OH boy! I knew when I posted the buy stock remark it would spur some some lively responses.It was kind of "tongue and cheek" remark . The fact is though, UPS has a obligation to the share holders and the management seem to be serving them well in the form of profit and returns.I don't like the cut cut cut attidude of management that is why I am a steward.I try to enforce the contractor every day sometimes without much help from my fellow employees. The moral of the story from my point of view is that UPS is sucessful company that is less than perfect in an imperfect world that compensates its employees pretty well ( because of the IBT).A lot of people are out of work but we are getting raises and have excellant health care which we only pay for in the form of sweat.
Ps I buy stock via the discount employee purchase plan every week. I just wish they would go back to the 10% discount instead of the 5% now that they appear to be so healthy. Fat chance ! See what I mean less than perfect.
My time at UPS although hard (I am 56 yrs old) is refreshing.Look I am pro union and been told a pretty good steward and like I have said earlier the company is not perfect. As union members we need to call them on their transgressions.But trust me its not that bad I have seen the other side.May I offer Walmart for example or maybe our competition FEDEX. How do they stack up in pay and benefits.
I think it was Churchill?? who once said that a society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners. I think a company can be and should be judged by how it treats its employees. In that case, if you look over how UPS discards its employees just because they do not move fast enough or use the exact way or method of delivering or handling a package, etc , absolutely, this company mistreats its employees.
My original point was and is this very profittable company was MADE profittable by the blood and sweat of these workers who are then not only NOT rewarded, but they are spit out. This isn't GM! Through the recent hard times, UPS MADE profits. And now after they survive those tough times, they go after long time employees like friend/T clerks.
This is why UPS Corporate is acting in a very unethical and immoral manner. Yes, that behavior, that practice HAS to be exposed to the general public. All the general public basically sees is their UPS driver and a few slick commercials on TV. They have no clue of the decisions made in the cold, dark board room in Atlanta. "Attention, attention must finally be paid!"
PT Stewie, thank you for your posts, quoted above. I believe they contain some real wisdom and many who have contributed to this thread would do well to reread them.
You know, when a conversation goes deeper into certain subjects, depending on who I am hanging around with in a particular moment, I have felt like either a leftist socialist Marxist or a right-wing, libertarian, free market captalist. God help me. And God help our polarized and messed up world.
Amid all of the passion on this thread, from you and others, 804brown, you make a good point with your quote "a society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners." (I think "prisoners" may actually be "most vulnerable members," but the point is the same.) However, even though I consider myself a loyal Teamster, I have a problem with the title of this thread "How dare UPS layoff workers after profitting $5.8 BILLION in 2010?" and many of the other things you have said.
It appears to me that you completely fail to distinguish between actual contract violations for which the company should most certainly be called on, and lawful, legitimate, and I would argue even ethical changes to operations that cause a certain amount of suffering to certain individuals (FT clerks at present, for example). One quality that successful people and organizations possess is the ability to adapt to a changing world and reinvent themselves.
Cities, once upon a time, employed lamp lighters to light gas powered street lights. Not even the wealthiest communities have kept on the payroll a bunch of lamp lighters with nothing to do because "we are so rich, have so much, and, at least the decent among us, will feel better knowing we didn't lay off and bring suffering upon some poor soul of far humbler means." If this seems a bit far fetched consider...
As another example: the railroads. Once upon a time, there was not just a need for engineers and conductors, but also firemen (to shover the coal) and brakemen (to set brakes). With technological development, on modern diesel-electric trains, those people are simply uneeded. Freight trains of the past operated with five man crews. Today its two. The Brotherhood of Railway Firemen tried, and for a time put up a successful resistance, but it prooved to be a loosing battle. Union person though I am, certain unrealistic labor arrangements, I believe, made some lean times (60s, 70s) for the railroads even leaner, but with reasonable changes, today, the industry is once again not only strong, but growing and hiring people for well paying jobs.
If UPS concludes they can accomplish something without a particular job, I see nothing unethical about eliminating that position, even if the company had made 580 billion. In fact, they have a duty to the shareholder to eliminate that job. (Though I am not happy to see someone out of work.)
You say you want to expose UPS' behavior to the general public. I say go for it. Take aim at harassment and other mistreatment. Grieve actual contract violoations. But don't bog yourself down lamenting what most objective people (myself included) will view as progress, even if it comes with some pain. Pick your battles wisely!
