Secret Rail Equipment Maintence Agreement Exposed!

Alot of members trust me more than our own union president and vice presidents. So they share things with me that they know I will take seriously—and share with others. 

This fascinating 3-page agreement from March, 1997 [Shared Interests No. 20] is buried in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement contains information that workers should discuss and use in grievances if CTA mismanagement violates them.

I have extracted the most interesting parts. Read the entire document at the CTJC Scribd archive or below for yourself.

1. RDO Book ("Off Book"): This is similar to what we have on the Operations side. Yes, those forms we fill out are okay. But I think this would reduce favoritism and retaliation. We can still do both. In my opinion, it would make the process more reliable. 

2. Overtime ("Work Book"): Also similar to the Operation side, what makes this is even more interesting that OT should be assigned by a union steward. Not the manager! Read the whole thing for yourself.

3. Sick Book. This has been modified slightly—for the better—in Maintenance. No one should be forced to sign out "in person." If you need one day off work, you cannot obviously come in. This begs the need for acruable paid sick days. 

4. QI inspections and major incidents: This is critical to fighting these ridiculous writeups I am seeing fly around. I am never pulled aside by management to witness alleged work performance issues. They just write us up! Sometimes I get a call about a major issue. But last time that happened, I got written up for cell phone use!

5. Dedicated punishment days. This never happens in my department. I don't like it and neither do members. We need to add something in there about being paid to come in to work on an off-day—or given a paid day off. 

There's more! 

By the way, the pro-CTA paragraphs are indicative of its signatory—Manager Jerry Williams. Yes, he was our union president at the time. He had three terms! Then he was rewarded with a comfy manager position after we fired him for killing the Conductor job. By the way, I am on a mission to resurrect the Conductor job with the members and riders through the Chicago Transit Justice Coalition.

The entire "shared interest" trend is a union busting phenomena that was very popular in the 1990's. It makes workers passive and put faith in their employer—instead of using direct action to get what they want. This gave birth to the radical boss-worship religion promoted by our current ATU presidents.

Look at all the other paragraphs and tell me what you think in the comments.

CTA Rail Maintenence Forgot... by Chicago Transit Justice Coa...