Reality Check EP 023

The speaker discusses the bidding process for sleeper and brown jobs in a company. Bidding for sleepers starts in February and for brown in March, with all jobs starting in April. There are not many sleeper jobs, so the process is quick. The speaker also mentions issues with job availability and the need for consistency in bidding for Tuesday through Saturday drivers. They discuss changes in training routes and communication issues with the company. They also mention the merging of two centers and the importance of following the bidding process correctly. They encourage listeners to seek advice from local stewards or business agents. The episode ends with a reminder to stand up for oneself and for others. I hope everyone's doing well today, glad to be back on another episode. Today we have George Vargas, he's a sleeper team driver. We are going to talk about bidding, okay? Bidding sleeper and brown job. And then we'll talk about package after, but we wanted to start off with feeders. What's the process, what's the timeframe for both? Okay, well brown, it starts March 1st, the first Monday in March. The sleepers is usually done like two, three weeks prior to, we'll start bidding them second week of February, and we'll bid, we'll be done with our bids before brown starts bidding. So let me ask you a question, so is the viewing two weeks? Not sleepers usually, usually it's one week, it's only, well I'll be specific in our billing, I think we only have 32 jobs, so it's something that usually is only one week, they normally send everything out to everybody that's sleepers, they'll put it on PDF. So it's not that many jobs, and usually gets done pretty quick. Once we get that done, which is usually February, we'll bid in March, all jobs start the first week of April. So after that, after sleepers is done, first week of March, per week, viewing goes up for brown for a week, and then bidding starts right after. And it'll be done in March, and all jobs start the first week of April. I mean it's basic, that's it, whatever the jobs are, you bid on them, you view them, you bid them, and that's it, right? Is there anything else involved with it, or is it just basic bid on your, it's straightforward? Basic, straightforward bid on your stuff, and hopefully there's enough jobs for everybody right now, you know, that's the issue. Yep, yep, there's that issue again, yep, and how many jobs, and you know, it's always a problem. Well that's good though, I mean that's, you know, it's straightforward, so now we're gonna get to package, because straightforward's not the word here. No, okay, it's been a long time. You know, it's changed, it changed in the contract too, you know, I mean it's, it's no more 22 fours, no more is it, but it's like, Starfield, right? Isn't it? It's something, right? It's so, yeah. Especially when you throw in the four-day-a-week routes. Yeah, and you know, it's, they got the four-day work week, you know, four-day routes, the five-day routes, you have the work week, where you have to, you know, the process is you bid your work week first, right? Is it gonna be Monday through Friday or Tuesday through Saturday? You get that done, like it says in the contract, you get that done, then you bid on the jobs, but none of the jobs can overlap, none of the borders can overlap, says that in the contract. Yes. So when we bring, when we brought that to my manager, he's like, well, you know, they have, no, no, it says they can't overlap, and because, you know, they wanted to make one, at one point, no, it's the whole center of the border. No, no, no, it's not the whole center of the border, you know, that's not the way it works, but here's the thing. When you're, with this new bidding, I think the day of the week and the job should be done at the same time. I don't know if we're gonna do it that way, but so you get to see the day, you know, the day of the week and, you know, how the job is and everything like that. I mean, you would think there's not another classification that already works on Saturdays, has been working for Saturdays, or has been working four days only. I mean, that is out there that they could have took this from, right? I mean, we've been doing this forever. We work Saturday. Yeah. We work Tuesday through Saturday. Yeah. See, we even, some jobs will be on the weekend, or during the week, Wednesday, Thursday. Wait, wait, I know it's in another classification. Exactly, right? Geez. I know, right? And I hear that a lot, too. I hear it. It's like, why didn't they just, you know, do it, you know, because this has been going on, you know, in feeders. I mean, this is the way it's done. You know, it's like, it's like so many things. Right, Garfield, and we talk about this, and it's just, you know. Yeah, and it's not like the company didn't know this Saturday stuff was going to be a problem, like, and the union, too. Like, they had, before these negotiations started, we were already running, you know, 40, 50 routes every day on Saturday, running grounds and all that stuff. I was like, why didn't we have some sort of language in here about allowing Tuesday through Saturday drivers to bid on their Saturday routes? Yeah, yeah. Like, I get it that, you know, the seniority language got slightly better when it