ARTICLE 5.
SENIORITY RIGHTS

Section 1.

  (a) The application of seniority which has been accrued herein shall be established in the Supplemental Agreements.

  (b) Seniority shall be broken only by discharge, voluntary quit, retirement, or more than a five (5) - year layoff.

  (c) This Section shall apply to all Supplemental Agreements.

Section 2. Mergers of Companies-General

  (a) In the event the Employer is a party to a merger of lines, seniority of the employees who are affected thereby shall be determined by mutual agreement between the Employer and the Local Unions involved.

In the application of this Section, it is immaterial whether the transaction is called a merger, purchase, acquisition, sale, etc.  Further, it is also immaterial whether the transaction involves merely the purchase of stock of one (1) corporation by another, with two (2) separate corporations continuing in existence.

  (b) If such merger of companies results in the combination of terminals or over-the-road operations, a change of operations shall be submitted to the Co-Chairmen of the National Grievance Committee for assignment to an appropriate Change of Operations Committee established pursuant to Article 8, Section 6. The Change of Operations Committee shall retain jurisdiction for one (1) year after the effective date of the Committee decision and shall have the authority to amend its decision in the event of a substantial change in the amount of work to be performed at the terminals or over-the-road operations which were combined.

Combining of Terminals or Operations as a Result of Merger of Companies

  (c) In the application of this Section, when terminals or operations of two (2) or more companies are combined, as referred to above, the following general rules shall be applied by the Employer and the Local Unions, which general rules are subject to modification pursuant to the provisions of Section 4 of this Article:

Active Seniority List

  (1) The active employee seniority rosters (excluding those employees on letter of layoff) shall be “dovetailed” by appropriate classification (i.e., road or city) in the order of each employee’s full continuous classification (road or city) seniority date that the employee is currently exercising. (The term “continuous classification seniority” as used herein is defined as that seniority which the employee is currently exercising and has not been broken in the manner provided in Section 1 of this Article or by voluntary changes in domicile not directed, approved or ordered by a Change of Operations Committee.) The active “dovetailed” seniority roster shall be utilized first and until exhausted to provide employment at such combined terminal or operational location.

Layoff Seniority List

  (2) In addition, the inactive seniority rosters (employees who are on letter of layoff) shall be similarly “dovetailed” by appropriate classification.  If additional employees are required after the active list is exhausted, they shall be recalled from such inactive seniority roster and after recall such employees shall be “dovetailed” into the active seniority roster with their continuous classification (road or city) seniority dates they are currently exercising which shall then be exercised for all purposes.  Seniority rosters previously combining job classifications shall be continued unless otherwise agreed.

Temporary Authority

  (d) Where only temporary authority is granted in connection with any of the transactions described above, then separate seniority lists shall continue only when terminals or operations are not merged, unless otherwise agreed.  The Employer which is to survive will assume the obligations of both collective bargaining agreements during the period of the temporary authority.

In the event of temporary merger of operations which are contingent upon approval by regulatory agencies or on other stated conditions, the seniority of the involved employees shall continue to accrue with their original Employer during the period of temporary merger, so that if there is no final consummation of the merger, the seniority of such employees shall be continued with their respective employers.  However, if, on the failure of final consummation and dissolution of the merger, one of the parties to the proposed merger discontinues the operations which were subject to such merger, the employees of such Employer shall be granted seniority rights for all purposes with the other Employer only for the period of time they were employed in such temporary merged operations.

Purchase of Rights

  (e) If a merger, purchase, acquisition, sale, etc., constitutes merely the acquisition of permits or rights, without the purchase or acquisition of equipment or terminals, and/or without the consolidation of terminals or operations, or in the event of the purchase of rights during bankruptcy proceedings, the following shall apply:

Where the purchasing company has a terminal operation at the domicile of the employees of the seller, the employees of the selling company shall be placed on a master seniority list, and the purchasing company or companies shall hire, after recall of the purchasing company’s employees from layoff, such employees as needed for regular employment within the first twelve (12) calendar months after purchase or acquisition of permits and/or rights, and they shall be dovetailed with full seniority.  If an employee refuses a bona fide offer of regular work opportunity with any of the purchasing companies, his/her name shall be removed from the list.  No employee hired under this provision shall be required to serve a probationary period.  After the expiration of the aforementioned twelve (12) calendar month period, the purchaser shall have no further obligation to the employees of the seller.

