For the Union Du community, Taking care of young Union members

[Duncanpup]

Company gave disciplinary letter to road driver, delay of freight. Young guy is extra board which is no bid, you work 10-14 hours and you go home and sleep at all odd hours and in ten hours they are calling you to come work do it again. This morning young Union guy searched me out I’m pinch hitting as Union steward on this shift, playing yard jockey our one steward is out fmla on this shift.

The guy pulls over and naps over steering wheel, I’ve done it many times we all have. So I told him do not sign letter that they tried to give you at dispatch window, then I took him and showed him how to fill out grievance sheet. And all we wrote on it was federal dot regulation 392.3 which states driver is in control over fatigue or illness. Keep it short and simple on grievance and let the company try and argue with dot rules, management assholes. They preach safety until it effects them , rule is out the gate be safe earn big cash and come home to the family.

[elleng]

1. THANKS, and sounds like good advice, to me!

Does 'she who must be obeyed' agree????

[Iris]

2. I hope it works out for him. That's some bs from management

[Duncanpup]

5. Thanks

It’s common around here letters

[Omaha Steve]

3. Could you cross post this in the Labor Group?

K&R!

OS

[Duncanpup]

4. Go for it if you want

I can’t do it from I phone

[Omaha Steve]

9. OK with me

[Sherman A1]

6. Good

Well Done! You are absolutely correct about companies preaching safety or some other important policy ( usually dreamed up by a 12 year old working in an air conditioned office), right up to the point where their policy gets in the way of what needs to be done in the immediate moment.

My advice is always to take the policy and shove it up their A** sideways. They can put on more labor to get the work done safely and according to policy.

[DEbluedude]

7. You gave him good advice.

Transportation behemoths rarely care about safety. Safety is #1 until it affects production. They treat fatigue like it is a behavior, not a condition. I'm well aware of fatigue issues, having been on extra boards for over 22 years with only 8-hour periods of mandatory rest. That was a long time ago and there has been some improvement with the implementation of work-rest cycles that have been mandated by DOT/FRA. But, as is always the case, the carriers try to find a way around any regulations that help protect the workers in the field.

[The Jungle 1]

8. Driving is difficult these days

The company knows where you are and how fast you are going at all times. If you stop they know.

[gab13by13]

10. I was a local union official for 26 years,

and I helped members write up grievances. You are 100% correct about writing them short and sweet, too much info gets picked apart.

The hardest job I had was telling members that I understood their complaint but they couldn't win a grievance. They could still file one of course but being truthful helps in the long run.

[Chautauquas]

12. I know what you mean

I was President of my AFSCME local and also served in a few other positions, including steward. One of the hardest things I had to do was tell people that they had a legitimate complaint but couldn't file a grievance unless we could show that management violated the local and/or master contract.

[multigraincracker]

11. As a long time union guy, my advise to any young member is

get a copy of the local agreement and the national. Learn it and always have a copy close by. In my 30 years on the job, it had saved me many times. When you start talking Section 3, paragraph 19, they tend to shut up and back off. It also comes in handy when you have to deal with your union rep., when you can point the rules out to that person.
I became a big fan the first year I worked there. I worked with an older guy whose 18 year old daughter had just got a job there came by with tears in her eyes. Her foreman, who was also new and his father was a big shot at the company had just sexually harassed her. Now this was back in 1972. He had told her he wanted oral sex and if he didn't get it, she was going on the hardest job on the line. Dad called the union down and told them what happened. They went around and organized a wildcat and the whole plant walked off. They told the plant manager we were not coming back until that guy was fired. Took 3 days for the company to add up the millions of lost money and that foreman was fired.

The union has some flaws, they are human too. But, that has stuck with me for almost 50 years.