ABF | working thanksgiving

I seem to recall that they used to shut down all operations for Thanksgiving, Christmas and maybe New Years? I also remember the time a nasty snow storm was predicted (and we got it) and they brought all the trucks in off the road ahead of time. I wonder if that would ever happen again. :confused:

If you live in the Northeast, the last of the week is suppose to be nasty up there... Suppose to be a bad Nor-easter coming in...
 
that is not true... read an otr supplement.. its not 1 way for 1 guy and not the other.. never in a freight contract.. I agree they do start calling Christmas night... but you are wrong I have just read and nowhere does it state a road driver has to work any holiday especially Thanksgiving nor does it state specifically they only don't run Christmas.. unless you have some whacky supplement I don't....
thats only for the dock, not road drivers. the road only has xmas off, per the contract. anything else is company discretion. theyre going to run on the holiday. on the dock theyll be calling the xtra board for 0001 start fri night/sat morning. they dont ASK at 042, they INFORM you that youre working haha. even xmas on the road they start calling 8 or 9 pm for 11pm dispatch xmas night. Merry xmas, get plenty of rest!
 
that is not true... read an otr supplement.. its not 1 way for 1 guy and not the other.. never in a freight contract.. I agree they do start calling Christmas night... but you are wrong I have just read and nowhere does it state a road driver has to work any holiday especially Thanksgiving nor does it state specifically they only don't run Christmas.. unless you have some whacky supplement I don't....
nor does the contract say you have to have the day off. don't tell me whats not true here in central pa unless youre under this supplement
 
Nothing's any good without Union backing. I hear "Just be thankful you have a job" in the background.
 
Are you guys ****ting me? You have to fight to get the holiday off? Even over at the evil empire OD all drivers are scheduled to be at their domicile by 2300 the night before Thanksgiving. Work on the holiday is volunteer only for holiday pay plus mileage and normal schedule doesn't resume til 0600 Friday. Friday is a holiday as well so if you get called it's pay plus mileage.
 
Are you guys ****ting me? You have to fight to get the holiday off? Even over at the evil empire OD all drivers are scheduled to be at their domicile by 2300 the night before Thanksgiving. Work on the holiday is volunteer only for holiday pay plus mileage and normal schedule doesn't resume til 0600 Friday. Friday is a holiday as well so if you get called it's pay plus mileage.

No, Brother,....What I believe it is,...is the misconception about hours of service available to run,..and some employees thinking with their wallets, instead of their brains, and looking for the justification in thinking that way. Excluding the 4 hour penalty,....which all Supplements have, I believe,,....( and the only reason THAT exists is the argument that road drivers have much more "control" over how long they'll be On Duty,....and can therefore force Holiday pay out of the company by...."extending'...their tour of duty....).........there is no way ABF can force you out to work on a Holiday...........You can...."volunteer"......You can be cajoled into working,........They can beg....(...always a lot of fun to hear the dispatcher talking "politely",...instead of his usual gruff, gutteral mutter....)...........But they CAN'T force you out. Don't answer the phone. It's a holiday. It's contractual. They CAN'T give you a warning letter for not being available on a contractually established Holiday..........That's why they're CONTRACTUALLY ESTABLISHED!.......I'm the only Veteran in my barn,.....I take off every Veteran's Day,......could care less if it's in the middle of the week.......and they can't force me to work, no matter how much freight is falling off the dock. Some things,.....( Families,......and Veterans,....).....are more important than freight......
 
I just wanted to verify, since my run has changed I will be back home around 3 or 4 tonight so my rest will now be up tomorrow morning. I asked my BA if I still had to come in if they called and he said yes they can force you...even on the holiday.
 
No union support, no luck. Avoid the telephone if you have to.
 
