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Shiftwork Committee to tackle scheduling issues
CEP Local 911 members working 12 hour shifts in the Mail, Print and Hot-Room at One Research Drive have decided to address long-standing issues related to shift work. CEP Local 911 members working 12 hour shifts in the Mail, Print and Hot-Room at One Research Drive have decided to address long-standing issues related to shift work. Frustration over constant changes to shift schedules has driven the move. Members' complaints are growing louder as short staffing necessitates continuous juggling of schedules. "There aren't enough people to cover for employees who use sick days, vacation, union leave or any other [negotiated] time off," says one worker. Others agree that short staffing is the problem. Management has admitted that it does not have enough trained staff in the area and most significantly, that training has lapsed over the years. In addition to the complaints regarding child care and other plans that workers have made being thrown out of kilter by continual shift changes members say that vacation planning is almost impossible. "Everyone else in the company can schedule vacation in a way that will maximize time off by setting dates in conjunction with scheduled days off, statutory holidays and so on," said another member, "but when we do that, [in Operations] someone changes the shift schedule at the last minute, throwing out plans that we made for travel and other vacation activities. We plan months ahead for two or three weeks off and often end up being asked to come back two or three days early because someone has called in sick or whatever. Why can't we have some stability in our lives?" In order to address the issue the union has asked for and received extra staff at various times over the past decade, but those efforts were undone during numerous rounds of layoffs and early retirements. Staff have not been replaced with any regularity and higher classifications have been abandoned by the employer. The new committee, comprised of eight members, will receive union training in facing management, identifcation of root causes and proposing resolutions to the issues. The Committee will be supported by CEP Local 911 Operations representative and the Local President and will represent approximately 26 shift workers. |