sundance-communications.com Forums Member Forums Telephone Complaint Department & Contractors Am I reading this right

I'm asking for a second opion of what happened friday. The shop is union, boss sits down with all the tech, to cut our hours to 32 a week. we talked about just 35 a week but he said the figures said 32. Pass history of the company honesty is bad. To change the number of hours we work, needs to sit down and talk, contract change and new paperwork signed.

Insurance says you have to work so many hours a week to get the coverage.

I know the economy sucks. But the talk had been maybe this was going to happen. But to drop this on everyone on a friday to start on monday has a smell to it.

What do you think.

Mike

Probably the same thing you do. What's the size of this company? As you stated I would think this would require contract negotiations to change. Unless there is a clause in the existing contract that allows this type of change.

If you work a 40 hour week, he is cutting back to 32 means a 4 day week. On the other side he could downsize and some will lose there jobs. In this bad and maybe not getting better soon ecnomy a job at 32 hours maybe be better then no job. Contract changes will need to be made, however if he downsizes, no change are needed. In NY 32 hours is a full time job and insurance looks at it that way. In Ohio I don't know. I think that is a Federal Law though. Good luck you still have a job.

I am very thank for my job. I also know that knowing about a change in the contract isn't an overnight thing. They had a op man that was make $$ a year that was demoted to tech the day before the tech announcement. I heard something about this a month before. The evidence suggests the front office was waiting for the right time to proceed. If the impliment this without things in writeing. Then the changes afterwards can be anything they want.

I will work with the shop to save my job. but if I'm to be shafted, no.

thanks,

mike

What does the Union say? They're being paid to represent you in this. Where are they? They should have been invited to the meeting. If management didn't invite them, they're pulling a fast one.

Sam

What Sam said. Contact your union rep 1st thing Monday morning.

Seems you could be damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Thanks all for your comments.

The union has been called. A meeting has been set to discusss the cut backs. The op manager was demoted to tech statist. He took a vol layoff. His skills are rusty and it would be easy pickens to find a reason to fire him. With a layoff, everyone appears to save some face. That doesn't change the amount of work to be done.

We have been working 40+ hours this week. For some reason, service calls have been coming in. Instead of stretching the work out abit. We have to "get caught up" on the service calls. Hurry up and get the work load down, so you can get to the 4 day work week.

Owner had a talk to the hall about the meeting. He can't understand why we are having the meeting. He figures that with the op manager gone, that everything will be happy and rosey. He said that the reduced hours may not happen for a couple of months. He demoted the op manager with no prior warning to him. The person who is acting op manager, is the same one that tried to get people fired. He has been pushing to get the service calls done.

We need to sit down and get in writting what is going to happen or how it is going to happen, when the need to reduce the tech work hours does occur.

As far as I can tell, there has been no change in the front office. There is no talk of their hours getting cut. When it was asked what other measures were going to happen, when the tech hours were going to be cut. The answer was, it was none of our business.

Nice mess.

Getting the union involved is just part of the game that sometimes has to be played. Unfortunately, unless you are working for something other than a small company, an unpleasant relationship can develop with the owner. As my old shop steward once said to me, when the owner doesn't want you there, you really don't want to be there. That shop steward wound up deciding to leave and it wasn't long afterward that I left too. I had been on the previous union negotiating committee and it contributed to a working relationship turning sour. Fight for the job anyway? Sue if necessary? That wasn't for me.

Techs and management had a meeting. It was a "new beginning". Everything was starting from scratch and everyone has to work together for the better of the company. So that everyone has a job and collect the paychex. Couple days later we have a meeting where everyone that has time off (vacation, sick or personal days) needs to take it. The reasoning goes, the shop can't pay you for the time at the end of the year. Work is slow and this will spread out the work.

The person that basicily got the op position, is taking a part time job to supplement his income.

What's your opion of the health of the company? Things have turned around before. But we haven't had it this bad.