Post by machination on Sept 24, 2015 9:06:03 GMT -5
Ok, somebody had to do this so I guess it will have to be me. After reading some of the flat out dishonest, revisionist history bullshit that some folks seem to be convinced of and intent on spreading, I'm compelled to make some corrections. To make sure that my own memory isn't failing I reviewed the 1999 and 2004 local agreements, and the 1999 and 2003 national agreements. (Yes, there is a year off for the local because it took that long to ratify..) I have every copy of every agreement since I hired in over 20 years ago, so here we go bubble popping:
1. C-crew never got double time all day for working Sunday.
Holy shit what a revelation! Yes, it's true. "Memorandum of Understanding - Alternative Work Schedules - Kentucky Truck Plant" dated Sept. 8 1997 in the 1999 local agreement waived Article IX - Section 10 of the National Agreement which is the specific spot in the national that requires the company to pay us double time on Sundays IF we are on a traditional schedule, so before your panties get all bunched up and you see red understand that this is how it had been since the beginning of 3-Crew and if you had managed to turn ESPN off long enough to read your contract you would have already known this. It's ancient history. But to all you folks who can't trouble yourself with reading the contracts and PROPERLY UNDERSTANDING THEM, SURPRISE! Welcome to 1999......
There is a spot in the wording on the LOU (That means Letter of Understanding for you folks who don't comprehend acronyms) that looks like we could have gotten double time for hours worked after midnight, however I worked that crew and I distinctly remember SATURDAY being the big money day for 1.5 time (That means time-and-one-half...). The language referring to working between 6pm-midnight is indicating the Sunday START time. It's poorly worded but we all understood what it meant back in the day, well, most of us did...
Note: Coming in EARLY on Sunday was still double time. Working your normal shift Sunday was NOT. This is what I am referring to.
2. C-crew did not make 60+ hours of pay for working 40 hours.
SATURDAY was the big money day. Here is a breakdown of the equivalent straight-time hours for working C-Crew for 40 hours back then:
Friday 11 hours, Saturday 15 hours, Sunday 11 hours, Monday 11 hours = 48 hours.
The people saying "back in my day we got 60.5 hours for working 40! RAWR!!!!" are full of shit, sorry. Completely and absolutely FULL OF SHIT. We got time-and-one-half (1.5) for hours worked over 8 in a single day, and all day on Saturday. So kids, you take the 2 hours past the 8 hours for a 10 hour day and multiply them by 1.5 (2x1.5=3) and add that to the 8 hours, for a total of 11 hours. Since Sat. was 1.5 all day, you take 10x1.5= 15.
3. Some people DO like the AWS (Alternate Work Schedule) because it means we only have to work 2 days and 2 nights INSTEAD of 5 nights on the GRAVEYARD SHIFT.
Back when this all started in the 20th century (the late 1990's) nearly everyone I knew was very happy with the idea of working 4 days instead of 5. Working 5 10 hour days was getting old, but even if they had been 8 hour days everyone was thrilled with the idea of only working 4 days, and having the middle of the week off. The people who act like the AWS is universally hated are either LYING or are so damn ignorant that they believe just because they and a few loudmouth malcontents hate, EVERYONE DOES. It's called projection. You're PROJECTING your feelings onto other people, assuming they MUST feel or be the same way. It misrepresents reality and the truth.
4. People who disagree with you are NOT simply doing it because they are "idiots" or don't understand.
The truth is, some people take the time to PROPERLY understand things, whether it be contract wording, alternatives to current or past shift patterns, effects these have on various peoples' lives, etc... but TRUTH is very hard to find here from what I've seen. It's shocking that some people who have worked at KTP over TWENTY YEARS don't seem to have been paying very good attention all this time. Spreading things that are not true and trying to rewrite the past to fit your current arguments does a terrible disservice to the new hires who might be trying to learn something from you people. It's very important that we don't misrepresent the truth, or at worst tell flat out lies.
There. Hopefully I just did a much needed service correcting some of the bullshit. I'll go put my 16 year old contract books back on the shelf.
