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ABF | New Vacation Policy at ABF

That could be another thing that lies in the supplement and will vary all over the country.
 
ABF has always said that they have a hard time hiring people. It's just worse now and I have to ask...what did they expect? And does that vacation policy apply to management personnel?

Another thing that escapes me is why would they screw a new hire under these circumstances? We have a dispatcher that works a retiree/casual and leaves a new hire who needs to feed his family sit at home.

BTW that guy quit.
 
jimk849 said:
Have you seen a case where h'+w was not paid on split-week vacation days Akita? I think that would be something new in Chicago and if it's true, that news needs to get out there before vacation season starts. Thanks
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Check your supplements under the vacation article. Mine is under article 50 in my supplement.I quote word for word. "Vacation days taken one day at a time shall not be considered as time worked for the purpose of Health&Welfare and Pension guarantees" normally it's not an issue because most people usually use one or two days and work the other three which would meet their guarantee for that pay period.If you used three sick days and two Vacation days you would be good to go. Like I said supplements vary from area to area so check yours!
 
Steward of the Rock said:
Down here in the Southern Region that would not work because of Article 43, Section 2. which basically say's that any leave of absence must be agreed to between the company and the union and that the employer must collect from said employee all monies required to cover the Pension and H/W contributions for this leave of absence. Also, in the south you must work at least three day's in said work week for full insurance benefits for that week.
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Not talking about a leave of absence,just a weeks vacation that was lost. I know you need approval for a leave by both union and company. Just fill out a vacation request form and have the T.M. Sign off on it like he normally does and check the un-paid box.Or you could use three sick days or a sick and two personal days to cover your bennies for that week. Your choice! If your someone that only has one or two weeks of vacation it's an option. If I was lucky enough to have four or five weeks vacation It wouldn't even matter to me.
 
MJG8 said:
I can tell you the company does not want to work employees for 12-16 hours. There are times it is forced to make that decision to take of the customer. The company has been challenged to cut O/T and the only way it can be accomplished is to hire additional personnel. Utilizing cartage is encouraged to take care of the customer in the short term but it is not a long term solution to driver shortage. Decisions made are for the customer which pays 100% of the companies wages for a service it provides. Bottom line, we need to be able to hire good quality drivers to service the customer.


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Not sure what part of the country you are from or what position you hold, here at 184 we are short handed, ask ABFer. We got a new tm last spring, he was well aware of it. We did not get a new hire until the end of the year-then one of our guys retired. There is still no replacement. The o/t is here ,whether you want it or not.If the company has been challenged to cut o/t....our tm has not got the email. We all want the company to succeed, but -12-14 hr. days take there toll on the family. Not sure how much young blood is coming on board to A.B.F. I think you will see older recycled freight people trying to hopefully get to their retirement coming on board. I hope that i am wrong and the company can attract younger people.....but what i see locally......it's not good
 
I don't understand what happens when your benefits aren't paid for that week.
Last year I got very sick and missed a whole week of work and through a miscommunication with the boss I only got paid one sick day on Wednesday. So in theory my benefits wouldn't have been paid. I am in central Indiana.
I went to the doctor on Monday and Wednesday and the ER on Friday plus a follow up the next week and never had any unusual bills for all that.
 
MJG8 said:
That is my understanding also. I think the company tried to negotiate the sick days instead of the 1 week of vacation. Either way, it still poses a challenge for hiring good quality drivers.


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I can only speak for me, but yes that is a big deal breaker, vacation time is paramount...
 
There are so many ifs and thens with healthcare you would have to work hard at it to understand it. That work three days in a week does not apply anywhere around where I am. Work certain number of days in a month here and we're good regardless of when they're worked. Then if we have worked 180 days in the previous 12 months and we're covered. There are about 260 work days in a year so if you've been working steady no problem here.
 
I'm thinking the contract will get reopened and the company will use that vacation chip to get something else. Why did it have to be a five year deal anyway?
 
ABFer said:
I'm thinking the contract will get reopened and the company will use that vacation chip to get something else. Why did it have to be a five year deal anyway?
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ABFer In my opinion the company is going to have a hard time hiring anybody that is qualified. ABF can't afford to lose any employee's, they have people on workman's comp, and many that are planning to retire soon. The aging workforce is being pushed to work harder and longer hours. We have older drivers that are only getting 1 week vacation and not able to spend needed time with their family's.

