You have a live bump when:

1)      you are displaced from your regular assignment by a senior employee,

2)      you are cut from an extraboard,

3)      your regular assignment is abolished,

4)      your regular assignment’s conditions of work change (changes to start time, off days, or on-duty location).Unless one of these things has happened, your bump is a seniority move and it is restricted as outlined below.

 A job must work 1 shift off the extra board before it is available for markup.  This applies to new jobs, as well as to positions that become available after being vacated by a regular assigned employee.  (Exception:  if you have a live bump, you can immediately go to an unassigned position before it has worked from the extra board.  Example:  A and B hold regular jobs.  If A bumps B, then B can immediately go to the position vacated by A, even though it has not worked from the extraboard.)

 Regular assignments are awarded on a seniority basis 2 1/2 hours prior to their on duty time. After a job has worked 1 shift off the extra board, it is available for bid.  If nobody claims a job when it first becomes biddable, it is biddable on following days in exactly the same way. 

(Note:  CMS or the bid clerk will sometimes assign people to jobs before bidding is closed.  Unless the successful bidder has a live bump, all vacant jobs should remain unassigned until 2 1/2 hours before the job start time.  If you are denied a bid because a junior employee was assigned before you have had a chance to ask for a job, claim the earnings of the assignment and call the UTU local chairman.)

 You must work the job for a minimum of 1 shift.  After that, you can mark up on another assignment, vacate the job for the extra board, or make a seniority move.  (For now, there is no minimum hold-down requirement in Oakland yard, although other yards have them.  When a Hub-wide standard yard agreement is formalized, there will probably be a hold-down requirement.)

 Bumps must be made before the job goes on duty, or while it is on duty.  The bump is effective when the job next ties up.  (These requirements are new in Oakland, and are part of the informalstandard yard agreement.Oakland’s 48 hour notification rule is eliminated.)

 When you are bumped, you have48 hours from the time of notification to make a seniority move within the Roseville Service Unit.  Some restrictions apply.  (After 48 hours, you have no bumping rights to regular assignments.  But you can go to an extraboard or to a vacant regular position by application.)

 Restrictions: You must remain in a craft (yard or road) for 60 days.  The only exception to this rule is if you have no seniority options in that craft.  You also must remain in a yard for 30 days before transferring to another yard, unless you have no local yard seniority options.  (Look for this rule to change when yard agreements are standardized.)

Extra board: Once you are on the Oakland switchmen’s extra board, you must remain there 10 days before you can bump to a regular assignment.  However, you can mark up on a biddable vacancy if you have been on the extra board for 24 hours OR have worked one shift off the extra board.

Yard vacation hold-downs.  Any known vacancy of 7 or more days is available for temporary hold-down assignment.  Only employees currently holding seniority in the yard can take a hold-down assignment.  You cannot give up the hold down until the regular employee returns, OR you are displaced from the hold-down by a senior employee, OR you take another hold-down.

Other weird restrictions:  You cannot move from regular job to regular job to pick up extra working shifts within a 7 day period.  It doesn’t matter if you are trying to do this by application or by bumping.  This rule is called “taking the conditions of both assignments” and is a little hard to explain, but here goes: 

If you move from job A to job B with different rest days, you cannot work more than 5 days without taking 2 rest days in a 7 day period.  If you meet the other requirements, it’s probably OK for CMS to let you exercise your seniority to bump or bid onto an assignment, but CMS should notify you that you will be held unavailable for service until you have taken the rest days (1 or 2, depending) of the job you vacated.

Is that clear enough?

Since CMS will almost certainly get this wrong, here are 2 other things you should know:

1)     ^{You are not entitiled for overtime on the 6th or 7th day worked if CMS lets you work.}

2)      The extra board is entitled to claim the earnings of the assignment if you are improperly allowed to work. This only applies to employees making voluntary seniority moves.  The “taking the conditions of both assignments” rule does not apply to employees with a live bump.  If you are bumped around the yard, you can move from job to job and work any number of consecutive shifts.  But you still do not qualify for the overtime rate.

 “EA” VS THE FURLOUGH AND RECALL AGREEMENT.  As far as UTU is concerned, there is no such thing as “evading assignment”.When a yard employee with a live bump cannot or does not exercise seniority within 48 hours, one of 2 things should happen.

1)      If he has sufficient seniority for the extra board, he should be placed there.

2)       If he cannot hold the extra board, he should be placed on the Cut Board at Oakland.You are not required to chase your seniority around the Roseville Hub, although you are free to do so.  If you are recalled from a Cut board you may be required to report, but the railroad is obligated to recall employees from the Cut board nearest to the location where employees are needed.

            You can continue to bid on assignments anywhere in the Hub, but if you are awarded a job via bid, you have no protection against future cuts.

            If you are recalled to work under the Furlough and Recall Agreement, you should be assigned to an extra board (not a regular assignment), and     you are protected from being cut for up to 15 days, depending on how soon you report.

            If you are recalled to a location other than your home terminal, you are entitled to up to 15 days per diem and lodging, depending on how soon you report.