Reality Check Ep 015

During the peak season, the center in Collin County has been delivering the most stops in the country. However, there is a lack of preparation and not enough staff. The company is trying to save money and push the drivers to work longer hours. There is confusion about the implementation of the 70-hour rule, but according to Article 26, Section 5, RPCDs cannot be forced to work over 60 hours. It is important for drivers to know their rights and be educated about their contract. Fatigue is a real concern, and drivers should prioritize their safety. Management's claims of caring are contradicted by their actions. Teamster Power 767 Reality Check with Jeff Schoenfeld and Garfield Hooper. So Garfield, how is everything going now that it's peak season? I'm sure everything's running smooth, right? Yeah, smooth as butter. Let me tell you something. I don't know if any people in our audience know where my building is. It's in Collin County. If you Google Collin County, you're going to come up with a list of one of the fastest growing areas in the nation. Maybe number one, maybe number two. In the four days this week, my center has delivered the most stops in the country. In the country? Tuesday through Friday. That's a lot of cardboard. It's been that way for years, and we're still not ready for it. Every year this week comes, and it's just like, oh, surprise, we've got a lot of deliveries. We didn't know it was coming. I know. This is what the company's doing. Oh, wait, we didn't know it was coming. But, you know, this year it seems like they didn't hire enough people. You know that. Absolutely. It's just, they're trying to save money, they're trying to push us, they're trying to use the 70-hour rule. Oh, God, they're trying to just do whatever they want. That's what we're going to get into first, because we already had a huge issue with this the other day. You know, all of a sudden the 70-hour rule is implemented, 70-hour rule is implemented. I'm like, where did this come from? I didn't hear anything, and I didn't know what was going on. I mean, did you? Did you hear anything? No, no. Matter of fact, we got a call from our center manager saying, hey, I just got off a conference call. She was all excited. I just got off a conference call. You guys get to work 70 hours. I'm like, I'm not as excited about this as you are. Yeah, no, no, not at all. And, you know, what we found out, obviously, was there was, I mean, as usual, a lot of lying going on, you know, by management. And, sure, you know, I spoke to my VA just to make sure. And, you know, yes, you know, I think the 70-hour rule was put in. I still can't get a straight answer on that, but there's so many issues. But the real thing is the company is saying, oh, you're being forced in. No, there's no more forcing. Yeah. Okay. As a matter of fact, like, that language, it's what, Article 26, Section 5, that's the DOT hours? Yep. That language, like, hardly changed. Basically, all they took out of it was the 22-4 stuff. And they literally crossed out the or is forced for RPCD. Oh, yeah. So, to me, that says no one can be, nobody that's a full-time driver. Now, if you're AIR or TCD or SSD or whatever else, it's a different story. But if you're an RPCD, then it reads to me that you can't be forced to work over 60 hours. And that's how, you know, in a center that could have certainly used it, that's how I interpreted it. And that's how I told my drivers to handle it. I was like, if you want to work over 60, that's your choice. But this is a hard job to do for 60 hours in a week, let alone 70. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I mean, they want more and more and more. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to read the language, okay, the language that hasn't changed. Okay. So, this is Article 26, Section 5, DOT Hours of Service. The company shall not change the DOT 60 hours in 7 days to the 70 hours in 8 days rule for package drivers except at peak, with prior approval of the company's President of Labor Relations and the Teamsters Package Division Director. The DOT standard may also be changed if required due to acts of God or emergencies creating service disruptions. When the company changes the 60-hour rule, it shall first solicit volunteers to work in excess of 60 hours from all package car drivers in the center. If sufficient volunteers cannot be obtained to cover the over 60 hours, the company will force seasonal, first force seasonal drivers, non-seniority package car drivers, and then part-time cover drivers. Now, they cannot force in RPCDs. I'm going to repeat this. They cannot force in RPCDs. That's it. I'm going to read the rest of this. 60 hours in a week pursuant to this paragraph will be compensated at double time for