Reality Check EP 008

The hosts discuss two main topics in this episode. First, they talk about the issue of part-time employees being sent home for being late to work. They emphasize that being late does not result in losing seniority, but only the guarantee of work for that shift. They share personal experiences and advise workers to assert their rights and request their guarantee if management tries to send them home. They also suggest having a witness present when making this request. The second topic is the use of cameras in the workplace. The hosts express their opposition to the cameras and criticize management for implementing them without negotiation. They mention that management may try to use the recorded footage for training purposes and advise stewards not to attend meetings where videos are shown. They stress the importance of walking out of any meeting if it becomes uncomfortable or inappropriate and remind stewards that they have equal standing with management during these meetings. They e Teamster Power 767 Reality Check with Jeff Schoenfeld and Garfield Hooper. Hope everyone's doing well today. I'm Jeff Schoenfeld and I'm Garfield Hooper. All right. Today we're going to talk about a couple of different things. One of the things I saw a lot of, especially with the part-timers, is if someone would come in late to work, whether they told the management or not, they come in, management would be like, oh, we're sending you home. No. Everyone needs to know, everybody needs to know that when you come in late like that, you don't lose your seniority. You lose your guarantee. So whatever it is until the end of the shift, you'll be able to work. Garfield, have you ever seen anything like that happen in your building where they're like, no, you've got to go home? Yeah. As a matter of fact, they did it to me. I had gotten, this was, you know, I was a driver at this point, but I had a little altercation with a former center manager and I was late one day. Yeah, that happens. Yeah. And they had put somebody else on my route and told me that I didn't have a route that day. No. Because I was like five minutes late or something. Yeah. And I told him, I was like, I'm just not guaranteed. Hey, you still have to work me if I'm here. Yes. And, you know, of course, he fought me on it and I said, OK, well, then I'll go home. And then I filed the grievance on it and won. Yeah. So exactly. And I mean, it's important because, again, they'll try to make up their own rules. Well, this and that. We don't have work. OK, you don't have work. But, you know, I think a lot of times what people have to do, like, so just say you want your guarantee. And, you know, even though you show up to work, that should be good enough. That's basically saying I want my guarantee. And let's just, you know, let's just say otherwise. Yeah. But I think you have to say when they say you have no we have no work. No, I want my guarantee. And make sure you try to say that in front of someone, you know, because it doesn't have to be a steward, but someone else who heard because, you know, sometimes they'll they'll try to be like, well, no, I didn't hear you say it. Wait, are you saying It's an understood thing. Are you saying that management will lie to us? Is that what you're saying? I think so. That's exactly what I'm saying. Oh, they avoid the truth. It's nuts. It's nuts. But, you know, and, you know, it's it's crazy. But, yeah, you just have to. And like I said, when you come in, you're you're you're guaranteed supposed to be there anyway. But just to cover yourself, you know, you can never be too sure. And you just say, I want my guarantee. You know, we don't have any work. Oh, well, OK. I still got my guarantee. Doesn't mean it's, you know, I still got my my hours, you know, and, you know, you can't send me home. I don't lose my seniority or, you know, whatever they give you. So long as you're not like I said, so long as you're, you know, not more than 45 minutes late, I believe is what it says. Well, there was an understanding. So we had this, you know, in Dallas that, you know, if when I was BA that if someone comes in more than 45 minutes, let's say there's a double shift. And again, part timers don't have a specific spot. You know, the combos, the 22-3s, they have their specific areas. That's different. But if there's a double shifter working in a specific area in the hub and a part timer wants that, no one's got that area. But if they're 45 minutes late, they're 45 minutes late, they're going to go where, you know, they're put at that point. You can't just start. You know, there's got to be something there. So the 45 minutes was an understanding. But again, anyone out there, just get with your, you know, your BA just to make sure, you know, just clarify, you know, we had that understanding is just see where they're at with that. So, you know, we don't we don't want anyone just, you know, like, no, it was this, it was that. No, I mean, that was the understanding we had. But, you know, things could have they could have come to a different agreement. I mean, I don't know. But we just have to be aware of that. And, you know, they have gotten so many part timers, they call me afterwards like, oh, they and I had told them plenty of times, no, you don't lose your seniority. And it's like, like. I don't know if they were listening to me, to be honest with you, you know, they so they go home and I'm like, oh, why don't you stay? You you you still get to work and well, you know, and I had the file and, you know, they would they would get it anyway. Right. You know, it just it just makes it more difficult. You want to streamline. You want to make it easier for for us and for the VA to, you know, to to get this thing done. You don't want this thing to drag on because there's not enough information or whatnot. And, you know, it's. Like you said before, the management does this thing called avoiding the truth. Wait, what did you call it again? Lying? That's what it was. Well, you know, they they want to fire us for dishonesty, but oh, man, I don't know any management that would still have a job if I could get fired for being dishonest. No, not at all. And I mean, that's again, I'll just say a side thing. I wish that something like that was, you know, put in the contract where they would mirror the language. You know, if they can do this to us, then this can happen to them. Yeah. And it wasn't. And we have to deal with it. Whatever it is now. So hopefully next time, you know, we can get something like that in there. But so that was, you know, that was that was that. And understand also, if you're coming in late, if you if you haven't spoken to them, which you should always let them know if you're going to be late, you know, they could you know, they could still write you up, you know, that doesn't mean the fact that they can write you up. So, I mean, if you're late, they're going to give you a discipline. