Crack, Crack, Crack, Crackle, WAMMM!!! A bolt of lightning slams to earth near your home. It not only shakes your house (and nerves,) it strikes a nearby transformer and renders you powerless. Your lights, television, computer, refrigerator, and cell phone charger suddenly become lifeless. The first thought is you pause, waiting for the familiar tone of the important electronics in your life reseting and coming back to life. But after a few minutes, then a few hours, and heaven forbid, the remainder of the day, the power remains disabled. As you are suddenly forced to go about your life without your everyday conveniences, you suddenly understand how much you take that unassuming everyday flow of electricity for granted. And now, you just cant wait for it to return and allow you to get back to your normal and comfortable life.
The above example is not all that different from your collective bargaining agreement - aka: Union Contract. Yes, your union contract is in place, not all that different from the flow of electricity - out of sight, out of mind, just working for you without a thought, until it stops. Then many work conveniences you take for granted and unassumingly appreciate are gone and life can be made more difficult.
Take for example your work schedule. It comes out on a regular basis ( posted 14 days in advance of the date it goes into effect.) Once it’s posted, no changes can be made unless it’s agreed upon mutually by you and your employer. Why does this happen? Because it was negotiated for your benefit by your union and is binding as a result of your union contract. If that suddenly went away, without warning, your life would be much less comfortable. Like the power unexpectedly going out.
Your regular schedule being posted in advance and not being able to be changed at a moments notice without your agreement is likely something you appreciate and take for granted. It helps you plan and organize your life.
Without the safe guards of your contract, your employer could and would suddenly change your schedule at short or no notice and cause your life to get disrupted very quickly. And yes, it does happen often for those who don’t have the luxury of a union contract and a union advocate to stand up for you and your family. It’s happened to me and my wife who was formerly a Local 9460 employee and continues to works in the medical field here in the metro.
I was formerly the president of your local union until 2010 when I retired. Or as I like to refer to it as “repurposing my career.” I moved to Minneapolis and work(ed) in a number of jobs in a variety of new career positions which have proven to be fun, challenging, and exciting. The jobs I have and still work in have all been non-union and I can tell you that work schedules are rarely posted with even one weeks advance notice, can and do change at short notice (sometimes a few hours in advance of the scheduled time), and with out mutual agreement. Most surprising is that most employers expect the employee to check their email or messages consistently throughout the day as notices of scheduling changes are sent via electronic means. No calls, no posting, just a text or message and you are expected to have an electronic device on you consistently so you can respond to the scheduling change. Scheduling is purely for the convenience of the employer and management - not the employee or their family.
This trend is the norm in the non-union work world. It’s in all vocations and all employees are being conditioned to be at their employers beckoned call. At a moments notice and regardless of what your plans are - just make it work. It’s what it is.
The scheduling guidelines and predictability which protect you are just one of the many benefits of your union labor contract that operate on “auto pilot” and make your life more comfortable than many of your counterparts who work without a contract. My recommendation is to support your contract and local union to assure that these conveniences continue to work on you behalf.