Diqualified from Full-time package?

[steeltoe]

I am new to this board so please bare with me. My question seems to be complex, but here we go. I won a grievance for being passed over for full-time package car driver. I passed the school and in my 2nd week scraped a bumper pulling out of the preload. I was pulled from the car, told to wait. After about 5 minutes another guy shows up in uniform an drives off in my loaded package car. I was disqualified for an avoidable accident.

Here is where the confusuion is. I was never a cover driver. Under Article 49, Section 2, (B)(2) the contract reads:

"The employee awarded the job must satisfactorly complete a thirty (30) working day training period within a one hundred twenty (120) consecutive day period. An employee who fails to qualify shall not be allowed to bid for one (1) year for the job he/she was disqualified for...."

My question is this. Under this language was I not disqualified from "Full-time" package only? Should I not be able to "Cover Drive" as a part-time employee or drive as a part-time air driver? I have been told that I was disqualified from Drving period. I do not read the contract this way at all. Here is my logic below.

If you are a part-time air driver only. You bid into full-time package and are awarded a job. You have a fender bender before your 30 days. Would the company then not let you go back to your part-time job as an air driver? During my week in driving school, one of the people who drove part-time on Saturdays asked what would happen if he did not pass the school. The instructor said that if he was disqualified from the school he would go back to his part-time job and still be allowed to drive part-time. The instructor said that he thought it made no sense, but that is how it works.

The way I am reading the contract, I should have been disqualified from full-time package only. Driving is not a classafication. Driving is what you do within the classafications of feeder, full-time package, part-time cover, part-time air driver.

At the very least, I beleive I should be able to cover drive or drive as a part-time air driver until my one year disqualification from full-time package car driver is over.

Please let me know what you guys think.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

I am new to this board so please bare with me. My question seems to be complex, but here we go. I won a grievance for being passed over for full-time package car driver. I passed the school and in my 2nd week scraped a bumper pulling out of the preload. I was pulled from the car, told to wait. After about 5 minutes another guy shows up in uniform an drives off in my loaded package car. I was disqualified for an avoidable accident.

Here is where the confusuion is. I was never a cover driver. Under Article 49, Section 2, (B)(2) the contract reads:

"The employee awarded the job must satisfactorly complete a thirty (30) working day training period within a one hundred twenty (120) consecutive day period. An employee who fails to qualify shall not be allowed to bid for one (1) year for the job he/she was disqualified for...."

My question is this. Under this language was I not disqualified from "Full-time" package only? Should I not be able to "Cover Drive" as a part-time employee or drive as a part-time air driver? I have been told that I was disqualified from Drving period. I do not read the contract this way at all. Here is my logic below.

If you are a part-time air driver only. You bid into full-time package and are awarded a job. You have a fender bender before your 30 days. Would the company then not let you go back to your part-time job as an air driver? During my week in driving school, one of the people who drove part-time on Saturdays asked what would happen if he did not pass the school. The instructor said that if he was disqualified from the school he would go back to his part-time job and still be allowed to drive part-time. The instructor said that he thought it made no sense, but that is how it works.

The way I am reading the contract, I should have been disqualified from full-time package only. Driving is not a classafication. Driving is what you do within the classafications of feeder, full-time package, part-time cover, part-time air driver.

At the very least, I beleive I should be able to cover drive or drive as a part-time air driver until my one year disqualification from full-time package car driver is over.

Please let me know what you guys think.

This is what you'd call a "gray area" because it is not specifically covered in the contract so don't count on much of an effort from the union hall to help you on this one. The contract doesn't say that you should be able to continue to cover drive or air drive....but it doesn't say that you should not either. So basically management can do what they want. It sucks badly I know. You guys must have plenty of drivers there otherwise your management team might have let this one slide. However, if you caused a considerable amount of damage then even that might not have saved you.

How were you passed up for the job in the first place? Were you a p/t air driver or p/t cover driver before you won the grievance?