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. So just, you know, I mean, I know things come up and whatnot, but you still you know, if you can make it, I mean, didn't make it there on time. I mean, that's if it's something we can control, then then make it there on time. So but but there's that. So another thing I want to talk about is the Leidex cameras. I mean, that's a big point of contention. Oh, my God. You're opening up a can of worms now. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, they're everywhere right now. And, you know, people say, oh, there's a sensor or a camera. It's this management says that, you know, this and that. And it's it's it should have started all over and taken all the cameras out. They should have never been put in. You know, I mean, they didn't they didn't we didn't negotiate that. They were originally and they just put them in. That shouldn't happen. We should have made them take it out and start all over again. And now it's contractual and now they can have them in there and now they can claim it's just a sensor. And, you know, despite the fact that, you know, we know damn well it's not just a sensor. But yeah. Yeah. And that's the crazy part. And we know that and we know that they, you know, they record stuff and whatnot. But what's happening is and even, you know, they've been doing it in, you know, trying it in my center in Dallas. And I know they must be trying at other places to bring drivers in to look at for training purposes. And it's not what we do. We're not going to do that. If they have a video and they want to show us, we're not going in. Spoke to the B.A. today. We're not going to do that. And they want to show us we're not going in. Spoke to the B.A. today. We do not go into the office. OK. And, you know, and I was you know, we were along with that. I was thinking the same thing. Just wanted to make sure. Double checked. You know, he agreed for now. For now, you know, unless something changes, we don't go in the office to go, you know, discuss, you know, training of a video. That's something they recorded of us. We're not doing it. It's not supposed to be there to begin with. Yes, absolutely. So every steward out there needs to understand that. Not go to the office if they want to start showing you a video of, you know, for training purposes and whatnot. And, you know, they and if you're in the office, if you're in the office and they want to start bringing that stuff up, leave. But yes, yeah, this meeting is over with. That's a that's another that's another point of contention that I have a hard time getting across to new new stewards is like, yeah, when you're in a hearing or a meeting with a number, another member of management, it's you. Generally, it's you, the member you're there to represent. And another member of management, whether that be a supervisor, a center manager, a division manager, whoever, while you're in that meeting. You and that center manager are equals. Absolutely. And if if at any point in that meeting, you feel like this meeting, like it is going in a way in a direction that. That you don't feel is comfortable, like maybe they're attacking the member, maybe they're attacking you, maybe they're bringing up things that they're not supposed to call, yes, walk out. Absolutely. And if they try to follow, be like, hey, if you're going to follow us and this meeting is coming to an end, like I'm not going to do this, like you have the right to walk out of that room with your member and discuss whatever you want to take however much time you need to to have that discussion. Don't let them rush you. Absolutely. And I think, yeah, we've talked about this. I think we've talked about this. You know, we don't we don't rush through hearings or whatever it is in the office. They're trying to give you discipline. They're not doing drive through hearings. You know, your questions we get to ask is our questions. It's not, oh, they get to do what they want. It's like like like you said, Garka, take a caucus step outside. You can do that as many times as needed. Yep. As needed. I mean, you know, I've done that, you know, where, you know, I had to maybe speak with the member and be like, OK. And we again, we always speak in the truth. But sometimes, you know, you know, members might want to say too much. I mean, you know, you just sometimes you just don't. And again, we always speak the truth. But, you know, sometimes you don't know the information that, you know, you have to try to, you know, OK, we're going to step outside. We're going to you know, we need to talk about this. And the manager, you know, can't say, no, you can't. It's part of the contract. We absolutely can. And, you know, this is another good thing for members to when you get questioned by a center manager or a supervisor or something when they're questioning. So, yeah, if you have any doubt that you may have done something wrong and that you don't necessarily want to meet to or, you know, you know, have that discussion outside with your steward. But also if they're asking you and they're holding you to an answer, just say, I was doing my job. Yeah. And what happens is and I'm going to tell you, you know, they they'll absolutely, you know, try anything. And if it's like a week and a half later, how can you remember what happened, you know, a week and a half ago? I mean, if they're going to do something, let them do it right, you know, right off the bat. But again, you know, just just getting back to what we're talking about with the cameras and whatnot, we will not do, you know, go in there when it has anything