I recently became the most senior employee on the front end (aside from our accountant, but he gets his 40 hours a week there so it doesn't really matter). There's 5 or 6 other full-timers in my department, the rest are part-time. How does all this factor into scheduling? There used to be an employee who worked for 20+ years with us who always got 7-3:30 morning shifts Mon-Fri, if I wanted to could I do something like that? Or do I have to keep a fully open availability (and if so, could I still say I "prefer" to work certain hours)? Not sure what the benefit of seniority is otherwise, if I'm still getting 2-10:30's followed by 8 to 4:30's every week (I don't have a car and have sleep problems, so this wreaks havoc on my concentration and mood that second day).
-- Edited by Going 4011 on Saturday 22nd of August 2015 10:14:10 AM
You have to keep your availability fully open but you can tell your schedule writer that you want to work a certain shift. You might not get every weekend off like that one person you mentioned, but you could probably get the early morning hours. Generally, they let the most senior employees work a prefered schedule (within the needs of the business of course). We had one woman on the front end who worked 8:00-4:30 every day. She was off every Thursday.
Check your union contract and talk with your schedule writer.
Will definitely do both.
Anonymous wrote:
You have to keep your availability fully open but you can tell your schedule writer that you want to work a certain shift. You might not get every weekend off like that one person you mentioned, but you could probably get the early morning hours. Generally, they let the most senior employees work a prefered schedule (within the needs of the business of course). We had one woman on the front end who worked 8:00-4:30 every day. She was off every Thursday.
Is there any recourse if the schedule writer completely ignores my preferences? This seems like a recipe for my FE lead (who seems to care very little about seniority in general) to say "Well we scheduled you within your (full) availability, so you've got nothing to complain about", and then I'm back where I started.
-- Edited by Going 4011 on Saturday 22nd of August 2015 08:14:27 PM
You don't mention how long you've worked for Kroger. You could file a grievance if your schedule writer ignores your requests. You could roll people for their schedules, provided your contract allows you to do that on a day to day basis. However, someone else posted a question about that and were basically told it's not a nice thng to do. The difference is they didn't have seniority over everybody else in the department and had only worked for Kroger a few months. If you're at the top of the seniority list in your department, you should get first choice of schedule. Of course that may not always be possible due to the restrictions of the other employees in your department. Another option is you could move to a different department.
You don't mention how long you've worked for Kroger. You could file a grievance if your schedule writer ignores your requests. You could roll people for their schedules, provided your contract allows you to do that on a day to day basis. However, someone else posted a question about that and were basically told it's not a nice thng to do. The difference is they didn't have seniority over everybody else in the department and had only worked for Kroger a few months. If you're at the top of the seniority list in your department, you should get first choice of schedule. Of course that may not always be possible due to the restrictions of the other employees in your department. Another option is you could move to a different department.
Thanks for the info, seems like it's a question of my contract, which I'll try to obtain soon. I've worked at Kroger for three years, not a lot, but the turnover rate at our store is very high (crappy former FE lead combined with it being a college town) and I've been full-time almost all of that time.
-- Edited by Going 4011 on Sunday 23rd of August 2015 04:14:32 AM
Yup, just asked my FE lead and she outright denied my request, says since I'm full time I need open availability and to be open to any and all shifts, no way to set me up for all mornings or all evenings, her words were "otherwise that would be preferential scheduling", and that seniority doesn't matter at all when it comes to schedules, only availability. Is that the end of the story or do yall think I can go above her head?
Get a copy of your handbook and check. Call the union office. I would skip the shop steward. Speak with a district representative. You might not get a correct answer from the steward in the store. If the other person with 20 years could have those hours consistently, then why can't you have them is my question. But the different tiers of contracts do change from tier to tier. Your contract may be different.
At our store, employees with the most seniority get the choice of shifts they want to work. I see the same cashiers at 6am each day. I have seen someone with 20 years bump someone with 10 for the 6am shift. I don't care if you have 6 months or 50 years, you can bump anyone with less seniority than you. Or, grieve it and have the union district rep give the final say. I don't understand why people were saying to not grieve it in the other post. Yes, it might cause others to be mad. Too bad. But, also, choose your battles wisely. It could also come back to bite you. The contract becomes weaker when the employees don't understand the contract and don't stand up for themselves. Most FES are very controlling. It's their way or the highway.
In Local 1996 being full time means you're available any hour, any day except Christmas Day. Doesn't matter if you can't get to work because of bus schedule, that's your problem, not the union's and not Kroger's. You can kinda get around it if you're going to school but there are times people have had to miss class because they were full time and required by their unit manager or district coordinator to work a certain day.
It depends on your dept head. We have people who only work certain hours and that availability is honored yet I can't have any kinda of availability. I tell a dept head I preferred to do nights and that's all I saw until someone else came in.
So between the last replier and the one before that, seems like different stores do have different policies. Talked to a shop steward yesterday, he said that our store absolutely lets senior employees have a preference, but that he'd need the contract to know for sure how far it goes (i.e. if I can pick certain shifts or just say "mornings", either of which is honestly fine by me) and how exactly rolling is handled (none of us on the front end are familiar with it). Will try to get the actual contract today, and hopefully call a district rep if that doesn't give a clear answer.
But yea, our most senior employee in produce always works early mornings, so I think it's just the new FE lead who doesn't give a crap about if we like shifts or not, just how they work for her. I don't think I'm being singled out, as a lot of people on the FE has been complaining about their schedule or are getting weird/annoying shifts. She's not a new lead either, but she is new to the store.
Thanks for all the replies so far, keep 'em coming :)
-- Edited by Going 4011 on Monday 24th of August 2015 04:17:00 AM
it took me almost three years to get a copy of the contract
At least you had the gumption and persistence . . . but, criminy, it seems ridiculous to put off a member for that long . . . or at all. Local 1000 is tight with the printed booklets, but the contract in pdf is available on the union's website.
Enforcing the contract is supposed to be every member's business. Seems a copy should be mailed with every membership card. How can one help enforce it if he doesn't know it?
. . . the new FE lead who doesn't give a crap about if we like shifts or not, just how they work for her.
Don't let the petty tyrant try to pretend her preferences are the rules. Knowledge is power in this case.
You have to learn your contract. Under ours you can claim daily or weekly schedules, claim earlier start times, take Sundays off.
I would just claim the hours for an earlier shift and keep claiming until the schedule writer gets tired of having to go back in and fix the schedule. Any employees who get mad at you calmly explain you are entitled to those shifts because of your seniority. Tell them it's the contract and your schedule writer is the one they need to complain to, not you.
I got the contract and found the relevant section:
"The Union agrees that the needs of the business take first priority in scheduling. Furthermore, the Company recognizes that given the individual lifestyle of employees, certain work schedules may be preferable. In this regard, the Company will endeavor to consider seniority in the preparation and assignment of work schedules."
"Will endeavor to consider" is the vaguest as all hell language I've read, but certainly shows that it is a factor, unlike what my FE lead claims.
There's also a section about bumping/rolling (section 16.5 if you're reading along :P), but it seems to apply mainly to full-timers who are scheduled less than 32 hours in a week, which doesn't apply to me.
I've yet to call my district rep, that's the next step.
Edit: Called and left a message.
-- Edited by Going 4011 on Tuesday 25th of August 2015 09:47:04 AM
Quick update: The union never got back to me (surprise!). But it's all moot as the problem was resolved anyway (for now), our lead left for a different store, and the new lead is on the same wavelength as me so I've got all morning's now :)
-- Edited by Going 4011 on Wednesday 7th of October 2015 04:48:02 AM