 

[Harry Manback]

Sounds like retaliation for the grievance you won. They'll swear up and down it isn't, but you and I live in the "real world," so we know they're more than capable. Drivers in our center scrape and rub the other cars parked next to them everyday in our center, and no one bats an eye. I feel almost cheated when i come in each morning and don't find a new scratch, dent, or ding on my car from the carwash (misnomer) the night before. The thing is, they kinda got you by the short and curlies (please pardon if that offends :blush: ) during your qualifying period. Sucks, but they have all the power. I think you're best bet would be to get with your steward and see what, if any recourse you may have with this. Should you get the opportunity to give it another go, be prepared for them to throw their worst at you. Thats not retaliation is it? Good Luck, if nothing else you can always try again.


BTW: Welcome to the forums!

 

[local804]

I am going to agree with harryback on this one. If no grievance was filed and you were one of their runners, a bumper scrape would have been overlooked. Good luck.

 

[steeltoe]

This is what you'd call a "gray area" because it is not specifically covered in the contract so don't count on much of an effort from the union hall to help you on this one. The contract doesn't say that you should be able to continue to cover drive or air drive....but it doesn't say that you should not either. So basically management can do what they want. It sucks badly I know. You guys must have plenty of drivers there otherwise your management team might have let this one slide. However, if you caused a considerable amount of damage then even that might not have saved you.

How were you passed up for the job in the first place? Were you a p/t air driver or p/t cover driver before you won the grievance?

The damage was very little. As a matter of fact, I spoke with maintnance and they had no record of the vehicle ever being in the shop for any touch up paint or anything.

You do not want to know how I got passed over, but here we go. I worked out of an air facility. Our supplement has us bid into another facility about 20 miles away for full-time jobs only. No opportunity to cover drive or drive part-time out of my building. There is no way to police who goes full-time when you bid into a building 20 miles away. Add the additional 30 miles to my house and you are talking about 50 miles to police who is going full-time and who is not. Anyway, one day I decided to drive over to the facility to see the seniority list. Needless to say, I was shocked to see that myself and 5 other employees from my building were skipped over for years.

Have any of you ever heard of a person waiting 17 years to go full-time. Well you are reading the post of that person. I won the grievance for myself and 5 other people. We were to receive back dated seniority and we were to move up the progression pay rate after 30 days. Hint, 30 days. I was the first person to go. Well we know what happened to me. The next guy went after I was disqualified. Guess what, he did not make it either. His was due to delivery violume, I believe. When the other 4 people saw what happened to myself and the other guy, they turned the jobs down. You may ask, how in the heck can some one turn down a job making top pay in 30 days? It is hard to beleive, but thses guys could not take the risk. You may ask, what risk. Well, here is my story and the risk I took.

I had a small business during the day, worked UPS at night. When I won my grievance I was told that I had to report to driving school in 2 weeks. So, I decided to find a competitor to take care of my customers in return for "peanuts". I also signed a "no-compete" for a period of 2 years. My business was gone, and I can not compete in that industry for 2 years. You may say, to heck with the non compete. Well I am a man of honor. I signed the paperwork and I am going to honor it.

So, now I am back working part-time with no business in the only industry I know, other thatn packages. I lost my house of 6 years and I am screwed. Luckly, I do not have children. The other guys do have children and decided that the risk was to high.

I do not understand how a company could treat employees who have 10,12,15, etc years with the company and destroy their financial future over a bent bumper. I realize that I made my own bed, and I have to sleep in it, but the system is very flawed. People who work in a building like ours have no opportunity to work double shifts, drive part-time, or cover drive and they have to wait forever for a full-time job. The Article 40 language has to be revised. This ari language is rediculas.

Anyway, thanks for your input. I still do not understand how I can be disqualified from all driving. I did not hit another vehicle off the property. I did not have a moving violation. I have since transfered to another building by following my work. I was led to believe that a transfer could help my prospects, but as my luck is running, it did not.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

The damage was very little. As a matter of fact, I spoke with maintnance and they had no record of the vehicle ever being in the shop for any touch up paint or anything.

You do not want to know how I got passed over, but here we go. I worked out of an air facility. Our supplement has us bid into another facility about 20 miles away for full-time jobs only. No opportunity to cover drive or drive part-time out of my building. There is no way to police who goes full-time when you bid into a building 20 miles away. Add the additional 30 miles to my house and you are talking about 50 miles to police who is going full-time and who is not. Anyway, one day I decided to drive over to the facility to see the seniority list. Needless to say, I was shocked to see that myself and 5 other employees from my building were skipped over for years.

