brownmonster
Man of Great Wisdom
We've had 1/2 hour lunch forever. You can keep your 1 hour.
Management weaponizing hour lunch
- Thread starter Brownsfan
- Start date
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
Mandatory hour lunches are like Viagra for management.
It is a simple fact that if they require us to enter an hour lunch, a significant percentage of the workforce will simply skip all or part of that lunch in order to (a) avoid service failures and (b) get home to their families before 10:30 every night. A certain percentage of skipped lunches are already built in to each centers daily dispatch plan. New drivers who cannot file 9.5 grievances for 4 years are especially vulnerable to this sort of pressure.
Management isnt stupid. Every action they take regarding dispatch and lunch rules is carefully and methodically calculated to cut routes by maximzing the number of skipped lunches.
Regardless of whatever rules exist regarding lunch, the contract clearly states we are to be paid for all hours worked. It should be up to us to decide if we want to take a half or full lunch, and the shop stewards energies should be focused on making sure that employees are paid for all hours worked instead of worrying about how long of a lunch they entered.
It is a simple fact that if they require us to enter an hour lunch, a significant percentage of the workforce will simply skip all or part of that lunch in order to (a) avoid service failures and (b) get home to their families before 10:30 every night. A certain percentage of skipped lunches are already built in to each centers daily dispatch plan. New drivers who cannot file 9.5 grievances for 4 years are especially vulnerable to this sort of pressure.
Management isnt stupid. Every action they take regarding dispatch and lunch rules is carefully and methodically calculated to cut routes by maximzing the number of skipped lunches.
Regardless of whatever rules exist regarding lunch, the contract clearly states we are to be paid for all hours worked. It should be up to us to decide if we want to take a half or full lunch, and the shop stewards energies should be focused on making sure that employees are paid for all hours worked instead of worrying about how long of a lunch they entered.
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
Lets do the math.
Lets say you have 10 new hires on a center who cannot file 9.5 grievances.
Management can simply carpet bomb them with 12+ hours of work, too many businesses, too many pickups etc. These drivers are new and easily intimidated. Plus they may have children at home that they would like to see before bedtime. They cant file and they don't want to spend an extra hour away from home, sitting in the truck or in a restaurant someplace. So, they work through their lunch.
10 drivers x 5 skipped lunches per week equals 50 hours of free labor for UPS.
The same 10 drivers who are allowed to enter a half hour lunch on their timecard means only 25 hours of free labor for UPS.
The company is not going to easily give up on the opportunity to screw its workforce out of an additional 25 hours of pay every week, which is why management is always in favor of mandatory one hour lunches.
I have a life outside of this job, and I want to try and go home at a decent hour and get paid for the time that I work. So I usually take a half hour lunch.
Lets say you have 10 new hires on a center who cannot file 9.5 grievances.
Management can simply carpet bomb them with 12+ hours of work, too many businesses, too many pickups etc. These drivers are new and easily intimidated. Plus they may have children at home that they would like to see before bedtime. They cant file and they don't want to spend an extra hour away from home, sitting in the truck or in a restaurant someplace. So, they work through their lunch.
10 drivers x 5 skipped lunches per week equals 50 hours of free labor for UPS.
The same 10 drivers who are allowed to enter a half hour lunch on their timecard means only 25 hours of free labor for UPS.
The company is not going to easily give up on the opportunity to screw its workforce out of an additional 25 hours of pay every week, which is why management is always in favor of mandatory one hour lunches.
I have a life outside of this job, and I want to try and go home at a decent hour and get paid for the time that I work. So I usually take a half hour lunch.
Brownsfan
Well-Known Member
I agree with you. But why would the union agree to it? Are they stupid?
Posted to brown cafe while on hour lunch starring at the roof of the package car.
Bottom rung
Well-Known Member
Some of us have late p/u if I chose a half hour lunch I'd get twenty more stops...just like everyone else in my building that chose the half.
Packmule
Well-Known Member
Starts with proposal meetings when drivers accept anything for another 50 cent raise. Next contract skip the raise and focus on making this job livable.
Brownsfan
Well-Known Member
I want nothing more than a half hour lunch! These punks are forcing us to take it and threatening to discipline up to discharge.
Consider yourself lucky you still get to take the half. It's literally like having a different job. I have zero pep in my step now.
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
We have a 45 minute lunch but I would personally prefer that it be just 30 minutes. I can't imagine having to sit for an hour at any point during the day.
Overpaid Union Thug
Well-Known Member
It's only 15 minutes more and that flies by. We don't have to sit for one hour. We can divide it into three breaks. I divide mine during winter time but once daylight savings time kicks in, and warm weather soon after, I will park my happy ass somewhere for AT LEAST 45 minutes and enjoy the AC.
BigUnionGuy
Got the T-Shirt
Brownsfan
Well-Known Member
It does fly by after you start taking the longer lunch. The sun sets faster as well. lol
Brownsfan
Well-Known Member
Well for the runners and gunners and non 9.5 guys, they tell them to take a half hour lunch. But everyone else is forced to take an hour. Our management team straight up told us "if we make you stop for an extra half hour,you will run to make up for it" So from my perspective they are using the lunch as a tool or in this case a weapon of manipulation. Any questions?
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
Not my thread but I will speak up anyway.
It means management using the mandatory hour lunch as a weapon to maximize the amount of free labor they can screw the drivers out of.
Overpaid Union Thug
Well-Known Member
Once daylight savings time kicks in you need to be out well after 8pm in order to actually lose any daylight.
Packmule
Well-Known Member
And with that sunset comes black ice. And snow that sticks. And deer running out in front of you that you can't see. And that rural farm yard you had to drive into? Who knew there was a pipe sticking out of the back of the farmer's truck you couldn't see--because you spent your daylight babysitting the truck and trying to prove something management couldn't care less about.
Overpaid Union Thug
Well-Known Member
True....but then again.....they are really screwing themselves. Just because management wants them to play a game that is rigged in their favor doesn't mean they have to. Some people are their own worst enemy.
T
Turdferguson
Guest
Yes. How can they "make" you run? Anytime I needed off early and wanted to get done I chose to run hard. This has never been a 9-5 job
soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
Their choice....if they choose not to play the game....will simply result in them getting home to their families half an hour later every day.
I have been around long enough to not be intimidated. And my kids are out of the house so if I need to bring 20 stops back at 10:00 at night in order to shove managements failed dispatch back down their throat I have no problem doing so. But it is asking a lot of a new hire, who is easily intimidated and has a family at home, to sit in the truck for an entire hour in the middle of the day knowing full well that (a) he/she will face managements wrath for the service failures and (b) his/her kids will be in bed by the time they get home. The reality is that most of them are going to work thru most if not all of their lunch in order to avoid working in the dark, missing stops and getting home late. Management knows this, and cynically exploits it to their own advantage when they demand that we enter a full hour lunch.
Catatonic
Nine Lives
So before, a driver could take less than an hour lunch?
If so, I was not aware of that. I thought one had to take at least an hour lunch.
Maybe they are just concerned about your safety and want you to be fresh and alert.
