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ABF | Uniforms

hoffa said:
Anything new on the uniforms? Was hoping to be out of them by summer or spring...
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Yes there is a new development, although it might not be the one we were hoping for. At a grievance hearing last Thursday , the Labor man casually mentioned we had lost those grievances on the company point of order.


Having gotten no decision, or notification, my B.A's jaw dropped. We checked with the steward and B.A. at our " next door" Local, where we had our grievance piloted .

, and they also haven't received any information.

Something is going on, or someone's information is wrong. Coming up on one year. Funny that the Labor man brought it up.

Our grievance hearing was about whether Holidays , other than the two specifically named, can be forced from the bottom. On to local panel with that one.
 
canaryinthemine said:
At a grievance hearing last Thursday , the Labor man casually mentioned we had lost those grievances on the company point of order.
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While at first that made my blood boil it does not mean that the labor man is/was right on this with his 'casual' comment. But he could be. What the committee should have done was shot down that point of order and heard the case. Once again I lose more of that loving feeling for our 'union'. :ranting2: How can a committee who negotiated a contract not know if a case should be heard there or not? :wtflol: YO, Ernie!!! I say file another grievance and when the company files that point of order bring up the decision that the case does, in fact, belong there.
 
ABFer said:
While at first that made my blood boil it does not mean that the labor man is/was right on this with his 'casual' comment. But he could be. What the committee should have done was shot down that point of order and heard the case. Once again I lose more of that loving feeling for our 'union'. :ranting2: How can a committee who negotiated a contract not know if a case should be heard there or not? :wtflol: YO, Ernie!!! I say file another grievance and when the company files that point of order bring up the decision that the case does, in fact, belong there.
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FYI Our Labor man last name being (Desco) for the 050 Indy barns were caught in an outright lie last year by our Local 135 President (Danny Barton). Desco claimed some other Halls had agreed to a tougher absenteeism agreement different from the Master Freight Contract and he mentioned several Locals who had approved something different. So Danny had a couple of Business Agents who were present @ the meeting go out @ called the locals. Everyone of the Locals President’s claimed they did not agree to any change in the contract language about being absent. Danny went in to the afternoon meeting with Desco & called him a liar to his face. The later story was when Desco called Danny Barton @ the Hall he told his secretary to tell Desco he was absent & did not know when Danny would return his call. A prime example of a person hired by ABF as a Labor Negotiator who CAN NOT BE TRUSTED in resolving Labor Disputes.
 
vongrimmenstein said:
A prime example of a person hired by ABF as a Labor Negotiator who CAN NOT BE TRUSTED in resolving Labor Disputes.
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The do seem to like these guys, hell, Scalzo's the new leader of the pack. And besides if I was the B/A I would have flat out told Desco, "I don't care what anyone else has done, we have a contract and we'll stick to that".
 
I believe the point of order was that the Union had already accepted the companies' request to run a uniform program. There is a letter dated April 10, 2015 signed by Mr. Johnson and Mr. Sweeton allowing the company to run a program under Art. 12.

However, our grievances were about whether the company was running the program contractually,........ not whether or not they could have a uniform program. How could our Elected Union Officials miss that point?

Brother Von,.....I believe you told me that your terminal was receiving uniforms in March of last year, along with several other terminals,.........a month before the approval letter was signed by the Teamsters.

Our grievances were time-stamped dated April 17,........and roughly about that time we received the approval letter,.......dated the 10th. Backdated after the fact? Who knows?

Anyway,.......until we see some paperwork, all this is pure speculation. Why our Labor man would tell us we lost the grievance,........ in the absence of any decision on paper,.....I can only speculate on that, too. He didn't offer to show us the decision.

I find it hard to believe our Elected Union Officials would,.....after negotiating a horrible concessionary contract,......not take the opportunity to hold the company to the contract,.......however tattered the remains are,.......especially in light of Mr. Hoffa's bloviating ad nauseam about how we must " Bring Jobs Back To America. "

I guess that would be indelicate to bring that up just prior to our convention,......especially if Mr. Hoffa has speeches prepared to that effect. No one likes to look hypocritical on a public forum. I shudder to think what "hay" Mr. Trump could make out of this,.... if our Elected Union Officials were so indiscrete as to endorse him in the Presidential election.........

