UNIT 7
623-204-7419
NOTICE
UNIT 7 All Areas
NOMINATIONS/ELECTIONS OF
LOCAL 7019 CONVENTION DELEGATES/ALTERNATES
There will be a Unit 7 meeting to nominate and elect Delegates and Alternates for the Local 7019 Convention for your area on:
WHERE: CWA Local 7019
1615 North 36th Street
TIME: 7:30pm
Nominations will be from 7:30pm – 7:45pm
9:00am – 10:00am at the Union Hall
Delegates/Alternates are elected by their peers for the purpose of representing and voting on the business of the local. The delegates/alternates position is for one year.
Due to the fact that the Convention is scheduled for Saturday, there will be no lost wages paid. The expectations would be that if you are elected as a delegate/alternate to the local convention that you make sure you are not scheduled to work that Saturday. If you have any problems contact your Area Vice President immediately.
If for some reason any nomination (whether a first or a second) is going to be presented in writing, the letter must be on file with the Secretary-Treasurer of Local 7019 by 5:00pm on the day of the nominations. Any letter accepting a nomination must also be on file if the nominee is not accepting in person. Each letter must include the office for which the candidate is running and the appropriate Unit and Area numbers if applicable.
PLEASE VOTE!!!!!!
30
afl-cio
March 4, 2010
Hello all,
Recently there has been some discussion about WAFA and how it is used by technicians. It was originally thought that WAFA was not available to all technicians. Recently, I have been told otherwise. Apparently WAFA is available for everyone to use if they have a need for it. It is my feeling that if “some” are allowed to use it, then “all” should be allowed to use it. So I have some questions regarding the usage of WAFA.
What do you use WAFA for primarily? In what ways does WAFA help you do your job better and more efficiently? If the company were trying to make the argument that technicians do not need WAFA, how would you suggest that WAFA is beneficial to technicians and should be available to everyone?
You can email your answers and any additional information you can contribute to parrish7019@hotmail.com If this is a concern to you I would like to hear from you now, not 6 months from now when something has happened that you don’t agree with.
Remember there is a unit meeting at the hall on March 10th at 7pm. The address is 1615 N. 36 ST. in Phoenix. Please attend to discuss this and many more important issues.
In Unity,
Darrell Parrish
February 2010
Hello all,
Since the last unit report there have been a lot of things going on. QJD issues, GPS issues, a surplus and rumors around that. I would like to try and clear up as much confusion and answer as many questions as possible regarding these issues.
QJD- The satisfactory number was raised this year. POTS went from 4.65 to 4.75. DSL went from 4.0 to 4.6. Although the POTS change wasn’t as drastic as DSL, We feel those expectations are unacceptable. When asked why the company felt the new DSL number was just, they said that more than half of the DSL technicians made 4.6 as an average last year. Maybe that is true, but the company factored all of the Tiger Team numbers into the DSL bucket. As we all know, the numbers the Tiger Team was able to achieve is not the norm for DSL techs working an average load. The company believes the jobs weren’t much different so should be included in factoring the average.
Since the new numbers were announced, Ron Fagan (Unit 6 AVP) and I have been making yard visits to talk with the technicians. We are trying to get a universal message to both east and west side yards by doing this. Don’t let the new numbers defeat you before you start. Do the quality work you have been trained to do and are expected to do. Don’t take shortcuts just to make the number. By doing that, two things will happen. First, the QJD expectations will only go higher. Second, technicians will be getting disciplined for taking shortcuts. This is very dangerous. More technicians have been fired for not doing what they were supposed to be doing than for not making QJD. If you deliberately don’t do what is expected of you on a job, that is much more difficult to defend than if you did everything you could but didn’t make the number.
GPS- Everyone, it’s been here for years! It’s not something new! Like it or not, GPS can be used to get you in trouble. Recently we had some technicians terminated for a few infractions of the Code of Conduct. GPS was used a great deal in determining the level of discipline these guys received. Read your Code of Conduct. Read your PB& E’s, make sure you understand them, if you don’t ask your manager to explain them. Understand what you can and can not do in a company vehicle. Keep a copy of them in your truck.
Also, be careful of congregation. Three or more people in one spot will show up on a report. Your manager will get the report. This can be used as a trigger to look at where you have been for the previous month. The best advice is just be where you are supposed to be and you won’t show up on these reports.
Surplus- Qwest recently had another surplus. Phoenix Pots and DSL techs were not part of that surplus. Frank Simonson had to make a decision on how to save Qwest money. In the past other VP’s have chosen to let people leave the company via VSPP. Instead, Frank decided to not let any I&M or Broadband techs go, but save money by reducing the amount of overtime worked by keeping all the employees. Many people don’t believe OT will really go down that much. But if it does, keep this in mind. You may come to work and have 6 jobs on your route or only 2 jobs on your route. If you only have 2, work as if you had 6. Don’t take your time on them thinking that is all you have to do that day. If you do that, there is no way you will make your QJD. Instead, if you work through those 2 and there is nothing else on your route, code off. Be on black hole time. Then call in to get more work. If there is nothing for you, stay on black hole time. It will make it much easier to argue if you don’t make the numbers at the end of the month.
Representation- Everyone is entitled to union representation if they are being called into a disciplinary or investigatory meeting. It is up to YOU to ask for representation, it’s NOT the manager’s responsibility to offer representation. Even if the manager just shows up on your job and tells you they want to go over numbers with you, you can ask for representation. This means documented discussions also. I have never told anyone they don’t need a steward for documented discussions.
I would also like to invite everyone to our unit meeting on March 10, 2010, at the Union Hall. Please check the union calendar for upcoming events and meetings.
In Unity,
Darrell Parrish
Hi all,
Just wanted to give some insight to what we have been doing as a Unit in regards to discipline and grievances. Below is a list of grievances that have been filed for this year. You will see the filing date, the step of discipline and what it was for, the grievance resolution, and what yard was represented. Unit 7 Grievance SAT
One thing I would like to point out by looking at this list. QJD is not the monster it was made out to be. Meaning the company, at least this year, has not used QJD to keep technicians on discipline. Most of the QJD grievances have been won in some way; either reduced in severity, reduced in time, or removed from discipline all together. The technicians themselves were also a big help in getting these disciplines reduced.
The major problem we are dealing with is motor vehicle incidents as well as code of conduct issues. These are a bit more difficult to get a good resolution on.
You will also see that practically every yard has been represented so far this year. Some more than others. I know there are always questions to where your union dues go. Well, these grievances don’t get worked on their own. Your stewards, area reps, and myself all put in many hours to make a case to the company to get these reduced. Part of your dues are used to pay for that representation and the hours it takes to do this.
Because of this, I personally would like to thank every member out there for sticking with the union through all the rough times. We (the union) need every members support. On that note, our unit is in need of an Area Rep for areas 2 and 4. Area 2 consists of Maple and Commonwealth yards. Area 4 consists of Bell Rd. and Bourbon St. yards. Also area 4 is in need of stewards. If anyone is interested in stepping up to help or just want more information, please contact me.
Thanks again,
Darrell Parrish
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