I used to have a 1400 bid @ 050 an end of the line terminal. The 1400 bid was the last bid of the day. On Friday those on that bid had to stay until the work was finished. Also, the contract states the second to last bid had to stay until the work is finished. That bid time was 1100. So on Friday night we stayed until the work was finished, & sometimes we went home as the sun came up over the horizon. The latest we ever clocked out was 0700. BUT the 1100 bid people did not have to stay. Even though the contract says they have to, our BA said it was too long to be on the clock. Did that for 18 years. No complaints, just showing you how some things were enforced, & others not. We could have filed on it, but we would lose it. As a wise old BA once said, don’t sweat the little infractions, for when a serious problem comes up, you do not want to be remembered for all the little stuff you filed on it. Is it fair. No. But that is how the ball bounces. Von.
Maybe related. I had a 1530 drive bid. If I ran out of driving before my shift ended I went up to the dock WITH my seniority. That rule had been round for a long time. So when they needed people in the yard they would ask by seniority & I would usually pass. This forced junior guys to the yard & they were not happy. One night they tried to force me out by telling dispatch I don’t count as a dock person. Dispatch said I had to go, & I refused. I went off the deep end & told him they would have to fire me for refusing an order. And I would prove the next day my fellow Teamster brother & sister were wrong. He was surprised as to how far I was willing to go. I said since this is a Seniority issue why not force everybody to the yard except for 2 people on the dock to close the doors. He did. And from then on they kept 2 on the dock & the rest went to the yard. Funny thing, things went much faster with all the dock people in the yard & we shaved an hour off our work time. The next day our Steward (a very fair man) said I was right. They weren’t satisfied, so they called the BA. He came over & told them I was right, the long standing rule stayed the same. The whole argument was I drove all night, was forced to the dock by the rules & then forced a junior driver to the yard while I stayed on the dock dry & not wet, especially when it rained or snowed. A few didn’t like that. So I told them they would do the same thing if they had a chance. They didn’t like that part of the conversation. Von.
