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Light Rail Facility
Stephen Babcock #3128 Carl Rice #6223 Lisa Callahan, Dr. #6716 A warm welcome to Robert Tapper, who has joined us as a rail operator coming from Nicollet Garage after 12 Years as a bus operator. (Now I'm currently not the last person on the seniority list here at rail!! woo hoo, lol - Lisa) There is a Safety and Security luncheon coming up. Look for the flyers around the garage as soon as the date is official. New dates for the terrorism classes are up around the garage. Take this interesting and beneficial class on your own time and get paid eight hours of OT for taking it. Fellow drivers, mechanics, cleaners, and anyone who would participate could do some articles about what life's like on the rails. Funny stories, anything you've seen, or that you all would like to see in an article, let us know. Bring some ideas to your Education Committee members. Anyone who thinks the buses get dirty on the inside, you should see the trains! They get disgusting. Hats off to you cleaners, you do a remarkable job. You're much appreciated, especially by the drivers and passengers who get the clean trains in the morning. One last thing: I've been here at Rail for just a couple months, and I have to say I just like it, it's great and thank you. - Lisa
Union Minutes Continued two prior violations on past phone policies. The punishment is too severe for this instance. A vote was taken and this will go to arbitration. An MJR operator requested arbitration for discipline administered after a violation of the Cell Phone Policy that came about from a customer service complaint involving the driver swerving lanes. The operator admitted to cell-phone texting while driving. He asked to be made whole and that the Final Record of Warning and twenty-day suspension be removed. It is unjust and unmerited punishment, too severe. The issue is that the company wrote it up as a one-year Record of Warning and then switched it to an open-ended Record of Warning after the grievance was filed. A vote was taken and this will go to arbitration. An MJR operator requested arbitration after being suspended for employee conduct while doing an overtime stub. The operator dropped off his last customers and, when he pulled out of the bus stop, he encountered a female driver with road rage. The automobile driver felt she had been cut off, followed the bus towards the garage, got in front of the bus, blocking it, got out of her car, went to the bus door and launched a tirade at the driver. She put her hand into her pocket in a threatening motion. The operator felt that he was in immediate danger and tried to spray the assailant with pepper spray. He missed, and she got in her car and followed the operator to the garage. No policies were violated as this was not a customer or a fellow worker. The driver did not report the incident after pull-in because he was trying to make it to a doctor's appointment. The automobile driver did fill out a police report, admitting to the road rage. Management claims the operator did nothing to de-escalate the incident. He received a five-day suspension for the use of pepper spray, and his authorization to use pepper spray was revoked. A vote was taken and this will go to arbitration. Financial Secretary/Treasurer's Report No members have passed away since the last meeting. President's Report Cell Phone Policy There are still issues, we are 1-1-1, (one win, one partial win, one loss.) the 20-day suspension has been upheld in two arbitrations. POST Operating Employment Policy If you do jail time, you cannot use sick leave to cover lost time. The company is now doing random background checks looking for employees that have prior convictions and filed for sick leave while they did their time (ie. DWI's). This is a dischargeable offense. Otherwise they have to wait until you are convicted to discharge. Health Care Costs will go down after the contract is settled. Contract language was dropped in the Aug 1, 2003-July 31, 2005 contract that defined the company’s share in a percentage, and the current language has specific dollar amounts. In the contract extension, the dollar amounts remain the same. Contract Meetings with management are being planned and we are hoping for a vote in February.