Can they force a driver to bid a route?

[Laguna Preload]

I am looking through the contract and don’t see any language about this. I am in the western sup and southwestern package and sort.
So there is a route opening up that nobody wants. It is a route that starts an hour from our center in a different town doesn’t start till 10:30 and with the commute the current driver usually gets home at midnight. I am currently a part time cover but I want to become a full time utility which is basically the same thing only you are full time.
There are a few guys ahead of me right now that are full time so I have to wait for them to bid routs.
So the route that no one wants is up for bid and I asked the sup what happens if no one signs it? He said then it goes to the lowest seniority full time driver. Which is not me but still I was wondering can they make him take that route?
If so I might get stuck on it after him lol.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me because once I become a full time cover I want to stay doing that not get stuck on some crazy route.

 

[charm299]

Yes, just happened in my center

 

[...]

I am looking through the contract and don’t see any language about this. I am in the western sup and southwestern package and sort.
So there is a route opening up that nobody wants. It is a route that starts an hour from our center in a different town doesn’t start till 10:30 and with the commute the current driver usually gets home at midnight. I am currently a part time cover but I want to become a full time utility which is basically the same thing only you are full time.
There are a few guys ahead of me right now that are full time so I have to wait for them to bid routs.
So the route that no one wants is up for bid and I asked the sup what happens if no one signs it? He said then it goes to the lowest seniority full time driver. Which is not me but still I was wondering can they make him take that route?
If so I might get stuck on it after him lol.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me because once I become a full time cover I want to stay doing that not get stuck on some crazy route.

We have a similar route here. If no one signs up, the person they force will get reimbursed for travelling to the satellite location.

 

[Saca La]

They just keep rotating the route here

 

[Laguna Preload]

Yes, just happened in my center

Is there any contract language That you know of concerning this?

 

[Maplewood]

I am looking through the contract and don’t see any language about this. I am in the western sup and southwestern package and sort.
So there is a route opening up that nobody wants. It is a route that starts an hour from our center in a different town doesn’t start till 10:30 and with the commute the current driver usually gets home at midnight. I am currently a part time cover but I want to become a full time utility which is basically the same thing only you are full time.
There are a few guys ahead of me right now that are full time so I have to wait for them to bid routs.
So the route that no one wants is up for bid and I asked the sup what happens if no one signs it? He said then it goes to the lowest seniority full time driver. Which is not me but still I was wondering can they make him take that route?
If so I might get stuck on it after him lol.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me because once I become a full time cover I want to stay doing that not get stuck on some crazy route.

22.4's dont get to have a bid route. Maybe you me you are assigned to cover that route? It should be bid or assigned to a RPCD unless its a slop/peak route.

 

[FromOffTheStreets]

In our area. If no rpcd signs then it opens up to the entire center, part timers included. If still no signatures it opens to district area.
Someone does have to cover that route until the bid is won though. Usually lowest seniority cover

 

[Brownslave688]

I am looking through the contract and don’t see any language about this. I am in the western sup and southwestern package and sort.
So there is a route opening up that nobody wants. It is a route that starts an hour from our center in a different town doesn’t start till 10:30 and with the commute the current driver usually gets home at midnight. I am currently a part time cover but I want to become a full time utility which is basically the same thing only you are full time.
There are a few guys ahead of me right now that are full time so I have to wait for them to bid routs.
So the route that no one wants is up for bid and I asked the sup what happens if no one signs it? He said then it goes to the lowest seniority full time driver. Which is not me but still I was wondering can they make him take that route?
If so I might get stuck on it after him lol.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me because once I become a full time cover I want to stay doing that not get stuck on some crazy route.

That’s how it works here. No one signs it. Low man gets assigned.

 

[Just A UPS Guy]

I am looking through the contract and don’t see any language about this. I am in the western sup and southwestern package and sort.
So there is a route opening up that nobody wants. It is a route that starts an hour from our center in a different town doesn’t start till 10:30 and with the commute the current driver usually gets home at midnight. I am currently a part time cover but I want to become a full time utility which is basically the same thing only you are full time.
There are a few guys ahead of me right now that are full time so I have to wait for them to bid routs.
So the route that no one wants is up for bid and I asked the sup what happens if no one signs it? He said then it goes to the lowest seniority full time driver. Which is not me but still I was wondering can they make him take that route?
If so I might get stuck on it after him lol.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me because once I become a full time cover I want to stay doing that not get stuck on some crazy route.

@542thruNthru is probably your guy here. I don't know of any language stating they can do that, but i don't know of any stating they can't either. Another grey area that most contracts don't/can't really cover.

 

[barnyard]

This is how seniority works. High person picks, low person is forced. You should be able to find the language you are looking for under satellite routes. Our supplement has a paragraph or 2 on them.

 

[Poop Head]

They forced a guy to take a satellite here. Waterboarded him until he signed the bid. He loves it now.

 

[RTCD]

You should at least get paid mileage there and back.

You could demand to start at the same start time as everyone else and drive an empty package car to the route. Or just ride in the jump seat with the driver who drops the trailer.

Find a way to be punched in at start time. Wasting 10 hrs a week to be paid mileage is terrible (1hr there and back M-friend).

 

[542thruNthru]

I am looking through the contract and don’t see any language about this. I am in the western sup and southwestern package and sort.
So there is a route opening up that nobody wants. It is a route that starts an hour from our center in a different town doesn’t start till 10:30 and with the commute the current driver usually gets home at midnight. I am currently a part time cover but I want to become a full time utility which is basically the same thing only you are full time.
There are a few guys ahead of me right now that are full time so I have to wait for them to bid routs.
So the route that no one wants is up for bid and I asked the sup what happens if no one signs it? He said then it goes to the lowest seniority full time driver. Which is not me but still I was wondering can they make him take that route?
If so I might get stuck on it after him lol.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me because once I become a full time cover I want to stay doing that not get stuck on some crazy route.

