Reality Check Ep 033

The hosts discuss various topics related to work conditions and rights for teamsters. They explain how to file for a penalty pay if taken off a bid route, and clarify payment for travel time during drug testing. They emphasize the importance of communication with management regarding workload and potential overtime violations. They also mention the need to file grievances when necessary and assert that unrealistic expectations from management should be challenged. Teamster Power 767 Reality Check with Jeff Schoenfeld and Garfield Hooper. What's the good word today, Garfield? The good word for me is I got to go back to work after vacation. And that's not a very good word. I don't like that. No, for most people, that's not a good word. But we all got to deal with it. So what's in store for today? Well, we're going to do a quick little Q&A episode. We've had a few questions the last couple of weeks, especially after our last episode about the seniority violations, eight hours, stuff like that. People were apparently not aware that you could file for being taken off of your bid route. We just wanted to touch on that real quick. So if you get taken off your bid route for whatever reason, you can file under Article 48, and the company owes you a two-hour penalty pay. Now, there's a question upon whether or not that could be if your route's not in. But, you know, it's worth filing. But, yeah, that's Article 48. And, you know, they're going to hit you with whatever you do wrong. So you might as well hit them with whatever they do wrong. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I started telling people to do this. I mean, it's, you know, it says it's in the contracts. They take you off your bid route. So Mondays when they – or any day, but, you know, most of the time Mondays – they take you off your route, and you have to do another route. I mean, that says to me, okay, I'm taking off my bid route. I've got to do something else. That's a two-hour penalty. And that's one of those things where you have to file. Let's fight it. Let's get a – you need a decision on. So everyone needs to start filing that, really start hitting them. So hopefully, you know, we'll – we get a good decision, and they start paying out. The next one up we have is a question about the SAP program, specifically about Article 35, Section 3.21, which is the paid-for time in regards to the SAP program. You want to talk a little bit about that, Jeff? Yes. Yeah, I just want to read right from the contract. We're going to read right, you know, verbatim for the contractor. So everyone gets this. We don't want anyone having any issues, okay, so the testing. If a drug test taken in conjunction with DOT physical, the employee will be paid their regular straight-time hourly rate of pay the following manner. So for all time at the collection site, if the collection site is reasonably en route between the employee's home and the center, the employee is going to or from work paid-for travel time one way between the center and the collection site or the collection site to the center or the travel time both ways between the center and the collection site, only if the collection site is not reasonably en route between the employee's home and the employee's center. And the third one, if an employee is called in at home to take a random drug test, the time when the driver is not en route to or from work, the employee shall be paid, in addition to all time at the collection site, travel time both ways between the employee's home and the collection site with no minimum guarantee. So, I mean, obviously we know they have to, I mean, they have to pay. I mean, I know this question came up, what do they specifically have to pay? Hopefully that helps. And obviously the employee will be paid one and a half hours all time past the eight hours as usual. Nothing changes that. Hopefully that answers that question. So, what was the next one? One second. I want to go back to this real quick. So, just to clarify, if I'm at work and I'm called to do a random drug test, like if I'm out en route, how is that supposed to be handled by the member? I mean, they just, I mean, they go ahead and do what they have to do in terms of pay you're talking about. So, they pay for the travel time to the, you know, in between, you know, where they have to go for the testing site. I mean, they're going off route. They're still on the clock. I mean, they still have to be paid for it. And so, it even says one way in the collection site or the collection site to the center. Okay. So, I'm on my way to work and they say, hey, we got to do a random right now. So, I said, okay, well, I break off, you know, to go wherever it is that I need to go. But I call my boss and say, hey, I'm going to be late. They want me to do a random drug test. Well, after the random drug test, because that stuff's not instant, you know, sometimes you may have to wait, you know, 30, 45 minutes, an hour, whatever. You know, all that time gets paid. And then your time back to the center gets paid. Yes. But then you get back to the center and you're set. Oh, well, we don't have any work for you now. Oh, and his, you know, they're asking you to do something, right? Yes. They're asking you. I mean, you're in the SAP program. So, there's, you know, there's certain things there. I mean, and we'll go into that whole thing another time. But the thing is they can ask you to do it. But the bottom line is, I mean, it shouldn't make you lose your eight hours, right? No. I mean, you still