Inside Part-time to Air Driver Part-Time

[gphr989]

Like the title states I won a bid for a Mon-Fri part-time air driver position. I have been with the company for several years doing inside part-time work so my wage is much more than the starting wage for air drivers (art 40 sec 6. in the contract). I am curious If I will keep my inside rate until I progress to top rate? Also what happens to my seniority? Does it reset and and go to the bottom of the list for air drivers? Does my vacation time reset also like when you go full-time? If anyone has made this same transition I would be happy to hear your experience. Thanks

Also please let me know if this is in the wrong forum.

 

[PT Car Washer]

Like the title states I won a bid for a Mon-Fri part-time air driver position. I have been with the company for several years doing inside part-time work so my wage is much more than the starting wage for air drivers (art 40 sec 6. in the contract). I am curious If I will keep my inside rate until I progress to top rate? Also what happens to my seniority? Does it reset and and go to the bottom of the list for air drivers? Does my vacation time reset also like when you go full-time? If anyone has made this same transition I would be happy to hear your experience. Thanks

Also please let me know if this is in the wrong forum.

I believe you will start at seniority rate $12.50 an hour. 2 year progression. Top rate right now is $24.74 which I imagine is more than your inside rate. Keep your seniority and pick vacations with other air drivers in your center. Many more opportunities for extra hours including Sat Air work. I have thought about it but do not want to take the cut in pay.

 

[gphr989]

Doesn't "red-circle" apply to me or is that just for full-time? I thought I would keep my current wage, if it is higher until progression catches up with me.

 

[Ouch]

Like the other poster said, you will be at the bottom when picking your vacations I believe. You don't lose seniority but you are moved to the bottom of that classification list.

 

[BUCN85]

I too am in the process of becoming an air driver. Did a 2 day in hub training. Non productive driving. Now I have to wait for an on road sup to take me out. We're short drivers so they have been on road. And finally today a sheer for FT driver has gone up.

 

[subdivide]

I'm a part timer inside and an air driver. In a few weeks I'll make top rate. I love driving this type of route. I'm 59 so the package car job would be to much for me. The previous comment is correct about the details you were looking for. The key to safe driving is the 5 seeing habits. Use them and you'll do great. Good luck.

 

[Babagounj]

I started air driving back in 1987 .
I was the first air driver in my district because nobody else wanted the work .
I was able to continue with my P/t inside & collect extra hours driving ( $10/hr & $0.25 a mile ) .
I could use my own vehicle which allowed me an expense account , which was equal to getting an extra week's check a month .
The job was mostly at first doing line flights ; going to the airport , picking up parcels that missed the regular flight that were then shipping on commercial flights , and completing the stop .
Then the job changed ( according on who the center manager was ) , sometimes I was a bulk stop driver , and then I was tasked to drive all over NE to delv. misloads & address corrections .
Man the hours really piled up ( since my pension plan counted total hours worked as credit ) and for years I was able to receive 12 months credit and still be considered p/t .
Before Sat Air started , I would work Saturdays doing Internationals , that was fun.
Because most business stops were closed , yet I had to make the attempt .
I was also a test driver for the EAM program .
I had no one looking over my shoulder and most of the time no one actually knew where I was .
Did that for 23 years , ending up with a top rate of $11.66/ hr .
My classification was only included in one contract and dropped from the rest .
I got paid to drive around and get lost .

 

[air_dr]

I made the same transition you did now almost 10 years ago.

I think you already got some helpful replies.

I would only try to clarify by adding that every employee has two kinds of seniority. "Company seniority" and "classification seniority." As you can probably figure out, company seniority is the date you started as a permanent employee with the company in any role, and classification seniority is the date you started working in some particular classification such as air driving.

If you take the air driver job, the total number of vacation weeks you will have will be based on company seniority, but your turn to pick the weeks you want will be based on classification seniority.

As far as wages go, when I went air driving I went from $12.40 to $12.50, so I am not sure if you would be red circled or take a cut to $12.50, but I would encourage you to keep in mind that over the long term, I am almost certain you would end up with a higher hourly wage as an air driver than as an inside worker.

Some other things which come to mind now:
-physically the work is MUCH easier
-as long as you get your job done, supervisors pretty much leave you alone
-the daily guarantee is only 3 and not 3 1/2 hours and OT starts after 8 and not after five hours.

 

[gphr989]

I made the same transition you did now almost 10 years ago.

I think you already got some helpful replies.

I would only try to clarify by adding that every employee has two kinds of seniority. "Company seniority" and "classification seniority." As you can probably figure out, company seniority is the date you started as a permanent employee with the company in any role, and classification seniority is the date you started working in some particular classification such as air driving.

If you take the air driver job, the total number of vacation weeks you will have will be based on company seniority, but your turn to pick the weeks you want will be based on classification seniority.

As far as wages go, when I went air driving I went from $12.40 to $12.50, so I am not sure if you would be red circled or take a cut to $12.50, but I would encourage you to keep in mind that over the long term, I am almost certain you would end up with a higher hourly wage as an air driver than as an inside worker.

Some other things which come to mind now:
-physically the work is MUCH easier
-as long as you get your job done, supervisors pretty much leave you alone
-the daily guarantee is only 3 and not 3 1/2 hours and OT starts after 8 and not after five hours.

Actually your was more enlightening. My coworkers and my union president are telling me that I would keep my building wage. I don't see anything in the contract that confirms I will for part-time. Right now I make almost $19 an hour and if this raise ever goes through I will be making almost $20. In 2 years I would be making prob $21.5, so yes Top Rate would be great. I just have to decide If I want to take a $7 dollar pay cut for the next 2 years. Also am I going to fall under this new contract and is there anything different with Air drivers? You brought up some good pros to this situation. P.S. I like your sig.

 

[PT Car Washer]

My building does not have a classification seniority. Your seniority carries with you no matter what PT job you bid.

 

[air_dr]

Actually your was more enlightening. My coworkers and my union president are telling me that I would keep my building wage. I don't see anything in the contract that confirms I will for part-time. Right now I make almost $19 an hour and if this raise ever goes through I will be making almost $20. In 2 years I would be making prob $21.5, so yes Top Rate would be great. I just have to decide If I want to take a $7 dollar pay cut for the next 2 years. Also am I going to fall under this new contract and is there anything different with Air drivers? You brought up some good pros to this situation. P.S. I like your sig.

You can look up the tentative contract agreement on the TDU website which is makeupsdeliver.org and check out Article 40 to see the proposed changes.

Also, be aware that if you should go air driving, you have like 40 working days to determine if the job is right for you, and if you should conclude that it is not, for whatever reason, you can go back to your old job in the building.

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

You can look up the tentative contract agreement on the TDU website which is makeupsdeliver.org and check out Article 40 to see the proposed changes.

Also, be aware that if you should go air driving, you have like 40 working days to determine if the job is right for you, and if you should conclude that it is not, for whatever reason, you can go back to your old job in the building.

Please note: the penalty for self-disqualification is being unable to bid on said position for two years.....which, if you really didn't like the job to begin with, may not matter.