Make the Teamsters dangerous again

[UPSER1987]

Make the Teamsters dangerous again?
Carey is dead. Teamsters were dangerous when he was at the top. UPS left us alone.
Now? From what I read on the BC,
Company: Bend Over!
Driver: Thank you, Sir! Can I have another?

I laughed at the title of the thread. When were they dangerous the first time lol.

 

[Wally]

Dangerous Teamsters! LOL

Gen SnoFlake? They panic when EDD is late.

 

[Whither]

Make the Teamsters dangerous again?
Carey is dead. Teamsters were dangerous when he was at the top. UPS left us alone.
Now? From what I read on the BC,
Company: Bend Over!
Driver: Thank you, Sir! Can I have another?

The question is, do you or don't you want to help give this union some teeth and claws? And, just sayin', they already do leave some of us rank and file members alone.

I laughed at the title of the thread. When were they dangerous the first time lol.

I'm shocked that a mgmt lackey doesn't know the union's history!

 

[Whither]

Dangerous Teamsters! LOL

Gen SnoFlake? They panic when EDD is late.

That's funny, and I give the younger drivers a hard time when they're hunting for a working DIAD cradle, and likewise remind a few high-seniority drivers they shouldn't be loading or sorting their loads off the clock ...

But at the same time, if we're more interested in blaming each other for the union's weakness than in finding ways to band together to challenge the company ... well, the company will have the last laugh.

 

[BrownFlush]

The question is, do you or don't you want to help give this union some teeth and claws? And, just sayin', they already do leave some of us rank and file members alone.

The answer might be how one defines"leave alone."
You're only as "dangerous"as the leadership. The rank and file I see now wouldn't vote for a strike no matter if you had somebody with twice the noids Carey had.

 

[Whither]

The answer might be how one defines"leave alone."

Regardless of the compromises, the existing contract(s) already give us plenty to enforce. You do the job, follow the methods, and show you have both the knowledge and the willingness to enforce the contract? Mgmt will learn you're not intimidated, e.g., a good Teamster, and it's not worth the trouble.

You're only as "dangerous"as the leadership. The rank and file I see now wouldn't vote for a strike no matter if you had somebody with twice the noids Carey had.

You've gotten things backwards. When the rank and file is ready, bands together and says 'Enough!', not even weak leadership can hold us back. The strongest gains our ancestors ever made didn't happen because a 'leader' decided to show them mercy. Hoffa Jr. was a reflection of collective complacency, and the loss of stronger ties among the membership. When we're isolated, uninvolved, quick to point the finger, etc etc ... well, you get the picture. I'm not naive, but unlike some of the comments on here, I agree with my local president: whatever else you can say about the kids, they do show signs of not putting up with BS on the job, and that should be encouraged. And this 'labor crisis' should not go to waste.

 

[BrownFlush]

Regardless of the compromises, the existing contract(s) already give us plenty to enforce. You do the job, follow the methods, and show you have both the knowledge and the willingness to enforce the contract? Mgmt will learn you're not intimidated, e.g., a good Teamster, and it's not worth the trouble.

Few figure this out.

You've gotten things backwards. When the rank and file is ready, bands together and says 'Enough!', not even weak leadership can hold us back.

Thanks for the laugh.
Be careful out there. Work smarter, not harder.

 

[Coldworld]

Heck I was ready to strike over the current contract when it was foisted on members that actually were engaged enough to vote NO on it. I wasn't all that exited about O Brien's use of the term "militant" as that word made many of my coworkers uncomfortable, but the results of the election are what they are. August of 2023 is still over a year and a half out, so there's plenty outside of our control that could impact negotiations. Who knows where public sentiment will be by then?

I think as workers, and maybe just as important, as dues paying members, it's important at the present to focus on matters we do have control over.

How many of your coworkers who thought the word “militant” was scary actually voted in the election?? I’d rather have someone in office that ups knows could be a wildcard than a prez that will totally turnover to anything the company says..

 

[BrownFlush]

In 2023 UPS we will be the 3rd in packages delivered behind USPS and Amazon.

Years of poor management.

 

[UPSER1987]

The question is, do you or don't you want to help give this union some teeth and claws? And, just sayin', they already do leave some of us rank and file members alone.

I'm shocked that a mgmt lackey doesn't know the union's history!

I’m not the one who needs to know. New hires don’t even know who or what their “Stuart” does. In these times of convenience and technology, can’t even get its members to vote. Lol. GTFO with that “dangerous” .

 

[UnionStrong]

Few figure this out.

Thanks for the laugh.
Be careful out there. Work smarter, not harder.

Long wait

 

[UnionStrong]

I’m not the one who needs to know. New hires don’t even know who or what their “Stuart” does. In these times of convenience and technology, can’t even get its members to vote. Lol. GTFO with that “dangerous” .

 

[Undertow]

How many of your coworkers who thought the word “militant” was scary actually voted in the election?? I’d rather have someone in office that ups knows could be a wildcard than a prez that will totally turnover to anything the company says..

There's no way to give a precise answer to the first question, but it nonetheless is a good question. I will say this. My local's participation rate in voting was pretty much equal to the percentage that voted nationally which not only angered the stewards but the BA and the top man as well. If there's a silver lining in this latest election for the company, it's that pathetic turnout rate among the rank and file once again.