However, if the purchasing or acquiring company does not have and/or continue a terminal or operation at the domicile of the employees of the seller, resulting in their layoff, such Employer shall place the laid-off employees on a master seniority list and such Employer shall, if and when additional regular employees are required, within a twelve (12) - calendar month period after purchase or acquisition, and providing its employees on layoff have been recalled, offer employment to such laid-off employees at the terminal locations or operations to which the work has been transferred.  Any such laid-off employees accepting transfer shall be dovetailed in accordance with their terminal seniority for work purposes, including layoff, and holding company seniority for all fringes.  If an employee refuses a bona fide offer of regular work opportunity with any of the purchasing companies, his/her name shall be removed from the list.  No employee hired under this provision shall be required to serve a probationary period.  After the expiration date of the aforementioned twelve (12) - calendar month period, the purchaser shall have no further obligation to the employees of the seller.  The transferring employee shall be responsible for lodging and moving expenses.

Exclusive Cartage Operations

  (f) If in connection with the transactions described in these rules the successor Employer determines to discontinue the use of a local cartage company, the employees of that local cartage company who have worked exclusively on the pickup and delivery service which is retained by the successor Employer shall be given the opportunity to continue to perform such service as an employee of such successor Employer, and shall have their seniority “dovetailed” as described in the above rules.
Committee Authority

  (g) Area and/or State Committees created pursuant to Local Supplements which have previously established rules of seniority, not contrary to the provisions of such Supplements, and approved by the Joint Area Committee, may continue to apply such rules if such rules are reduced to writing.

Section 3. Intent of Parties

  (a) The parties acknowledge that the above rules are intended solely as general standards and further that many factual situations will be presented which necessitate different application, modification or amendment.  Accordingly, the parties acknowledge that questions of the application of seniority rights may arise which require different treatment and it is anticipated and understood that the Employers and Unions jointly involved and/or the respective grievance committees may mutually agree to such disposition of questions of seniority which in their judgment is appropriate under the circumstances.

  (b) In all instances, the disposition of questions involving the application of seniority rights made by the parties pursuant to this Section may be presented to the appropriate grievance committees provided herein whose decisions shall be final and binding.

Section 4. Equipment Purchases

  (a) The Employer shall not require as a condition of continued employment, that an employee purchase truck, tractor and/or tractor and trailer or other vehicular equipment, or that any employees purchase or assume any proprietary interest or other obligation in the business, except as referred to in Article 6, Section 2. The requirements of this provision shall be maintained during the renegotiation of this Agreement unless either party has terminated the Agreement in the manner provided.

Highest Rates Prevail

  (b) If the minimum wage, hours and working conditions in the Company absorbed differ from those minimums set forth in this Agreement and Supplements thereto, the higher of the two shall remain in effect for the employees so absorbed.

Cutting Seniority Board

  (c) The Union reserves the right to cut the road seniority board when the average weekly earnings fall to eight hundred twenty-five dollars ($825.00) or less.  This is not to be construed as imposing a limitation on earnings.  After the Union notifies the Employer to cut the board and in the event that Employer refuses, the Union shall immediately submit the matter to the grievance procedure.  In determining whether average weekly earnings will fall to eight hundred twenty-five dollars ($825.00) or less, only the earnings of the lower twenty-five percent (25%) of the drivers on the seniority board, counting from the bottom up, shall be considered.  The average shall be calculated for the thirty (30) day period preceding the Union’s original request.  After such calculation is made, the average earnings of the drivers for the top seventy-five percent (75%) of the seniority board must also average more than eight hundred twenty-five dollars ($825.00) per week, or layoff shall be made in accordance with seniority.  The above provisions shall also apply to extra board for sleeper drivers exclusively.

Posting Seniority List

  (d) The Employer shall give the Local Union a seniority list at least every six (6) months.  The Employer shall also post a seniority list at least once every six (6) months and shall maintain a current seniority roster at the terminal.  Protest of any employee’s seniority date or position on such list must be made in writing to the Employer within thirty (30) days after such seniority date or position first appears, and if no protests are timely made, the dates and positions posted shall be deemed correct.  Any such protest which is timely made may be submitted to the grievance procedure.

Section 5. Work Opportunity

Over-the-road employees, who are on letter of layoff, shall be given an opportunity to transfer to permanent over-the-road employment (prior to the employment of new hires) occurring at other over-the-road domiciles of the Employer located within the Regional area provided they notify the Employer in writing of their interest in a transfer opportunity.  The offer of transfer will be made in the order of continuous over-the-road seniority of the laid-off drivers domiciled within the Regional area.  The Employer shall be required to make additional offers of transfer to an employee who has previously rejected a transfer opportunity provided the employee again notifies the Employer in writing of his/her continued interest in additional transfer opportunities. However, the Employer will only be required to make one transfer offer in any six (6) calendar month period.  Any employee accepting such offer shall be paid at the employee’s applicable rate of pay and shall be placed at the bottom of the seniority board for bidding and layoff purposes, but shall retain company seniority for fringe benefits only.  A transferring employee shall pay his/her own moving expenses and shall, upon reporting to such new domicile, be deemed to have relinquished his/her right to return with seniority to the domicile from which he/she transferred.  The provisions of this Section shall not supersede an established order of call/hiring in the Supplemental Agreement.