cover driver seniority

Forty6and2

I'm Broken
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.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

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.
 

Forty6and2

I'm Broken
forty6and2, are you a full time cover driver or a PTCD?
Oh and what did the union say about the refusal?

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.
 
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Forty6and2

I'm Broken
tcd as in "temporary cover driver." i'm supposed to work preload when my center manager doesn't need me. she also has to give 24 hour notice that she will need me to drive or else its top pay.
 

stringerman85

Well-Known Member
Never heard of it...Our facility only uses FT drivers, I don't believe there are temporary cover drivers except during seasonal periods, and even then they are temporarily FT for a couple months until the season ends....
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Well, add "tcd" to your UPS vocabulary because the term does exist as we have them in my center. These are employees that work the preload on a part-time basis and then cover drive for vacations and on an as-needed basis.
 

LeddySS98

Well-Known Member
We have a couple Utility drivers and if they do both preload and drive the hours are counted differently... say 4 hrs of preload, and then they turn arround and drive for 8 hrs.. they get straight pay for both jobs. Prelaod pay for the 4 hrs and Driver pay for the 8...

Point being, unless it's different for your center... UPS would'nt save any money on OT on a fresh employee vs one that worked preload...
 

What'dyabringmetoday???

Well-Known Member
Well, add "tcd" to your UPS vocabulary because the term does exist as we have them in my center. These are employees that work the preload on a part-time basis and then cover drive for vacations and on an as-needed basis.
They are supposed to come off part-time shift for the whole week and they are guaranteed two days covering. Shouldn't be working preload then going out and delivering ground. Also, once they work their part-time shift that is where they SHOULD stay all week.
 

Overpaid Union Thug

Well-Known Member
They are supposed to come off part-time shift for the whole week and they are guaranteed two days covering. Shouldn't be working preload then going out and delivering ground. Also, once they work their part-time shift that is where they SHOULD stay all week.

It has never been done that way in my center. It wouldn't be practical. We've always had preloaders that worked their shift and then would drive a full route. When i was a TCD I was used when needed and not based on what classification I worked in the day before. The only time the work from the day before would have any relevance on the next day's would be because of DOT regulations. Other than that I'd sometimes work a couple of days as a TCD each week and sometimes every day. Sometimes not at all. There were many time where I'd work half the day running bulk stops then I'd work on my shift (local sort). If a full-time driver, or even another TCD, got sick or had a family emergency the On Car would go down the seniority list of TCDs and find one to finish their route. There were times where it seemed like I was in a combo job and times where it seemed like I was a full-time driver. There were also plenty of times where I was begging to drive at all. The TCDs we have now don't get much work though. The days of running half routes and bulk stops are pretty much over every since we got PAS/EDD.
 

Forty6and2

I'm Broken
the reason ups wouldn't pay my grievance on this issue was because i had already left work that day. (i left at around 830 am) they said that for them to be able to have me finish that drivers route, i would have had to been off for at least 10 hours. the old 10 hours off in between shifts routine...
 

CFLBrown

Well-Known Member
the reason ups wouldn't pay my grievance on this issue was because i had already left work that day. (i left at around 830 am) they said that for them to be able to have me finish that drivers route, i would have had to been off for at least 10 hours. the old 10 hours off in between shifts routine...

Just keep that in mind next time you are any other cover driver works the preload and is called on to drive. If they want to pull that card out, you can do the same. It's called your 'ace in the hole'. That was ment more for a day's work, if you worked the preload then drove, you would have to be off the clock for atleast 10hours before you began working the next day. What a bunch of crap.
 
Had a question 2 weeks In a row they had some drivers with less seniority then me come in on Monday and I never received phone calls on Monday to come in and work what article is broken here.
 

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