Last month management approached NATCA to discuss looking at other options for tracking Overtime. The spreadsheet that they are using can be convoluted and not all the FLM's were on the same page when using it. Along the way we did have some inadvertent skips that were in result of how the spreadsheet was used.
We discussed this as a board and decided that it would be simpler to track overtime with WMT scheduler. By going to the WMT scheduler we will still have the same philosophy, except when it goes into effect, we will be tracking all OT by minutes and hours. Another benefit of using WMT is that it will make it more transparent to all BUE's on how OT is being used.
Here are some of the highlights:
* Tracking by all hours and minutes... including holdover OT and Saturday night mid briefing.
* Tracking by WMT Scheduler
* Swapping OT shifts will not count as extra opportunities on the published schedule.
* Non-volunteers will have priority to be excused over all other pending requests. Non-volunteers will have an "auto-request" for an RDO if scheduled prior to publishing. Call in OT for the non-volunteer list, employees will have to make their own request for their RDO, but will still get priority. The rationale there is that generally when call ins are made, its usually within 24 hours of the shift and there are some people who would rather be here for the full 8 because of commute or whatnot.
* When scheduling multiple overtime shifts, if possible, the integrity of descending shift assignments for the workweek should be maintained. Example: Day 6 of the workweek should be a day/mid and day 7 would be a swing shift.
* We've reset the hours based on the lowest number of opportunities in each area, and counted up to the most opportunities.
* All employees need to make sure their contact information is correct in WMT.
* A printed OT (hard copy) list must available in the area after the latest assignment of OT. This is for any planned or unplanned WMT outage.
We're looking to have the MOU go into effect on June 26th.
LMR Update
This past Sunday and Monday, the Regional Labor Management Relations team met in Salt Lake to arbitrated this quarters regional grievances at the Pre Arbitration Review (PAR). ZSE had two grievances in the que out of the 13.
The first ZSE grievance was an OWCP case where an employee suffered an on the job injury where it caused them to miss 6 weeks of work. That employee used 6 weeks of his sick leave and since it was an accepted case, this employee had the option to use their sick leave (at a reduced rate of around 10 cents on the dollar) and then buy it back once they were healthy enough to report to work. Unfortunately as we found out, when you buy back your sick leave, the agency puts you in a Leave Without Pay status, therefore you do not accrue leave (sick or AL), and that was the crux of this grievance. We lost this grievance.
The second grievance was our AWS where management was denying employees requests for a 7 hour 0600 shift on their Friday because it isn't consistent with the Fatigue mitigation MOU. The Arbitrator ruled in our favor and remanded it back to our facility to get a ruling from the Fatigue Mitigation Group on the 7 hour 0600 shift. Hopefully we'll get an answer on this real soon, therefore we will then proceed to re-evaluate the pending 7 hour 0600 shift requests.
Other interesting items from PAR
We lost a 3 day suspension out of ZLC where the controller was offering aircraft direct "dildo" when the fix is actually "dilho". NATCA views this as unprofessional and unacceptable behavior on the frequency, however does this warrant a 3 day suspension? The LR team didn't think so.
We lost another 3 day suspension out of ZLC where an employee was assigned to do their ELMS course and then return to the area. That employee successfully completed their pre-test and then went on a break, then returned to the area after 30 minutes. Confronted by management, the employee was not totally "up-front" on his actions from the time he left the area. Again there was some history with this employee where management wanted to send a message. Unfortunately this grievance was untimely due to the ATM being out of the building as the NATCA rep put the grievance in his mail box without a time stamp.
We lost two more grievances out of ZDV on shift change requests. Even though we have an Standard Operating Practice where a request is either denied or left pending, if something was to change on the schedule, the FLM would be required to revisit those requests. Unfortunately that isn't written in the contract and the Arbitrator says that if it isn't in writing, then it doesn't exist.
Luckily for us we don't work in a facility where they like handing out suspensions or we have FLM's who do not revisit shift change requests. To give you an example of discipline, here is what we've been dealing with in our region over the past year.
1 - 30 day suspension (cell phone in the operation) and 1 proposed termination of a CPC (interfering with FAA frequency, causing a side tone for another CPC while working live traffic)
2 - 30 day suspension (cell phone in the operation) and a 5 day suspension for being late for work (multiple times).
1 day suspension for not showing up to work on their schedule OT shift
3 suspension for calling in sick for two days while that employee was going to Disneyland (that employee was seen by his FLM at the airport on the day he called in sick lol).
2 day suspension for AWOL
5 day suspension for insubordination
As you can see, we've had a few suspension cases in our region.
