employee handbook would not have info on vacations. it would be in your contract between the union and your employer. ask your union steward or call your union rep for a copy of your contract
I dont know what union your in but this is whats in my contract


Article 15
Supplemental Days and Vacations
Supplemental Days:
A. All employees hired prior to January 30, 1988 shall receive a maximum of seven (7)
supplemental days.
All employees hired after January 30, 1988 shall receive a maximum of five (5)
supplemental days off with pay upon completion of twelve (12) months of
continuous service.
All employees hired after April 30, 2000, shall receive four (4) supplemental days
off with pay on the following basis:
3 months of Service one (1) supplemental day
6 months of Service one (1) supplemental day
12 months of Service two (2) supplemental days
for a total of four (4) supplemental days annually.
Courtesy Clerks are not eligible for Supplemental Days listed above.
Supplemental day schedule for employees hired after March 22, 2005 and for
current employees who have not yet earned four (4) supplemental days:
1 year of Service 1 supplemental day
2 years of Service 2 supplemental days
3 years of Service 3 supplemental days
4 years of Service 4 supplemental days
B. Supplemental days may be used for the purpose of mini-vacations. Employees
shall be entitled to such days at a time of their choice, subject to personnel needs
of the Employer and subject to store seniority in the event of conflict of employee
choice.
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C. Employees shall notify the Store Manager at least two (2) weeks in advance of their
intentions to use supplemental days off for a mini-vacation.
D. Employees shall notify the Store Manager at least one (1) week in advance of their
intention to take a supplemental day off (except in the case of using supplemental
days for a mini-vacation), and the employee shall receive such day off or a mutually
agreed upon day off. In the event of conflict of employees choice, seniority shall
prevail.
E. An employee who separates or is separated from the Employers service,
voluntarily or involuntarily (including but not limited to separation occasioned by
voluntary or involuntarily termination of the Employers business), except when
such employee is duly discharged for dishonesty, shall on separation, be paid for
unused supplemental days on a pro-rata basis.
F. The Employer reserves the right to pay a supplemental day in cases of unavoidable
absence unless the supplemental day has been previously scheduled.
G. Supplemental days are to be scheduled and taken between January 1st and
December 10th of each year. An exception will be made for those employees that
have been denied their request for supplemental days.
Employees qualifying for supplemental days between December 10th and
December 31st shall be able to schedule and take those days during the 1st quarter
of the new year.
Vacations:
A. Vacations with pay for employees hired before January 30, 1988 shall be granted
and taken on the following basis:
One....... (1) week after one (1) year of continuous service.
Two....... (2) weeks after three (3) years of continuous service.
Three.... (3) weeks after eight (8) years of continuous service.
Four ...... (4) weeks after thirteen (13) years of continuous service.
Five....... (5) weeks after twenty (20) years of continuous service.
Employees hired after January 30, 1988 shall attain a maximum of four (4) weeks
vacation based on the schedule above.
Vacation pay for all full-time employees, shall be two percent (2%) of prior years
earnings to a maximum of forty (40) hours at current straight-time hourly rate.
Vacation pay for all part-time employees, shall be two percent (2%) of the prior
years earnings to a maximum of thirty-six (36) hours at the current straight time
hourly rate.
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B. Eligibility for vacations shall be computed from original date of employment.
However, if an employee is hired after September 1, they shall not be entitled to a
vacation until after the January 1 following the first anniversary of hire unless the
employee should leave the Companys employ in the period between the
employees anniversary date and such January 1. After an employee qualifies and
receives his vacation in that year, the employee automatically qualifies for such
benefits as of January 1 of succeeding years. Employees entitled to vacation must
take their time off.
C. Vacation selections will be granted on a seniority basis, by department, so far as
possible, preferences as to the date being given in the order of length of service.
The time of vacation shall be fixed by the Company at a mutually convenient time
during the calendar year, but no employee shall be compelled to take a vacation
prior to April 1. The Employer shall have the final decision. The employees must
make known their vacation preference by March 1.
D. All paid vacation is available for use on a weekly basis. However, an employee who
has earned three (3) or more weeks of vacation may use one (1) week of vacation
as five (5) single days. The employee must notify the manager at the time annual
vacation selections are made. Individual days are to be scheduled by mutual
agreement.

@po19op,
shall i assume this will be different in each division? That article there says that "Supplemental days may be used for the purpose of mini-vacations" which I assume means that you can bundle those days along with regular days off and have a small vacation...however in our store it was made clear that this sort of thing is not allowed. For instance, if you get a week of vacation, you will receive 7 days off and you are not allowed to take the days before or after to extend your vacation. Thing about it is, they've said you cannot do this, but every time someone has vacation they've nearly all had at least 8 days.. Seems to me that they're your days and you should be able to use them whenever you want...if you have 3 weeks vac and 4 personal days you should be able to take them all in a row if you wanted (obviously not possible in all circumstances) but still...