Well, as I said, barring absence of any paperwork,...... all this is speculation so far. I'll keep you all informed.
 
canaryinthemine said:
Well, as I said, barring absence of any paperwork,...... all this is speculation so far. I'll keep you all informed.
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This is true but his cronies on the panel might have told him what the decision was. Just have to wait and see.
 
Yeah......I've been through one of those old "crony" decisions down at Myrtle Beach.....We presented our case, had a 40 page brief, depositions from company terminal managers,...pay sheets,...pictures,....And the company's whole case was: "We don't want to." People were slapping us on the back and saying: "Great case!" as they called executive session and sent all of us out of the room..........

Half hour later, the door opened and one of our former Joint Council #40 officers walked past me and my B.A. and said out of the corner of his mouth: "You lose...."

It took a month to get the paperwork on that one.........
 
canaryinthemine said:
I believe the point of order was that the Union had already accepted the companies' request to run a uniform program. There is a letter dated April 10, 2015 signed by Mr. Johnson and Mr. Sweeton allowing the company to run a program under Art. 12.

However, our grievances were about whether the company was running the program contractually,........ not whether or not they could have a uniform program. How could our Elected Union Officials miss that point?

Brother Von,.....I believe you told me that your terminal was receiving uniforms in March of last year, along with several other terminals,.........a month before the approval letter was signed by the Teamsters.

Our grievances were time-stamped dated April 17,........and roughly about that time we received the approval letter,.......dated the 10th. Backdated after the fact? Who knows?

Anyway,.......until we see some paperwork, all this is pure speculation. Why our Labor man would tell us we lost the grievance,........ in the absence of any decision on paper,.....I can only speculate on that, too. He didn't offer to show us the decision.

I find it hard to believe our Elected Union Officials would,.....after negotiating a horrible concessionary contract,......not take the opportunity to hold the company to the contract,.......however tattered the remains are,.......especially in light of Mr. Hoffa's bloviating ad nauseam about how we must " Bring Jobs Back To America. "

I guess that would be indelicate to bring that up just prior to our convention,......especially if Mr. Hoffa has speeches prepared to that effect. No one likes to look hypocritical on a public forum. I shudder to think what "hay" Mr. Trump could make out of this,.... if our Elected Union Officials were so indiscrete as to endorse him in the Presidential election.........

Well, as I said, barring absence of any paperwork,...... all this is speculation so far. I'll keep you all informed.
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I think they measured in early March & delivered the first set of uniforms 5 weeks later. It has taken Cintas well in to October of last year to get everything ironed out. We did not get lockers until July. Some refused to wear the uniforms or even sign for them until a secured dirty hamper & lockers were made available. Some people were still missing caps, pants, shirts, jackets, or parts thereof for 6 months or better after the initial delivery.
 
According to some other terminals, Cintas is doing a typically slip-shod job, now that they have the contract. There have been reports of missing items, clothes mixed up with another company..,.... that one happened at our terminal,........loose patches coming back sewn on crooked, or even upside down,......clothes coming back just as dirty as they went out....... grease smears permanently engrained into the fronts of shirts..........

Yup! They really have us look as professional as the Bosnian Marines.....Good Choice! Upper mgmt. Does It Again!

My Teamsters jacket that I wear on a daily basis........Made in America by UnionLine Inc., AFSCME members,......is much more professional looking than those rustly " dinner jackets" Cintas has dispensed.....much warmer, too,......which is the real issue here.

We'll continue to wait on the decision,..... the "official" one, as opposed to the word of mouth one,....and we'll proceed from there.
 
vongrimmenstein said:
FYI Our Labor man last name being (Desco) for the 050 Indy barns were caught in an outright lie last year by our Local 135 President (Danny Barton). Desco claimed some other Halls had agreed to a tougher absenteeism agreement different from the Master Freight Contract and he mentioned several Locals who had approved something different. So Danny had a couple of Business Agents who were present @ the meeting go out @ called the locals. Everyone of the Locals President’s claimed they did not agree to any change in the contract language about being absent. Danny went in to the afternoon meeting with Desco & called him a liar to his face. The later story was when Desco called Danny Barton @ the Hall he told his secretary to tell Desco he was absent & did not know when Danny would return his call. A prime example of a person hired by ABF as a Labor Negotiator who CAN NOT BE TRUSTED in resolving Labor Disputes.
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His name is Dusko.
 
canaryinthemine said:
Yes there is a new development, although it might not be the one we were hoping for. At a grievance hearing last Thursday , the Labor man casually mentioned we had lost those grievances on the company point of order.


