CSA Chance For FT Jobs (well, sort of)

Update: The Scribd version has been updated with 4 additional pages. Special thanks to Sister Cassie Collins for posting them on Facebook. I cropped and inserted them in the same PDF that you can view below. Also, Sister Cassie posted a link for a video tutorial https://youtu.be/hSc8uXsdNLM

The letter below was posted last week by Sister Cassie, an Assistant Executive Board Member (I don't receive most official union letters because I am an annoying pest to the hyper-sensitive business union tyrants President Dixon and Secretary-Treasurer Deborah Cosey-Lane). It is regarding a part in our Collective Bargaining Agreement that prioritizes Full-Time Permanent job openings for Customer Service Assistants. 

Frankly, it is a concession and is bad for our entire union and the riders. We need Full-Time Jobs For All and must fight to make it happen. Customer Assistant is an honorable and dangerous job that should never be some stupid low-wage 40-hour job. The audacity of President Dixon to push that 40-hour crap in the Tentative Agreement was absolutely appalling. 

However, as a Local 308 Union Steward, it is my duty to inform you of notices published by our union president (even though it looks like the union lawyer wrote it). 

Regardless of the ugly Truth, if you are a CSA, I recommend applying. I know many CSA's who are frustrated with applying and being rejected. So if you are off duty, please participate in the conference call and complain. Don't hold back your anger.

Track Worker (Trackman), Laborer and Material Handler are unique in the maintenance department. I work with alot of Material Handlers as a Rail Car Repairer. They are like stockroom clerks. If you are good at numbers and organizing stuff—and willing to get a little dusty—it is really a sweet job. 

It is a different world in the maintenance department and I highly recommend it—especially if you are frequently annoyed by dealing with riders and the Control Center. You will mostly be working with coworkers.

The only "scam alert" to this letter I can offer is the Flagger (Flagman) position. It is NOT a Full-Time Permanent job! It is Full-Time Temporary. In fact it is worse than Part Time Temporary (PTT). Unlike PTT, you get no your uniform allowance. Whatever uniform allowance you carried over from your CSA classification, use it up before you accept. That will really hurt when you are forced into RTO class and will become a train operator.

Of course the letter says nothing about "Full-Time" jobs. But the implication is there. So be warned. 

There are so many things wrong with this letter and our Agreement. I cannot go into it here. But if you want to organize a movement to change it, join with me and other bus and rail coworkers at the Chicago Transit Justice Coalition. There, we are learning how to organize and put members in control of Local 308 and Local 241.

Paragraph P (10) Positions by Chicago Transit Justice Coa...