UPDATE:
During arbitration on June 30, 2016 and July 1, 2016, Beecher Falls SBPA Zavala indicated that Swanton Sector Management disagreed with EMS’s assessment that an Agent suffered from mild hypothermia.
To support his position, SBPA Zavala stated that the only accurate way to take his temperature would have been to administer a rectal thermometer.
To wit, Zavala stated: “With the equipment I have, it would have been necessary to use the invasive method of inserting the thermometer into the anal region to obtain core body temperature. The anal cavity is a sealed orifice, which is not affected by outside effects such as wind and stuff. In the oral cavity, the person may have drank cold water or…..as they are traveling with their mouth open…. air comes into their wet mouth and cools it.”
Just imagine your reaction if your Supervisor tells you that the only equipment he/she has to take your temperature is an anal thermometer and because any other method just isn’t accurate enough for management. Also, consider that this is not the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in emergency rooms throughout the United States.
For clarification purposes, Local 2266 feels compelled to advise the membership that they are not required to submit to Swanton Sector Management’s literal or figurative desires to “stick it to them.”
Watch your “six!”
Published on June 21 2014
Chief Patrol Agent John Pfeifer is disregarding the exclusive representative of Swanton Sector agents and has let his managers run amuck. His actions have revealed that there are two standards in Swanton Sector: one for managers and another for Union members. Union members are being held to higher standards of conduct and facing greater levels of discipline for violating those standards.
The Union has repeatedly brought their concerns to Chief Pfeifer only to have them ignored. This failure of Chief Pfeifer to take the Union’s concerns seriously has given a green light to Patrol Agent In Charge (PAIC) Kuhn of the Beecher Falls Station to conduct operations in a dangerous manner. Continue reading »