probably got seniority over other drivers in the center that are working that day. Like, if you're there, if you get there at 10 o'clock instead of 9 as a result of this random drug test, then, you know, they still owe you the rest of your day. That's how I would look at it. And we should. And I'm just going to say, though, like when any time someone comes in late, they lose their guarantee. They don't lose their seniority, but they lose their guarantee. But he's not late. I mean, he was called by the driver. I mean, if he doesn't show up for this, then he gets fired. So, like – What I'm trying to say is this is what the company is going to try to do. Gotcha. I'm not saying that – you know what I'm saying? So, you have to stick up and say, wait a minute. I'm getting my time. And that's – I've seen that. You know what I'm saying? No, no, no. You don't get your guarantee. Well, no, I'm going to get my guarantee because you made me go ahead and do this. It wasn't as if I was late on my own. You told me – you know, I was told I had to go ahead and do this. So, you should still get your guarantee, but the company will say otherwise. Yeah. And along that line, you know, with the previous question, if for some reason, you know, they are hard-nosed about this and they decide that, no, you're going to go home. You're not going to work today. Well, then you file the Article 48 grievance and you report the hours of a lower-seniority driver that worked however many. And, you know, if I were presenting that case, I would say, hey, you know, they – he had the opportunity. You could have taken this other driver off of his route and sent them home and put him on that route because he was clearly there and wanted to work. So, you owe him this money. You owe him that time. And, yes, and you file under 35 too, which shows, you know, they have to do certain things under 35 as well. Exactly. So, yeah, file on both of those and, you know, just always put – when in doubt, you always file. You don't say, oh, no, I'm not going to file. You file. Yeah. Okay. Absolutely file. But here's another question. You're having guys dispatched with 14 and a half hour or longer days in our center. They don't finish and they miss packages. They are writing them up on method violations. That is a load of crap. Okay. So, you know, years ago they tried this. They, you know, they would send out messages, make sure you get in by this time and deliver all your packages. Well, you can't do that. Yeah. You can't tell someone, you know, that's, you know, that's something that's impossible to do basically. You have to give them a clear, concise thing to do. Okay. You know, either no matter what, be in, you know, just be in by this time or whatever it is or make sure you get all your packages done, whatever the time is. They have to give you a clear, concise direction what you need to do, directions. They have to. And we fought this and, you know, they backed down on this one. I'm not sure if there was a decision on it, but we know we're in the right on this one. They can't just say, do something that, you know, that just can't be done. So, we need to remember that. I remember them trying this in our center. It wasn't related to like 14 hours. They were trying to get people to do this, like, that were on the 9-5 list. They were like, oh, well, you need to be in under 9-5 and deliver all your packages. Well, I mean, you're dispatching me with 10-hour days. Like, I can't do that. And, like, the important thing is, and we've talked about this multiple times, is to communicate with them. Like, send them messages. If at 1 o'clock, hey, I don't think I'm going to finish or, you know what, don't you think. Be specific. I'm not going to finish today without help. Send them that message. Send it at 1 o'clock. Send it at 5 o'clock. Send it at 7 o'clock. Send it every 15 minutes if you want. Maybe don't send it every 15 minutes, but, you know, send it every couple of hours. Or say, hey, I'm not going to finish today without help. You know, you have sent this message multiple times. And, you know, if they want to write you up or terminate you or whatever for, quote, unquote, methods violations, you know, we're simply going to say, well, I mean, they communicated with them multiple times that they weren't going to be able to finish. And you still wrote them up for this. Like, what do you want them to do? Like. Yes. And there's something else here. I got to tell you, so, you know, we don't recognize numbers, so I don't want anyone to start, oh, they dispatched me with this. I want you to remember, hey, we went out there. There was a lot of stuff. And now you communicate with them. Hey, I'm not going to get done. We don't get into the 14 and a half hours. I mean, we know we see a heavy truck. We know. Hey, listen, this is going to take a while. You do the best you can. You try to get it done at a safe pace. And if it doesn't, you know, you have to keep be in touch with them. But, yeah, don't are getting out of the oh, they dispatched this and start talking about numbers. Don't talk about numbers. That's their thing. It's not our thing. OK, we just do the best we can every single day. And it's it's it's that simple. Oh, but. All right. Well, we have these questions. I hope we've answered them for everyone. And Garfield and myself, 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 reality check at gmail dot com. That's 767 reality check at gmail dot com. And remember, strong people stand up for themselves, but the strongest people stand up for others.