I've gotten in the habit of lurking but BrownCafe keeps suggesting I should consider posting since it has been so long since I last posted and this topic hit close to home so ....
This right here is one (just one but it is a significant one for me that is indicative of what happens) of the reasons I'm planning on finally walking after this peak season. Temporary part timers that are not paying dues much less even going to be initiated into the Teamsters get to work today and I'm not allowed on the clock as a dues-paying permanent seniority full-time driver. Then they add insult to injury by having supervisors shuttle packages to routes that blew out because they refused to bring in laid off drivers to run dump routes as needed.
I understand that when the peak season volume hits, they want to have experienced people so they wanna work all the new hires as much as possible before the flood. At the same time, more than enough bid route drivers would voluntarily go home if given the opportunity if they are that hell bent on keeping the routes to minimal and overtime to maximum for drivers on the clock.
Honestly, I have no idea what I would do if they offered me the chance to be a helper on the days I'm laid off. It seems to be a mute issue locally as the company stance is that full-timers and part-timers are different seniority lists so laid off full-timers are assed out even if there are part-time vacancies in the building. Last peak season, I was paid my driver wages when I was a "helper" but that was actually using me as a "helper" to train the peak season drivers. Don't bother asking for your $.50 because they look at you like you just looked a gift horse in the mouth since they were gracious enough to work you while they are training peak season drivers. Never mind, that you should have been driving the route in the first place.
Every time the situation changes, they change the work practices to suit the situation. Hopefully, your union leadership has more gumption than mine.
My question is how they are paying them $8.50. If they are part-timers, shouldn't they be getting their current unskilled pay rate? If they are full-time drivers, shouldn't they at least be getting top scale part-time wages? Understanding that different jurisdictions have different rules, but it seems that dropping them to $8.50 is ludicrous.