Shop Pick Information (October 2024)

UPDATE (11/4): President Pennie told me and other officers at the Executive Board meeting that the Pick will go into effect on December 15th. Many members are relieved to know. However, they are not happy about the inconsistency regarding the Pick. I am encouraging you to attend the membership meeting on Saturday, November 9th at 10 am to make your concerns known. Also, have an agenda to make something happen.

UPDATE (11/1): Still no response from President Pennie. However, Assistant Executive Board Member, Brother Lamont emailed me a photo of a poster about the Pick that was taped on a wall at 98th Shop. It reads: Leader/Motor Cleaner: 11/25/24; Repairers 12/03/24-12/04/24; Car Servicers 12/5/24-12/6/24

UPDATE (11/1): I forwarded Manager Mota's response to President Pennie, asking again for facts: Greetings President Pennie: I just got this response from Manager Mota (below). Can you please help answer the questions I sent to him? Thank you for your assistance.

 

UPDATE (11/1): Manager Mota responded (I have cc'd President Pennie in all of my email messages): Good morning I’m currently off but pick information has been sent to Pennie.

 

UPDATE (11/1): Still no response from management nor our union president. I sent another email message:

Greetings Manager Mota: I hope all is well. I understand you may be very busy and missed my previous messages. Can you please share any new facts regarding the Pick? Coworkers are asking me about various rumors and I have no idea what to tell them. Is there a new start date? Are there new changes? Also, Shop Leaders want a seniority list for their qualification. If you could provide that too, I would appreciate it. If you have nothing new, that would still be appreciated in a response. 

UPDATE (10/29): I have received no response from President Pennie. Maybe she is too busy planning our Local 308 "Holiday Party." So I sent an email to Manager Mota:

 

Greetings Manager Mota: I hope all is well. Yesterday I heard rumors that the Pick dates have been changed to December. Many coworkers are asking me and I don’t know what to tell them. Can you please confirm if this is true and why? The CBA is clear about two a year and this is effectively just one very long Pick. Coworkers want to plan their lives and these delays make it very difficult for them. Thank you for your attention.

 

UPDATE (10/28): I heard rumors that the Pick is to occur in December. If true, this is totally disrespectful of CTA Shop Workers and our Contract. I emailed President Pennie to request facts: 

 

Greetings President Pennie: I am hearing rumors that the new Shop Pick wont start until 12/15. Is this true?   

 

UPDATE (10/22): Nothing new as of today. However, I submitted feedback I have received so far to Manager Mota, President Pennie, Brother Lamont and our union Vice Presidents:

 

The redacted pick sheet has thursday/Friday off for position 131 leader spot at kimball and it suppose to be friday/Saturday off the new pick sheet position 131 for leader in 2211 kimball says thursday/friday off it suppose to be friday/Saturday off

Glad to see more spots added at Kimball. It was tough to get help when I needed a second hand to do a task safely. Truck shop would always put up a fight over any little bit of help, even just a sting was like pulling teeth. Always having at least 2 gb per shift would be helpful. Does the presence of a pool slot mean they would be calling that person to fill vacancies, rather than calling us for overtime? If it would lead to a reduction in overtime I would be against that. Overall I approve though

 

Bring back Red-lined Truck Shop positions. Ex. 98th midnight and a.m. . Bing back red lined pool picks. Bring back campaign crews to perform Mups ex Sleet Scraper Assy Installs.

Need sick days

So still only one yard inspector going into the winter (except Howard)? Contract calls for 2, INT & EXT...

Approve

Are the k580 positions at Howard going to be forced? They shouldn’t be according to the agreement that we have at place.(i can resend the document if needed) This time if I willingly pick it will I be able to move the truck? Whoever picks the k580 truck at Howard should be able to move the truck to a different location! (Can we get some sort assurance that this will be the case this time?) Also the times need to be changed for the Howard K580 AM starts at 0500 and pm starts at 1300. That needs to be changed ASAP. Also the off days should be changed… the reason for making this k580 was to limit the OT given to the other K580’s during the weekends. Why have i not been offered OT on my days off Tuesday/wednesday… I have checked on TOPS this whole pick and OT has been given to the other k580s the whole pick on the weekends! The k580’s at Howard should get a day off either Saturday or Sunday.

