Education for our leaders has been a priority to our Local in recent years. We dedicate this edition and future publications to the goal of passing this information to the membership. We will endeavor to inform you of your rights, and you will be encouraged to exercise them. "If will fail to exercise our rights, then may be forgotten and violations may become routine."

Don’t Gamble With Our Safety

by Kathleen Kennedy

Several years ago, when I embarked on this endeavor for improving our personal safety, I never would have thought the battle would still be raging. It never ceases to amaze me what little value is applied to our personal safety by Springs Transit management. Our safety boils down to the luck of the draw…which dispatcher is working when our request for help is requested. Some dispatchers react immediately and appropriately to our safety needs…but there are those who think they can best handle violent situations over the radio. A case in point recently involved a dispatcher advising a driver to issue an emergency transfer to a threatening passenger and advise him to catch the next bus, thereby escalating this passenger’s anger. This not only violated company policy but also subjected yet another unsuspecting driver to a now heightened and potentially dangerous situation. This omnipotence is going to cause us injury.

In the past month there have been at least five incidents of serious threats to drivers of which I am aware. Two instances have been actual threats called in on the complaint line identifying specific drivers . One threat was received in writing and two were received in verbally while driving. Now, that is just in the past month and only the ones of which I am aware. How many more are there? I would hope that they have all been handled with the utmost urgency and that the appropriate police departments have been notified.

I became involved with one of the above mentioned incidents and was disappointed by the lack of support from Springs Transit management. In a meetings with Ryan and Marvin, they condescendingly read portions of the Workplace Violence Policy to me. A particularly interesting sentence is “Springs Transit will not tolerate any type of workplace violence committed by or against employees.” Now, I really like that sentence! (If you hit me or I hit you, Springs Transit will not tolerate it, so we expect to be disciplined.) Just what can we expect Springs Transit to do when it is a passenger who becomes menacing to a driver? They have written a policy of no tolerance … so just what action do they take? Over two weeks ago, I posed this same question, formally in writing to Ryan Hiatt. As of June 23rd I have not received an answer.

Boyd should be complimented, however. When this incident was brought to his attention he immediately offered to assist the employee with the police. He agreed that the employee should not tolerate this abuse from passengers. He became involved in his capacity as Director of Safety, Security and Driver Development. However, his involvement was resented by the others in management and I believe he was counseled for it. Through my insistence that I requested his involvement they acquiesced. Subsequently, Boyd presented a written recommendation, to Larry Tenenholz, which includes assisting us with police reporting, driving us to police stations, relieving us from driving when too stressed to continue, and all on paid company time.

There is obvious confusion about which department head is responsible for safety issues. Now we all know Boyd’s title and that Marvin is in charge of Human Resources…so does it make any sense that Marvin would handle Workplace Violence issues and Boyd wouldn’t? Doesn’t workplace violence fall under the umbrella of Driver Safety, Security and Development?

The response to our safety concerns should never be “the luck of the draw” as determined by which dispatcher is on duty. A consistent policy must be implemented.

Don’t Gamble with our safety!

NEW DEVELOPMENTS FROM THE SAFETY & SECURITY COMMITTEE

by: Jeanna Lanucha, Union Safety Committee Representative

The Springs Transit Safety Program has been sugar coated for far to long. The trouble with sugar coating is you are never sure what is underneath. As bus operators we all appreciate the straight facts and want to be continuously informed about the ever changing dangers and challenges in our workplace. As drivers we are said to be the “ambassadors of Springs Transit, unfortunately we are also the primary targets of threats and danger of Springs Transit.

We've come so far from the initial formation of the Safety & Security Committee. Then we recently experienced a time where we seemed to just spin our wheels and bicker amongst ourselves. Recently, though we have taken some very positive steps forward. The biggest challenge is the "old attitude" that exists. Some in the Company still believe harassment, and disrespect is part of our jobs and take the easy route and do nothing but sit behind the safety of their offices. This has got to go. And with knowledge, guidance and the influence of more progressive minds it will.

Our guidance is from C.S.P.D. Officer Andy Murphy who has been on board for over a year now. His contributions are priceless. His thinking is outside of our “good old boys” box. We have two drivers, a member of maintenance as well as management all who contribute to this committee. The purpose of the committee is to make recommendations about safety. Our meetings and recommendations are documented. The choice to implement our recommendations is up to management.

The focus from our last two meetings was to recommend a code of conduct that the passengers are expected to follow. One way to communicate this is to post a sign in our buses stating misconduct will not be tolerated. This has been accepted. We also made a recommendation that the committee keep a file on incidents and problem passengers. This would give us a way to track our problems and deal with them. We talked about including a list of laws that pertain specifically to drivers in our packets. When violations are severe we need to insist that they be dealt with by the police, and be willing to write a compliant and go to court. It would be helpful to point out to the officer the violation and law, because there are certain laws that are unique to transit workers.

We are fortunate to have our own expert on this committee. Coach Operator Jimmy Darrington is a retired C.S.P.D. officer and is familiar with our problems and is gathering a list of laws that will help us. “Interference” with the transit coach operator is one that might be particularly helpful. We have had great luck with the El Paso County Deputies working at our terminal during strategic hours. We would like to improve on this program.

The Safety & Security Committee is here to represent the welfare of our coach operators, to make recommendations to the company. Part of the responsibility for the success of our safety program lies with our "Coach Operators. For this program to succeed we need your help. I need to get a head start on our Incident File. When you have an incident that involves threatening, violent, or harassing passenger or any incident that compromises our safety I, or any Union representative will be happy to help you fill out your report. Before you turn your copy in to the Company would you put a copy in my mailbox. This information is extremely valuable in making our workplace safe. Together, by being alert and watching each other’s back we can be safe.

