Reality Check Ep 028

The hosts discuss issues related to meal breaks for teamsters in the southern region. They highlight that the company's restrictions on where drivers can take their lunch breaks are not based on the contract. They also discuss the importance of not working off the clock and the need to stand up for rights and not let the company intimidate them. They mention that the company's actions, such as firing employees and calling it a layoff, are unfair and detrimental to workers. They advise drivers to communicate with management when taking breaks and to know their rights. They encourage listeners to seek advice from local stewards or business agents and remind them that strong people stand up for themselves, while the strongest stand up for others. Teamster Power 767 Reality Check with Jeff Schoenfeld and Garfield Hooper. What's the good word today, Garfield? The good word is break time. That's what the word is. Okay. So we're going to talk about the meal period, right? Yes. And I know there's been some issues, so, you know, in your building, so get right into it. Okay. So, and I know this is going to be different in different regions, so if you're outside of the southern region, this is probably going to be a little different for you because this is all supplemental language. So in the southern region, we get from 30 minutes to an hour break time. We have to take at least 30 minutes every day, but we can take up to an hour. The company will tell you, oh, well, you can't go more than a half a mile outside or away from your last stop to take lunch, or you have to punch out. This has never been something that I've done. Can I ask you something? Yeah. Where does it say that in the contract? It doesn't. You know, I don't remember. Exactly. Well, you remember the sheet they handed out a couple of years ago that kind of showed the said contractual language, and it had like one sentence from the actual contract, and the rest of it was just bullshit? Absolutely. You know, I remember. I remember. They're always trying every single year. Yeah. I would think that kind of thing should have gone to a panel and got a decision on, but, you know. Yeah. And just let me, just one thing. So the understanding, and I've said this before, the understanding is you don't want to pass one McDonald's to go to the next, you know, which is understandable. That's an understanding right there. But I mean, if you're out, way out somewhere, and you can't find anything else, and it's closest thing is three miles, what are you supposed to eat the grass? Yeah. I mean, what are you supposed to do? I mean, you know, that's just, anyway, keep going. Yeah. And in the heat of the summer, you know, it's 100 degrees outside, but are you just supposed to pull up under a tree? That's not a cool zone. Like, sure, a shade tree is cooler than out in the sun, but like, that's not, that's not giving you a chance to relax. It doesn't work for me. I'm delivering a rural route. I drive, you know, depending on where I decide, when I decide to go to lunch, you know, I drive two to three miles sometimes to get into town to eat at one of the restaurants. And like, I'm not saying, you know, you can drive the next town over, you know, go somewhere reasonable that's within, like, range of your route. Like, don't pass a bunch of different restaurants to go to one. Don't pass one McDonald's to go to another. But go to a restaurant and sit down and eat and take your break and don't punch out until you step out of the truck. Because as far as I'm concerned, if I'm driving that truck, I'm responsible for that truck and the packages in it. And if I'm responsible for the truck and the packages in it, then I'm getting paid. Because that's part of my job. And here's another thing, that's, I mean, if you do that, that means you're working off the clock and we're not supposed to do that. Article 17. I mean, exactly. And listen, it's just, they make no sense. They want to tell you that and it's just crazy. Plus, you don't drive a commercial vehicle without, you know, you don't drive it without being on the clock. Exactly. I mean, come on. Exactly. I had a supervisor stand up in front of his entire work group and told him, if you want to take your hour lunch, if you clock out when you deliver your last stop before lunch, you go to lunch, you take your lunch and then you clock in when you get to your next stop after lunch. And I was like, no, that's not how this works. A bunch of people came up to me after they had this. Of course, he had this conversation after I had a parking lot meeting about it. Oh, OK. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody went in and told him whatever. It's fine. I don't care. People can say I'm not trying to hide anything. Supervisors are welcome to come to my parking lot meetings if they like. Maybe they'll learn something. Absolutely. But they won't abide by it. Exactly. You know, whatever. But I told the guys, I said, I told them, I said, I don't, I don't clock out. Like when I step out of the truck, I punch out for lunch or when I step back in the truck, I punch back in. That's just the way I've always done it. Nobody's ever said a word to me about it. We have had somebody fired for it in the past and he got his job back. Unfortunately, at the time, like our local wasn't super strong and they got him back with his with time served suspension, which I don't agree with. But, you know, he he wanted to get back to work and I'm not master of his finances. So he made the decision that was best for him and his family. Yeah. Yeah. And that's always the choice that they that's what they put you in that position. The company. Yeah. Yeah. So. Well, but I also wanted to point out, too, that, you know, if you don't want to be put in that position, I'm prepared for it. If the company wants to fire me for not clocking out to drive to and from lunch, that's fine. I'll take that shit to panel. But if you're not in a position to want to do that, then my suggestion would be to do what they tell you clock and punch out for lunch to drive there and drive back to your area and then record the time you spent driving and then file a grievance for that time. Because those grievances have been won at panel. They were. They were years ago. A driver out of Dallas did that. And guess what? They had to wind up paying them. And so, you know what that means? You don't clock out to drive. OK. You clock out when you get to where you're going. So that case has already been won. OK. So, I mean, these guys, they try to intimidate, but again, like anything else, it's the members have to know, hey, listen, this was already this case was already won, you know, stand your ground. But again, you can't tell a member what to do. You can give them the information. Yeah. I don't understand. This is a billion dollar, a multibillion dollar company. And I understand they're having some they're pretending to have some hard times right now. So they've got to fire a bunch of people. It baffles me that because they're talking about you're talking about dollars, like a couple of bucks here. Yeah. Like because I'm not even me driving a couple of miles to a restaurant is, you know, three minutes. Yeah. So like it's not breaking the company to pay people to do the job. But then again, you know, we've talked about here several times with them editing time cards and and all that stuff. So apparently every little every little cent counts to this multibillion dollar company. So long as it comes out of our pocket and not theirs. Yes. And it's it. And remember, Article 12, they cannot cut your time. Yeah. You know, I mean, they have to they have to have to get with you and say, this is what's happening. And then you can say, well, no, that's not what happened. They can't just do it arbitrarily. So that's crazy. And you know what they're doing. You know, they want to lay off. Right. So what they're doing is they're giving people basically mandatory layoffs, right, by firing them. That's what they're doing. So there's a layoff here. There's a layoff there. I mean, oh, they'll be back in a week. OK, so you didn't have to pay them for a week. They didn't have benefits for a week. I mean, that's that's what they're doing. That's exactly what they're doing. Well, and this is what gets me is they're not letting the number of people they terminate determine the number of people they lay off. Yeah. So like we're like this week in our center, they laid off 13 more people in our center on Tuesday and Wednesday. They had to call the entire list of people that they had just laid off because they couldn't staff. So that's not a layoff then. Yeah. You know, I mean, they're they're they're trying to to to do whatever they want. I mean, it's not a true layoff then. OK. You know, I mean, it's oh, I mean, I just and they know people need the money. So they'll you know, people will show up. I mean, it's it's it's unbelievable how, you know, without getting any pushback, you know, the company kind of does what they want. Yeah. You know, I mean, that that's you know, that's where that's at. I mean, it's it's it's a shame these things are happening, but we have to talk about it and we'll keep repeating and we'll keep talking about different situations that happen. And you know, just everyone be careful. And another thing, you know, when it gets hot out and you want to take a break, you know, to go to your cool zone, don't just go to the cool zone, call someone in management and let them know. So they can't come to you and say, well, you were this was downtime or no, I'm in my cool zone. I'm going to my cool zone, you know. But don't call them. Sorry about that. You text them. You put it through the board. You put it through your diet board and you let them know, OK. And you know, you've got to survive out there, but you also have to communicate with management at the same time. Yes. So, I mean, glad we talked about this one, because this is just I'm sure it's going on in a lot of places across the United States. So hopefully someone can, you know, members can hear this and go, OK, you know, know their rights a little bit better. Yep. So anyway, thank you for listening and everyone 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, 767 realitycheck at gmail dot com. That's 767 realitycheck at gmail dot com. And remember, strong people stand up for themselves, but the strongest people stand up for others.