have four buildings and numerous centers. You can transfer from building to building within Local 25 and retain your seniority.

The entire states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island have one local union each, so a full-timer has state-wide seniority in whichever of those states he's in.

Someone correct me if I'm intrepreting this wrong.

 

[Mike23]

To put in my 2 cents worth, I've got 3 years seniority, and am a cover driver like you. I would much rather be a cover driver than have a bad route. If there is little interest in the the route there could be a good reason for that.

It could also mean that the person before had been doing it for so long nobody else really knows how to do it. I only have a year and a bit seniority and that's the case with my route. When I'm lucky and management doesn't send me back out with their all mighty stupidity of over dispatching I'm one of the first drivers back with the least amount of seniority.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

In the New England Supplement, your seniority applies throughout the local union's jurisdiction. So in my Local we have one building which has two centers, but one overall full-time seniority list.

In Local 25, they have four buildings and numerous centers. You can transfer from building to building within Local 25 and retain your seniority.

The entire states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island have one local union each, so a full-timer has state-wide seniority in whichever of those states he's in.

Someone correct me if I'm intrepreting this wrong.

Close. 5 buildings, 10 centers local 25. Any FT employee can transfer to any building or center at the biannual bid or any bid and dovetail seniority

 

[saynotoford]

To put in my 2 cents worth, I've got 3 years seniority, and am a cover driver like you. I would much rather be a cover driver than have a bad route. If there is little interest in the the route there could be a good reason for that.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being a coverage driver, but the uncertainty on a weekly, and sometimes daily basis, with different start times, and what not, have began to be a drag on me and my family. The route that is in question is a route that was ran as a sattelite route, one of four, out of a town about an hour south of our center. The lady that ran it retired this summer after something like 30 years with the company and probably 25 on that route. The reason for the lack of interest is that it would require a move to said town, and not many people are willing to do that. But I am, and so is he.

 

[Jones]

Close. 5 buildings, 10 centers local 25. Any FT employee can transfer to any building or center at the biannual bid or any bid and dovetail seniority

It causes me no end of distress that we can't seem to figure out how to do this down here NoVa. If we could transfer between buildings I would have been gone a long time ago.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

It causes me no end of distress that we can't seem to figure out how to do this down here NoVa. If we could transfer between buildings I would have been gone a long time ago.

I'm sure you get other perks in your supplement that we are not entitled to, so it evens out.

 

[1989]

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being a coverage driver, but the uncertainty on a weekly, and sometimes daily basis, with different start times, and what not, have began to be a drag on me and my family. The route that is in question is a route that was ran as a sattelite route, one of four, out of a town about an hour south of our center. The lady that ran it retired this summer after something like 30 years with the company and probably 25 on that route. The reason for the lack of interest is that it would require a move to said town, and not many people are willing to do that. But I am, and so is he.

Do these sattelite routes have their own seniority list? If so, you would be last to work if one of those 4 routes were eliminated on any given day or week. And will most likely have no oppotunity to cover a route out of the center or work an inside job.

 

[yeldarb]

I would take a bad route over being a cover driver. It might be a bad route, but you would learn the ins and outs, and you will get used to it. Bid on a different one when it comes available, but its nice not wondering what your doing tomorrow.

 

[saynotoford]

Do these sattelite routes have their own seniority list? If so, you would be last to work if one of those 4 routes were eliminated on any given day or week. And will most likely have no oppotunity to cover a route out of the center or work an inside job.

There seems to be a bit of confusion on whether or not these routes are on thier own seniority list or not. It has been so long since it has been an issue. We have a new center manager, within the last six months, and she told me that she was "waiting to hear back from the union" so see whether or not she would have to offer that route to those other three sattelite drivers in that town first or be able to bid it out of our building. So there is a bit of a delay waiting for that issue to be worked out also.

 

[1989]

There seems to be a bit of confusion on whether or not these routes are on thier own seniority list or not. It has been so long since it has been an issue. We have a new center manager, within the last six months, and she told me that she was "waiting to hear back from the union" so see whether or not she would have to offer that route to those other three sattelite drivers in that town first or be able to bid it out of our building. So there is a bit of a delay waiting for that issue to be worked out also.

To the best of my knowledge those other 3 drivers don't want the route. Besides one will retire soon also...You will be number 3 out of 4.

 

[grgrcr88]

I think in most cases when transfering centers your company seniority only is used for vacations. Everything else would go from the start date in the new center.

Much the same as part time seniority - full time seniority!