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ABF | Are All Fulltime City/Dock Employees CDL Qualified?

Steward of the Rock

Steward of the Rock

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Hello. I am new at this and look forward to learning about how things operate at other terminals throughout the ABF System. Here at 004, the company has always required new fulltime employees to be CDL Qualified for Dock/City work or go to an ABF endorsed driving school to become fulltime. Just recently ABF started hiring fulltime Dock employees without CDL's and we are having trouble getting the company to send these new fulltime employees to driving school to become CDL qualified like the rest of us. Now, we have employees getting their seniority violated by being forced on a city run with junior employees not being forced remaining on the dock because they are not CDL qualified. I was just curious how other Breakbulks handle this situation as the majority at 004 feel that all fulltime employees should be CDL Qualified because we were all forced to have or to get our CDL's before we were offered fulltime employment and now must maintain our CDL's or be pulled out of service by the company. Any info. on this topic from other terminals would be greatly appreciated. Thank You for your time and I look forward to future communication with my fellow ABFer's.
 
Steward of the Rock welcome to trucking boards. Good to have ya along for the ride. I run linehaul out of 051/WNS and to be honest I don't know if they require CDLs or not. I worked casual on the dock for 10 months before I was hired to linehaul and had mine long before I came there. Maybe Harleydad75 or Freakzilla will be along in a short and they can tell ya exactly how the Dock/yard/city works.
Look forward to hearing more from you. Tell your fellow workers about us.
 
Steward of the Rock said:
Hello. I am new at this and look forward to learning about how things operate at other terminals throughout the ABF System. Here at 004, the company has always required new fulltime employees to be CDL Qualified for Dock/City work or go to an ABF endorsed driving school to become fulltime. Just recently ABF started hiring fulltime Dock employees without CDL's and we are having trouble getting the company to send these new fulltime employees to driving school to become CDL qualified like the rest of us. Now, we have employees getting their seniority violated by being forced on a city run with junior employees not being forced remaining on the dock because they are not CDL qualified. I was just curious how other Breakbulks handle this situation as the majority at 004 feel that all fulltime employees should be CDL Qualified because we were all forced to have or to get our CDL's before we were offered fulltime employment and now must maintain our CDL's or be pulled out of service by the company. Any info. on this topic from other terminals would be greatly appreciated. Thank You for your time and I look forward to future communication with my fellow ABFer's.
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At 051, you don't have to have a CDL to work the dock or yard. I worked the dock for 6 years before I got CDLs and went to the driving school by choice.HD75:funky:
 
Harleydad75 said:
At 051, you don't have to have a CDL to work the dock or yard. I worked the dock for 6 years before I got CDLs and went to the driving school by choice.HD75:funky:
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Hello Harleydad and Thank You for your response. What happens at 051 if a man is forced on a city run because a junior man is not CDL qualified, and does 051 have a seperate city board from the dock board?
 
Steward of the Rock said:
Hello Harleydad and Thank You for your response. What happens at 051 if a man is forced on a city run because a junior man is not CDL qualified, and does 051 have a seperate city board from the dock board?
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Yes, we have three separate boards in the City Cartage. City, Dock, and Yard. We all bid separate.
 
Harleydad75 said:
Yes, we have three separate boards in the City Cartage. City, Dock, and Yard. We all bid separate.
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At 004 our dock, city, and yard are all on the same bid. You can bid on whatever your seniority will allow you to hold, but if there is a layoff they go to the bottom of the seniority list by overall seniority, not by classification. So, if you bid a hostling job or a city job you would go into that classification with your seniority and if there was a layoff of say 20 people, the bottom 20 people regardless of classification would be laidoff and all the jobs would be rebid if necessary to fill the vacant positions.
 
Steward of the Rock said:
At 004 our dock, city, and yard are all on the same bid. You can bid on whatever your seniority will allow you to hold, but if there is a layoff they go to the bottom of the seniority list by overall seniority, not by classification. So, if you bid a hostling job or a city job you would go into that classification with your seniority and if there was a layoff of say 20 people, the bottom 20 people regardless of classification would be laidoff and all the jobs would be rebid if necessary to fill the vacant positions.
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At 051 we would call that straight line senoirity. Some people have talked of trying to vote to get it that way but I believe the majority likes it the way it is. My personal opinion is that it hurts the Junior people on the list to all be together. Just my 2 cents.:bsanta: HD75
 
trubigtymer said:
one board for all three
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Is there ever a problem with seniority being violated from a bid dock employee who is CDL qualified being forced on a city run when he has junior bid dock employees under him who are not forced because they do not have a CDL? This is the problem we are having at 004. Also, until about 2 years ago you had to have a CDL with all of the required endorsements to get a fulltime job (dock, city, or hostle) at 004. Now we are forced to keep our CDL's by contract while the new hires are not even required to get one. Also, are there any layoffs yet there at 064? Thank You for your time and info. trubigtymer, it is greatly appreciated.
 
I would be interested in hearing from anyone that works the city, dock, or hostle at 120, 003, 086, 070, 042, etc. to find out if all fulltime jobs require a CDL with all the required endorsements or not, and if you have separate boards for each classification or one board for all three jobs.
 
Reflections from a City Driver on the CDL

Recently came back to ABF in July after 5 years (CDL since '92), had let my hazmat go since I've been driving buses. I thought it would be an issue, but Personnel approved me as a casual on the grounds of obtaining my endorsement to obtain my seniority again. No endorsement, no more job. I wasn't allowed to even drive in the yard, until I got the OK from TSA, and ended up working the dock full-time about a month. My internal classification was Dock Casual, and the rate was different than as a combination casual per the NMFA. Made the list after doing my 60 days.

The next guy up from me they hired right out of driving school and sent him to the school in Ft. Smith. He did the same deal until he got back, worked only on the dock even though he had all his endorsements (probably to cover themselves for his lack of experience).

Don't know if any of this will help you. That's the news from BUR VT/188 where it is very, very quiet. Should we hunt rabbits?
 
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