Reality Check EP 011

The hosts discuss the importance of properly filling out supervisors' work and grievances. They emphasize the need to include specific times, names, and details of what the supervisors were doing. They also encourage members to gather evidence from other drivers and note if the company failed to call the whole list for work. They highlight the contract violations by supervisors and the need to file grievances to protect jobs. They also touch on filing seniority grievances when hours are not being honored. The hosts urge listeners to ask for help from stewards or business agents and emphasize the importance of filing grievances correctly and not doing so on the clock. Teamster Power 767 Reality Check with Jeff Schoenfeld and Garfield Hooper. Garfield, how's everything with you today? Oh, you know, getting used to going back to work. Yeah, yeah, that's definitely a thing, right? Yeah, yeah. It's definitely a thing. You don't realize how hard of a job we do until you've been off for a couple of months and you go back to it. No, absolutely, absolutely. But just take it easy. Don't hurt yourself. Oh, no. Not going to make that mistake again. Yeah, exactly, exactly. So today, one of the things we're going to talk about is filling out supervisors' work and grievances. You know, members sometimes get into some issues because, you know, they're maybe not putting some things on there. I think it's just – I mean, it's basically a simple thing. And where it starts is we usually have the pre-filled grievances. Yeah. You know, it says the language in there. But what we have to put in there, you have to put the times that you saw the supervisors working. Yes. Now, you put the exact time like you put it – like what I do is 7-28, 7-31, 7-42. So what happens is when you put those together, it's a pattern and it goes to that whole time. So you put that down and you try to get every single supervisor's name and they should be wearing the name tag. They should be wearing name tags. Yes, yes, yes. And also what they were doing and where. Yeah. And, you know, I think people just want to fill it out and get paid. Just do that part. Yeah. I've been in several of these – in these hearings with management and whether they be center managers, supervisors, or division managers who want to argue. It's like, oh, well, he put on here that he saw them, but he only saw them once at this time. Like what's saying they didn't? And I was like, well, I've got a dozen other people that can tell you they came in throughout the night and said they saw him driving an ERAG cart or unloading a truck or whatever they were doing. And the important part is, is like do your due diligence. You know, if you see that, you know, if a bunch of other people said, you know, they saw him doing so and so throughout the night, get their names. Put it down there. It's like, hey, can you tell me what time? Yeah, sure. Put it down there. You know, mark it on there and say, hey, you know, we've got several other drivers that saw him working out through the night. I'm filing this grievance. You know, he obviously worked quite a bit. You know, I want a couple hours' pay since you're using – since you're using them – these supervisors to work. And, you know, as a steward, I can go in there and be like, well, did you guys call – did you all use your calling list? Did you call anybody? Did you offer the work to any drivers as they were getting off the clock, you know, that night? Yep. And that's the thing. They don't, you know. We know they don't. And, you know, we said this in another podcast that, you know, they'll call a couple of people, but they won't call the whole list. Okay. Bottom line, you didn't call the whole list. Supervisor's working. That's it. And those things need to be relayed to the members. You know, everyone needs to be talking and saying, okay, they didn't use the whole list. They need to write that on the grievance. Hey, they didn't use the whole list, or they only called in this many drivers, or any of those things. And the other things will take care of itself. You put the name, where they were doing it, and what time. And it's – and what happens is the company might try to, like, muddy the water. Like, well, you know, they were – no, they weren't training. Training takes – you show it, and then you move on. That's, you know, I used to hear that a lot. Yeah. We had those arguments last year. Well, we were training. We were training. I was like, a supervisor in a truck by themselves is not training anyone. Yeah, yeah, because, you know, again, what's that thing that they do again, management? We've talked about it. Lying. I think that's what we refer to it as. There it is. Yeah. There it is. It is. It's crazy. And, you know, and part of it also, again, it's you could ask the supervisor. They're supposed to tell us. Remember, that's the language. They're supposed to. Yep. They're supposed to. You know, without their name