Let's make it happen...

... United we stand!

Progress on Adhoc Committee for Sick/No-Show/Vacation

by: Bob Lanucha, Executive Board, Operator Representative

I realize that some of you may not be familiar with this issue so I will provide some background. Several months ago a committee was formed to go over our current Sick Leave, No-Show and Vacation contract language and policies to see if they could be improved upon. The committee consists of Dan Francis, Kathleen Kennedy, Marvin Pritchard, and Ryan Hiatt and I. The goal of the committee was to discourage abuse of sick leave and no-shows, reward those that did not abuse it, without hurting those that genuinely need it. It was understood this would benefit Springs Transit and the membership.

We started out with lots of great ideas, numbering about 20-25. Some came from other ATU properties, some from the city of Colorado Springs and some were original. This was our "brain-storming" session. After that we started "throwing these ideas against the wall" to see which ones would "stick." Keep in mind that both sides were there to give and take for the mutual good of Springs Transit.

After several meetings, this is what the committee came up with. We recommended bringing back the "late show" with these stipulations: two of them equal one "no-show", "late shows drop off after 90 days if you don’t get the second one. With this in place we agreed to drop from allowing 8 "no-shows" in a year to 6. The progressive discipline changed as well. 3 "no-shows" would warrant a letter of caution, 4 would = 1 suspension day, 5 would = 2 day suspension, and 6 would = termination.

We recommended the ability to cash out one half of accrued sick leave upon termination. The benefit of cashing out sick leave at retirement would not change.

We recommended sick leave to be granted in one-hour increments for the purpose of medical appointments. Use of this sick time would not trigger an occurrence. The following stipulations would apply: Must be requested prior to 1:00 PM, proof of appt. such as co-pay receipt has to be shown, and you could only use this option twice in a calendar year.

We recommended an exception to the sick leave occurrences if they were in consecutive days. For example if you are sick on Monday, you have to let dispatch know by 1:00 PM if you were coming back the next day. You sometimes don’t know for sure if you will be well by the next day? Currently the following happens: you automatically take the second day or you take a gamble and call off by 1:00 PM. The way it would work under our proposal is this: You could call in sick two days in a row and be charged with only one occurrence. The days would have to be concurrent and you could only do this twice in a calendar year.

We wanted an increased incentive for attendance. It would stipulate that you have no "no-shows", sick occurrences, or "late shows." For the first 6 months you would get a $75 bonus. If you went a whole year you would get an additional $150 bonus and an extra personal holiday. This would run for the calendar year also.

We want to increase the number of straight runs.

We want to be able to cash in vacation time with the following stipulations: you must have a minimum of two weeks on the books. You can only cash in one week no matter how many weeks you have. You cannot cash in individual days.

We want the company to provide us with more education on ways to keep ourselves healthy and protect us from the germs we come into contact with on a daily basis.

Last but not least we agreed that the extra board should be posted in the dispatch office only. It appears as though when operators come in and see that there are a lot of protection people the following day, more people tend to call in sick. Extra board operators would get their individual work assignments from dispatch.

As we came up with all this it was subject to final approval by Larry T. The committee met with Larry a couple of weeks ago. Both sides agreed that this was a "package" deal. We would agree to all or nothing in the package. Larry has his own ideas and we are in the process of hearing them. We will have another meeting in the future to see if this all going to fall in place or not. We will keep you posted.

Be assured we will recommend this only if in addition to being a benefit to Springs Transit that it is a benefit to our members. Final approval on our side will be in the form of a ratification as this would change some details and language in our current Labor Agreement.

Pension Plan Update - The Fix is Coming

by: Dan Francis, Union Pension Trustee

In the last issue of the Union Voice (Spring 2002) I outlined 4 problems the pension plan was facing. This brought serious concern because; at least theoretically, the Department of Labor can terminate ERISA Defined-Benefit Plans such as ours if they fail in compliance. Good News! The fix is happening.

Just this morning we had a pension plan trustee meeting with our plan attorney Ellen Kelman. We discussed the Payment in Error to Rehired Participants, the Error with our 5500 IRS forms, Missing Meeting Minutes, and the Overpayment to Winston & Strawn. Our plan attorney gave us some excellent no non-sense direction and plans to address these errors to the benefit of the plan and participants. Immediate action is being taken by the plan administrator, plan trustees and our attorney to get what needs to be corrected by the end of our plan year, which is June 30, 2002.

One issue that remains a major issue is the lack of pension trustee meeting minutes. Trustees, as fiduciaries must document meetings and decisions trustees make. The lack of minutes from Laidlaw’s employer trustee and secretary, Verlinda Bush happened at a crucial time we major changes took place. Frankly, the legal advice we got was that we may have to sue Laidlaw and MS Bush to get them.

Internation President La Sala Announces His Retirement

International Vice-President Don Hanson announced at the ATU NW Conference the International President James La Sala will retire as of June 30^th 2003. Mr. La Sala has been International President since 1986. Among many things he is known as the “Education President” because of his tireless work in providing education for local leaders.

The 2002 CASTA Bus Rodeo was held in Colorado Springs on June 14th & 15th. Toni Feinberg placed 5th in the state, John Mitchell placed 10th, while Dan Francis placed 13th. The testing consisted of a CDL exam, a Pre-Trip exercise, a Wheel-Chair Securement test and a 10-Station maneuver course. Earlier this year the union and company made a commitment to pursue a cooperative effort to send three operators to the state competition. This was done through our local CDL maneuvers test in May. The Company then provided time for several pratice sessions, based on operational conditions, and equipment to practice.

Plans are being considered for nest year to have another local test, purchase more cones and possibly practice the RTD course.

The Union