All Rail Leader positions should have at least one weekend day off which was negotiated with Tom Dietrich and labor relations over 10 years ago.. K-580 position out of Howard should be a Monday thru Friday position. Leader seniority should be qualification date not entry date.

Paid sick time for repairman. Raise!!! The pick should be cancelled until everything has been settled.

How is the Rail Leader position being forced when the qualification is not required for employment?

Compared to the previous pick sheet, they removed the gb slot they added on second and third shift. I was really hoping for that second shift slot. Third shift is killing my sleep schedule. Additionally, since the truck shop guys are busy with truckshop all night, and the yard guy is in the yard all night, I'm often left working by myself, REDACTED. We really need at least 2 gbs per shift and more is of course better. Additionally, they've drastically increased the workload, so we need more people to keep up with the workload anyways.

Harlem Shop Pool Repairer jobs keep being deleted . Why is it not on the new shop pick sheets?

 

UPDATE (10/19): No picking times have been posted yet. See updated REPAIRER and SERVICER links. Previous revisions for this Pick are available at this link. Manager Mota notified President Pennie via email on 10/14: "Good morning Pennie: We removed the ** from the servicers and added a letter. Can you please have Lamont review the sheets we would like to post the pick, your consideration is greatly appreciated." Some thoughts I had: Frankly, this swapping of letters and asterisks is annoying to me. What use is picking a schedule or job if we let the managers just assign whoever to whatever? This Pick is just another union-busting insult if you ask me! Brother Lamont has been standing up for more staffing and less stupid letters (he is rightfully insisting on more than one worker at 63rd/Ashland and AM General Cleaning tricks). I say we should support the brother's efforts despite delays. Also, I find it hilarious that Manager Mota did not include my name, but it's no surprise. Many CTA managers wish I was not a union rep nor an employee (smile). I re-opened the feedback form below so you can submit feedback.

 

UPDATE (9/30): I was blocked again from accessing the final Pick meeting for Shop Workers. I submitted more comments from workers. Read the details here…

 

UPDATE (9/29): Manager Mota notified President Pennie via email with PDF Pick Sheets and noted "Updated sheets the other sheets we didn't add the 2 truck shop jobs at Kimball." So I have updated the REPAIRER and SERVICER links below with those revised Pick Sheets. It also appears that Howard and 54th were revised (It looks like 54th lost one [Pool] job). Servicer does not appear to have any changes since the first draft. I could be wrong. So use this link to compare with the previous "Old" version. I have re-opened the feedback form below to send me any additional comments on the Pick. If you submit an update, please text me at 779-456-6460 to make sure I don't miss it. Thanks so much to those of you who are using the form. It really helps me juggle all my responsibilities and stay accountable!

 

UPDATE (9/27): The survey has been closed and your feedback was sent to President Pennie and VP Mark. Stewards and Brother Lamont were also included. 

UPDATE (9/24): I mistakenly used the Repairer link for Servicer. It now has the correct link. I apologize. 

Good news! Today myself and Brother Lamont received spreadsheets with DRAFT seniority and job lists from Manager Mota through President Pennie. 

All updates will be posted to the blog article you are reading now. 

If you are not receiving email updates from me, please register now so you don't miss any updates!

Access the Pick Sheets on Google Drive here:

SERVICER

REPAIRER/MOTOR BLOWER

Effective Date is posted as 11/3/2024 (System Pick).

For reference, the April 2024 Pick information is in this blog article. Please compare with this pick and notify me in the form below of anything controversial. I do not want us losing any jobs or getting hit with more stupid "letters." PLEASE USE THE FORM BELOW. DO NOT CALL OR EMAIL ME about it or I may miss your message!

All Shop Workers have until September 25th to respond with feedback (the deadline is short because Manager Mota wants a meeting this week). I have not looked at these at all. I wanted to just get them out to you right away. 

If you have any problems with the seniority or job listings, please complete this confidential form (it closes on September 25th). I am in training and may not be able to answer individual calls and emails in time. PLEASE USE THE FORM BELOW. DO NOT CALL OR EMAIL ME about it or I may miss your message!