INSIDE
SCOOP: COT CQUE MEETING,
Issue
2007-002,
Todd Erickson, CWA Local 7200 Area Vice President
http://cwa7200.org/Avp's/Inside%20Plant.htm
24th Avenue Qwest Central Office Technician
(todd9500@msn.com,
Pgr: 612-622-4738, Hm: 612-789-4400, UH: 612-722-7200)
1. COT CQUE MEETING -
2. CQUE DISCIPLINE: WRITTEN WARNINGS AND DOCUMENTED
DISCUSSIONS
3. THE UNFAIRNESS OF TAKING CQUE HITS OUTSIDE OF A COT'S CONTROL
4. IMPORTANCE OF DOCUMENTATION
5. LACK OF TRAINING
6. REMEMBER YOUR RIGHTS AS A UNION MEMBER
7. WHAT CAN AND WILL THE
8. CWA LOCAL 7200 CQUE PLAN
1. COT CQUE MEETING -
After the regular CWA Local 7200 monthly Stewards/Membership meeting on
At the COT CQUE meeting, I talked about how CQUE grievances are being filed on
behalf of COTs receiving CQUE Written Warnings and Documented Discussions. As
of
I mentioned that the Central Office Management has not kept me informed about
all the CQUE Documented Discussions that are given out. I have addressed the issue with management and
will attempt to correct that problem going forward.
I let the COTs know that they should inform other COTs about the need to have union representation at those Documented Discussion meetings. This is important because the CQUE Documented Discussions are inserted into their Personnel File and puts them on a dangerous path with the CQUE Development Plan. Once a COT is on the CQUE Development Plan, it means that a COT cannot afford to get a "not meet" in any of the six buckets that are tracked each month - for three months in a row.
I recommended that COTs investigate all CQUE hits charged against them
and if they detect any unfairness with them, they are to challenge them (in
writing) via company e-mail.
I also talked about the need for some COTs (if they find it necessary to avoid
CQUE discipline) to use ASSIST tickets for their own advantage. As long as
those assist tickets are accurate as far as what we are working on, I don't
believe they should be deemed as falsifying a person's electronic time sheet.
If COTs are not in jeopardy of CQUE discipline, we should put down the accurate
time taken to circuit installation because the time allotted to some circuit
installations - short-change us quite a bit. Accurate times on work items
will help highlight this problem.
In some cases, you will want to charge time to TRAIN if you have to
read up or call around in regards to the equipment that you are working on.
Twenty people attended the November 7 meeting. I tried to capture the comments
and concerns that were made by COTs at that meeting. THANKS to all that showed
up and to others who provided me input. Keep sending me your ideas and concerns
about CQUE.
2. CQUE DISCIPLINE: WRITTEN WARNINGS AND DOCUMENTED DISCUSSIONS
lA
COT wanted to know what the purpose is of the CQUE system
lCOTs talked about the unfairness of the rolling three months that goes with the CQUE Development plan and talked about how it is really isn’t about development, but more about setting up COTs for future disciplinary action, because it would be difficult for many COTs to avoid getting at least one "not meet" in a three month period.
lA COT said he believes the CQUE system was put in place to fire COTs.
lA
Power COT said the time limitations for completing power routines are
unacceptable. Approximately 40 minutes are assigned to rectifier projects that
normally take 2-3 hours.
3. THE UNFAIRNESS OF TAKING CQUE HITS OUTSIDE OF A COT'S CONTROL
lA
COT talked about how the CQUE plan doesn't take adequate consideration about
the CQUE hits we take - that are outside of our control. COTs thought the CQUE
system should have a way to change CQUE hits into CQUE exceptions.
lA
COT talked about her Central Office had a huge construction job going on near
her CO and was causing quite a few design changes that were negatively
affecting CQUE scorecards of all the COTs in that CO.
lA
COT complained about the problem of being held up on the phone by testers which
hurt his CQUE Design Service Repair Efficiency rating.
lA
COT talked about a trouble ticket where he was asked to take a voltage reading
on a circuit, which he had no involvement in the installation of it, yet he
took a CQUE hit because a trouble ticket came in later and it showed that he
was involved with the circuit.
lA
COT talked about doing a 48 hour dial tone test that tested OK - but the
circuit went into trouble at some point and she took a CQUE hit for it.
lA
COT told how it took quite a bit of time and effort to clear her name from a
"not meet" charge that put her over the limit for a particular month.
She finally was able to get rid of the unfair "not meet" on her
scorecard when she escalated the issue to the Director.
lCOTs
talked about the need to get trouble tickets to account for their time.
lA
COT talked about chronic trouble tickets and the danger of being involved with
these type of trouble tickets.
lA
COT talked about how management is saying we shouldn't go strictly by the
Activities Dictionary.
lA
COT talked about how the Evening supervisor coaches her COTs on how to best
game the system. (Note: We need to make sure we don't allow the CQUE system to
add to the craft-on-craft animosity between work shifts.)
4. IMPORTANCE OF DOCUMENTATION
lA COT emphasized the importance of documenting work in regards to installation and repair on any and all circuits. OSSLOG notes should be collected for the purposes of proving your innocence.
lA COT recommended that COTs utilize e-mail communication to management in challenging CQUE hits in order to build a paper trail.
l A COT recommended that COTs keep a file of all circuits worked on and demand union representation at Documented Discussions.
