Wage grade mechanic working with contract machanics

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   I am a wage grade mechanic WG9.  I work in a tradoc AIT unit maintaining their generators and trucks.  The unit is moving to another base. (the brac) The army is paying me a 25% incentive to move and all pcs expenses and buy my house.  All this is good.  Once the move is complete we ( me and one co-worker same job, and grade) will be going to a consolidated maintance  facility.  All the mechanics there are contractors, and some green suiters cw2 and cw4 The only one that is not a contractor is a GS 12 Just recently retired and dosn't seem to know the system. He is the head guy. I was told that I would be expected to do what ever the contractor does, ie Bumper to bumper maintenance from replacing a tire to replacing a engine in a hemmit. Right now we just do organizational maintance.  And the shop forman is a contractor.  He tells all mechanics what to do.  I have already told the warrants that we don't work for contractors, but am not sure how he will handle that, he told me to be flexible.  I don't want to go into the shop telling the management what, and what I won't do, but at the same time I don't care to get screwed.  I have told them that my PD will need to get changed, and they told me " we will see"  How do I handle this situation.  BTW I work in a active duty unit with a First Sgt and commander. The command really has taken care of with time off awards, and has upped our grade from a wg 7 to a WG 9. They don't want us to go, but the Top brass has made this a priority.  What to do?

Thank you in advance

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bob2194 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 30 Oct 2009 Posts: 3	Post Options Post Reply Quote bob2194 Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Wage grade mechanic working with contract machanics Posted: 30 Oct 2009 at 5:39pm
	I am a wage grade mechanic WG9. I work in a tradoc AIT unit maintaining their generators and trucks. The unit is moving to another base. (the brac) The army is paying me a 25% incentive to move and all pcs expenses and buy my house. All this is good. Once the move is complete we ( me and one co-worker same job, and grade) will be going to a consolidated maintance facility. All the mechanics there are contractors, and some green suiters cw2 and cw4 The only one that is not a contractor is a GS 12 Just recently retired and dosn't seem to know the system. He is the head guy. I was told that I would be expected to do what ever the contractor does, ie Bumper to bumper maintenance from replacing a tire to replacing a engine in a hemmit. Right now we just do organizational maintance. And the shop forman is a contractor. He tells all mechanics what to do. I have already told the warrants that we don't work for contractors, but am not sure how he will handle that, he told me to be flexible. I don't want to go into the shop telling the management what, and what I won't do, but at the same time I don't care to get screwed. I have told them that my PD will need to get changed, and they told me " we will see" How do I handle this situation. BTW I work in a active duty unit with a First Sgt and commander. The command really has taken care of with time off awards, and has upped our grade from a wg 7 to a WG 9. They don't want us to go, but the Top brass has made this a priority. What to do? Thank you in advance

dennisde6 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 29 Oct 2009 Posts: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote dennisde6 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 04 Nov 2009 at 3:21pm
	Bob2194: You need to contact the local union representative or find out if there is a union rep. at the new place where you are going. There will be a union agreement signed by the base commander that addresses Position Descriptions and who can tell WG 9's what to do on the job. It sounds like you are heading towards being treated like a contractor. That GS-12 will leave all of your daily duties up to the contractor foreman and that is not legal. They cannot make you work for a contractor. You are correct about your PD. If they expect you to do other duties (pull engines) that are not in your current PD then you would be working outside of your job description for performance evaluation purposes. Also, the contractor foreman cannot do your performance evaluation. They may need to promote one of you to WS. Good luck and let us know what happened.

bob2194 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 30 Oct 2009 Posts: 3	Post Options Post Reply Quote bob2194 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 05 Nov 2009 at 1:03pm
	Thanks for the reply. I will take a wait and see postion. I will be reporting Jan 31 and will see what happens then. Once agin thanks!

Red223 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 379	Post Options Post Reply Quote Red223 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 06 Nov 2009 at 5:33am
	Look at the Federal Wage Grade grading standard for 5803 (heavy equipment mechanic) or 5823 (motor vehicle mechanic)...whichever you are. Both of them state you are not a mechanic. To be a mechanic you must be a WG-10 or higher. You are only a repairer to assist a mechanic. So you will assist contractors? Sounds like complete Contract Fraud. Immediately contact the Department of Defense IG. I know of Active Duty that were ordered to Kuwait to "work" under contractors. The GI's ended up doing all the vehicle maintenance work...and the Contractor ended up taking home all the millions. You may be entering one of them scenarios. Contractors are not Federal Employee's. Something smells fishy.

bob2194 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 30 Oct 2009 Posts: 3	Post Options Post Reply Quote bob2194 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 06 Nov 2009 at 8:50am
	IMy Pd is Equipment inspector/mechanic 5801. The Pd state that I inspect determine why it malfuncioned order the parts and insure it gets to the proper repair falcility. I'm not even a mechinic. The new company wants us to be mechanics, which is fine by me if they fix the PD (it needs to be fixed). A intresting note is the gaining unit has another inspector job posted on the jobs listing at cpac same job, same pay. I think someone at the gaining unit needs to get educated on what a pd is and hire for the job thay want done. I am sure there is going to be some growing pains.

blueRoo Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 10 Dec 2009 Posts: 90	Post Options Post Reply Quote blueRoo Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 13 Feb 2010 at 5:12pm
	Last time I worked a job like that an "inspector" was a WG-11. Red223 is correct, "Mechanics" are WG-10s. I find it interesting that your paybands are WG-07/09. When I was a mechanic, the bands were WG-01,02,03,04,05, 08, 10 and inspectors were WG-11s. Supervisors were WS-09, 10 or 11. Of course my work was depot level. Perhaps more routine maintenance jobs are a few grades lower than what I presented? The good thing about being classified as a WG-XX is that they really cannot force you to work outside of your job description and you have very clear working guidelines. That usually include -- and other duties as assigned. (But to assign you under that classification it can't be a major part of your job, or they will have to issue you an appropriate detail document.)

MT principessa Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Location: NC Posts: 208	Post Options Post Reply Quote MT principessa Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 14 Feb 2010 at 2:02pm
	WG05 pull tires, change tires, change oil and basic preventative maint. (aka Jiffy Lube). The WG08 can do a bit more, but not totally on their own. The WG10 are journeyman mechanics. According to what the OP has stated, he is not journeyman level. Either the PD gets changed, or he changes oil and does basic things. Inspectors are not all WG11, it depends where you are. Find a union rep where you are going. yes, you can work under a GS12. A lot of maintenance shops are run by GS12's vs. a WSXX. It has to do with paperwork and management. The WS10's are floor supervisors, although some do have offices. The WL10's pass out the work to the mechanics and can write up work. Inspectors were done away with as WL10's can do the same work.