all those hours, anything over 60 hours. Now, didn't we ever hear of a problem coming out of, what is it, Local 516 in Oklahoma? Yeah, Local 516 up in Oklahoma. Yeah, they had – it seems to me like they are saying that anybody that is a Tuesday through Saturday driver, if you came in on Monday and you're working the Saturday like it's your normal day and you still have, you know, if you worked at 58 hours, but at that point you have 12 hours to work, so you are forced to work up to 70. Any of the full-time drivers that are Monday through Friday that volunteer to work on Saturday are also said, oh, well, you have enough hours now. You have to work up to 70. And I can tell you right now, like, I was somebody that came in. I'm a full-time driver. I'm top. Our center has, I believe, 120 some odd full-time drivers, RPCDs in our center, and I'm, like, number 20 in the center. And I came in on Saturday and I worked up to my 60 and I went home. Okay, because that's all you have to do. And for the drivers in 516, I mean, it's – this is ridiculous. And I'm going to repeat this. RPCDs cannot be forced in over 60 hours. That's it. That's it. Understand that. That's your right. You cannot be forced in. Voluntary, even if you volunteer, you know, to work, you can work however many hours you want to work. You come in, you work. Yeah. I mean, you know, you can't be forced to do anything. There's no – there's no force involved with it, okay? And to hear that this is happening anywhere, but, you know, that it's happening out of 516 in Oklahoma, it's just – anyone who's listening in that local, you – RPCD, you cannot be forced in. I want you to know that. That's your right. We just read the language and the company's going to lie. You know, they – and they're, you know, when they do it, like, they're not going to lie in front of me. They're going to do it and try to get the drivers on the side, right? They're not going to say that to us because those of us that have been around for a while and know the language and understand it and are not afraid of them, but they're going to go after the drivers that are one in two years that says – that, you know, that are afraid of the management, and they're going to be like, oh, well, you have to work until 70 now. No, you don't. No, no. And, you know, one thing I think that if you're – if anyone's having issue with stewards where you can't get stuff done, I'm going to tell you the best way to handle a situation like that is get educated. That's really – that's the most important thing because if you're educated and you know what's going on, you'll know what the company can and can't do. If the steward's not doing the right thing, you know what they can and can't do. That's important. Yeah. Education is important. And, you know, reading the contract, you know, listening to the podcast, anyone can send in any questions. As pertaining to what we're talking to today, talking about today, I'm going to say it again. I know I've said it a bunch of times. RPCDs cannot be forced in over 60 hours. That's it. That's it. And, you know, RPC – you know, if you're Tuesday through Saturday, you can't be forced in on Monday either, right? I mean it's out of your workweek. You can't be forced in. So anyone out there who's listening, you need to know that. Know your rights, and that's where you're going to have the power to say, okay, no, you're not going to do this to me. It's crazy. I mean, Garfield, it's just every year it's the same old thing, right? It really is, and I also want to point something out. It's a good thing to point out, too. It's like the DOT hours of service, the company, it's 60 in 7 days, or they're converting it to 70 hours in 8 days. But they're expecting you to work 70 hours in 6 days is what they're expecting you to do. Yes. And, like, this job, whether it's hot or cold or perfect weather outside, you do a hard job, you do it all day long. You're up and down. You're in and out of a truck. You're lifting heavy boxes. And then on top of that, you have family obligations and things when you go home. Fatigue is real, and it's real this time of year. People fall asleep. Maybe you don't do it behind the wheel of the package car. Maybe you do it on the way home. But you have, your safety is your decision, and the company is going to try to tell you it's theirs. And the last person in our center that left their safety decisions up to the company died. And I don't want to see that happen again to anybody in any center around the country or the world, because a member of management or all of management is worried about getting packages delivered. It's just cardboard. And it's December 3rd. We've got a whole month left to get caught up on this stuff. So if they're saying, and they won't back down, if you're