5. LACK OF TRAINING
l A COT said that COTs should use the "blue card" when they are asked to work on equipment they have no knowledge of. He said that COTs are not receiving enough training but are expected to handle anything that comes their way.
6. REMEMBER YOUR RIGHTS AS A UNION MEMBER
CWA Local 7200 AVP Andy Anderson talked about Union Representation Rights found on page 159 of the CWA/Qwest contract. Andy said that COTs have the right to union representation during those CQUE Documented Discussion meetings because: 1) those CQUE Documented Discussion clearly states that the employee is NOT MEETING performance standards, 2) CQUE is obviously an Occupational Employee Performance Plan and, 3) CQUE Documented Discussions DO find their way into the Personnel File and, 4) will escalate into a CQUE Written Warning if a COT takes another CQUE "Not Meet" in the next three months.
Paragraph 4 on page 159 states: Furthermore, per the Occupational Employee Performance Plan (OEPP), discipline occurs when an employee is not meeting standards, or complying with Company policy and corrective action is taken.
So if you are receiving a CQUE Documented Discussion - ASK FOR UNION REPRESENTATION!!
7. WHAT CAN AND WILL THE
lA COT wanted to know if I had checked with other local unions within CWA District 7. I said I hadn't but agreed that I would do so in the near future.
lCOTs wanted to know what the plan is going forward to address some of the problems with CQUE.
8. CWA LOCAL 7200 CQUE PLAN
1) The Local will continue to file grievances on CQUE Written Warnings and
Documented Discussions.
Note: As I mentioned earlier,
the local union has not been made aware of all the CQUE Documented Discussions
that have been given out to COTs/FAs. Please ask for union representation when
you are called into a CQUE Documented Discussion.
2) We will continue to press management to notify the
Management continues to say that Documented Discussions are not disciplinary in
nature and so therefore they don't have to notify the union. From what I
understand, the Company's Labor Relations Department backs them up on
this. We disagree with their position and believe Documented Discussions are a
form of discipline since they CAN lead to disciplinary action and end up in the
COTs’ Personnel Files.
3) In addition to those grievances, we will submit Request of Information
letters to Central Office management about any and all information pertaining
to the specific CQUE charges in the Written Warnings and Documented Discussions
that we filed grievances on.
4) We will also send a Request of Information letter requesting the monthly
CQUE reports for all COTs/FAs in the Minneapolis RCA, in order to get an idea
of what is transpiring. We will monitor the results of this request and if
necessary we may file an Unfair Labor Practice with the National Labor
Relations Board.
5) We will continue to communicate with other CWA locals within Qwest to keep a
pulse on what's happening in other areas and to get ideas about better
practices to address the unfair aspects of the CQUE policy.
6) We will continue to encourage COTs/FAs to investigate all CQUE
"quality" charges against them to judge the fairness of the charges.
If unfairness is detected, COTs/FAs should challenge these charges (in writing)
along with requesting management to comment on your analysis of the CQUE
information you provide them.
7) We will continue to encourage Central Office workers to strive for quality
in all aspects of their work by taking adequate time to test all circuits after
they are wired up. Quality of work should take a priority over quantity of
work. Take your time to do things right and allow for as much testing as
possible.
8) We will request that Central Office management make the following changes:
a. Reduce the 30-day time frame that COTs/FAs are held responsible after
circuits have been installed, tested, and accepted.
After the circuit has been installed and tested; the time frame after the
due date that COTs are held responsible for the circuit should be 3 days or
less or whenever the circuit has been accepted. The unfairness of the 30-day
time frame is causing too many problems for Central Office frontline workers
for it to make sense for management to keep such a CQUE policy in place.
b. Allow for a "CQUE Exceptions" on CQUE hits COTs/FAs receive - that
are outside of their control. Once the COT/FA provides ample evidence to
Central Office management as to why they should not be held liable for
something outside of their control, management should provide (in writing) a
response back so as to indicate that the specific CQUE hit will not be held
against them or give a reason why they are denying the COT/FA's request.
c. Make sure there is adequate time allotted for Power COT routines so that
the company does its part to keep the workplace safe in areas of high voltage.
d. Systematically inform COTs/FAs as soon as possible on all CQUE
"quality" hits charged against them so that COTs/FAs have adequate
time to investigate charges against them.
e. Reduce the harshness of the CQUE system that is applied once a person is on
a three month Developmental Plan. The
idea that one "not meet" in a 3 month period finds a COT/FA on a CQUE
Written Warning, is excessive.
Note: I did hear from
management in the month of December, 2007, that they made an adjustment to this
aspect of the CQUE system by allowing COTs/FAs a break if they are clean for 2
months but barely miss the third month on the Developmental Plan. That’s a good
step but management needs to do more in order to address the unfairness of the
CQUE system.)
In conclusion, we ask that all COTs/FAs take CQUE charges seriously by making sure they adequately investigate the "guilty until proven innocent" CQUE charges, along with communicating their concerns to Central Office management. It is unlikely that management will get rid of the CQUE system since there are a lot of bean counter types in management that are drawn to such a system. That means we need to work hard to get to address CQUE unfairness whenever we come across it.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW
YEAR TO ALL!!