Reality Check EP 030

The podcast hosts discuss two important articles in their contract: Article 24 (inspection privileges) and Article 21 (union activity). They emphasize the importance of knowing their rights and not allowing the company to violate the contract. They also discuss the targeting of stewards who file grievances and the need for solidarity among members. They encourage everyone to be empowered, educated, and united in standing up against management. The hosts conclude by reminding listeners to seek advice from local stewards or business agents and provide an email address for questions. Teamster Power 767 Reality Check with Jeff Schenfeld and Garfield Hooper. How's it going today, Garfield? It's going pretty good. Pretty lazy Sunday for me. How about you? Just relaxing, just doing some things around the house. But what I want to get right to today, two things. We've talked about this before, but like I said, everything always gets brought up again because the company keeps violating it. I'm going to talk about two things, Article 24 and Article 21. Article 24 is inspection privileges and Article 21 is union activity. What did you have to say, Garfield? The company is always coming up with new ways to violate the contract. So like more examples we can provide for you, the better you may be able to apply this to your own situations. Yes, yes. And the company is, they keep trying to change things and we need to adapt. I think that's one of the biggest problems and I think, you know, we need to adapt. First we're going to start off with Article 24 inspection privileges. Yes, Article 24 reads, authorized agents of the union shall have access to the employer's establishment during working hours for the purpose of adjusting disputes, investigating working conditions, collection of dues, and ascertaining the agreement is being adhered to provided, however, that there is no interruption of the employer's working schedule. You know, there have been plenty of times where, you know, I, you know, gone into the building and they'll try to say, oh, you're interfering. Okay, how am I interfering? I mean, you know, I just look at them. I mean, you can't just say things and not, you know, you got to back it up. I wasn't interfering with anyone. Yeah. And, you know, you're allowed to inspect and, you know, it's like anything else. Like we've used this example before. Okay, you go into the building and they'll ask people, oh, do you have a control number? You don't need a control number from a grievance. You're, hey, guess what? We're inspecting the building. We hear that there's supervisors working, right, or egress issues. And they're like, oh, where? And what you should say is the whole building because if you say one spot, again, it's going to, they'll just, you know, they'll narrow it down. It's the whole building. That's it. Every steward needs to know that. Again, we've said this before. We're going to say it again because repetition is important. Okay. And there are certain things that, you know, we should be able to do. I mean, you know, we have to investigate working conditions. I mean, I know it's during the summer. I mean, that's so important, especially. Not that it's important the rest of the year, but it's so, so important with the heat and everything going on. And, I mean, have they ever stopped you? I mean, have they ever said anything? No, they've never actually prevented me from doing anything. And I'll do this every once in a while on local sort. Like when I get in from the building, you know, I'll go punch out and they'll take a walk around. Make sure, you know, supervisors aren't working. Make sure that we don't have, like, trailers piled up, you know, things like that. Yeah, yeah. And a lot of times they'll go after stewards who may be newer or whatnot. So this is our way of educating stewards, you know, who, I mean, I don't know if you're getting the education, you know, right now. It doesn't seem that way. A lot of them are getting the education they need. And, you know, this is something where you have to understand is this is the way you get into the building. You know, they can't say, oh, a control number. That's not the way this works. And they're all over the building and that's it. And, you know, they can't just try to. I mean, they can try, but everyone should know this. They shouldn't be able to go to any of the stewards and say that. Every one of them should know the answer, what to say. Okay. And if there's another way that, you know, your local might do that, then, okay, that's fine. But this is the way, you know, we do it here. And it's, I mean, it works. We know a lot of places that do it like this. So it works. This is where it ties into union activity. I mean, if they're not letting you do the inspection privileges or let's say you, you know, you just want to do certain things. And separately, you know, separately, you know, let's say you, in a different situation, you file a grievance, right? And then they bring it to you. And they say, why did you file this? You know this and, you know, what do you mean why did I file this? Why are you bringing this to me? And then they start basically harassing you. You know, they're basically violating Article 21 with union activity. So if they're violating your inspection privileges, Article 24, then they're violating Article 21 union activity. I mean, it's a problem. I mean, as I'm just amazed that they would even like, you know, sometimes go after that, you know, like and just actually blatantly do that. But if you have, you know, people, you know, who are, you know, we had proactive representation, then it probably wouldn't happen. But it's, you know, it's happening. And I know this has happened with the grievances. And, you know, has anyone, do you have any situations where that's happened where any members, you know, they're basically using the grievance against someone like, why did you file this? Has that happened to you or anyone with that? Not so blatantly, but the company will obviously use your grievances against you. Yeah. And. Yeah. Like, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that filing grievances doesn't put a target on your back, because it does. I've been filing grievances for years. I've been a steward for years. I always tell my guys that, you know, I have a target permanently painted on my back, which is why I make sure I wear the uniform every day, which is why I make sure I do things right. You know, I'm here to be I'm here to be the target. So, like, and I tell people, like, if you don't feel like filing a grievance for whatever reason, give me the information. I'll file it on your behalf. You know, I can just tell him how he had a conversation with me about it. And I felt it. I felt strongly enough about it that I needed to file a grievance on his behalf because of it. You know, especially right now when the company's terminating people for bullshit reasons or finding any reason to terminate somebody because they feel like they can't lay enough people off or this or that or whatever. And, you know, they're like, oh, well, this guy's filing a lot of nine five grievances. We'll just terminate him. And, you know, he'll sit out for a couple of weeks for some bullshit reason or a couple of months. And, you know, when he comes back, he'll be scared and won't file grievances anymore. Oh, that's that's it. You know, and what do they call it now? What are they hunting season? They called it. Right. And now we've been hearing hunting season. Well, well, guess what? You know, you know, it's hunting season both ways. OK, it's hunting season both ways. They're going to sit back and just accept that. And that's the ideal thing. We want every member to be strong enough to to to go back and say, you're not going to do this. You know, you think you as a manager or a supervisor can do what you want? No, we're coming after you. OK, it's hunting season both ways. And as stewards, you know, we put ourselves out there and you have to. And, you know, anyone who's been fired and they come back, they should be just as strong. They shouldn't. They shouldn't be broken because management did that. And that's something they need to be empowered by. It's just not there right now. And that's what needs to happen. And if everyone's strong, they're not going to be able to just single people out. We're all going to be strong and say, no, you know what? As a supervisor, here's what we're coming after you about. Right. That's exactly what it is. And I know you've always been that way. Garfield, I've always been that way since day one. And enough is enough. I mean, enough is enough. We need everyone to be, you know, empowered and educated. It's so important. Everyone needs to be facing the same direction. You know what that direction is? That's management. OK. And it's, you know, and it's just crazy. But, you know, going back to it, you know, with all this, they want to not let you do certain things or they want to use your grievance against you. You know, that's crazy. That's union activity, you know, 21 and then 37 and 66 as well because that's harassment. OK. And, you know, you call the corporate hotline as well. You do everything. You do a paper trail. So, you know, enough is enough. I mean, we're just seeing too many of our brothers and sisters be taken out for no reason. And that's it. We've got to say enough is enough. You know, enough is enough. But this was obviously important. I mean, and we're going to keep talking about this. You know, if we can get people stronger by doing this podcast, great. Great. I mean, that's what it's about. So, yeah, I'm glad we talked about it. And so we will, I'm sure, bring this up a bunch of times, you know, before the year's over because, hey, if they're still trying to come after us, well, you know what, we're coming after you. All right. So, everyone, appreciate you listening to the podcast. Have a good day. 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. 767realitycheckatgmail.com. And remember, strong people stand up for themselves, but the strongest people stand up for others.