Union Wins Grievances, Schedules Arbitrations Against CDT

| June 24, 2016

Teamsters Local 727 representatives recently won several grievances against Cook DuPage Transportation management and have numerous others slated for arbitration.

“The grievance and arbitration procedure is the cornerstone of a strong Teamster contract,” said John Coli Jr., President of Local 727. “It provides crucial job protection for our members by giving the union a clear-cut way to enforce the contract and hold management accountable any time they violate it.”

Additionally, union representatives have reasserted to CDT management that the company cannot continue to delay the grievance process.

“The company must start trying to resolve grievances rather than insisting on pushing them to arbitration, even when the company clearly does not have a leg to stand on,” Coli said. “They only waste everyone’s time, money and patience, and we’ve all had enough of their unreasonable behavior.”

Below is a summary of recent CDT grievance wins and grievances slated for arbitration.

Grievance Wins

  • CDT attempted to unilaterally implement and require drivers to complete a new “retraining form” after alleged policy violations. The union filed a grievance to stop issuance of the forms until it could be altered to clarify that employees who signed the form were not admitting to any allegations made by CDT. Going forward, the form will contain an addendum explaining that a signature only acknowledges receipt of the form.
  • Because of CDT’s scheduling issues, drivers were forced to miss their lunch breaks. As a result of the union’s grievance, drivers will be given their daily manifests, which will include scheduled lunch breaks. After drivers receive their manifests each day, they can call their supervisor to change their scheduled lunch break. The employer has agreed to schedule drivers’ lunch breaks as close to the mid-point of their shifts as possible and never more than one hour past or before the mid-point of the drivers’ shifts. Drivers also will be given greater flexibility to take breaks at convenient times and places, and those who don’t receive lunch assignments will be paid for an extra 20 minutes.
  • A driver’s three-day suspension was rescinded, and the driver received full back pay for time missed.
  • Another driver who was not paid for two months’ worth of overtime has been made whole.

Grievances Slated for Arbitration

(All cases are awaiting hearing dates from arbitrators)

  • Two unjust attendance suspensions.
  • Wrongful suspension of driver.
  • A member was wrongfully taken off light duty while their workers’ compensation claim was being processed.
  • CDT has not been paying members the correct rate for driving accessible and non-accessible vans.
  • The company has violated the contract’s hours of work clause by keeping members at work past their scheduled end of shift, sometimes by more than two hours.
  • CDT was forcing drivers to pay for sleep apnea tests as part of their DOT requirements. The union filed a grievance, and the company agreed to no longer require the testing. However, the union is still fighting for the company to make whole any members who paid for the tests out of pocket, and the case is currently slated for arbitration.

Nothing in this article should be read as the union’s waiver of any legal argument, position or additional grievance. The union does not forfeit its right to make any and all supplemental arguments.

DOWNLOAD PDF

Category: PARATRANSIT

Comments are closed.