tag, they're like, well, you know, blah, blah, blah. No, don't catch an attitude with me. Do not catch an attitude with me. I'm showing you respect. You worked. You didn't show me respect. You didn't show any of the union members respect. You worked. Okay, what time did you work from? You know, and you ask them the question. And, I mean, most of the time I'm going to get them telling me they did, but they're not going to give me the whole time. Yeah. You put that on there. This is what the supervisor said. And you do everything. You know, everyone's like, oh, you need a witness. No, you don't need a witness. Put good notes. You'll get what you get. Having a witness helps, absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, what does the company always say also? Oh, they just want the money. And it doesn't matter the reason. No. You're muddying the water. It's in the contract. Ridiculous. Yeah. That's exactly it. It's in the contract. People that, again, people decided on this contract. They decided that these were fair penalties for these things. And, you know, we have a right to collect those. Like, if you don't, if somebody just wants the money, then if you're that worried about them just wanting the money, then don't work a supervisor. Then they don't have any reason to file. Exactly. See, it's the root cause of it, them working. I mean, and it becomes a whole thing. So, again, you put the dates. You file on the grievance. You know, just you put on the dates who was involved, exactly who was involved. You get their names, you know, what time. What were they doing? They were loading, unloading, doing this. They were pulling, you know, driving around in an e-reg cart. Just write it all down. And if you can get it, everyone needs to hear this. Get with the person who's doing the list to see if, you know, they called the whole list or they didn't use the list at all, and it needs to be written on the grievance. Put that. I mean, that's a win right there. And, you know, also if they're sending people home. Oh, they sent people home at 7.30 and at 7.45. Okay, and the supervisor was working. Okay. And what do they say sometimes? Oh, they did it on their own, right? So they just left, right? Yeah, somebody can just walk out whenever they want to. Yeah, uh-huh. Yeah, yeah. You know, all of a sudden that's okay, right? Yeah, certainly. I mean, they're trying to save a buck. Yeah. So, and we have hundreds of thousands of pieces of proof that the company is violating the contract. Yep. And taking away jobs. So besides getting all the information right, first thing you have to do is actually file the grievance. So many people I see, like, so they're working next to a supervisor and they're not filing on them. Well, what are you doing? What, are you trying to be nice? Are you playing nice with management? No, they're violating the contract. You file on them. That's it. It's pretty simple. If you do something wrong, they're not going to hesitate to write you up. Oh, that's it. End of the world, right? You know? If you get written up, you know, one of the things I hate the most when a supervisor goes, oh, it's just a write-up. No, this is the first stage of discipline that leads up to and including termination. Don't tell me it's just a write-up. This is the first step to firing somebody. That's what that is. If you file a grievance on somebody, nobody cares. The money doesn't come out of that supervisor's pocket. It doesn't come out of the center manager's or the division manager's or even the district manager's pocket. No, but what it does do is steal jobs from us. And we've talked about that, and that's important. Everyone needs to do their due diligence, fill out the grievance. Don't do it on the clock. Remember, do not do it on the clock. No. Okay? And you have any questions, ask a steward or if there's a BA available. Just do it right. It's simple. We don't want anyone, any supervisor getting away with, you know, with working. So we all have to do it. It's going to take all of us. And to be fair, most supervisors didn't take the supervisor position to work. They took it to supervise. So I can't give it through my head why a supervisor wouldn't want somebody to file. Because for me, if I was in a supervisor's position and I was being told I needed to unload a truck or load a truck or whatever, that's not why I took this job. So please, file on me. Make them do what's necessary so I don't have to do that job because I shouldn't be. Yep. Absolutely. I mean, there are supervisors I know just don't want to work and, you know, they file this and that. But nonetheless, they're still doing it. So, you know, we just – but, I mean, that's that. Like I said, get with a steward or a BA if they're available. Just make sure you fill it out right. Every little bit counts. Yeah. So the next thing we're going to move on to is filing a seniority grievance. Yes. So one of the things – let's say someone was put on a