ARTICLE 6.
MAINTENANCE OF STANDARDS

Section 1. Maintenance of Standards

The Employer agrees, subject to the following provisions, that all conditions of employment in his/her individual operation relating to wages, hours of work, overtime differentials and general working conditions shall be maintained at not less than the highest standards in effect at the time of the signing of this Agreement, and the conditions of employment shall be improved whenever specific provisions for improvement are made elsewhere in this Agreement.

Local Standards

  (a) The Local Unions and the Employer shall, within one hundred eighty (180) days following ratification of this Agreement, identify and reduce to writing, and submit to the appropriate Regional Joint Area Committee, those local standards and conditions practiced under this Article.  Such standards and conditions when submitted in accordance with this Section shall be currently dated.  Those local standards and conditions previously practiced hereunder which are not so submitted shall be deemed to have expired.

The appropriate Regional Joint Area Committee shall, not later than ninety (90) days following ratification, adopt a procedure to consider the disposition of the local standards and conditions submitted including the right to appoint a subcommittee to make recommendations.  The Regional Joint Area Committee shall provide to the parties the opportunity to present their views.  The Regional Joint Area Committee shall have the sole discretion to determine the disposition of the submitted local standards and conditions which determination shall be final and binding.

Individual Employer Standards

  (b) Individual Employers may during the life of this Agreement file with the appropriate Regional Joint Area Committee and request review of those individual standards and conditions claimed or practiced under this Article which exceed the provisions of this Agreement and Supplemental Agreements.

The Regional Joint Area Committee shall develop a procedure to review the filing including the right to appoint a subcommittee to make recommendations.  The Committee shall make every effort to adjust the matter.  If the Committee reaches agreement concerning the disposition of the individual standards or conditions, the decision of the Committee shall be final and binding.  In the event of deadlock, the submitted standards and/or conditions shall continue as practiced.

General

  (c) It is agreed that the provisions of this Article shall not apply to inadvertent or bona fide errors made by the Employer or the Union in applying the terms and conditions of this Agreement.  Such bona fide errors may be corrected at any time.

No other Employer shall be bound by the voluntary acts of another Employer when he/she may exceed the terms of this Agreement.

Any disagreement between the Local Union and the Employer with respect to this matter shall be subject to the grievance procedure.

This provision does not give the Employer the right to impose or continue wages, hours and working conditions less than those contained in this Agreement.

Section 2. Extra Contract Agreements

  (a) The Employer agrees not to enter into any agreement or contract with its employees, individually or collectively, which in any way conflicts with the terms and provisions of this Agreement.  Any such agreement shall be null and void.

  (b) Every profit-sharing plan, condition, or incentive plan of any type, whether or not it alters or amends the economic conditions contained in this Agreement, must be negotiated and agreed to by TNFINC prior to implementation.  Nothing in this Section shall be construed to apply to existing safety programs or other prizes or bonus items the receipt of which do not alter the economic terms of this Agreement.

Section 3. Workweek Reduction

If either the Fair Labor Standards Act or the Hours of Service Regulations are subsequently amended so as to result in substantial penalties to either the employees or the Employer, a written notice shall be sent by either party requesting negotiations to amend those provisions which are affected.

Thereafter, the parties shall enter into immediate negotiations
for the purpose of arriving at a mutually satisfactory solution.  In
 the event the parties cannot agree on a solution within sixty (60) days, or mutually agreed extensions thereof, after receipt of the stated written notice, either party shall be allowed economic recourse.

Section 4. New Equipment

Where new types of equipment and/or operations for which rates of pay are not established by this Agreement are put into use after April 1, 2003, within operations covered by this Agreement, rates governing such operations shall be subject to negotiations between the parties.

In the event agreement cannot be reached within sixty (60) days after date such equipment is put into use, the matter may be submitted to the National Grievance Committee for final disposition.  Rates agreed upon or awarded shall be effective as of the date equipment is put into use.

The above provisions shall also apply in the event the law (state or federal) is changed to permit longer combination vehicles or aggregate weight increases of 8,000 pounds or more in the weight limits that are currently provided in the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982.

Employees expected to use computers will be trained to use them and will be paid for all training time.  Employees expected to use computers will be given sufficient time to learn to use them.