Supervisors Working During Peak Season

turdburglar

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone. My union steward told me that on November the first peak season officially starts. He also said that from November the first to December the thirty-first supervisors have free rein to do whatever they want to make sure that all the packages are delivered on time. This does not really make sense to me, especially because supervisors are still not working in front of me in my building since they know I will file on them. If I would lose all my grievances because supervisors are allowed to work during peak season, then I would think they would work whenever it was "necessary", but a whole metro was terribly backed up today and no supervisors touched a package on that metro. If supervisors really are able to work during peak season, then I will stop filing grievances for now, but does anyone know if this is the case? Thanks in advance for any responses.
 

Nimnim

The Nim
Nope, peak is not off limits for supervisors working grievances. If management didn't hire enough people and have to have supervisors working to get it done, it's their fault. It's not like they don't know peak is coming.
 
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jalnar

Well-Known Member
Sounds like your steward needs to grow some b s.He is correct when peak starts but the contract is still valid
 

104Feeder

Phoenix Feeder
You might look in your Sort or Package ride to see if you have language that Management must utilize all available BU employees prior to using a peak hire or supervisory employees. They should have sign up sheets offering the extra work in the sort to Package drivers, for example. Even if they have offered and not enough have signed up you can show they haven't hired enough people and so should pay the grievances. Find that supervisor who is pissed that he has to work and he'll give you all the info you need.
 

turdburglar

Well-Known Member
Nope, peak is not off limits for supervisors working grievances. If management didn't hire enough people and have to have supervisors working to get it done, it's their fault. It's not like they don't know peak is coming.
That was exactly what I told my steward (that since management knows peak is coming, they should be hiring enough people to get the work done).
 

turdburglar

Well-Known Member
You might look in your Sort or Package ride to see if you have language that Management must utilize all available BU employees prior to using a peak hire or supervisory employees. They should have sign up sheets offering the extra work in the sort to Package drivers, for example. Even if they have offered and not enough have signed up you can show they haven't hired enough people and so should pay the grievances. Find that supervisor who is pissed that he has to work and he'll give you all the info you need.
I know that the preload manager told me that they would go through the steward to find out if any bargaining unit employees wanted to work to cover call-ins, but I have filed plenty of supervisors working grievances since then and won the vast majority of them (and not once did I see a new face when someone called in). It seems that they are not interested in using the call-in sheet to staff the operation with bargaining unit employees.

I also know for a fact that even if they have hired enough seasonal hires, they sent a lot of them home before the sort was wrapped today (and they probably do this quite often). The situation on the aforementioned metro would not have been as bad had they kept the new hires for a bit longer. I even saw the preload manager working today. I guess that this means that they are creating situations in which supervisors "need" to work, which means that I will keep filing.
 

Shifting Contents

Most Help Needed
I have always looked the other way in Dec IF all available union employees who are available to work are working. If PC drivers have been called and have punched in and if the "****" has truly hit the fan.

I don't mind PT sups helping (most of ours don't want to) and I don't see an issue with on roads shuttling misloads at PEAK.

If they have to deliver routes than they have messed up and people should file away.
 
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Bubblehead

My Senior Picture
Peak season is not an act of God.
It happens annually and the company has the right to hire seasonal employees as a result.
Short of an act of God, supervisors are not allowed to do bargaining unit work ever.
Keep grieving and consider challenging your ultra weak steward to an election.
He sounds like a waste of oxygen.
 

turdburglar

Well-Known Member
I have always looked the other way in Dec IF all available union employees who are available to work are working. If PC drivers have been called and have punched in and if the "****" has truly hit the fan.

I don't mind PT sups helping (most of ours don't want to) and I don't see an issue with on roads shuttling misloads at PEAK.

If they have to deliver routes than they have messed up and people should file away.

The **** has not hit the fans yet (not even close), and they already have supervisors working while sending seasonal hires home early and while sending the unload home after all the trailers are unloaded. They have absolutely no excuse for having supervisors working this early in peak, nor do they have an excuse for having supervisors work later in peak season unless for some absolutely unforeseen reason not having supervisors work will result in service failures. I do not know why the building that I work in is run the way it is, but it needs to change.
 
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turdburglar

Well-Known Member
Peak season is not an act of God.
It happens annually and the company has the right to hire seasonal employees as a result.
Short of an act of God, supervisors are not allowed to do bargaining unit work ever.
Keep grieving and consider challenging your ultra weak steward to an election.
He sounds like a waste of oxygen.
I have not turned in any supervisors working grievances dated after November the first yet, but I believe that he will process them if I do (I just now filled out three of them). Hopefully I will not need to ask what I need to do if he does not process them, or attempts to dissuade me from filing them.
 

OptimusPrime

Well-Known Member
I'm curious as to how are situation will pan out. Our center was given the green light to hire another FT driver. We basically burned through two schlubs that couldn't hack it, but they stayed around long enough to cover summer seasonal issues. But yet here we head to peak short a FT hire.
 

Bubblehead

My Senior Picture
I have not turned in any supervisors working grievances dated after November the first yet, but I believe that he will process them if I do (I just now filled out three of them). Hopefully I will not need to ask what I need to do if he does not process them, or attempts to dissuade me from filing them.

Your steward doesn't get to decide which grievances he turns in.
He can and should offer you advice, but if you are inclined to file, he's duty bound to turn them in.
 

Catatonic

Nine Lives
Shouldn't be any different in peak than the rest of the year ... of course, management can do BU work.
Been that way for the 40 years I been here!
 

Bubblehead

My Senior Picture
Shouldn't be any different in peak than the rest of the year ... of course, management can do BU work.
Been that way for the 40 years I been here!

I agree, and conversely, I can file for the time every time I catch them.
Been that way for the 27 years I've been here.
 

Nimnim

The Nim
I think the only time we were told we couldn't file on supervisors working was a day where another hub had a mercury spill a few hours before my shift and as a result the facility was closed for cleanup and all volume was diverted for the time. My shift got an extra 15k or so volume and we weren't prepared to handle it normally. A steward was informed of the situation and was present while management called as many people as they could to see if they could come in to work. They weren't able to get enough to come in and a few of the PT sups were allowed to unload/sort for that shift only.

I personally don't have a problem when things like that happen. Completely unexpected and measures were taken to avoid sups working but it wasn't panning out in such a short time.
 

turdburglar

Well-Known Member
Your steward doesn't get to decide which grievances he turns in.
He can and should offer you advice, but if you are inclined to file, he's duty bound to turn them in.
I talked to the steward today about it, and he was mistakenly under the impression that rules against supervisors working during peak were lax to the point that they can get away with more during peak. He called the local union hall and the secretary-treasurer said that this was not the case. Management still has to exhaust every other option before using supervisors. The steward said that he would work on winning me all of my supervisors working grievances, so there is no problem there anymore.
 
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