in a position to where they won't back down on this, tell them, look, I'm tired. I'm fatigued. I don't feel like it would be safe not only for me to be out there behind the wheel of the package car, but it would be safe for me to get home to my family at night if I go out there and work another 10 hours for you. That's it. That's what it comes down to. I mean, and, you know, when they say, oh, we care, I mean, come on, man. If you cared, you wouldn't be doing the things you were doing. Exactly. If they cared, the 70-hour rule wouldn't exist. No, and they wouldn't, you know, like your manager, she wouldn't be happy about it. Oh, you guys get to work 70 hours. Oh, man, you know. Oh, no, and I get to make your life miserable for all 70 hours. How about that? You know? Jesus. I mean, I just. Listen, I will happily make management's life miserable for free. Yeah, exactly. Absolutely, man. Exactly. I totally agree with that. And it's this thing. And, you know, again, I'm going to say it's about management knowing who they can get over on, right? Because, oh, maybe they're not educated. If we were all educated, they wouldn't be able to get over on any of us. That's how we get back at the company. You get empowered. You get educated. Know the contract. Learn it. Ask questions. That's how you're going to know you're right. And, you know, if you know you're right, you stick by your gun. That's it. I mean, you have to. I mean, there's no other way about it. And they know when, you know, when they're talking to you and you give this puzzled look, they're like, oh, we got them. We got them. Yeah. And that's not right. That's not right. And if you're like, I don't know how it's done. I know certain types of countries elect their stewards. Some are appointed and things like that. But if you are having issues with the leadership in your building, whether that be stewards or even the leadership in your local, get them out. Like, if you have to become that steward that everybody goes to instead of the person that you know is doing wrong, you become that steward. Yep. If the people at the local are not upholding your rights the way you want them to, vote them out. That's exactly it. Don't just accept it, you know, oh, you know, whatever. Oh, we can't do anything about it. Vote them out. It's like, oh, we can't do anything about it. No, you can. You know, 767 is the largest southern region in the United States. We have about, what, 11,000-ish members, right? And every year, every three years when we elect, we get, what, maybe 3,000 of them vote for the leadership? Nope. Is it even? Nope, 2,000. 2,000? 20% of the people that could vote for the leadership do. So if you're in an even smaller local than this, which most of you listening will be, you know, it doesn't take that many votes to change that. You just have to be informed and be ready to make that step. Yeah. It's, anyone could be a member, you know, you sign up, you know, that's it, but you've got to be an active member. Yes. I mean, if you want change, you have to make change. Yes, you do. And it's, you know, when I came down from New York, I was like wild, you know? I was like, what is going on? You want to force me in on a Saturday? And this was in 2006. I was like, nope. And everyone showed up, you know, and I didn't show up because I knew my rights. I wasn't being tough. I knew my rights. And everyone needs to know their rights. That's the bottom line. That's what we're trying to get through. The company is going to do. They're a known entity. They're going to do what they're going to do, get educated, get other people who want to get educated too. And you start in groups and you educate each other and it grows, it gets bigger. And that's how, you know, you'll be able to deal with these problems. And I hope there's some resolution out of 516. I hope they can get some resolution out there. And hopefully we've said, you know, what the contract says. They can't force the RPCDs over 60. So, you know, I think we've made that clear. Don't you think so? I think so too. And, yeah, my building is going to continue to fight that fight. And, you know, I'll be there for everybody that needs to fight it. Always, always. Absolutely. Well, you know, I'm glad we covered this. And, you know, peak isn't done. So this is going to come up again and we're going to talk about it. And maybe a different version is happening. They're trying to do something else. But we're here. We're going to talk about it. It's peak season. Yep. So I'm Jeff Shenfeld. And I'm Garfield Hooper. 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. 767realitycheck at gmail.com. That's 767realitycheck at gmail.com. And remember, strong people stand up for themselves, but the strongest people stand up for others. Thank you.