Jay L Schollmeyer Local Chairman 1637 Portland, OR 97215 Email jay@jaysworks.com

Listed are issues concerning payroll that need to be addressed or fixed.

1. Proper codes. I am receiving declinations where the employee used the wrong code. Other times the employee will use code 99 because they did not know which code to use. In the first rollout of TSS the employees were told to use code 99 if they could not find the right code. But now a code 99 is an automatic declination.
   The codes need to be re-issued showing where applicable (GN, SP&S.NP, ATSF, etc.).
   
2. Claimed properly a lot of declinations are coming in where the employee did not make the claim properly. For example FTD and overtime, in RTE we would claim FTD until tie-up and RTE would stop the FTD and pay overtime. Now employees are getting messages to only claim FTD until overtime has commenced. Timekeepers have told my people if they don't start claiming FTD correctly the FTD claims would be cut entirely.
   The frustration level would be reduced immensely if timekeeper would issue circulars explaining exactly what they expect on a ticket. A note on a declination reaches one employee where a circular would reach everybody in the terminal.
   
3. Local approval, as you know I have voiced my opinion on this issues more then once.
   I submitted a claim on behalf of an employee using my LC number. The claim was for switching conductor only. I put in the remarks word for word from the 1993 Crew Consist Agreement. The declination stated claim was not supported by schedule rules.
   Is timekeeping unwilling to research a penalty claim or is BNSF declining all penalty claims?

JL Schollmeyer
Local Chairman 1637

cc: JD Fitzgerald
      G Smith

Jay L Schollmeyer Vice General Chairman Portland, OR 97215 Email jay@jaysworks.com

     Ms Hughes, the last couple weeks the amount of claims I had been receiving has dropped considerably. So I decided to spend some time checking with employees and see if they were in fact getting declines. This endeavor turned into a two day project

What I had learned is a lot of employees do not understand where and how to look for declinations. Employees who know they have declinations do not have a clear understanding of how to proceed with their declines. Some employees were misled into thinking this system was paperless and Local Chairmen do not need supporting documentation to appeal a claim.

As Mr. Fitzgerald and I had feared there are employees who are shorting themselves with the time to miles conversion due to fatigue and just plain human error.

I went from being caught up with my claims to being swamped with 75 plus declinations and I still have not reached all the people

For your information, the rollout of TK2000 has cost my local $3,000 in my lost earnings dealing with your system. This includes the initial rates of pay shortages to my recent mentoring and time lost writing appeals.

   If you recall back in July of 1997 at Denver and again in August of 1997 in Fort Worth I was very vocal about having a complete working system and assurances of proper training. In February of 1998 I refused to be apart of the TSS rollout team as I felt this system was flawed and a incomplete system that was not user friendly. In spite of the protests, this system was rollout piecemeal and as of this writing programming fixes are still being requested.

    In closing I would like to respond to your comment made on the conference call with all the former BNRR General Chairmen last October where you stated that "TSS has been running on one-third of the former ATSF with minimal problems". I want to inform you that TK2000 is flawed in two-thirds of the former BNRR and is stealing wages from untrained/unknowing employees.

JL Schollmeyer
Vice General Chairman

cc: JD Fitzgerald