Have any of you ever heard of a person waiting 17 years to go full-time. Well you are reading the post of that person. I won the grievance for myself and 5 other people. We were to receive back dated seniority and we were to move up the progression pay rate after 30 days. Hint, 30 days. I was the first person to go. Well we know what happened to me. The next guy went after I was disqualified. Guess what, he did not make it either. His was due to delivery violume, I believe. When the other 4 people saw what happened to myself and the other guy, they turned the jobs down. You may ask, how in the heck can some one turn down a job making top pay in 30 days? It is hard to beleive, but thses guys could not take the risk. You may ask, what risk. Well, here is my story and the risk I took.

I had a small business during the day, worked UPS at night. When I won my grievance I was told that I had to report to driving school in 2 weeks. So, I decided to find a competitor to take care of my customers in return for "peanuts". I also signed a "no-compete" for a period of 2 years. My business was gone, and I can not compete in that industry for 2 years. You may say, to heck with the non compete. Well I am a man of honor. I signed the paperwork and I am going to honor it.

So, now I am back working part-time with no business in the only industry I know, other thatn packages. I lost my house of 6 years and I am screwed. Luckly, I do not have children. The other guys do have children and decided that the risk was to high.

I do not understand how a company could treat employees who have 10,12,15, etc years with the company and destroy their financial future over a bent bumper. I realize that I made my own bed, and I have to sleep in it, but the system is very flawed. People who work in a building like ours have no opportunity to work double shifts, drive part-time, or cover drive and they have to wait forever for a full-time job. The Article 40 language has to be revised. This ari language is rediculas.

Anyway, thanks for your input. I still do not understand how I can be disqualified from all driving. I did not hit another vehicle off the property. I did not have a moving violation. I have since transfered to another building by following my work. I was led to believe that a transfer could help my prospects, but as my luck is running, it did not.

Man this is worse than I thought. Sounds like it's not only retaliation but also multiple cases of retaliation. It also sounds like the management team in that other building doesn't want to have to deal with you guys when it comes to filling jobs so they use their little disqualification tactics to get rid of you. I'd fight this all they way. Stay on top of the union hall (and believe me you'll have to because they suck). The first thing you should do is go to the mechanics and explain your situation and have them give you documentation stating that the truck was never worked on. Take pictures of the bumper. Get signatures of the mechanics. Do anything you can to back up your case. I'd pursue that and a retaliation case at the same time. Some people will tell you that you don't have a chance at it. They will be right if you don't even try.

 

[Pip]

steeltoe, I am not management or anything, just a mechanic. If all you did was scrape a bumper when pulling out from preload, Then far as I am concerned, it is trivial. Shoot, on any given day I can stand by and watch when everybody is leaving and count a handful of scrapes from cars being pulled out on any given day.


While not all centers are created the same, in the center I work at, cars are parked like sardines in a can when in our building. 12" or less together. where, 12" would be a lot of room, usually 6" is the norm I would say. I have never seen anybody get in trouble for what you did. scraping a bumper is nothing. those little scrapes are taken care of during PMI's or when it gets into the shop.

If your accounts are accurate and nothing has been left out, then I'd have to say it almost sounds, well scratch that.... definately sounds like you was targeted. It might be a lengthy fight, but I would think you would have a valid reason to file a grievance and win.

Just my opinion.

 

[steeltoe]

steeltoe, I am not management or anything, just a mechanic. If all you did was scrape a bumper when pulling out from preload, Then far as I am concerned, it is trivial. Shoot, on any given day I can stand by and watch when everybody is leaving and count a handful of scrapes from cars being pulled out on any given day.


While not all centers are created the same, in the center I work at, cars are parked like sardines in a can when in our building. 12" or less together. where, 12" would be a lot of room, usually 6" is the norm I would say. I have never seen anybody get in trouble for what you did. scraping a bumper is nothing. those little scrapes are taken care of during PMI's or when it gets into the shop.

