Shop steward advice: seniority, skilled positions, dealing with management

[Buru]

Im a p.t. shop steward with a decade seniority. I have been expediting a floor on a pd for about a year now, and before that I picked off the same p.d. for a couple years. My friend.t. sup(brand new) directed me to load yesterday. He said the floor is not a skilled position, and he put somone with half the seniority as the expediter. Me and a couple of other stewards raised some hell, but it was a waste of breath. management (friend.t. sup+sort manager) said they dont care, I must work as directed and should just file a grievance on it if i dont like it. We have 2 brand new combos on the belt. Their bid jobs are load and pickoff. The one who needs to be loading on this shift just helps out on the floor. These managers refuse to enforce the contract correctly, and they know this.. They just dont care.. Now for the first time in years I am stuck in a load.. I am going to call my b.a. and labor manager, but my b.a. is kinda slow and i dont want to be stuck in a load for 2 months waiting for him to handle it. Does anyone have any extra advice or solutions to put a stop to this?

 

[542thruNthru]

Only advice I could give other than the things you are already doing. You sound like you haven't had to load in a long time. So you should work at a VERY safe pace. I'm sure they will realize that it may take you awhile to get back to the PPH that they like.

 

[Gotout]

"Expediting" as you call it, or "wall sweep" as its called in the load methods, is not a bid position in most buildings. Being May, the contractually required bi-annual bids should be up. Check them. There won't be a bid for wall sweep. In fact, pick off isn't a bid position most places. These are what's generally called "preferred positions". I'm sorry to say it, but you have no contractual case.

But why listen to me, I GotOut

 

[22.34life]

Put that paper on them for not bidding out the preferred jobs like they are supposed to,which I'm sure they are not.file for supervisor working.use all safe work methods to a tee.

 

[1000RR]

Easy grievance here, past practice seniority. Pickoff is a preferred job here and while sweep is not they do go by seniority. If that is true in your area, I would file.

 

[Gotout]

So you're looking for Article 22. There is no language in the contract regarding wall sweeps as preferred positions, so the company has no obligation to bid it. What I've pasted below is from the 2007 contract, but it didn't change in the "black book" vs the "blue book". The kicker in the language is past practice. I don't know what they've been doing in OP's building. You can file, but it won't go anywhere.

Sups working is clear and indefensible. I've actually seen the company try at a panel. It was embarrassing for the labor manager presenting the case and I can only imagine that the Opps Manager said "I'm not paying that, no way, no how" and they had to take it to panel. Center Managers and Division Managers don't actually have that power in most places. The District Labor manager would call them and say "I can't take this to panel, pay it". File away.

I also want you to follow your swm, but only because I want you to stay safe. ;-)


But why listen to me, I GotOut





"Part-time employees with six (6) months or more seniority shall have the right to place their name on the list of employees waiting to be moved to a preferred job within their building. Such preferred jobs shall include, but not be limited to: Preload, Sorter, Clerical, Irregular Train, Designated Responder, Carwasher, Loader and Unloader. Employees do not have the right to select any specific unit, load or workstation unless a prior past practice has been estab- lished."

 

[SquirrelBoggie]

In our hub they're about to make "Pickoff" a job for full-timers, this sucks

 

[Pre-Load Mule]

What counts as a bid or preferred job? We have a new person that works in the clerk and the surepost tower and I have 3 years of seniority on her.