No, Brother,....What I believe it is,...is the misconception about hours of service available to run,..and some employees thinking with their wallets, instead of their brains, and looking for the justification in thinking that way. Excluding the 4 hour penalty,....which all Supplements have, I believe,,....( and the only reason THAT exists is the argument that road drivers have much more "control" over how long they'll be On Duty,....and can therefore force Holiday pay out of the company by...."extending'...their tour of duty....).........there is no way ABF can force you out to work on a Holiday...........You can...."volunteer"......You can be cajoled into working,........They can beg....(...always a lot of fun to hear the dispatcher talking "politely",...instead of his usual gruff, gutteral mutter....)...........But they CAN'T force you out. Don't answer the phone. It's a holiday. It's contractual. They CAN'T give you a warning letter for not being available on a contractually established Holiday..........That's why they're CONTRACTUALLY ESTABLISHED!.......I'm the only Veteran in my barn,.....I take off every Veteran's Day,......could care less if it's in the middle of the week.......and they can't force me to work, no matter how much freight is falling off the dock. Some things,.....( Families,......and Veterans,....).....are more important than freight......
in central pa supplement they can for a road driver. of course you can be out of hours and anyone who doesnt know how to run their log book by now shouldnt be a driver...that being said, if youre on a bid run and that bid is on a holiday you are expected to honor the bid or call off sick. if you dont have sick days left you get a letter if you call off even on a holiday. its been that way for all 25 years ive been here. no, you CANT be forced in to work however if youre out of paid days you WILL get a letter. who wants to blow a sick day for a day that we are already being paid for? its a question that ive asked the local for years and they say theyre looking into it...if you want the holiday off and you put in a request for the day off you have to give them a personal day ON TOP OF the holiday. you guys should really come to this break and see the real abf in action.....and the sad thing is the union says well thats the way it is...
 
No union support, no luck. Avoid the telephone if you have to.
Isn't it sad. Already found out that they have us set up for Friday... Was very disappointed in the unions view on this. What purpose is a contract if they're just going to walk all over it.
 
in central pa supplement they can for a road driver. of course you can be out of hours and anyone who doesnt know how to run their log book by now shouldnt be a driver...that being said, if youre on a bid run and that bid is on a holiday you are expected to honor the bid or call off sick. if you dont have sick days left you get a letter if you call off even on a holiday. its been that way for all 25 years ive been here. no, you CANT be forced in to work however if youre out of paid days you WILL get a letter. who wants to blow a sick day for a day that we are already being paid for? its a question that ive asked the local for years and they say theyre looking into it...if you want the holiday off and you put in a request for the day off you have to give them a personal day ON TOP OF the holiday. you guys should really come to this break and see the real abf in action.....and the sad thing is the union says well thats the way it is...
City guys and dock guys have bids also and they are off on these days. So if a dock guy at your terminal says he is coming in they can't stop him. Just doesn't make sense that a local would allow the road to be treated different than the dock or city. You can not be forced to work on a compensated holiday. Just the facts you may get fired but in the end they will have to pay. If I worked out of your barn I would already file a grievance for clarification so this matter can be put to rest.By the labor board if necessary. YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!.
 
City guys and dock guys have bids also and they are off on these days. So if a dock guy at your terminal says he is coming in they can't stop him. Just doesn't make sense that a local would allow the road to be treated different than the dock or city. You can not be forced to work on a compensated holiday. Just the facts you may get fired but in the end they will have to pay. If I worked out of your barn I would already file a grievance for clarification so this matter can be put to rest.By the labor board if necessary. YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!.
thats the real burr in the saddle so to speak that the dock/city has the day off but if the road decides they arent shutting down youre expected to come in. my personal opinion is that the union wont pursue the issue because theyre afraid they will lose and end up having dock and city working holidays as well. i filed on the holiday issue years ago but it never came up. the ba said that they had grievances in already. im hopeful now that there is a new regime in the local hall that this will get resolved, but they dont take office until january. dock and city have signup sheets for holiday work, called in seniority order. most times its just a few men to staff the yard for drivers coming in.
 
Sign-up sheets for holiday work are voluntary. Brother Muler is right. We've given up far, far more than we ever should have in this last steaming heap of a contract,......They can't hire anyone,.....What,...in God's Name, are we doing working on contractual holidays? Just because the non-Unions are too spineless to refuse to come in,....the rationale is that ...."we have to be competitive, and run, too"......Competitive with spineless and clueless?.....at the expense of our families? And at a division of the barns between city and road? Brother Foxman,....Push that grievance......In fact, read your Grievant's Bill of Rights.....Article......(..what is it Bro. Muler?....I don't have the contract in front of me...).....16? You have a RIGHT to have your grievance heard TIMELY,.........I've threatened to file a grievance under that Article when I had a grievance sit for 6 months,....and Lo and Behold!..it was heard the next month,.....and we won it.....Standard stall tactic of lazy and cowardly B.A's and Principal Officers who don't want to present controversial grievances that might...."ruffle'....the companies' feathers.........They tell you : "It's on the docket".......B.S.! If it was..."on the docket"....it would be published as ON the docket,....and SCHEDULED to be heard. If it ain't scheduled,.....the cowardly S.O.B. is sitting on it,...in the hopes that you forget about it, or it becomes irrelevant.........You have a very good grievance,.....an excellent one, in fact......You can't treat both groups of employees differently, and force the road out on Holidays,.....and yet ........ask the city to.......voluntarily,.....come in. Tell them to wad that warning letter around a sharp-cornered brick, and shove it up their anterior sphincter.........Ask them to show you in writing, where you have to come in on holidays,.....and who, in heck is the sniveling boob that signed that MOU?,.....if there IS one........
 
