New Jobs Will Be Posted in Accordance with the National Agreement
Management’s attempt to push through an illegal change of the National Agreement has failed. It had wanted to hold a so-called “Dream Bid” to create 26 residual jobs for employees that are being excessed from other facilities. The union refused to allow that to happen. Here’s why:
- There is no such thing as a dream bid in the National Agreement.
- In order to identify a true residual job – one that no one wants – it’s necessary to go through at least three reiterations of bidding. Consider this scenario: John Smith works on Tour 3 and has off on Sat/Sun. He now decides he needs to work on Tour 1. He bids the Tour 1 job and gets it. But no one bid his Tour 3 job. Under the dream-bid process, his Tour 3 job is now residual. That job would go to an excessed employee. But under the process in the National Agreement, Smith’s Tour 3 job has to go up for plant-wide bidding during the next bid cycle. That gives existing SJ P&DC mail handlers the chance to bid on that job.
- The union has just filed many, many grievances over jobs being abolished and reposted. The union believes that if we sanctioned the dream-bid process, management would then argue before an arbitrator that the union agreed to put up bids that we previously disputed. Don’t forget, we’ve said all along that management improperly changed the jobs, improperly posted the jobs and improperly placed mail handlers in those jobs. The union would compromise – and contradict – its position if it allowed the dream bid.
