On my last two days of vacation, I got slammed with chills and a cough. I used up a box of facial tissue, downed vitamins, lemon water and made lots of prayers.
24 hours from now I will need to make a decision:
A. Call off from work sick and be written up.
B. Tough it out, go to work, don a mask and hope I can focus on my work so I don’t get hurt—or hurt anyone else.
Either way, I will not get paid (unless I luck out with a “favor” from a manager to use a valuable floating holiday).
This situation is made worse because I put out around $2,000 from my emergency cash reserve to replace a defective refrigerator and diagnose a car that would not start.
Moreover, if I want to avoid being tagged for non-compliance to the CTA’s inferior union employee sickness policy beyond one day, I will need to torture myself through obtaining a continuous leave claim from the CTA’s “third party administrator.”
Additionally, I will need to find a doctor who will examine me and submit paperwork to this entity.
I should not need to worry about job security or loss of income because of a nasty cold. My focus should be healing.
Ironically, if I was a manager, I would have such a benefit.
But that is the consequence of the sick leave waiver our union presidents signed.
This is the reality of life for a CTA worker: Don’t get sick or you will be punished.
No wonder the CTA struggles to maintain adequate staffing. No wonder service is unreliable and inadequate.
This must change.