Truck Shop is not General Repair when other GB's are Available

The Problem

The Authority must assign a seasonal "Sleet Fighter" task for a shift and choose a Rail Car Repairer for it.

One Rail Car Repairer has picked Truck Shop Repairer.

Another Rail Car Repairer—who has greater classification seniority than the Truck Shop Repairer—has picked General Repair.

At the moment, there is no Truck Shop Repairer-specific work available.

Which Rail Car Repairer should be assigned "Sleet Fighter" (non-specific Truck Shop Repairer-related work)?

The Short Answer

If no Rail Car Repairer desires to take the "Sleet Fighter" task, those who specialize in non-specific work—General Repair—must be assigned. The seniority rules in effect are restricted to that picked job of General Repair. The picking General Repair worker(s) with the highest seniority can turn it down until it reaches the lowest seniority worker—who picked General Repair. Besides providing medical documentation to support motion sickness or other issues that make it dangerous to work, that picking General Repair worker will be forced to accept a "Sleet Fighter" task. This maintains safety, efficiency and the integrity of seniority—the Holy Grail of bargained for jobs that fosters the best possible working conditions (as stated in Article 1.1 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement).

The Long Answer

When "Sleet Fighter" work is "open," it must be made available to any Car Repairer who does not have any assigned work. Obviously, "open" general work such as "Sleet Fighter" is the domain of the workers who picked General Repair. Not Truck Shop Repairer.

It is a fact that the Authority's Pick Sheet entitles General Repair work to Truck Shop Repairer jobs (it is labeled as "General Repair/Truck Shop" on the Pick Sheet).

However, if there are no Truck Shop Repairer tasks for the shift, the Authority's Pick Sheet Footnote J, tells us they become eligible for "Shop Cleaning Duties." Such duties are actually violations of union jurisdiction and seniority for Janitors that should not be tolerated or allowed on the Pick Sheet. 

Regardless, Footnote J defines what a Truck Shop Repairer can do when there is no open Truck Shop work available. The footnotes say nothing about "Sleet Fighter" or General Repair—nor should we ever tolerate it as a union.

If the Truck Shop Repairer volunteers himself to do the "Sleet Fighter" work, that is outside of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and Footnote J. That worker and the Authority are acting independently and doing so at their own risk.

"General" is a word that means "not specialized." A Truck Shop Repairer is a specialized job that affords innate privileges for picking it. These privileges are not vain excuses to "get out of doing work." It ensures that the worker can focus on the type of work required of them by the picked job's qualifications. 

This makes work safer and promotes a genuine safety culture based on hazard removal. It is hazardous to assign specialized workers to general tasks.

For example, if Truck Shop-exclusive parts need to be replaced or an accident that requires a Truck Shop Repairer to be present for removal of components, such a worker will be available at a moment's notice. If there is limited Truck Shop-exclusive work, assigning more than one available—or all—Truck Shop Repairers will increase efficiency and bolster safety as per CTA Safety Rules No. 40.

If that Truck Shop Repairer is on a "Sleet Fighter" train, this can result in unnecessary or life-threatening delays—and burdens on the remaining Rail Car Repairers.

In the Collective Bargaining Agreement, precedence and references are found in the following Articles/Side Agreements (My emphasis as a union representative in bold):

Side Agreement regarding Rail Excel Staffing and Pick Issues

December 2003

"Each work location will maintain a list of employees by car repairer seniority order, by their seniority within their picked jobs, and an updated list of their certifications. Should a picked position become available for any reason (i.e., employee is off due to holidays, vacation, sick, injury on duty, FMLA, etc.), the following procedures should be followed to fill the picked position to ensure that the Authority is able to provide service to its passengers…

2) A pool employee within the shop who is available and qualified will first be assigned to any vacant picked position…

4) Should the number of existing Excel positions exceed the number of available poor repairers, the lowest qualified repairer will be required to fill the Excel position and non-qualified repairers will be required to fill the non-Excel position."

5) Should a pool repairer or qualified repairer not be available as specified in the above paragraphs, the Authority will then utilize a non-qualified repairer with the least seniority excluding the position of Brake Inspector, Yard Inspector or Truck Inspector and will be accompanied by an Instructor and/or Manager. in accordance with paragraph 1 above, said repairer is ineligible for premium pay as the repairer will not be accountable for the premium requirements of the position. The instructor and/or manager will assume responsibility for these repairs…

General Repair is a picked position and the first paragraph in the Agreement makes it clear about the boundaries of seniority for non-specialized work. Truck Shop Repairers are nowhere to be found in this agreement. Outside of the ambiguous Pick Sheet title of General Repair/Truck Shop Repairer, they should be the last ones to be forced to a non-specialized task such as "Sleet Fighter."

Attachment C Rail Excel Agreement Section 3.6

Car Repairer Selection Process for Full-Time Positions in each of the following positions: 1. Inspection Terminal Instructor 2. Leader 3. Technician 4. HVAC Repairer 5. Control Inspector 6. Carbody Inspector 7. Truck Shop Repairer 8. Basic Car Repairer Positions.

Positions will be filled by the established posting process, with the most senior, qualified, interested applicant being selected. Temporary openings will be filled by managerial assignment of qualified individuals in each shop. Overtime assignments will follow normal accepted procedures, taking into account the qualifications required to perform the overtime work.

Attachment C is clear: Basic Car Repairer (General Repair) and Truck Shop Repairer are distinct positions or picked jobs. Simply put, temporary vacancies of general, basic, extra, non-specific tasks must be filled by those who pick General Repair.

Side Agreement regarding Article 12.2(c)
January 18, 1995

".... Regular employees are not allowed to perform extra work when extra employees are available..." shall be applied follows: 

a) An extra employee who Is scheduled and available to work will be assigned work which becomes open and will be paid at the extra employee's straight time rate (subject to the overtime provisions of Article 6.1 of the Authority- Union Wage and Working Conditions Agreement) ..."

In this case—within the Operations Department—an "extra" employee has picked a general job that requires them to be on-call for train operation, flagging, switching or towerman. They are assigned general open work for their respective classification/craft. Hence, they are the equivalent of Rail Car Repairers who pick General Repair. 

Attachment No. 16: Rail Service Employee Picks, Part III, paragraph 1

"Assignments are to be made on the basis of seniority. The guiding principle is to assign the earliest piece of work to the person with the highest seniority."

Although the rules contained in Attachment No. 16 are restricted to "Trainmen" only, the above paragraph is presented as a general fact—one that is universally understood and practiced in all departments and bargained for jobs anywhere they are found on Earth. As "Sleet Fighter" often ends late and can induce motion sickness for workers, it is often very controversial.

"The Contract" CT... by Chicago Transit Justice Coa...