@Carmie wrote:
@Nightowlz Your husband's situation is a horse of a different color. When you belong to a union, your employer has a difficult time firing you or bossing you around. You are NOT an at will employee.
My DH was a police officer for 35 years and has always worked the midnight shift. In addition, he worked double shifts a few times a week. He had very little time off due to court schedulings and hearings during the daytime hours and sometimes he got very little sleep.
One night, which was his needed day off, the county dispatcher called around 7 pm and asked him if he could come to work because one of his coworkers had an emergency at home with one of his children. My DH took a shower, got dressed and went to work as soon as he possibly could, even though we had plans. The officer he filled in for went home to address the emergency.
Later in the evening, my DH had a call at a private club for fighting. When he went to the call, he discovered that his coworker was there and he was drinking. He lied about the emergency and just wanted to go out drinking with friends.
The union protected his coworker. My DH was mad as all get out, but there was nothing he could do. I guarantee that he never filled in or did this guy a favor ever again. He was piping mad.
In turn, my DH could also call off sick or call off for no reason at all and he could take off whenever based on seniority as long as he had the time. He was the senior officer.
All of this, thanks to the teamsters. It wasn't free though. Those union dues are expensive.
@Carmie
I would totally be ticked off if I saw the guy at the bar while on a call which he needed off for an emergency. I think I would have said something to the guy while I was at the bar.
If they need to fire someone they just write them up for things they are not suppose to do. If they get wrote up so many times during a certain time frame they can fire them. They normally don't do this but they can.
My DH is lucky the job he has. Most out at the base don't have it as easy because the management makes their life miserable. They tell them even if they have vacation days does not mean they have to let them off??? They don't have that clause in their contracts like DH put in theirs where you can call in when you want. He did that to keep new contractors coming in thinking they can tell you what to do.
Their next contract comes up for negotiations when DH will be retiring. Everyone is asking him what are they suppose to do?
I always tell DH everyone he works has no clue how they have it made. I have never worked some place where you can sit around watching tv, playing games on your tablet, selling stuff on Ebay etc. It snowed this weekend so I would imagine that's what all of them are doing today.
Tell your DH thanks for being a police officer. It's a tough job that does not pay enough IMO. I don't blame him for not working for someone when it's not an emergency. That's a case that I don't agree with the Union. It has it's good points & bad ones.
They have people at the base that abuse it. They get hurt supposedly so they can take off work on workman comp. I think they have to hold your job for 1 or 2 yrs at which time the empolyee comes back to work to get hurt again so they can go back on workman comp. That's wrong & the Union should let the company fire the people that do these things.
Your right all these things are not free. Union Dues are very expensive. The more you make the more you pay. People complain about it also but they would not have the benefits they have without them.
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