curiousbrain
Well-Known Member
Capitalism: 1, Humanity: 0.
Management hours
- Thread starter sosocal
- Start date
Catatonic
Nine Lives
It might appear to some that hourly and non-hourly are trained monkeys since they tend to flick fecal matter back and forth!
TxRoadDawg
Well-Known Member
real question is how much time do managers manage and supervisors actually supervise anymore. seems the only local decision anymore is burger king vs mcdonalds for the weekly safety biscuit, rest of the time seems its either passing atlanta edicts down to the peons, or doing write ups and action plan books on chasing the latest flavor of the month number.
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
We no longer even have managers; what we have is "plan facilitators."
Our entire management structure has been carefully designed to eliminate the possibility that an hourly worker will ever have access to someone who has the ability to make an operational decision or effect meaningful change.
The entire dispatch process has been reduced to the following three steps. (1) Eliminate enough routes to look good on the SPC report; (2) Get the packages out of the building by any means necessary; (3) Get the preloader off of the clock in time to hit PPH plan.
Thats it. Concepts such as safety, service, common sense and compliance with the contract are no longer factors in the decision making process when it comes to determining how many routes to dispatch and how many stops to load in them. Once these "three steps" have been completed, the PDS is free to go home and bask in the glow of a "job well done" while those of us who do our jobs in the real world and who have intentionally been set up to fail are left behind to clean up the mess.
Does anyone remember back at the end of 1999 when everyone was afraid that Y2K would cause all the nations computers to crash? One of the big concerns was that all the different computers and radars that linked the nations air traffic control towers would go haywire at midnight, resulting in chaos and mid air collisions at the airports. I remember seeing a TV interview with the guy who was responsible for coordinating the efforts to prevent this from occuring; he stated during the interview that he was confident enough that the problem had been solved that he personally would be on board a jet airliner that was making its final approach just after midnight. It was at that moment that I had faith that the problem had been solved. They call that accountability, and it is a phenomenon that is totally lacking in the "pass-the-buck, cover your ass and blame someone else" management culture of todays UPS. Why should a PDS or an IE manager give a rats ass about being right when its someone elses problem when he's wrong?
curiousbrain
Well-Known Member
It's worse than that; I remember countless times in the run up to holidays, I was helping the PDS with dispatch, and the phone would ring - it was an IE guy telling him how many closed pieces there were. And the PDS would say "Well, no, I haven't gotten all the reports from the drivers and I'm still not sure what is closed and what is not." The IE guy would berate him, and proceed to inform him that "THIS is the closed number." So, the PDS would hang up, swear up a storm, and build a plan based on a number that he, the guy who literally got the reports from the drivers, didn't think was right.
And we would run that plan, and it would be a disaster. And when we were lower than what IE said, we had to literally cheat and scan things we know weren't closed as closed, just to make some number that we knew was wrong from the start. Otherwise, Division would flip and threaten jobs.
There is a fundamental problem with that.
Now, I get that there is historical data and all that, but when the drivers haven't even figured out what is closed and what is not ... I think the rest speaks for itself.
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
BB, closed pkgs on the car take away from NDPPH hence the need for the drivers to provide the PDS with accurate closed information. We are also told that if we have stops with 5 or more pkgs that we didn't know were going to be closed only to find out that they are that we are not to sheet them and they will be exception scanned in the building upon our return.
I agree that is absurd for IE to dictate the number of closed packages based solely on historical data.
I agree that is absurd for IE to dictate the number of closed packages based solely on historical data.
curiousbrain
Well-Known Member
I know why there is a need for an accurate number - and, if there is such a need, then let the guys who actually get the right information (PDS, drivers) do their job. Instead, that's not how this company operates (at least, in my experience).
edit: You could ask your PDS; before I left, I helped draw up the DOP for July 5/8, and they were based on closed numbers taken from IE - now, because of the way this company operates, when that number turns out to be wrong, the staffing will be off (because that is obviously based on volume) and soups will probably wind up working, which means grievances, which means that the rift between hourly/management will only be perpetuated. It is scientific management gone very, very wrong.
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
Which is why smart drivers never admit to any known holiday closures in the first place. Why bother? The liars at IE will just ignore the facts and plug in whatever made-up numbers they want to in order to support staffing decisions that they have already made, so why provide them with information that will allow them to justify even more cuts? As it stands right now, every route that we dispatch on Friday July 5th of this year is going to be a 13-hour abortion car with absolutely no hope of getting done. If a route does go out the door with 3 or 4 hours worth of "work" that should have been pulled off as holiday closures, at least it will be available to help the guys who are dead and buried the moment they clock on. I am normally not a fan of dishonesty but sometimes you have no choice but to lie to dishonest/stupid people in order to trick them into doing the right thing.
curiousbrain
Well-Known Member
I would agree; I used to give numbers I knew were wrong to the higher ups because the fake numbers I was giving them were based on the fake numbers they had already given me, so I had to fake the fake numbers in order to bring it more in line with what I knew (as an actual Operations employee) was right.
How's that for a catch-22.
TxRoadDawg
Well-Known Member
best part about IE is their like the weatherman, long as it doesnt piss a huriicane down right after they declare clear and sunny all week they keep their jobs and get patted on the back for their great precision guess work...
curiousbrain
Well-Known Member
One of the first questions I asked when I was let "into the loop" (as much as I was, which may or may not be much) was: where the @#$& is their accountability?
Never got a good answer.
TxRoadDawg
Well-Known Member
I love being accountable when IE takes a vacation.
TxRoadDawg
Well-Known Member
While NOT
getting Holiday pay since we have guaranteed 
time now so we can work extra every day this week donating our time to the company
LongTimeComing
Air Ops Pro
PT sups get paid double time for working holidays....and air operations get to work most of them....
PT Car Washer
Well-Known Member
Do you mean double time plus holiday pay?
p228
Well-Known Member
No, for pt sups and specialists holidays are paid at zero hours if you don't work, meaning you get your salaried guarantee. If you work a holiday it is paid at double time.
LongTimeComing
Air Ops Pro
The jacked up part is that non-worked holidays don't factor into your 27.5...Say you work doubles a couple of days that add up to 5.5 hours during a week with a holiday. Your paycheck won't show a penny more. You'd be amazed of how many full-timers and managers have no clue how PT sups 'weekly guarantee' actually works.
TxRoadDawg
Well-Known Member
Or how no one bothered to mention that change when it was implemented a few years ago. I had to walk my center manager through it check by check before and after to prove to him it was happening. Now I just laugh at any pt working extra weeks like this thinking theyll get a nice check next week
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