Sewage Plant Operations Needs Fixed Shifts Now!

 

For over twenty years Sewage Plant Operations workers have been rotating shifts every 17 or 18 weeks. This is extremely harmful to our health, and our personal and family lives. This unfair situation must end now.

 

What the Union is Bargaining For

AFSCME Local union schedule negotiators are President John Riehl, Nathan McKinney and Michael Mulholland. We have been bargaining for several months with plant management for:

 

• shift rotation to end,

 

• to maintain the current five crews,

 

• for members to choose shift assignment based on their city seniority,

 

• the right to re-bid on shift assignments every six based on seniority, and

 

• for vacancies to be filled by bidding, based on seniority.

 

Making it Clear to Management

Management has to far not yet agreed to the union’s proposal, but the union is making honest efforts to address management concerns about increased training. They need to see that fixed shifts (sometimes referred to as “straight shifts”) will benefit the operation of the plant, and that we will not drop this issue. To make this clear we are going to show how fixed shifts would look.

 

Fill Out the Survey

To do this the union is circulating a survey form to determine which of two off-day schedules the members think is best, and on both the proposed off-day schedules, which shifts individual members prefer. Every member should fill out this form to that we can get an accurate picture of the members’ preferences. The union intends to take the forms and use the seniority list to show what fixed shifts will look like.

 

Schedule-B is Better

The union leadership is proposing two possible off-day schedules. Schedule-A has the current off-days. Schedule-B is an alternate schedule with every shift getting a piece of the weekend off. We advise members to choose Schedule-B because it is fairer to the younger low seniority members who are more likely to get assigned to Afternoon shift which currently gets no weekend time off. On Schedule-B Midnights gets Friday nights off, and A/C gets Saturday night and four extra hours of pay per week. More evenly distributed shifts will be easier to sell to management.

 

Rotating Shifts Are Killing Us

Every few months more information comes out about the ill effects of off shift work. The risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and various other physical and emotional stresses are well documented and indisputable. The adverse effects greatly increase when workers rotate, rather than stay on a stable shift. Look at how many of us die young.

 

Shift Exchanges Getting Harder to Do

Management is making it harder to do shift exchanges. “Hardship” requests depend on filling vacancies which are being now filled. We need fixed shifts now, or our lives will get worse real soon. Come to the union meeting Wednesday March 13, 5 PM and discuss this important situation.