Here are the facts of what I know about working Thanksgiving (yesterday) and the day after Thanksgiving (today). I came in at 00:11 on Thanksgiving morning and went out at 19:30 on Thanksgiving evening. I ran my laydown bid (Atlanta to Jackson) and I am now getting ready to leave Jackson (Friday morning) returning to Atlanta. I am putting in for two 8hr holiday pays and two 4hr working on holiday pays. That will give me an extra 24hrs on my paycheck for working these two days! I was home for my wife's cooking and the family meal we had together. I was also home long enough to get frustrated with all the yelling from my families kids. By 16:00 I was ready and wanting to go to work.


According to dispatch last night, several people called off sick and several bids had to be delayed because of lack of freight. I witnessed three PT trucks on the yard either waiting to depart or arrive (not sure which because I did not ask). I believe the PT trucks are the reason most of us worked onThanksgiving. I am also very sure that none of the drivers will get warning letters for taking off on Thanksgiving. I will know if those drivers received warning letters from the company within the next two weeks because either, I will hear about it from the driver, one of the other union stewards, or from the local union. I am reasonably sure I will not hear from any of these people.


So, if there are NO consequences for calling off on a holiday, was anyone forced to work simply because management did not change the normal work schedule?????????????????
 
I'll bet ...."Zollars" to doughnuts,....that those PT drivers,....either waiting, or en route,....didn't receive one dime of extra compensation for working on Thanksgiving...Ho, Ho! ...a Good, Christian, Family-oriented company, like ABF has finally found a way to keep the money pipeline,....oops,...I meant.....provide work for those who "need" it..........And another short-term solution creates a long-term problem. How many entry-level drivers do you think PT employers are going to attract, if the standard procedure is to treat every day as a work day, regardless of family need, or tradition? Log hours rules all? Are the truckload carriers starting to figure out why they can't attract entry-level drivers?.......And,....Those entry-level drivers who do decide to make a career out of trucking,.....but do it with a company that respects families and holiday time off,..........Since it seems that ABF is now gradually instituting working on holidays as a standard procedure,.......just exactly how do you expect to attract those entry-level drivers who would prefer to be with their families on holidays?.....especially when many, many other careers , like plumbers, electricians, millwrights,...and other occupations THAT PAY BETTER,........shut down for the holidays........excepting, of course, for an emergency...............Maybe ABF upper management considers it an emergency if freight isn't arriving and departing regularly 24/7/365..............Causes for a driver shortage?............The public's poor perception of trucking as an occupation?............Fair Labor Act exemption of overtime and minimum wage laws?......that the non-Unions "use" to ....."compete"....with the Union carriers?..........Trucking Management has created it's own quagmire,......and they're thrashing around like a dinosaur in a tar pit.........Why don't you cut our wages and benefits some more, and give us all paper hats to wear........Then you could have the exact same problems McDonalds has with staffing..........especially around the holidays..........
 
the reason we worked is so that JUDY COULD USE THE SHINY WHEELS. we never worked before on a holiday. I don't mean coming back from a run on a holiday. I mean being scheduled to go out in the middle of the day on a run on a holiday. if judy cancels All the bids then an outside carrier pulls out every bid man would have a grievance. again it all goes back to the yes voters and, oh yeah, get ready to work.on Christmas.the union is trying to sell this bill of goods to Conway and fedex. maybe they should start right here and do something about this nonsense I KNOW my local was empty for the holiday. just sayin
 
Ask your steward or B.A. to show you the Memorandum of Agreement that either forces from the bottom, or requires road drivers to work on Holidays as if the day is nothing special. Tell them if they cannot produce the Memorandum, you WILL NOT work the holiday, and if you DO get a Letter, or some sort of disciplinary action, you will file a grievance. If they have NO Memorandum, and are just relying on hearsay to get guys to...."volunteer"...to run on a holiday,.....you will win the grievance, and have set a precedence,.....IN WRITING,..... that no road driver will ever have to work on a holiday again......That is, provided your local, or Joint Council Grievance panel is honest,......and not some sort of kangaroo court..........Good Lord, ..whatever you do, don't let it go to the Eastern Region grievance panel,.....more kangaroos than the Sydney Municipal Zoo there..........Keep it local.....
 
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