Ya Dad
Gimme me more characters so that I finish this se
(Skip to the bottom for the quick summary, sectioned off below the ----TL;DR-----
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I was a bid Air Driver part-time for about 5 years. One of the best jobs I've ever had. Evening pickups which were the same every day, no mental stress, virtually same variables every day, and I only worked about 20-23 hours per week so I could still actually have a life. It was great...until I was replaced with a combo and sent back inside to do part-time center work for my inside rate, which was roughly half my Air Driver rate. They couldn't take my classification away so I kept my current pay rate and job title, but since I was doing inside work, I was getting my inside pay. Because there was nothing the union could/wanted to do about this, I decided to go Feeders and was red-circled my top Air Rate.
Feeders was very close to Air Driving in terms of mental stress and low difficulty of the job (once I got the hang of it). I got to drive big rigs, visit different states and see different hubs, and the work pace was great. I loved it...until I was DQ'd on day 28 and sent back to centers, where they didn't return me to my Air Driver classification. I talked to the center manager and he fixed my classification and current pay rate, although I still made my inside rate for doing inside work. I couldn't keep affording to pay bills with my checks being cut in half every week. Out of shear luck, there were many Twilight/Midnight combo jobs that became available around this time, so I bid on all of them and ended up winning a combo position. Again, I was red-circled my top Air Rate.
Combo Inside/Inside was one of the worst jobs I've ever had, because I was Unload/Unload. I didn't think it would be that bad. I mean, it's just unload. I've done it before as a shot to the Unload before I went into air driving. It's just putting boxes on a moving belt. Not that hard, and not as physically demanding as actually loading trailers instead of unloading them. Well, doing that part-time versus doing it for 8.5-9 hours per week is a much bigger difference than I thought. Anyway, did Combo for about 10 months and saw bids for the new Tuesday-Saturday FT Package Car positions. I was not at all interested in trying this job because I still wanted to go back to Feeders after a year and I didn't want my possible DQ from Package Car to interfere with that. I bid on it just to see what would happen, and to my surprise they ended up letting me do Package Car, even though it had been less than a year from my disqualification date. The only reason I decided to go in was because since it was less than a year from my Feeder DQ, they wouldn't be able to deny my entry back into Feeders if I DQ'd from Package Car as long as it was over a year from my Feeder DQ. My Feeder DQ did not interfere with my entry to Package Car, therefore if I were to DQ from Package Car, likewise it can not interfere with my entry to Feeders. So, with nothing to lose, I gave it a shot.
Full-time Package Car was something I'd always avoided, but I gave it a shot anyway just to see it from a first person perspective. It was as expected; variables that were out of my control, doing a job that was not enjoyable, where everything that went wrong was always somehow my fault. On top of this, I was not red-circled this time but instead brought in at the starting FT Package Car rate of $18.75. Brought this to my FT Sup's attention who, after a fun bout with Labor, corrected my rate of pay. I ended up running bonus, but the next day I had a new pre-loader that had misplaced so many packages that I had ran +2 hours over. That ended up being her last day working at UPS. The next day, I had what the preload PT Sup described as a "messed up chart" and everything was an absolute mess. I had one of the longest package cars you could drive, and it was stacked from floor to ceiling, front to back. I brought this to my FT Sup's attention, and when we walked back to see my package car, he starts raising his voice to the PT Sup and starts demanding that all packages that are not not business, throw them out. This was also a +2 hour day. Following day, I was DQ'd and sent back to Combo Inside/Inside.
Now it has been over a year since my Feeder disqualification. I still have my Class A CDL, 1 year of safe driving, and am DOT certified. I am ready to try again. I signed the list, but today was informed by an e-mail from Labor read to me from the Feeder DM that since I was disqualified twice, that I now have to wait THREE YEARS before I can try Feeders again. I brought up they are two separate classifications, and I was allowed to do Package Car less than a year from my Feeder DQ, so I was confused. He kept reading, and the email said that the only reason I was allowed into Package Car was because of a "special agreement" between I and them. I told the Feeder DM I was unaware of such an agreement.
----------------------------------------------TL;DR--------------------------------------------
SO! After being DQ'd from Feeders, going into Package Car in under a year of that DQ, then getting DQ'd from Package Car and trying again for Feeders after my 1 year Feeder DQ and being denied entry for 3 years from my Package Car DQ date, my question is:
Does my circumstance allow me to file a grievance with the argument of Independent Past Practice? I've talked to a few stewards about this and they all agree that I should file with this approach, but I would also like to hear some more opinions about this.
Sorry for the novel, and thanks in advance.