Having gotten no decision, or notification, my B.A's jaw dropped. We checked with the steward and B.A. at our " next door" Local, where we had our grievance piloted .

, and they also haven't received any information.

Something is going on, or someone's information is wrong. Coming up on one year. Funny that the Labor man brought it up.

Our grievance hearing was about whether Holidays , other than the two specifically named, can be forced from the bottom. On to local panel with that one.
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What was the company's point of order?
 
Muler said:
What was the company's point of order?
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canaryinthemine said:
The grievance on use of a non-Union vendor,.....and uniforms made in Guatemala/Honduras/China/Mexico,....instead of American manufacturers,.....was heard at the July ERJAC panel. It still is an ongoing case. ABF made a point of order , claiming the case was improper before the Panel. The Point of Order now has to go to the National Panel,......held in September,......for a ruling,....then, once the ruling is made, be re-scheduled for the next ERJAC panel. These are the facts as I know them.
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Muler said:
What was the company's point of order?
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Apparently , their point of order was that the IBT approved the uniform program.

Which is exactly our point. The program is not run contractually.

Since we don',t have a decision from the panel, or any paperwork from the National panel who ruled on the Point of Order, it's kind of hard to say.

However, once we DO get that paperwork, we've talked to a few Labor attorneys as to our options. Must proceed one step at a time.
 
Gas man said:
Just curious why are drivers against wearing a uniform ?
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Brother Boilerpeddle is right. ABF established the old uniform program deliberately to evade the provisions of Art. 12. They did not want a Teamsters emblem on the clothing, and they wanted to give them to "customer-facing" employees only , discriminating against dock,UE, and road employees. Grievances were filed, but since ABF maintained the old policy was "voluntary", and similar to a " bonus" program , they could give uniforms to who they wanted, and you didn't have to wear them if you wished.

Now,.......uniforms are mandatory,...... with discipline attached. ABF still does not want to give uniforms to anyone who isn't "customer-facing".. ….a term I can't find anywhere in the contract,......and to add insult to injury, they claim not to be able to find a Union vendor, with uniforms made in America......... even though every Union Hall in America sells Union-made, American-Made apparel to their members, and would be extremely glad to provide ABF with a list of Union vendors,.......so we are stuck wearing these made in China, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, rags,......probably made by child/slave Labor,......and delivered by one of the most virulant anti-Union companies in the uniform-vending trade...,....and threatened with discipline, to boot , for not wearing them, or improperly wearing them, even off duty!

ABF's initial uniform program, and their subsequent so-called " compliance " with Art. 12..…....aided and abetted by our....."leadership "........at the IBT.......was, and is,......an ongoing insult to their Union employees. They are smirking up their sleeves at us, and giving lip service to their claim of wanting to remain a " Union" carrier.

Read Article 12, Brother,.......then go to the AFL-CIO, or the AFSCME websites, and see the vast array of American made, Union made clothing and uniform manufacturers and suppliers listed there, along with Union vendors to deliver and maintain a uniform program...........and then gag over the massive hypocracy of Mr. Hoffa giving speeches about "Bringing Jobs Back To America"....... while allowing ABF management to insult their members by making them into walking billboards wearing rags made by slave labor, and delivered by scabs.....

That's the problem, Brother. Not so much wearing a uniform,.....as it is the insulting and demeaning way it was foisted on us,.......with the complicity, of course, of our ...." leadership " ..,..at the IBT

POGO principle....."We Have Met The Enemy, And He Is Us."
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I like the idea of the company supplying my clothes and washing them. I do not like the quality of what we were given and as Brother canaryinthemine has pointed out they are not contract compliant. These things are insufficient for a northern winter and being 100% plastic they are the most uncomfortable shirts I ever had. Furthermore, the pants do not exude a personal appearance to my liking.
 
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