Vacation bidding

I'm on Vacation and get the vacation bid sheet for 2016 surprise texted to me. I pick my weeks go to bed, wake up the next morning and go pheasant hunting. While looking for birds I get a text that says I have to turn the calender in now or I'm going to get passed by. WTF so if I didn't have cell coverage I wouldn't get vacations for 2016??????? Ten years and this place never ceases to amaze me. Just wondering if any one else has input about bidding vacations while on vacation. Our center has in years past waited two weeks for a driver to get back so I'm not sure why management got a wild hair up its arse.

P.S. union told me that there is supposed to be a sheet up telling me when my turn to bid is. There's not. AND Union was saying I should have known when my day was and should have submitted my bid. You can't pick your days till the guy above you picks so again WTF.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
The "sheet" they are referring to is the seniority list and, yes, you should know where this is posted.

Our center manager gives us a heads up on vacation bidding and asks that we have our primary and secondary choices made before it is our turn to bid. The primary would be the weeks that you really want while the secondary would be the ones that you will take if you can't get your primary. He also asks that anyone taking a vacation in the first quarter let him know by early December.

Imagine if you had 50 drivers and 10 of them needed 2 weeks to make their selections. It would take forever for your center to get their vacation calendar completed.

The two drivers above me in seniority are both retiring so I will be the first to choose. I am also having surgery for a non-work related injury the first week of January and will need at least 3 weeks to recover. I always take Thanksgiving week so I need to figure out when to take my 5th week.
 
The "sheet"is actually Not the seniority list. It is supposed to be a list that actually shows the date you will areceive scheduled to pick you vacations. In our center they forced a driver to roll 4 weeks into 2016 that has a seniority date in April because there are so few weeks available, so you would need to have a lot more than only first and second choices.
 

Ms.PacMan

Well-Known Member
The "sheet"is actually Not the seniority list. It is supposed to be a list that actually shows the date you will areceive scheduled to pick you vacations. In our center they forced a driver to roll 4 weeks into 2016 that has a seniority date in April because there are so few weeks available, so you would need to have a lot more than only first and second choices.
Yes we have that sheet.

Rolling weeks? Vacations are picked for the calendar year - no such thing as rolling weeks. It sounds as though they aren't allowing enough weeks of vacation for the number of drivers - that's a contractual number. Talk to your steward.

They do this because they think this is a non paying grievance but you need to state in the grievance that vacations would have been picked after the raise on Aug 1 (find drivers in progression to file) and ask for lost wages.
 
In our local we pick from seniority date so August I get my new vacations and pick for the rest of the year then carry over a couple to have before the following August. You do not get all of your vacations on January 1st. And yes the company is not providing enough vacation so the guys at the bottom are hurting. I can't believe we all work for the same company with the same union and there's this much variance between our buildings.
 

Ms.PacMan

Well-Known Member
In our local we pick from seniority date so August I get my new vacations and pick for the rest of the year then carry over a couple to have before the following August. You do not get all of your vacations on January 1st. And yes the company is not providing enough vacation so the guys at the bottom are hurting. I can't believe we all work for the same company with the same union and there's this much variance between our buildings.
Yes, giving advice on here is hit or miss without knowing where you are at. If you can be a little more specific (supplement) someone is bound to answer correctly.

Same premise though - try and find the money shot if they aren't following the contract.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
We get all of our paid time off on the 1st of the year. The "sheet" attached to the calendar is the seniority list with the number of vacation weeks listed by our names.

I can see where if your year started May 1st where they would have to roll vacations over to the following year but I can also see where that would be a PITA to keep track of.
 

Overpaid Union Thug

Well-Known Member
I'm on Vacation and get the vacation bid sheet for 2016 surprise texted to me. I pick my weeks go to bed, wake up the next morning and go pheasant hunting. While looking for birds I get a text that says I have to turn the calender in now or I'm going to get passed by. WTF so if I didn't have cell coverage I wouldn't get vacations for 2016??????? Ten years and this place never ceases to amaze me. Just wondering if any one else has input about bidding vacations while on vacation. Our center has in years past waited two weeks for a driver to get back so I'm not sure why management got a wild hair up its arse.

P.S. union told me that there is supposed to be a sheet up telling me when my turn to bid is. There's not. AND Union was saying I should have known when my day was and should have submitted my bid. You can't pick your days till the guy above you picks so again WTF.
Your management team and local are just following the rules. Are you in the Southern Supplement?
 

fres431

Well-Known Member
The "sheet" they are referring to is the seniority list and, yes, you should know where this is posted.

Our center manager gives us a heads up on vacation bidding and asks that we have our primary and secondary choices made before it is our turn to bid. The primary would be the weeks that you really want while the secondary would be the ones that you will take if you can't get your primary. He also asks that anyone taking a vacation in the first quarter let him know by early December.

Imagine if you had 50 drivers and 10 of them needed 2 weeks to make their selections. It would take forever for your center to get their vacation calendar completed.

The two drivers above me in seniority are both retiring so I will be the first to choose. I am also having surgery for a non-work related injury the first week of January and will need at least 3 weeks to recover. I always take Thanksgiving week so I need to figure out when to take my 5th week.
As long as you been working for ups you only get 5 weeks of vaca? At 10years here ya get 6 weeks 2 of those weeks are option a and b weeks
 

barnyard

KTM rider
We do not start picking until the 1st or 2nd week of November. This year, I should be picking my weeks the week of Thanksgiving. Each group gets 48 hours to pick and if you turn in late, your picks are not posted until the current group picking turns in their weeks. Turning in late, could mean losing a week to someone with less seniority.
 

clean hairy

Well-Known Member
First thought is being a 10 yr employee and not knowing about vacation bidding?
In the Southern, weeks are picked in Oct each year by Seniority.
Top 1/3 have the first 10 days to pick, 2nd third get the next 10 days to pick.
Bottom 1/3 get the last 10 days to pick.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
I would like to see the bidding process changed to a system of rounds.

Round 1----everyone chooses 2 weeks.

Round 2----everyone who has weeks left chooses 2 more.

Round 3----see above.

Selection process complete, everyone gets at least 2 of their preferred weeks, everyone is happy.
 

Overpaid Union Thug

Well-Known Member
First thought is being a 10 yr employee and not knowing about vacation bidding?
In the Southern, weeks are picked in Oct each year by Seniority.
Top 1/3 have the first 10 days to pick, 2nd third get the next 10 days to pick.
Bottom 1/3 get the last 10 days to pick.
That is how its supposed to be. But if certain "special" people are on vacation or off during their allotted times then things get held up. I was supposed to pick this week. There are still quite a few people ahead of me that haven't. This potentially creates a problem for people needing to make vacation/travel plans for early January.
 

clean hairy

Well-Known Member
That is how its supposed to be. But if certain "special" people are on vacation or off during their allotted times then things get held up. I was supposed to pick this week. There are still quite a few people ahead of me that haven't. This potentially creates a problem for people needing to make vacation/travel plans for early January.
At least where I am, the high seniority person is getting pressured middle of Sept to have their weeks selected soon, so the rest can get theirs posted.
Of course with us, most take pretty much the same weeks each year, so that simplifies it.
 
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