Day after day it is getting frustrating again at the policies that are coming to us. Attendance points. Why are points being given to people for legitimate reasons? Shouldn't there be some leaway with this? If someone brings in a Doctor's note isn't this proof enough that there was an emergency? We shouldn't take care of our children? Our parents? We should leave the kids in school sick and let the schools take care of them until we can pick them up. I don't think the school districts would like this. This time off for most people is not a choice. They do not get paid for it. First Student stills takes "mothers and retirees".
I guess it's time to fight for more sick days in contracts so that people have the paid time off and the company can't use their point system.
What do you think?
Donna
I would like to know more
I would like to know more about this attendance point system you are talking about.
I work for FS in new jersey and we dont have that here at our terminals
How long have you been First
How long have you been First Student? If you were Laidlaw then you may not have it yet. The long time First Student lots around here have the policy. I don't really know all of the particulars I just know that they can charge you each time you are out. I could find out more. Let me know the answer to the first question and we can talk.
Donna
Linda, you should have the
Linda, you should have the point system in Trenton. We have it here in Cologne. Just more BS as far as I am concerned. One more thing that they can't follow through on. They started it in September with us. You just may not remember. Not everyone knows about it or even cares. One more scare tactic to try and keep you in line. It is not as if you get paid for missing a day. This is something designed to prevent abuse. But the ones who do will do it anyway. And get away with it. I think the punisment for too many missed days may be suspended without pay. Yeah that makes sense. The reason they are doing it in the first place is because of driver shortage :o)
Just like the so called mandatory safety meetings. I know people who have never gone to any. Never a word was said. Never do post trips, not a word is said. And no these are not kiss ass people.
I have to tell you I am
I have to tell you I am amazed at the inconsistancy between the terminals.We DO NOT have a attendance point system in place here at Trenton. Employee's do get write ups for calling out,I make sure they are progressive,but it never exceeds a written warning.Employees Do lose the attendance bonus.
As far as safety meetings,if you do not make up a mandatory meeting,you get pulled off the road until you do !
Our safety director,Tina Monti,get reports through zonar of who does not do a pre trip/post trip.She walks the lot every day looking for child check signs,speeding in the lot and buses idling to long and who doesn't have a safety vest on.
As far as safety goes they run it by the book here.In a meeting yesterday with FS and our local 469 they announced to us that govenors and idle cut off switches will be installed in all the buses by june 1.This is a company wide project so look for it at the other terminals.
We have been a First Student lot for 5 years and we used to be C & R bus not Laidlaw.
First Inconsistudent is what
First Inconsistudent is what they should be called. Nothing is ever the same. Nothing EVER amazes me about this company.
We don't have a bonus to take away. That is something Ryder gave us but after FS bought them over 10 years ago now they saw fit to take it all away. So who cares. There is nothing to hold over the drivers. They don't really want to fire anyone because of driver shortage. So it had better be a real good reason to let a driver go.
The only people they hold power over are the ones who walk around in constant fear that one miss step will cost them their job. Now don't get me wrong we do our jobs as professionals but there are limits....
Our Zonar reports are always checked but they are really only concerned that the pre-trips are done. Drivers have been told to be sure to use Zonar or turn in the paper. We do the child check sign and safety vest also.
The majority of our buses are park-out. One day that may change but I seriously doubt it. We are very spread out. Finding that many drivers that live less that 15-20 miles away from the terminal for a part time job is not likely. The company will never admit it but it is to their advantage in many ways.
Almost all of our buses have always been governed. The only exception was those used exclusively for trips. The GSP and ACE is used a lot here and when you try to get up to 65 forget it. You gotta be happy to hit 55. All well and good but it is scary when a situation requires you to be able to give it a little more.
I would assume the cut off switch would have to also take into account the engine temperature. Some buses need to run a lot longer than 5 minutes (sometimes 20 or more) inorder to be able to move in the winter. We haven't gotten word on that one yet.
We have make-up meetings for those who can not attend the regular. But not everyone attends. This is a part time job (they remind us of that) and a lot of us have other jobs and committments during our down time. We don't get paid to be on stand-by for every little thing, do we?
The governing of buses has
The governing of buses has hit a terminal in this area. Also the cut off. Your right girls nothing is the same at each terminal. We also have buses that need to run more than 5 minutes. I guess it will be a game. I wonder if they will tell us how to handle buses that need extra time. Or if we need to defrost our windows can we restart and have an extra 5? These type of actions only make it more difficult to do our jobs safely. If you cannot do the speed limit to keep up with moving traffic how can you merge safely with a bus full of children on a highway where everyone else is doing well over the speed limit. What happens when you need to make your way across a highway to get to your destination?
The law for the idleing of buses states that the vehicle may run for longer periods for the defrosting of windows. Will they still shut them off after 5 minutes still to save a buck? Too many tech gadgits with this company. Not enough safetly common sense. They can't even take care of the equipment they have let alone more tech.
Zonar another brain storm. They give it to you and expect you to know everything about it. Hell the garage doesn't even know about how the damn thing works. Why do they always make us learn by trial and error? They need to start concentrating on the things they have before they add more crap that no one knows how to use.
There you go Linda.
There you go Linda. There's your answer from yellowfan. Same bull, different terminals. LOL
Can't wait.
Donna