route. Now, in the new contract, they said instead of taking it into consideration, the company has to honor the seniority. But what does it say after that? So long as it doesn't get in the way – I forget the exact wordage. Basically. So long as it doesn't get in the way of the business. So they're going to do the same thing. Yeah. Basically. Right. You know, if someone – like, you know, if they put – you want the hours and they put you on a route that has less hours, you can file for those hours. Yeah. We've gotten plenty of members back, you know. You can file for those hours. We had a big problem in our center early on in the year to where they were – this was before the new contract. So they were actually driving 22-4s and sending full-time drivers home, which is explicitly forbidden in the contract. Like, no 22-4s are supposed to work. I couldn't understand it. Yeah. If RPCDs were sent home. And they – every day, they were sending home half a dozen RPCDs while there were 22-4s out there working. And I told them. I said, what are you all doing? Like, you're outright violating the contract. You've got these RPCDs that are here that want to work, and you're sending them home and working these 22-4s. Well, that's what we've decided to do. Okay. Yeah. And I handed every one of them grievances, and they filled them all out. As a matter of fact, I've got a couple – I've got a couple that were never settled from earlier this year that I've got to settle this coming week. Yeah. For, like, 11 – one of them's for, like, 11 hours. One's for, like, 10 hours because they grabbed the names of one of the lower seniority drivers that ran. And they say, well, I want that – I want that – I want those 11 hours since that's where, like, he worked. I should have been working instead. Yeah. Yeah. And what they were doing also is they were working TCDs before 22-4s. Yep. So you're working a part-time or before you were working a full-time. Okay. Again, makes no sense, but they want to do that. So let's say, like, when we have extra work, they'll call people in. And sometimes when you just walk in the building, they'll put you on, right, out of order. And I had this issue with some members years ago. They're like, well, I don't want to put the driver's name. I don't want to file it against them. First off, you're not filing it against another member. You're filing it against the company. Yes. You need to put the member's name on there. You need to. I mean, that makes us clear up the grievance that much quicker. Yeah. I mean, you're not doing anything to another member. This is on the company. And you don't have to put the name of that member on the front page. You could put it on the back page that's not to be shown to management. Because, like, there's three pages. There's front and back and the front, and then there's another one to fill out notes and everything, any type of evidence that you have that you don't necessarily want to put on the front because you don't have room for. Like, that back sheet shouldn't go to management. That back sheet should stay with your steward and be sent in either faxed or via the app or whatever with your grievance. Yeah. It is important. Like, on the front, you put as little as possible. Yeah. What happened? My seniority was violated. That's it. Yeah. That's it. Just make it very simple. That's it. And, you know, what you do, you know, same situation. Like I was saying, you put the person's name. You can put it on the, you know, on the third page. You just, and, you know, most of the time when we were settling these, you know, they looked up. Okay. The labor manager looked up. Okay. This is the time this one came in. This is the time this one came in. There's the difference. Then if it was an overtime day, you calculate that. But just because we were trying to say with any of these, any grievance, as much information as possible but not on the front page. Yeah. Yeah. We just very, you know, just enough. Like with the names on the, you know, you have to put the names. And then you put anything you want to say, you put that on the third page. Now, they haven't heard it. I don't think they've heard a case yet where they're taking the seniority. They're honoring the seniority, you know, that whole thing. Yeah. And what I'm seeing is the DAs are saying just file a grievance. They're not working the problem like I've, you know, we've talked about this. They have to work the problem. Try to get this thing worked out, not just, okay, let's just go to the panel. Let's just, we're going to go deal with that later on. You need to deal with it right away so this, you know, doesn't get out of hand. But things have gotten out of hand. Yeah. So you got to nip it in the bud as quick as possible. So. Yeah, I agree. And it's important to note that a lot of supervisors and management will say that during peak season that they're allowed to work. And they're not. This is, that's one of the things about the