Questioning Authority: The New Labor Movement

[RockyRogue]

so go ahead andshift in the yard, if you dont believe that we wil file that grievance and nail your feeder management butt to the cross for it, keep taking this as a sign of weakness on our part and see what the furture holds.

Red: "Hey, Rocky, will you be a witness for Tie shifting in the yard?"
Rocky: "Why are you grieving him?"
Red: "Doesn't matter. He's doing our work!"
Rocky: :::Looks around, doesn't see Tie behind wheel of a feeder::: "Sorry, Red. I don't see Tie behind the wheel of a feeder."
I can imagine a very angry Red here.

You'd need a better reason than 'he's doing our work' to get me to sign on to that grievance, Red. Like....how many feeder drivers called in, etc. -Rocky

 

[tieguy]

Just a little food for thought tie. We might be bickering over this contract and debating the issues right now because it is very important to us, but if you think in anyways that means we would not get together and file a grievance on you for doing our work right now, you are mistaken.

Greed is not just a management trait. The opportunity to recieve money not earned is probably always a unifer.

It seems like your out take on this is that we are fighting and destroying our union.

In a way. I don't see the unity. A union without unity is a gaggle of individuals.

As a matter of fact we are satnding up in an attempt to better our union for the long haul, so go ahead andshift in the yard, if you dont believe that we wil file that grievance and nail your feeder management butt to the cross for it, keep taking this as a sign of weakness on our part and see what the furture holds.

that it? You might file a grievance on me. I see a union that may be running off into several directions at once. apwa , tdu , old core teamsters. If your members vote this offer down then it will discredit the leaders who negotiated this offer. If that happens then management starts looking at the leaders like why are you even here wasting my time? At the point how do i negotiate a contract. Your people and your leaders all said the same thing fix the pensions. UPS has committed six billion dollars to do that. Very expensive price tag. You guys still arent happy. I don't think any of really know what you want. I see a union losing support and slowly subsiding into extinction. Your slogan about being united is another pretty phrase that really means nothing to you. You guys don't understand the first thing about soladarity. Management has always been a better union then you folks will ever be. Thats the sad honest facts.

 

[browned out]

that it? You might file a grievance on me. I see a union that may be running off into several directions at once. apwa , tdu , old core teamsters. If your members vote this offer down then it will discredit the leaders who negotiated this offer. If that happens then management starts looking at the leaders like why are you even here wasting my time? At the point how do i negotiate a contract. Your people and your leaders all said the same thing fix the pensions. UPS has committed six billion dollars to do that. Very expensive price tag. You guys still arent happy. I don't think any of really know what you want. I see a union losing support and slowly subsiding into extinction. Your slogan about being united is another pretty phrase that really means nothing to you. You guys don't understand the first thing about soladarity. Management has always been a better union then you folks will ever be. Thats the sad honest facts.

Thats why alot of full time sups fall to the pressure of big brown and quit. I think the middle management job is much more stressful than hourly positions.

 

[Brown Dog]

The stench from this contract proposal is overwelming and all I can do is voice my opinion at the hall on halsted st in Chicago, tomorrow at 9am. If you"re in 710, and you want to express yours. that would be the time and place. Hope to see many of my brothers there.

 

[diesel96]

Diesel,
thank you for the insight. Contracts are something a person has to take seriously. We as a collective bargaining unit must look at not only the language that may or may not be in dispute, but the length of time that we will have to live with the language.

As for your assertions that the YES votes are the majority, only time will tell. You have no better view of the votes than the man on the moon. What I will say is that perspective is all relative to the area where you work. In Fl., the concensus may be to ratify the contract, but here in So. Cal and No. Cal, the overwhelming concensus is to reject this offer, fine tune a few poorly written articles in both the Master and Supplemental/Riders mainly because we understand that time is on OUR side.

Here in the west, OUR pensions are 100% fully funded and contributions maxed out by the company for each employee. We are not in DESPERATION MODE.

Allbeit that the company and union want to address the central states issue,the rest of the country shouldnt have to settle for sub-standard language just to make them happy.

As for UPS and the competition, agreed, we should always try and limit the amount of business we lose to competitors. However, UPS is its own worst enemy when it comes to losing business.

In the Los Angeles Corridor, we handle millions of packages everyday, we also service fail thousands of packages each and everyday with the implementation of EDD and PAS and bad dispatching by the IE department.

We jokingly refer to both EDD and PAS as acronyms:

PAS= possibly another service- failure
EDD= every delivery delayed

These two systems have not been the wonder child the company made them out to be.

With respect to dispatching, 2007 has been the year of the 60 hour package driver. We have all been out till 9pm and then as an added bonus, we get to bring back the 60 or 70 stops that were part of the 210 stops for the day.

