cover driver seniority

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Wrong as usual. Area knowledge does not trump seniority and especially since the stop by stop navigation was installed into the diad.
It's not a "safety" issue excuse as well.

They used to do it all the time-------skip over drivers on the call in sheet to put the ones who knew the area on road.
 

johnnyunion

the grandpalooza of all you losers
sorry- i am classified as a TCD. my primary job is part-time preload. ups uses me as a TCD to cover vacations/sick days/holidays. the cover driver they used worked on that day is also a TCD. his primary job is part-time twillight sort.

this same TCD (the one ups worked instead of me) told me as i was filling out the grievance form that "he didn't think i would win my grievance." when i asked him why he told me that he had seen one of our on-road supervisors out on route before finishing up routes for other drivers. he said that when he grieved those instances, he was never paid either and ups used the excuse "we needed someone on route right away." i have no reason to doubt this person for saying that because he lives in one of the cities that our center delivers to.

my union steward is pretty good. when he heard about it he told me i'd better file a grievance even though i wasn't sure if i had a case or not. he asked me if anyone from ups called me that day and i told him no. then he asked me if they have my phone number and i said yes.

he submitted the grievance to my center manager on tuesday and then on thursday when i went to get my pay stub, he told me that ups was refusing to pay but he isn't done with it yet.

Easy peasy, file a grievy. And contrary to what some uninformed, and ex employee driver stated, home address and proximity has nothing, nada, zilch to do with how the contract states who gets what.
 

sandwich

The resident gearhead
last thursday, i went in to my center office to pick up my check stub. the driver whose route i covered for my training route wasn't in the mood to work that day so he asked the center manager if i could cover his route for that day and he go home. she said, "sorry, but no." i went home because i had already worked preload that morning.
i went back to work the next day (in the preload) and found out from another employee that they had worked the cover driver who is directly below me on the seniority list.
apparently a full time driver had gotten sick on route and they needed someone to cover his route right away. well i live an hour away from the center, and the less seniority cover driver only lives about 10 minutes away from the center. i never received a phone call from any of the supervisors that day asking me if i wanted to help. i also figure that since ups is trying to save money right now, they thought they were better off if they called the cover driver who "hadn't worked yet today." (i had already worked that day in the preload. the guy they called hadn't worked yet because he works twilight shift. hence- they wouldn't have had to pay me full rate to cover the route.)
i grieved it for the pay that i missed out on, but ups refused to pay. do i have any options here? on what basis can they refuse to pay this- isn't it black and white? they have to use the cover drivers in seniority order.
Ups will try and refuse to pay anything. I’m not sure about how it works in your region but, I wouldn’t accept ups offer of we’re not paying this.

send that grievance up to the next level. Unless you accepted their offer of zero and withdrew the grievance. Now it’s too late.

in the western region any tcd called in to work on an unscheduled day gets top rate. So seniority rules and they have to offer it from the top down.
 

barnyard

KTM rider
Ups will try and refuse to pay anything. I’m not sure about how it works in your region but, I wouldn’t accept ups offer of we’re not paying this.

send that grievance up to the next level. Unless you accepted their offer of zero and withdrew the grievance. Now it’s too late.

in the western region any tcd called in to work on an unscheduled day gets top rate. So seniority rules and they have to offer it from the top down.
The post you quoted was from 2008. It is probably settled by now.
 

sandwich

The resident gearhead
The post you quoted was from 2008. It is probably settled by now.
A0F8A56B-B401-405D-8E95-A5230F94F3F3.gif
 

What'dyabringmetoday???

Well-Known Member
No, because you had already worked that day and the driver who was called in had not. That is also why you were not allowed to run the training route as doing so would have given you too much overtime. Now, had the seniority driver asked for the day off the day before, they may have asked you to not work the preload so that you could cover his area.

It sounds like UPS did what they needed to do to ensure that service was made on that area by using the driver who lived closer to the center to cover the area. His turn around time (phone call/dressed/on road) would have been much shorter than yours would have been so, in this instance, I would have to support their decision as a sound business decision.

Cover driving can be very frustrating but I have found that a little communication between yourself and the drivers on the areas that you have knowledge of can go a long way. The cover driver on my area was mentioning prior to our PCM that he was only scheduled to work 1 day this week so I took Tuesday off and another driver took Monday so that he could get some days in. Had he not said anything neither of us would have had a clue. One of our on-cars happened to be standing by during this conversation and he had no problem with it; in fact, he pulled me aside later and thanked me for helping the cover driver. We have all been there and know what it is like.

In our center they sometimes let cover drivers work both the preload and the metro if they need coverage in either or both of these areas and to let them get their hours.
Thank you for your support. And thanks for helping the cover driver. You have a large heart.
 
Top