Rosalyn Hackworth
Secretary-Treasurer
Secretary -Treasurer's Message
A series of unfortunate events
I want to address some issues that have occurred
in hope it will benefit those of you who find yourselves in similar
situations, or to prevent similar situations from happening.
Working fewer than the contractual minimum number
of hours
If you work at Albertsons, Ralphs or Vons, you
may work fewer than the minimum number of hours set forth in the
contract. However, the union must agree in writing if you choose to do
so for more than four weeks.
Albertsons recently drafted a form that can be
misconstrued to mean that if you merely request certain days off you are
no longer entitled to the contractual minimum number of hours. This is
absolutely not true and was not the intent of the negotiated language.
If you do decide to work fewer than the number of
hours scheduled (or make a habit of going home early, or give up shifts
for that matter), you are decreasing the number of hours that will go
toward your pension.
In addition to this, your employer contributes to
the trust funds for every hour you work. A decrease in the pool of hours
has an adverse effect on the trust funds. Trust me when I tell you that
“adverse” is not a good word to use in conjunction with trust funds.
Insubordination
Insubordination is when you are given a directive
by management and you refuse to comply. Another form of insubordination
is doing something when you are told specifically not to do it,
especially if you are warned that if you continue to do that particular
action you will be terminated.
We have always told our members to comply, then
grieve! The only exception to this would be if the directive would be
illegal or injurious to a someone’s health.
Insufficient funds and bad checks
You, and only you, are responsible for your
checking account balance.
I am not an advocate of writing bad checks. But
let’s face it, mistakes
can happen. However, you are subjecting yourself
to discipline up to and
including termination when you write a check at
your place of business
and your check does not clear.
I don’t know about you, but by the time I reach
the parking lot I can go
on my phone and look at my banking information
and find that there is
already a debit for what I just purchased using
my ATM card (likewise if
you use a check in most cases).
The days of a check taking three or four days to
clear ended when we
stopped using rotary phones.
Don’t write bad checks!
Buyer’s remorse
This is the term I use for the few times a year
when one of our members
walks off the job and then reality sets in and he
or she realizes that a
dreadful mistake was made.
We work hard to enforce the contract and do our
best to get our members
reinstated when they are suspended or terminated.
However, we have had
members who have pretty much told their employers
to “kick rocks” as
they bolt for the door. And 90 percent of them
drive directly to the
local to file a grievance as a result of acting
in haste without
considering the consequences.
I know work is not always pleasant, and that is
why it is in the
four-letter-word category. And we all have
stressful days. If you feel
you just can’t take it anymore, take a deep
breath and think of what
would happen if you didn’t have this job that you
like most of the time
and love more on payday.
If you are having a problem that we can fix, let
us try — that is why we
are here.
Attendance
Let me start by saying late is late. It is just
like pregnancy — either
you are or you aren’t. Contrary to what some
think, there is not a
“contractual” grace period for being late.
However, managers have
devised an “artificial” grace period. The problem
with that is, when
that manager is replaced, the new manager may not
have the same thought
process, nor does he or she have to adopt it.
Ask yourself, “If everyone I work with were late,
what would happen to
the people we serve? What if no one paid
attention to a schedule?”
Let’s talk about absences. If you aren’t there,
what happens to the work
load? Trust me, it doesn’t go away. In fact, it
increases for those you
leave behind.
I am not saying that you should come to work if
you are ill or if you
have an emergency. I am talking about the members
who have chronic
attendance problems.
If you are chronically late, you will ultimately
face discipline.
Ironically, those who are disciplined for poor
attendance are upset when
they are suspended or terminated, which forces
them to miss work.
There will be times when you are late to work
because of traffic, or you
may have to miss work because you have a sick
child — I get that. There
is very little that we have absolute control over
when it comes to our
work life or work load. Poor attendance is the
one thing we have
complete control over.
Warning letters
This is one of my pet peeves because we have
informed our members about
this time and time again. If your employer gives
you a warning letter,
signing the warning letter does not mean that you
are in agreement with
the reason for it. You are simply acknowledging
receipt. You can also
write something to the effect of “I am signing
this under protest” or “I
don’t agree with this.”
The best analogy is when you are pulled over by a
police officer and
he/she writes you a speeding ticket. In your mind
you may be saying that
it wasn’t fair and a few other choice words.
However, you know to sign
it and fight it later. You wouldn’t refuse to
sign it, give the officer
grief and spend a night in jail.
Also, if you feel like you are going to be
disciplined, ask for your Union Representative