This is a letter I wrote to J Hoffa as a last resort to my situation, I am waiting for a responce.....
Dear Mr. Hoffa,
I do hope this letter finds you well, and I hope you can find the time to read it. I feel like a drowning man cluching at straws and fear this letter is my last hope .
I have been an employee at ups for over 15 years, I have never had a problem and always loved my job , up until last year that is.
A new building manager was appointed to the cerritos hub mid year , I had heard rumers that he was there to clean house. I didnt pay to much attention to this as I am a hard worker and an honest empoyee , so what should I have to watch my back for ??
What I didnt count on was this guy just takeing an immediate dislikeing to me, I`m a well liked person and try my best to be respectful and polite to everyone, what i didnt realise was that it was not me , it was the tattoos I have on my arms . I was told I had to wear long sleeve shirts and must cover them at all times, I wasnt even alowed to order my own uniforms long sleeve shirts were ordered for me. Now I could understand if i had a naked women or vulgarities on my skin that could be offensive, but I have nothing like that at all , its mostly asian , a few cherry blossoms and some koi fish.
This guy was watching everything I did, he would call my center manager to see if I was late punching in , he would check my time everyday and even wrote me up for being 1 minute early takeing my lunch.
I was makeing my first bulk stop of the morning and dislocated my shoulder lifting an oversize package onto the dock, it was in agony , I called the center around 9 30 am and explained my situation to them and was told to wait for a supervisor to arrive . after what seemed like an eternity i was met by an on road sup. I was a little confused as to how he expected me to drive one of the trucks back to the hub , but he explained how I would actually be spending the rest of the day sitting in the jump seat navigating for him.
We returned to the hub around 8.00 pm , that is one of the worst days of my life , I felt sick to my stomach, I had hot chills and was running a fever,
I called in the injury and was told to take off the rest of the week if I wished (rather than go to the clinic ) It was late and i just wanted to get home to see the wife and kids, the thought of a 4 day weekend was very appealing , I had been trying to get a couple of days off for over a month with no luck so thats what i did .
I reported for work 8.30 monday morning feeling ok but I could tell there was something seriusly wrong with my shoulder . I informed my center manager of this and requested a visit to the clinic but he explained how they were very short staffed and if there would be any way I could possibly hold off a couple of days as the staffing should be better towards the middle of the week. Reluctently I agreed to work the Monday but i wasnt sure if I could make it through to Wed and I would play it by ear.
The day went quite well and i got a little help from my center team. On the way into the building i saw a taco truck parked and decided to eat, I called my center team to ask if anyone was hungry and ended up buying a dozen or so tacos for the dispatch and a few sup`s.
After I CLOCKED OUT for the evening I went into the center office to B S and eat a few tacos , I never imagened how a kind guesture could turn around and bite me so hard, i got some grissle out of the taco stck in my throat , not only was I choking but it was hot as hell, I couldnt breath or ask for help all i could do was point at my throat and wonder why no one was doing anything to help me, I could feel myself starting to pass out and was in full panic mode.
luckily for me one of my customers had given me a gift basket that day which included some cheese,crackers varius chips and some bottles of imported beer.
I grabbed one of the beers from the basket and took 2 or 3 huge gulps, dislodgeing the taco from my throat. Forgetting about the pain in my arm and feeling lucky to be alive I went home.
As I was walking towards the time clock tuesday morning around 8.15 I could see the building manager standing by the time clock with a big smile on his face , looking remarkably like the cheshire cat from alice in wonderland. He still had that grin on his face the whole time that I was at my fitness for duty test and also while he terminated my employment for drinking alcahol on company property. I dont know for a fact , but I bet he had a smile on his face when he canceled my health insurance knowing I have 3 children 1 with a heart condition. my insurance ran out 2 days later .
I tried for 3 weeks to get a hold of someone at UPS to take care of my shoulder injury in the end I gave up and hired lawyer .
I have been off work for 8 months now , I have had a major operation on my shoulder and am looking at at least 3 more months of theropy before I will be able to see what use of my arm i will get back. my house is going to for close any day I am eating vicadine like m @ m`s I ` ll be lucky if my family pulls through this one together , my poor wife is going through hell Thank God my children have not been sick and my daughter has not had any problems with her heart , The union has told me to stop calling them everyday to find out whats going on . How long should this B S take , I just want an answer so I can get on with the rest of my life, 8 months waiting for an arbitration that I will probably lose . Then what? , Ive worked for UPS since i was 18 they have ruined my shoulder and seem to want to ruin my life.
I am asking for your help in this matter sir, I have been a proud union member for 16 years my dues are always paid on time and i am in good standings, I understand that you are busy and that my local is also probably very busy, but I am desperate and feel I have no one to turn to for answers. 8 months is a long depressing time when you dont know what lies ahead for you .If I lose my arbitration (if and when I have one) then so be it , but at least then I can carry on with my life and do what I need to do.
My local union is 396 my local rep is Rich Pacheco and I have been a proud teamster since 1992 .
please feel free to contact me any time - -- - - - - - - -
CC. teamsters local 396, the better buisness beurau, the CA labour board ,UPS
