To All Members
From Dale E. Moore President/Business Agent

DALE E. MOORE
President/Business Agent
The Road to Hell is Paved with 100 Points and No Good Intentions
We write to inform you that we got this thing all figured out. The Culture changed or was redesigned depends on who you ask-around the beginning of 2006.

Drug and Alcohol Testing while on Vacation Victor Walker Grievance
Omnitrans failed to properly administer and apply the agency drug and alcohol policy in viola-tion of state and federal law. This illegal test was also done as part of Victor’s DOT physical which is also a violation. The regulations strictly prohibit random testing when an employee is off duty. Random drug and alcohol testing is subject to duty not off duty. The regulations restrict drug testing as part of the DOT physical. Victor took a vacation day and was scheduled by Omni-trans to take his DOT physical to renew his medical certificate. When he arrived at the clinic Omni-trans then required this illegal, no good and use-less “random” test as part of the DOT physical.

The Devil in the No Good Intentions
Tabitha Ray Discharge Grievance
Tabitha Ray was issued 100 points for a rear end collision. Tabitha is a good employee with 9 years of service. She is well liked by her peers and she has a good service record. She made a mistake and this not willful misconduct. She failed to keep control of the vehicle and had an accident. We make a mistake we are held accountable. We are told to accept responsibility, take our medicine and walk away. The given circumstances are what they are and we don’t agree that discharge is appropriate. We submitted what we feel a reason-able proposal for settlement and we intend to stand right there.

Omnitrans Failure to Pay PERS Contributions Local Union grievance
After a series of letters in exchange with Omni-trans and receipt of requested data, the Union be-lieves that Omnitrans has failed to create, pay and ensure at least two employees’ pension benefits who are represented by ATU and whose terms and conditions of employment are governed by the most current ATU labor agreement.
As called for under the Article 22, Grievance Procedure, we have requested a hearing on this claim filed on behalf of these two employees and any other employee which may have been affected by this failure and misadministration and which we have not been made aware of. Past grievances have been denied the strategy being if you refuse to recognize and acknowledge failure there’s no need for responsibility or accountability. This grievance is currently at Step 1 in the process.

Vicki Owens Disciplinary Grievance
Vicki Owens is good employee with 19 years of service. She was issued 50 points under the New Omnitrans one-way performance standards for Coach Operators for a simple disagreement with a Supervisor. We are all very familiar with the customer complaints, video \ audio surveillance, not to mention the guards at the gate. Omnitrans has spent millions and we don’t believe Bin Laden will ever show but in the meantime you better believe your job better yet your career, is definitely at stake. One-way Performance Standards with points for penalties and yes we do believe our careers are worth more than a few points. Try not to bump your head on that camera getting in and out of the driver seat. That would be workers comp and Omnitrans would require a clearance through HR to return to work between the hours of 8 to 5 Monday through Friday and you will not be paid for that.


Failure to Count and Properly Apply Hours
for Pay Progression – and No,
there are No Cameras in Payroll
The MOU calls for movement on the progression based on “hours actively worked or actually worked”. Omnitrans has not counted overtime hours and failed to count hours spent on non driving tasks, such as paid hours when an operator is sent for a drug and/or alcohol test. Further probationary work hours are hours actively worked and therefore should be counted.
We filed a grievance in an attempt to require Omnitrans to provide adequate proof that the provisions of the MOU applicable to pay progression are being properly interpreted and applied. Our grievance was denied. We were told it was our responsibility to let Omnitrans know when we are being cheated and that needs to be clearly stated in any grievance to be investigated. We have claimed and continue to claim its’ Omnitrans’ responsibility to properly count and apply these hours and we will drive the buses.

Return to Work for No Pay and the
HR Clearance Grievance
Omnitrans requires clearance through HR to return to work after industrial injury/illness and for long term personal injury/illness. We filed this grievance because we don’t want anyone upon re-turning to work to lose any pay waiting for HR to open that morning, the next day, or over the week-end, take your pick.
We believe negotiations are required to change any return to work rules and/or procedures and Omnitrans made a unilateral change to the existing MOU. Return to Work is covered by the current MOU which calls for return through dispatch via a phone call on the recorded line with a doctor’s re-lease for three days or more. Attendance and leave of absence are governed by the MOU. Therefore, the MOU and negotiated terms and con-ditions override policy.

Accident Review and the
Joe Armenta Appeal Grievance
Omnitrans has failed to properly process accident appeals and ensure Bus parking lot safety. Safety is the responsibility of everyone not just the Bus Drivers. We are told there are no rules for parking in the lot designated for buses. That is a lie and even if it were true it wouldn’t make much sense.

We filed this grievance to ensure timely and efficient processing of our appeals. In addition Omnitrans has failed to provide information to the Union as called for in MOU Articles 15, 30 and 54. The timely processing and free exchange of information is critical in any accident investigation to ensure due process of basic employee rights.