comes to bids or running routes on a given day. But, you know, having that consistency for a Tuesday through Saturday driver would probably be a little bit of help for them, because like, no, okay, well, I'm coming in on Saturday, this is the route I'm going to run. Instead of being like, oh, no, we did something different, so you're going to run this route over here instead. And, you know, but can you, you know, the Tuesday through Saturday, and you know what the company's going to, you know, like they've been doing. Could you come in on Monday also? We need you on Monday, you know? I mean, it's, it's, oh, my God. Yeah, our Monday staffing is arguably worse than our Saturday staffing in my center. Yeah, no, it is, it is. And they didn't take an account for that. And it's just, so listen, we'll go through a couple of the things. First off, you know, the training routes, they changed it with the training routes now, because, you know, what were they using? They were doing the training routes constantly the same one, right? Yes. Constantly the same one. Well, no single training route will be used back to back for multiple 30-day qualification periods. I mean, that was something. We call it something. I don't know. I mean, it's, it's, you know, at least the same route is not being used, you know? They try to change it up. I mean, I mean, what else, Garfield? What else do you see for yourself? Well, we had to, you know, and the communication for this company is so bad. Like, when we had our meeting a couple, three or four weeks ago with our center manager, and we started going over the rule, the new rules for the bidding process, so they would be prepared. So I'm not, you know, coming in and saying, okay, well, these are the, these are the things we're going to bid. These are the boundaries and everything. We're like, no, we told you about this. You know, I had other stewards in the room when I told you that the new language states, like, what is it? The boundary areas cannot overlap with the exception of locations that have multiple drivers that deliver and or pick up to the same location. So that's like, if you deliver to a stop, and then later a larger truck comes by to make a pickup, because they send out a lot of stuff that you can't fit on your car. So that kind of thing. But they acted like this was, like, news to them. Oh, what? We can't do this? I mean, we negotiated this contract last year, and y'all didn't get the memo? I know. I know. It's, you know, the company's always playing stupid, right? I mean, that's, you know, that's what they do. We just have to get it down. And, you know, in Dallas, in my center, we're combining with another center. We're becoming a super center. All right. Oh, fancy. And yeah. Oh, so fancy. So when I spoke to, I spoke to the BA, because I've seen this before. I mean, going through it, you have to do the bids first before you combine the centers, because if you do it together, it's a mess. So you do that. So for two years, until we bid again, everyone stays in their own lane, right? And it just makes it easier. And over that two years, people may start learning it. But maybe even after the two years, we still stay in our own lane. But it doesn't matter. You still have to do that and make sure. And I think that the company wants to do that, too, you know? So I was like, OK, that's, you know, that's the way we're going to do it. And when it comes to this stuff, the local has to, you know, stand their ground and be strong and do the right thing, you know, because they can make it a lot worse. Yeah. So we, you know, they got to follow it. We got to sort through all this. And, you know, we'll next couple of weeks when everything is sorted out on exactly how, you know, the bid, you want to make sure that, OK, this is the way we're going to do it, you know, is the job, the four days, the five days, you know, the workweek, everything. Once we get that straight, like always, we're, you know, we're going to talk about certain topics, you know, a lot because that, you know, it comes up, issues come up, and we'll lay it out how it's supposed to be. And, you know, just so everyone knows, you know, going into it, hopefully we'll get everything, you know, before the bids, you know, start happening. We can get all the answers and whatnot, but we're going to push for it. We're not just going to sit back and say, oh, let's just let this happen by itself. Yeah. So and I know you do the same, George. I know you'll do the same, Garfield. So we're going to make sure, you know, everything is done right. That's it. Like always, right? You know, just everything. And so we just wanted to talk a little bit about the job selection, you know, the bidding, because, you know, the center bids and for sleepers and for Brown and everything. And everyone have a good night. We all deal with national language, but on this podcast, when it comes to supplemental language, we deal mostly with the Southern region. And as always, it's best to get advice from your local stewards or business agents. If you would like to reach out to us with any questions, we have an email address. 767realitycheckatgmail.com. That's 767realitycheckatgmail.com. And remember, strong people stand up for themselves. But the strongest people stand up for others.