contract that doesn't go away in, you know, November, December, like the 9-5 rules, for instance. Supervisors are not supposed to work year round. And if they didn't hire enough people to run routes on or whatever, then that's on them. That doesn't mean that supervisors just get to work scot-free. If you come up, you know, the week before Christmas and the supervisor's running a route because they don't have enough people, follow them. That's your money. Absolutely. Absolutely. They just never, they never want to hire because they don't want to pay the insurance and everything like that. And it's just, there's so many things that go into it. And it's, it's, and they've never, I've never known the company to exhaust all means. No. Never. Never. They'll try to say they did. Yeah. But they don't. I mean, it's, it's, it's, I mean, it really is, it's just simple. You know what they'll do? Sometimes they'll keep people out there. You know, some people they'll, you know, actually I saw it in the McKinney building. There was such a disparity. Some people were out for 12 hours. Some people were out for like eight or nine hours. I'm like, okay. And the labor manager goes, we exhausted all means. I said, so every driver worked 14 hours? And then he just, you know, we won that one. Because, I mean, they never, ever do. And it's still the same way. Like, they still, the dispatch in our building is so screwed up. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, it's, it's, I mean, there are a lot of things that are messed up. And some of these people have never been on road soups and don't know how, you know, things work. And they, right away they're trying to tell us, and they don't want to listen. But that's okay. We take it as it comes. It's an ongoing thing. And, again, nothing was, no language addressed to any of this stuff. Nope. Not anything. So. I mean, we get paid, we potentially get paid more money for supervisors working now. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean. I mean, that's throwing money at the problem. Yeah. And once again, it's nice to have an extra pay, extra check every now and then when you catch a supervisor working. If you get the opportunity to, you know, file that and somebody hires seniority and you doesn't. The purpose is for them to not work. Yeah. We want as many jobs as possible. They're taking away jobs. That's exactly what they're doing. So it's just wrong. And, obviously, we just have to, we've got to hold them accountable each time. That's what it is. Filing the grievances is what it is. Yeah. But I just wanted to say one other thing. And that's, it's in the contract that to the weeks of Christmas and New Year's, you do not get your guarantees in those weeks. Again, to the weeks of Christmas and New Year's, there is no guarantee. You're going to get your hours. You're going to get your hours anyway. But it's in the contract. So if that comes up, you know, just remember, we spoke about this. And you can go back to the podcast and say, wait, those guys spoke about that. So, once again, any issues with filling out a grievance, never do it on the clock. Get with a steward or a B.A. And just, you know, there's no reason to ever rush a grievance. Okay? And don't wait. Don't wait a day. Don't file it right away. That's it. Nothing will annoy your steward any more than handing them a grievance on the 10th day at, like, start time. Because so many times I want to just be like, well, I mean, you waited, you had 10 days to file this. You're handing it to me right now. Like, I have to get it signed and fax it in. And it has to be in before 3 o'clock on the 10th day so we can get to the company. So, like, don't wait. Just, if you're violated in any way, whether that be supervisors working, whether it be non-fives, whether it be, you know, seniority or whatever, just when it happens, get a grievance, fill it out, file it, and get it to a steward as soon as possible. Don't wait. Yeah, absolutely. I had posted this on Facebook and other places. But I just want everyone to know this again. Anyone can send in any questions. We have an email, 767realitycheck at gmail.com. Again, it's 767realitycheck at gmail.com. And you send these questions in and we will respond in a future podcast dedicated solely to your questions. So, we can answer them and you won't ever have to ask them again. Well, we know it's going to be asked again. But we want you to have it. Remember it. And, you know, we're trying to help out here so everybody's in the know. Yeah, any questions you might have, if you've got some issues going on in your center that you'd like us to weigh in on, please just shoot us an email or, you know, we'll try to get to it as soon as we can. But just to reiterate, that's 767realitycheck at gmail.com. Exactly. So we talked about some things, filling out grievances, some other things. Everyone have a good day. I'm Jeff Shenfeld. 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.