Failure to Enroll Employees in
ICMA Retiree Medical
It has recently come to our attention that, in some cases, Omnitrans has not withheld the funds required nor matched the withholding as required by Article 34 [D] of the MOU. Enrollment and participation in the plan is mandatory. The MOU re-quires a $13/pay period withholding [exclusive of pay three] with a $13/pay period employer match.
Omnitrans wanted these to be individual employee accounts and failed to enroll the “individuals”. The agreement is that you can take the money with you when you quit retire or get fired. There is also a death benefit. Omnitrans has offered to match and deposit those funds into each individual employee account with the ICMA for the period of April 2008 to the present. All not enrolled will receive a notice from Omnitrans.
We negotiated this benefit to offset the lack of social security here at Omnitrans. Omnitrans does not pay into social security and when and if you retire PERS will not be enough. Management has their own deferred compensation plan to in-clude an employer match and yes we are sure they are all enrolled.
Kenya Creer-Bluitt
Disciplinary/discrimination Grievance
Omnitrans is discriminating against employee Creer-Bluitt. The first charge was for a preventable accident when there was absolutely no evidence one occurred. The discipline involves two additional charges for “a blatant disregard for safety, and ma-jor infractions with penalties that can range from zero to 100 points”. Kenya has a good safety re-cord and 10 years of service with Omnitrans.
They can’t count hours for pay progression but can check the video to see if Kenya is going the wrong way leaving the bus parking lot. If you are going the wrong way when leaving the yard, and we know some of you are, no worries, the little per-son is only interested in Kenya’s direction for now at least.

John Graham Disciplinary Grievance
Discharged and On the Road to Hell
This case involves a rapid accumulation of points resulting in harsh, excessive discipline for what we believe to be minor rule violations. John clipped a curb with his right tire while making a right turn [25 points]. He made the call, video was pulled and now that little person in the cubicle gets three hours to watch John. John rolled through a stop sign [25 points]. John already had 50 points on his record. The 50 points plus the 25 for the stop sign = 75 points. 75 points gets you a 3 Day Suspension, Final Written Warning, and 1 year on your record.
The accident review for the rear wheel clip was still pending [another 25 points will get you a 100]. We filed this grievance to detour that Road to Hell. John had the good sense to file an appeal and grievance. The preventable accident was overturned by the Accident Review Committee. The grievance for the remaining 75 points, 3 Day Suspension and Final Written Warning stands.

The Case of the Complaint that
was not about Paul
Paul Pippenhagen was fired for a rapid accumulation of points for safety violations. Omni-trans received a complaint from a person for a passenger accident that occurred on the Route 63. The time was approximately 11:30 am and the driver description was for a white male. Sounds like Paul let’s pull the video. The cubicle was lit up for three hours. There was no accident, nobody fell and Paul never “slammed” on his brakes. But, he did run a red light and he was talking on his cell phone.
This mysterious passenger could not be seen on the video. The question for you is that given the circumstances, did a bona fide reason to review the video exist? The problem with this case is that we are not paid to talk on our cell phones. If you are doing that you better stop. It appears that Paul was distracted to the extent he ran through the light. Only God knows what the defense for that could be, we aren’t God and neither is Omnitrans. Victor Walker and Paul met with Omnitrans for the first level hearing. We were not successful and now we can’t reach Paul.

The Case of PERB and the Union’s Right
to File Grievances
Omnitrans has claimed and continue to claim that your Union has no right to file or process grievances. As ridiculous as that sounds and you may need to step outside your rational mind but the argument is that we the Union waived our right to do so during bargaining. We were forced to file a claim against that foolishness with the public board [PERB] two years ago. PERB agreed with us Omnitrans lost and immediately appealed at considerable cost to both sides. The Public Employment Relations Board in Sacramento ruled against Omnitrans again finding violation of state Law and ordered Omnitrans to process any/all Un-ion filed grievances.
Vice President Gerald Nunez, 50 Points & Discrimination for Union Activity
As many of you know Omnitrans has long history of harassment and persecution of Local union officers. They fired me during the most recent negotiations and former President Bill Truppe during negotiations in 2004. In October 2006 Scott Graham and Doug Stanley had then local officer and employee Michael T. Aguilar arrested for trespass at Omnitrans for talking to employees about the union. They are at it again. They still assassinate union officials in South America and thank God this is North America. Problem is Omnitrans is opposed to American ideals of free speech and free association.

Jerry got 50 points for a simple disagreement with FS Kevin Copeland. This case involves a union bias as the incident occurred while Jerry was investigating his own grievance which as a matter of course is union business. It’s Jerry’s word against Kevin’s and yes we do have wit-nesses most of whom are bus drivers. We filed a second grievance for Jerry with me gone now he has the bull’s eye on his back. It’s a good thing the security guards don’t have guns. Not that we want to give them any ideas.

Union Filed Grievances
Refused by Omnitrans
The following is list of Union filed grievances refused by Omnitrans:

Omnitrans Policy “Security Internal Controls” Ewing/Okamura regarding Unilateral Change, March 24, 2007

Run Bid Committee – 10/25/06

Run Bid Shift – 11/15/06

Meal and Rest Breaks – 11/17/06

Peter Ortiz and ATU Local 1704 Disciplinary grievance – 11/16/07

Shelia Viezer and ATU Local 1704 Bargaining Unit grievance – 5/13/08

ATU Local 1704 Holiday Pay grievance – 1/23/06

Violated articles of the MOU remain that filed in the original written grievances. However, the remedies will be what they will be as these are ongoing violations of the collective bargaining agreement. We will claim forfeiture based on time limits as these are old claims that should have been heard as called for in the MOU but for Omni-trans’ refusal to do so.
Other Union Wide Claims

Uniforms regarding Unilateral Change

Attendance Policy Misapplication /misinterpretation re MOU Article 27

Omnitrans Failure to Comply with Article 10,15 & 30 of the MOU

Unions Opposition to the Culture Design Team