PT On Call Air Cover Driver

[thom1842]

As you might have guessed from the title, I'm a PT OCA cover driver. I don't have an assigned route and cover when vacations come up and there are a few open routes as well. I've been driving 5 days a week (for the most part) for over two years, but when peak comes around and nobody is on vacation I don't get any driving hours.

The rub comes that I am told I can't work the ramp or sort when I am unscheduled for driving. I have more seniority than half the people working the sort/ramp, yet I have to stay home while they get to work. I would love to be able to come in and work at the normal sort rate when I'm not driving (less money is still better than no money), but my supes say that I can't since I won a bid for a driving position. Any help? I work under the Central Region Supplement.

 

[DazedandConfused]

Ask your stewards what you should do. If it was me, I would tell my Supe if he wasn't gonna drive me or let me work another job, I would be filing for unemployment that same day. Bet they do something about it quickly...lol..You have to survive too!!

 

[thom1842]

Thanks for the reply. I will definitely be talking to my steward on Monday, I thought I would poke around on here to see if anyone has encountered a similar situation or would know of any reason why I wouldn't be allowed to work.

 

[DazedandConfused]

Check the rider and amendments in your book. In our local, they have to guarantee us 16 planned hours a week to be PT Cover Drivers. At one time, they tried getting away with telling us to stay on as drivers where they couldn't guarantee us work or go inside and work there. With the difference in wages between the two, I told them they either hade to order me inside or work me the 16 hours. Being "On Call" might make things different for you, but worth checking out. Good luck.....Hope this helped.

 

[barnyard]

If you were hired as an OCA driver, then you do not have any seniority in another classification. The only people you would bump would be unloaders/loaders or other unskilled positions. If there are no unskilled positions on the ramp, there would be noone you could bump.

 

[thom1842]

If you were hired as an OCA driver, then you do not have any seniority in another classification. The only people you would bump would be unloaders/loaders or other unskilled positions. If there are no unskilled positions on the ramp, there would be noone you could bump.

Both our ramp and sort are almost purely unskilled positions with the exception of push back driver on the ramp and a few spots on the inside. I was originally hired as a ramp employee and then bid into OCA.