EDIT: If you have nothing helpful to say, do not post. I've had to contact a moderator to take down the previous version of this thread because trolls just swarmed all over it. Yes I was disqualified from Package Car and Feeders. Package Car is not my cup of tea and the mistake in Feeders is easily fixed. I've spent most of my UPS Career in browns and I am not giving up. If you're looking for a thread to boost your post count and create worthless replies, this one isn't it.
mark)
I was a bid Air Driver part-time for about 5 years. One of the best jobs I've ever had. Evening pickups which were the same every day, no mental stress, virtually same variables every day, and I only worked about 20-23 hours per week so I could still actually have a life. It was great...until I was replaced with a combo and sent back inside to do part-time center work for my inside rate, which was roughly half my Air Driver rate. They couldn't take my classification away so I kept my current pay rate and job title, but since I was doing inside work, I was getting my inside pay. Because there was nothing the union could/wanted to do about this, I decided to go Feeders and was red-circled my top Air Rate.
Feeders was very close to Air Driving in terms of mental stress and low difficulty of the job (once I got the hang of it). I got to drive big rigs, visit different states and see different hubs, and the work pace was great. I loved it...until I was DQ'd on day 28 and sent back to centers, where they didn't return me to my Air Driver classification. I talked to the center manager and he fixed my classification and current pay rate, although I still made my inside rate for doing inside work. I couldn't keep affording to pay bills with my checks being cut in half every week. Out of shear luck, there were many Twilight/Midnight combo jobs that became available around this time, so I bid on all of them and ended up winning a combo position. Again, I was red-circled my top Air Rate.
Combo Inside/Inside was one of the worst jobs I've ever had, because I was Unload/Unload. I didn't think it would be that bad. I mean, it's just unload. I've done it before as a shot to the Unload before I went into air driving. It's just putting boxes on a moving belt. Not that hard, and not as physically demanding as actually loading trailers instead of unloading them. Well, doing that part-time versus doing it for 8.5-9 hours per week is a much bigger difference than I thought. Anyway, did Combo for about 10 months and saw bids for the new Tuesday-Saturday FT Package Car positions. I was not at all interested in trying this job because I still wanted to go back to Feeders after a year and I didn't want my possible DQ from Package Car to interfere with that. I bid on it just to see what would happen, and to my surprise they ended up letting me do Package Car, even though it had been less than a year from my disqualification date. The only reason I decided to go in was because since it was less than a year from my Feeder DQ, they wouldn't be able to deny my entry back into Feeders if I DQ'd from Package Car as long as it was over a year from my Feeder DQ. My Feeder DQ did not interfere with my entry to Package Car, therefore if I were to DQ from Package Car, likewise it can not interfere with my entry to Feeders. So, with nothing to lose, I gave it a shot.
Full-time Package Car was something I'd always avoided, but I gave it a shot anyway just to see it from a first person perspective. It was as expected; variables that were out of my control, doing a job that was not enjoyable, where everything that went wrong was always somehow my fault. On top of this, I was not red-circled this time but instead brought in at the starting FT Package Car rate of $18.75. Brought this to my FT Sup's attention who, after a fun bout with Labor, corrected my rate of pay. I ended up running bonus, but the next day I had a new pre-loader that had misplaced so many packages that I had ran +2 hours over. That ended up being her last day working at UPS. The next day, I had what the preload PT Sup described as a "messed up chart" and everything was an absolute mess. I had one of the longest package cars you could drive, and it was stacked from floor to ceiling, front to back. I brought this to my FT Sup's attention, and when we walked back to see my package car, he starts raising his voice to the PT Sup and starts demanding that all packages that are not not business, throw them out. This was also a +2 hour day. Following day, I was DQ'd and sent back to Combo Inside/Inside.
Now it has been over a year since my Feeder disqualification. I still have my Class A CDL, 1 year of safe driving, and am DOT certified. I am ready to try again. I signed the list, but today was informed by an e-mail from Labor read to me from the Feeder DM that since I was disqualified twice, that I now have to wait THREE YEARS before I can try Feeders again. I brought up they are two separate classifications, and I was allowed to do Package Car less than a year from my Feeder DQ, so I was confused. He kept reading, and the email said that the only reason I was allowed into Package Car was because of a "special agreement" between I and them. I told the Feeder DM I was unaware of such an agreement.
----------------------------------------------TL;DR--------------------------------------------
SO! After being DQ'd from Feeders, going into Package Car in under a year of that DQ, then getting DQ'd from Package Car and trying again for Feeders after my 1 year Feeder DQ and being denied entry for 3 years from my Package Car DQ date, my question is:
Does my circumstance allow me to file a grievance with the argument of Independent Past Practice? I've talked to a few stewards about this and they all agree that I should file with this approach, but I would also like to hear some more opinions about this.
Sorry for the novel, and thanks in advance.
EDIT: If you have nothing helpful to say, do not post. I've had to contact a moderator to take down the previous version of this thread because trolls just swarmed all over it. Yes I was disqualified from Package Car and Feeders. Package Car is not my cup of tea and the mistake in Feeders is easily fixed. I've spent most of my UPS Career in browns and I am not giving up. If you're looking for a thread to boost your post count and create worthless replies, this one isn't it.
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