If your accounts are accurate and nothing has been left out, then I'd have to say it almost sounds, well scratch that.... definately sounds like you was targeted. It might be a lengthy fight, but I would think you would have a valid reason to file a grievance and win.

Just my opinion.

Thanks everyone. I did file a grievance. As a matter of fact, I immediatly drove to the Union Hall and filed. To top it off, I am a steward. This all happened 7 months ago. My local tried to wrok it out, but the labor manager would not budge. My center manager was on vacation when this happened. My on car supervisor was fairly new to the job and paniced. He went directly to the top and they told him to disqualify me. From what I understand my center manager even went to bat for me when he got back from vacation.

My grievance went to a local hearing and I lost. The local then said that I would lose at panel and dropped the grievance. I even met with the labor manager in person. He even asked me what my financial situation was. I told him that I would lose my home if I was not put back into service. I even informed him that I would be willing to go back in with out all of the back seniority or the top pay. Just please let me back in. I explained my day job situation also. I gave him former refrences of management that would stand behind my service with the company.

I can not understand why he would ask me my financial situation, if he did not have a solution. What could I have possibly told him that was worse than losing my home? I could understand if I told him that I would not be able to make the "Bass Boat" payment, but I do not have a bass boat, nor do I have a home anymore.

I was told that I would be a target from the get go, since I had won this grievance for 5 other people. To top all of this off, the local ran a story in one of the publications about my grievance and even had my picture in the article. It was published before my 30 days was up. I really feel like I was put out on a limb. Why could they have not waited until my 30 days to run the article? I have even had other management tell me (off the record) that I was done wrong.

Bottom line is that I am financialy screwed. I have not told my parents that I lost my house. They think I sold it. I will need to come clean with them. I am just so embarressed to think that I lost my business and my house over all of this. I have had excellent attendance, and excellent service in my over 15 years with the company.

I use to be proud to say that I have worked for UPS for so many years.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Thanks everyone. I did file a grievance. As a matter of fact, I immediatly drove to the Union Hall and filed. To top it off, I am a steward. This all happened 7 months ago. My local tried to wrok it out, but the labor manager would not budge. My center manager was on vacation when this happened. My on car supervisor was fairly new to the job and paniced. He went directly to the top and they told him to disqualify me. From what I understand my center manager even went to bat for me when he got back from vacation.

My grievance went to a local hearing and I lost. The local then said that I would lose at panel and dropped the grievance. I even met with the labor manager in person. He even asked me what my financial situation was. I told him that I would lose my home if I was not put back into service. I even informed him that I would be willing to go back in with out all of the back seniority or the top pay. Just please let me back in. I explained my day job situation also. I gave him former refrences of management that would stand behind my service with the company.

I can not understand why he would ask me my financial situation, if he did not have a solution. What could I have possibly told him that was worse than losing my home? I could understand if I told him that I would not be able to make the "Bass Boat" payment, but I do not have a bass boat, nor do I have a home anymore.

I was told that I would be a target from the get go, since I had won this grievance for 5 other people. To top all of this off, the local ran a story in one of the publications about my grievance and even had my picture in the article. It was published before my 30 days was up. I really feel like I was put out on a limb. Why could they have not waited until my 30 days to run the article? I have even had other management tell me (off the record) that I was done wrong.

Bottom line is that I am financialy screwed. I have not told my parents that I lost my house. They think I sold it. I will need to come clean with them. I am just so embarressed to think that I lost my business and my house over all of this. I have had excellent attendance, and excellent service in my over 15 years with the company.

I use to be proud to say that I have worked for UPS for so many years.

Why weren't the bid sheets for the openings you guys were passed up for not posted in your building? You could fault the local for this very easily. And you could make a whole seperate case out of the scraping the bumper issue because there was never any damage to the truck and no work was done on it by the mechanic. Do what I said and go straight to the mechanics. Get them involved and stay on top of the local. Sadly I have to remind you that the IBT will probably curl up into the fetal position and hide under their desks for this one. You have to stay on them like flys on crap to get them to fight for you because they'll leave you hanging while at the same time they'll be out fighting for theifs and drug addicts.