to do with the video. They started in the middle. Oh, here's a video. No, we're not doing this. They can say what they want. Oh, we're going to do this. No, I'm sorry. No, actually, I'm not sorry. We're you know, we're stepping out of you unless you're going to shut that thing off and and we're going to just keep talking. You know, this is done right here. Yep. This this this is absolutely done. But that whole thing with it with the cameras is is an absolute mess. Yeah. And yeah, there's our you know, there's our glorious negotiating committee for you. I know. I know. That's just you know, there we go. There we go with that, that bad language again, you know, just just allowing things to happen. But but moving on to the next thing in the contract in the back, there's a there's plenty of letters of understanding for, you know, different articles and whatnot. And this one is the letter of understanding for Article 48. OK, and it's it you know, it says this in 48. But just want to reiterate this and maybe when you know, when eventually whenever we get the new contract and it's in, you know, the old contracts, obviously, you can see there's letters of understanding, certain things that, you know, people wouldn't even know about. Go look in the back. You'll see different things. And, you know, you know, one of them was, you know, it's about the you know, the fans that they had, you know, install the fans. Yeah, that's important. That's, you know, certain things. But this one for, you know, Article 40, I'm going to read it, you know, verbatim here first and talk. This letter of understanding is entered into by the parties to clarify the interpretation of Article 48, Section 5, 7, 10, 11 on layoff procedures as follows. Once a full-time employee is laid off from their classification and exercise their right to elect work in another full-time classification, provided they are qualified, the junior full-time employee in that classification using their full-time seniority date will be the employee laid off and or displaced. Now, a lot of the stuff going on now, I mean, it's going on with the feeders. And, you know, feeders will really touch upon when we have a guest on here, you know, from the feeders department. This is one of those things that, you know, just comes up and what can I do, what can I not do? And, you know, as long as, you know, with feeders, I mean, as long as you're, again, like anything else, you're qualified, you've been doing it, but it's got to be done the proper way. And, you know, management will say no to this, say you can't go into the hub and do this. No, you know, you can. Just ask your steward about this. We just, we wanted to touch upon this because it's important, you know, because there's a lot of layoffs now. And I think that, you know, talk about this and say, wait, what are my options and whatnot? And you can look at it, again, in Article 48, Sections 5, 7, 10, and 11 on the layoff procedures. Ask your steward, ask your BA, just to clarify anything. And, you know, it's important to know. I mean, you've got to know your rights, right? I mean, yeah. And a lot of people ignore those letters of understanding in the back, like people focus on the front. But the letters of understanding are there to clarify a lot of the rules. So this is this is helpful. Like, like you said, a lot of this stuff is going on with the feeder department right now, despite the fact that it appears to me that we still have contractors. But that's another story. That is just, yes. And we will have some feeder drivers on here in other episodes who will be able to speak about that a lot more. Yeah. But also, like, if you get into the position to where, you know, you're a full time driver, maybe you're a lower seniority and, you know, you get laid off. Like, you have the right to come in and displace a part time employee to get to get those hours. Two of them. Two of them. Yep, absolutely. And, you know, everyone needs to know that. And again, we can we can talk about this here and when. And if there is an issue, ask your steward, ask your B.A. and just get clarification what you can and can't do. Don't just accept if manager says, no, you can't do that because they're doing that in certain buildings. Yeah, they absolutely are. So, you know, you have rights. And this this whole our contract, the whole depth of the contract is to have people working. And when they work, there were rules. Right. So that's that's what these contracts are for, to have people working. But still, you know, there's rules to go by. Management, union. There's rules to go by and we have to enforce them. We can't accept. Yes. A manager, a member of management's, you know, word on it. Because whether they're lying to you or not, they they may not know. But I feel like probably the majority of them know. But they're just trying to violate it anyway. Like, oh, yeah, yeah, you can't do this, but you can do this. And and it's just yeah. When they say that, just just just check with check with the like I said, steward or B.A. Get some clarification on that. Don't just don't just accept their word on that, because I mean, I think there are a lot of managers that don't know. And like you said, they some of them, a lot of them do know and they just try to, you know, steer you in a different direction. So it's about always, you know, getting clarification from, you know, an authorized agent. Yeah. We covered a few topics today. And Jeff and I understand there's a lot of ground left to cover. So if there is something that you would like us to weigh in on or talk about or you have a situation going on in your center you'd like us to weigh in on, please feel free to email us at 767 reality check at Gmail dot com. We're going to try to get to some of those emails in a future podcast and answer questions to the best of our abilities. Jeff and I are more than happy to weigh in on any any questions you might have. But today, I'm Jeff Schoenfeld. And I'm Garfield Hooper. Our experiences deal largely with the southern region supplement. This is just an information podcast. And if you have questions, it's best to contact your local steward or business agent. And remember, strong people stand up for themselves, but the strongest people stand up for others.