Once they do get someone in the door that may be qualified, they are informed that they won't be getting a vacation till year 2. That will be the deal breaker for most...
 
papajohn said:
ABFer In my opinion the company is going to have a hard time hiring anybody that is qualified. ABF can't afford to lose any employee's, they have people on workman's comp, and many that are planning to retire soon. The aging workforce is being pushed to work harder and longer hours. We have older drivers that are only getting 1 week vacation and not able to spend needed time with their family's.

Once they do get someone in the door that may be qualified, they are informed that they won't be getting a vacation till year 2. That will be the deal breaker for most...
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I would say, if I was starting all over again, being on call, then told about the vacation, that would be a hard sell to me. I"ve seen many a driver come through just for some short weeks, the call it quits because of lack of work being on call. Company did themselves no favor here that's for sure.
 
ABFer said:
There are so many ifs and thens with healthcare you would have to work hard at it to understand it. That work three days in a week does not apply anywhere around where I am. Work certain number of days in a month here and we're good regardless of when they're worked. Then if we have worked 180 days in the previous 12 months and we're covered. There are about 260 work days in a year so if you've been working steady no problem here.
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Same here. We need a 150 hours of contributions a month to maintain our beniefits.If you work 3 days in a pay period they are required to make 40 hours worth of contributions. If someone was to get laid off or was out on a non-work injury or illness they would be covered going forward for 6 months from when the last contribution was made. They call it "Pending Termination" period. If at any time you were to return to work in that termination period and worked 150 in any giving month it would reset your benefits. Every plan is different but this is ours. On the pension side we need a minimum of 1800 hours per calander year to get a full years credit.So you could miss up to 7 weeks of contributions and still meet your minimum of 1800 hours. 40 hoursX 45 weeks=1800.
 
After 10 years with YRC I applied at ABF and went to the interview this week. The interviewer told me about the new vacation (or lack there of) policy. I was shocked. The thought of leaving somewhere that I have 3 weeks vacation and a bid to start all over on the extra board and waiting 2 years for 1 lousy week of vacation is hard for me to take. I think I'm going back there next week and tell them thanks but no thanks. This was not an easy decision to make either.
 
I am sorry to hear it. More so for you than the company that has done this.
 
Cant see many people wanting to do this job anymore. Long time to get vacation and who knows how long and how much for pension..let alone being timed on breaks,run out of the break room when its twelve below zero,harrassed about production,given letters for being late and unexcused absences just to name a few. If a young guy gets a job here at a break station, you will have a hard time spending any time with your family. I hate to say it, but as a recently retired teamster....look for another line of work.
 
retiredthankgod said:
Cant see many people wanting to do this job anymore. Long time to get vacation and who knows how long and how much for pension..let alone being timed on breaks,run out of the break room when its twelve below zero,harrassed about production,given letters for being late and unexcused absences just to name a few. If a young guy gets a job here at a break station, you will have a hard time spending any time with your family. I hate to say it, but as a recently retired teamster....look for another line of work.
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Enjoy your retirement!!! Good Luck.
 
Skinnytrucker said:
After 10 years with YRC I applied at ABF and went to the interview this week. The interviewer told me about the new vacation (or lack there of) policy. I was shocked. The thought of leaving somewhere that I have 3 weeks vacation and a bid to start all over on the extra board and waiting 2 years for 1 lousy week of vacation is hard for me to take. I think I'm going back there next week and tell them thanks but no thanks. This was not an easy decision to make either.
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I can't blame you for you staying where your at... I would have to think long and hard before I made a move like this knowing I won't have any vacation for 2 years, and will be on call, I would have to think long and hard before I would give up seniority, vacation, and a decent bid... In the end I probably would stay where I was at to... GOOD LUCK!!!

The only reason someone would come to work here is to maybe try to restore their pension. If the government changes the pension laws, then you won't be seeing anyone wanting to change company's!!!

No vacation for 2 years, is not going to bring in new employee's, and is going to hurt the company!!!
 
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