Its all a matter of mathematics. 210 stops + 35 pickups = 245 stops divided by 10 hours = 24.5 stops per hour...this is what it looks like to an IE engineer.

In reality however, its really 210 stops divided by 6.5 hours and that equals= 32.30 stops per hour. By 4pm, our trucks need to be completely empty in order to handle the volume of pickups, however, on the busy streets of LA, the average driver can only do 15.5 stops per hour and thats only 100 stops completed by pickup time. That leaves 110 stops to begin after pickups and next day air drop off at 6pm.

Now, with 110 stops left to complete begining at 6pm, and with a sporh of 15.5 in the dark, how long will it take to complete 110 stops? Thats 7 hours Diesel.

6pm + 7 hours is 1am if a driver was to complete the dispatch. But this is where it gets really ugly here in LA. You see we HAVE to stop for a second lunch before 7PM and that takes a half hour 1/2 away from deliveries. Then, 1 or 2 drivers who are already out late will be sent over to split the work at 8pm. By this time, the 930pm deadline is approaching and the 25 minute drive back to the center makes the possiblility of completing the dispatch unrealistic.

In the meantime, the customers who have been waiting all day for packages are angry with us as we are knocking on doors at 9pm to obtain signatures. When the customers answer the door, they expressed their anger at the delivery time and some say they will never use the company again.

This scenario is happening all over the LA corridor. This cost the company churn.

No level of givebacks in the contract will prevent the company from eliminating this scenario from occuring. You cant protect the business with foolish articles and sections.

You protect the business by running it with integrity and logic.

A penny saved and dollar lost philosophy has been the case here in LA.

As for the aforementioned moderator, I dont pay no mind to such foolishness, it appears the company mindset will prevent an independent voice like mine from being heard.

When a person limits the free expression of an individual, the reality of ones position is made crystal clear.

Diesel, we may be on opposite sides of the country, but our visions for a long career are still the same. I am an 18 year package veteran. I think we are on the same page with respect to our careers, it just that we are on a different page at the moment.

Should the contract be ratified in its current state, then you and I will have no choice but to turn the page and read along together.

Peace.

With this scenario, I feel your pain and your drive towards redemption....Experiencing "peak-like" conditions year round is equivalent to a simmering volcano. Something's gotta give. Reguardless, whether this contract passes or not, how did these conditions materialize under the current contract. Edd or PAS can't be the only determining factor. Solidarity and organizing starts at the local level and spread outward. Seems like the LA Corroridor and other similar munincipalities need to get their house in order internally and have class-action like grievances handed down and Corperate exposure. How the Co. Execs accepts massive service failures and 9 five abuses as rampid as you describe goes beyond everything UPS promises and guarantees to the customer. I guess my point is, if UPS is abusing and ignoring the contract in the West as describe now without recourse, who's to say they will adhere to a more acceptable approved contract if you can't contain the wrongdoing's now. Unfortunatly, IMO it sounds like the leadership and locals in your area need a wake up call to offset the numerous inadequacies thats occurring there but may not be the overall scenario nationwide, hence popularity of the silent 'yes" majority and a loud and fustrating "no" message with those effected similar to you. Can't say I blame you guys for feeling this way though. Hope you get it resolved asap.

 

[tieguy]

The stench from this contract proposal is overwelming and all I can do is voice my opinion at the hall on halsted st in Chicago, tomorrow at 9am. If you"re in 710, and you want to express yours. that would be the time and place. Hope to see many of my brothers there.

awesome. the drama queens on this site are giving some absolutely stunning performances here. You're taking what is almost a boring revision of previous contracts and turning it into a terrific who done it. My congrats to you sir If I could do so I would award you an oscar for such a stunning overly done performance.

 

[scratch]

As for the aforementioned moderator, I dont pay no mind to such foolishness, it appears the company mindset will prevent an independent voice like mine from being heard.

When a person limits the free expression of an individual, the reality of ones position is made crystal clear.

"brownshark2"
As a Moderator on this website, I find this statement to be totally ridiculous. A new member with a very simular username made an implied threat of violence against another member and was granted an "Infraction" by the owner of this site. An Infraction means that someone is put in "Time Out" for a set amount of time and they are treated as a "guest" until they learn how to behave in a civil manner to other members of this community.

There has been zero attempts by anybody who moderates this site to censure anybody who doesn't post spam or threats. As long as you can watch your language, your ideas are welcome in discussion. As a Moderator, I have personally read and allowed many posts on here that I disagree with on a personal basis. AND THAT INCLUDES YOU. You have posted many things on here that are well thought out and add to the discussions here. The Brown Cafe is all about open discussion. All we ask of members is to treat one another with a little respect.

 

[tieguy]

Thats why alot of full time sups fall to the pressure of big brown and quit. I think the middle management job is much more stressful than hourly positions.

I think its as stressfull as you let it be.