As for the second question - O'Brien's use of the word "militant" certainly didn't prevent me from voting for him as I doubt there's anybody who wanted to stick a finger in Hoffa's eye more than myself after two decades of his ridiculous giveaways, but the word really conjures up images in many people's minds of unruly mobs, looting, violence, etc which those people are very uncomfortable with to the point that they might not have voted for the OZ slate and I personally think that's a loss in some way. At a time when we need more engaged participation among the membership, this inadvertently might have had the opposite effect.

Regardless, I'm extremely pleased to see the Hoffa legacy-clone slate not only lose but suffer essentially a blowout loss.

 

[Whither]

As for the second question - O'Brien's use of the word "militant" certainly didn't prevent me from voting for him as I doubt there's anybody who wanted to stick a finger in Hoffa's eye more than myself after two decades of his ridiculous giveaways, but the word really conjures up images in many people's minds of unruly mobs, looting, violence, etc which those people are very uncomfortable with to the point that they might not have voted for the OZ slate and I personally think that's a loss in some way. At a time when we need more engaged participation among the membership, this inadvertently might have had the opposite effect.

Would these Teamsters be uncomfortable with what happened in Minneapolis, 1934? Because that's also part of our heritage. People forget that it's taken more than voting and other polite procedures to win a decent standard of living and some rights on the job. And now we're in the midst of unions fading away. For example, on this site you have people recently wondering if the federal government would even 'allow' us to strike in 2023, given how vulnerable the supply chains have been. To my mind, that translates to: we have a lot of power, if we can band together. I was telling the manager at a small business that a strike might be on the table and he was in awe. "Imagine!" Then he explained to his secretary how the company has been treating us, how much money they've made, etc etc. I laughed and told him he's got the makings of a good Teamster.

 

[TechnoLuddite]

Do you go to general membership meeting each month?

I might if there was a notice for a general membership meeting that wasn't from when I was still on 30 day probation... we can call the union hall for info of course, but most of us are busy at our second jobs the entire time they're open... and nobody ever told us where to find any contact info for our local...

All we got as PT loaders was a brief hand wave over the union bulletin to check the box that they informed us of its existence... I still have zero idea who my steward is, only reason I have any real connection to the union is the BA cold adding me on Facebook.

This is why you should talk to your loaders -- the most involved might be able to name the BA and that's about it, pretty much everyone else doesn't even realize there's a union informational bulletin, or that there's advocating for ourselves we can and should do. And if we, as brand new employees getting the hang of things, happen to forget the local number that we only ever saw when we signed our membership cards, we're bouncing around a mess of buggy, uninformative local websites.

 

[542thruNthru]

I might if there was a notice for a general membership meeting that wasn't from when I was still on 30 day probation... we can call the union hall for info of course, but most of us are busy at our second jobs the entire time they're open... and nobody ever told us where to find any contact info for our local...

All we got as PT loaders was a brief hand wave over the union bulletin to check the box that they informed us of its existence... I still have zero idea who my steward is, only reason I have any real connection to the union is the BA cold adding me on Facebook.

This is why you should talk to your loaders -- the most involved might be able to name the BA and that's about it, pretty much everyone else doesn't even realize there's a union informational bulletin, or that there's advocating for ourselves we can and should do. And if we, as brand new employees getting the hang of things, happen to forget the local number that we only ever saw when we signed our membership cards, we're bouncing around a mess of buggy, uninformative local websites.

Your union bulletin board doesn't have the dates and times of your general membership meeting?

 

[Sissy Brown Short Shorts]

What’s there to strike over? Damn near free healthcare and paid twice as much hourly then of all the competition. 80-100k a year to deliver packages. Pension, 401k, benefits out the wazoo. The only thing I would complain about is the vacation schedule.

 

[UnionStrong]

What’s there to strike over? Damn near free healthcare and paid twice as much hourly then of all the competition. 80-100k a year to deliver packages. Pension, 401k, benefits out the wazoo. The only thing I would complain about is the vacation schedule.

How much more can you make to push cardboard? Progression is too long, PVDs are a cancer, preventing upward movement of 22.4 drivers. Wages for preload are too low, as well as other inside jobs. Other issues too but I don’t think a strike would be necessary. It would be harmful IMO.

 

[Sissy Brown Short Shorts]

How much more can you make to push cardboard? Progression is too long, PVDs are a cancer, preventing upward movement of 22.4 drivers. Wages for preload are too low, as well as other inside jobs. Other issues too but I don’t think a strike would be necessary. It would be harmful IMO.

I’m passed all that so I don’t really care. Given the quality and appearance of the new drivers I’m also not worried about the turnover. Glad to see them go. I like the long progression, weeds out the wimps and short term workers. Sure I don’t like the PVDs and 22.4s are getting shafted, but the old timers would be complaining on here about the excessive OT if the PVDs were gone and the 22.4s should only be used for weekend work. This is where my anti union rhetoric kicks in, they need to find a reason to exist. So they’ll always find and or create a problem to rally behind and fix. But eventually the working conditions exist where they’re irrelevant and only suck the company dry. There’s a reason why China can unload a cargo ship in less than two days and it takes a week to do it in California. Granted there is a happy medium between those two polar opposite sides of productivity.

 

[UnionStrong]

I’m passed all that so I don’t really care. Given the quality and appearance of the new drivers I’m also not worried about the turnover. Glad to see them go. I like the long progression, weeds out the wimps and short term workers. Sure I don’t like the PVDs and 22.4s are getting shafted, but the old timers would be complaining on here about the excessive OT if the PVDs were gone and the 22.4s should only be used for weekend work.

Can’t satisfy everyone.