I don't know of any language about being forced to take a route but it is what I've always been told. We've never ran into that situation here so I can't be positive.

@LagunaBrown may be able to help you but I don't know how often he gets on here. Personally I recommend you call your local and ask your BA how these things are handled and what your options are.

 

[DumbTruckDriver]

As others have said, seniority trumps all else. If nobody bids the route, the lowest driver is forced. We have guys that bid satellite routes just to be away from management.

You should at least get paid mileage there and back.

You could demand to start at the same start time as everyone else and drive an empty package car to the route. Or just ride in the jump seat with the driver who drops the trailer.

Find a way to be punched in at start time. Wasting 10 hrs a week to be paid mileage is terrible (1hr there and back M-friend).

That’s never going to happen. Satellite drivers have their own start time.

 

[Brownslave688]

You should at least get paid mileage there and back.

You could demand to start at the same start time as everyone else and drive an empty package car to the route. Or just ride in the jump seat with the driver who drops the trailer.

Find a way to be punched in at start time. Wasting 10 hrs a week to be paid mileage is terrible (1hr there and back M-friend).

Yeah not gonna happen

 

[burrheadd]

just ride in the jump seat with the driver who drops the trailer.

 

[barnyard]

We have guys that bid satellite routes just to be away from management.

A bunch of years ago, a satellite guy along the north shore of Lake Superior had his annual ride. The supe made him go home and shave off his beard 1st.
Other than effed up start times, the satellite guys that I know all really like being a satellite guy.

 

[LagunaBrown]

I don't know of any language about being forced to take a route but it is what I've always been told. We've never ran into that situation here so I can't be positive.

@LagunaBrown may be able to help you but I don't know how often he gets on here. Personally I recommend you call your local and ask your BA how these things are handled and what your options are.

There is a lot missing here. There is no such thing as a part time cover driver in our area and a cover driver can not hold bid permanent routes anyway. I can only assume this is in the air driver classification but would need more information. Employees can be forced on a run but that mainly happens in package or feeder. A grievance was filed in all three package centers in the Laguna building to put many newly established routes up for bid due to volume thus raising the ratios and requiring over 45 new RPCD postiions to be filled. Unfortunately with all the COVID-19 agreements the company is doing whatever they want loaning out drivers to other buildings, abusing the personal vehicle language and hiring a bunch of 22.4's when these employees should be hired into RPCD positions. I am not sure what the newly elected slate and their business agenst are doing to fix things but I am willing to bet that is what is causing all the confusion.

 

[Laguna Preload]

There is a lot missing here. There is no such thing as a part time cover driver in our area and a cover driver can not hold bid permanent routes anyway. I can only assume this is in the air driver classification but would need more information. Employees can be forced on a run but that mainly happens in package or feeder. A grievance was filed in all three package centers in the Laguna building to put many newly established routes up for bid due to volume thus raising the ratios and requiring over 45 new RPCD postiions to be filled. Unfortunately with all the COVID-19 agreements the company is doing whatever they want loaning out drivers to other buildings, abusing the personal vehicle language and hiring a bunch of 22.4's when these employees should be hired into RPCD positions. I am not sure what the newly elected slate and their business agenst are doing to fix things but I am willing to bet that is what is causing all the confusion.

This is what I am
SECTION 38 – COVER DRIVERS
Cover driver jobs will be filled by qualified seniority part-time em- ployees, who have expressed their desire in writing to be on the list, in seniority order and who have been certified by the Employer. Cover drivers will not accrue full-time seniority when driving under this sec- tion. When no cover work is available, cover drivers shall continue to accrue part-time seniority with their appropriate part-time benefits.
This is what I will be next and what the guy they are going to force on a route is.
SECTION 11 – UTILITY DRIVERS
After completion of a thirty (30) day on road training period in the same center, a new driver is given the utility driving job, unless a driver with more seniority wants such utility work. This enables high seniority drivers to be on regular assigned sections when such work becomes available in the center to which the employee is assigned. Seniority shall be observed when loaning out utility drivers to anoth- er center. When directed on a scheduled day of dispatch, travel time to and from another facility shall be considered paid for time.
Employees will use the Employer’s vehicles whenever possible. Em- ployee’s who use their personal vehicle shall be reimbursed at the appli- cable IRS rate per mile. Employees using their personal vehicles shall be paid for both time and mileage beyond his/her normal commute.
When delivery area vacancies are scheduled for a week or more, utility drivers shall bid, in seniority order, those vacated areas on a week by week basis. Once a utility driver is awarded a weekly vacancy bid, in accordance with their seniority, they shall not be removed from that weekly vacancy bid, except when the regular bid driver returns to work during the week. These delivery area vacancies shall be posted by Thursday of the prior week.
which is basically a full time cover driver. We don’t have 22.4s because our center doesn’t have 20 drivers yet. So they start you at pt cover then you go to full time utility till you bid a route.
They are saying our lowest seniority full time driver will have to bid the route.
My question is will I have any defense when and if this happens to me?
By the way I worked in the Laguna building about a year but moved to N.M. 492
I probably know you lol

 

[PACNW]

We have a couple of satellite routes. They don't get their load delivered via a TP60 til around 1030, on the road at 11ish. In our area, they can't start us past 9am, so they wash their car or sit around for an hour and a half til the trailer shows up. I used to cover them and get paid mileage to drive out there, plus my commute time out there. Easy money.