SPORH Harrassment

[toonertoo]

This is true bug. There are many supervisors who attempt to "walk on heels" or "kick" the back of heels to make drivers walk faster. Sure, there are compliants filed and the practice stopped in each center when it arises. No police have been called yet, but UPS still tries to use this practice to speed up drivers.

TOS.

My dog does that, I allow it. Shes so cute. But if a boss did it I would fall on my face.

 

[chuchu]

To clarify the Amex total: $200 came from the Quest account and the other $1300 came from other accounts. It paid a lot better to pick up air accounts because you got a $20 bump for every 5 leads that produced volume and 5¢ per ltr for a six month period. On a metro route it was fairly easy to win accounts if you were personable. People like dragon have no clue how much volume is retained and multiplied by drivers that are not robots in personality. I think that Quest account paid for many drivers paychecks ( and dragon's too) but they don't acknowledge that factor. Doubt if they'll ever understand it thru brown tinted glasses.

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

728, I'll take your challenge:

In article 37 of the master it makes mention of the oft-quoted "fair days work for fair days pay", and we shall perform our duties in a way "in the best interests of the Employer". How do they determine their interests? Through the driver methods we are all trained in. What does SPORH have to do with those? The OJS measures your SPORH with someone observing you doing the methods, making suggestions/corrections where needed. They aren't supposed to help you-outside of maybe demonstrating once or twice-and they sire can't tell you to use shortcuts; otherwise the ride would be grievable. Whatever your SPORH is on that route over the three days will be the standard you'd be held to. If you begin to falter-and not once or twice, because that does not a pattern make-then they'd infer you are no longer following the methods, which can lead to discipline.

SPORH, to me, is not a "production" metric, but a "performance" one. Yeah, the "planned day-SPORH" can be argued to be pulled out of thin air, but if a driver continually misses it, then they may get a 3-day. THAT SPORH is not pulled out of thin air, which is why it is used as the basis for discipline, sometimes successfully (we had a driver serve a 5-day that went all the way to national; actually it was a termination that got reduced to a 5-day by the company, for they had won grounds for termination at national hearing).

There may be dirty tricks used by management to try to make you have a good ride-a loader notorious for loading 4 misloads on you each and every day suddenly has none, and your loads are clean-but there are ways to combat that, i.e. going by official policy and not delivering air with ground (that new DIAD training on proper use of exception codes concerning air gives good reason to do so). I've had a couple of check rides where the supervisor prevented me from delivering on-area misloads; this will not happen on a 3-day, as official policy is if management does not give you other instructions and if you are able to make service (i.e. it's on-area) we are to attempt to delivery. I pointed out as much to the sup; he also had my heavier pickups covered, and I pointed that out, too. If that had been an actual 3-day, all that stuff is grievable.

I believe in a balanced argument. Drivers here saying SPORH is something pulled out of IE's butt are off here, and any new and/or un-initiated driver may be swayed by this. There are ways to make the 3-day go in your favor, but to dismiss it and laugh in its face is unwise, and yes, the contract supports it, without directly stating "stops per on-road hour".

 

[chuchu]

728, I'll take your challenge:

In article 37 of the master it makes mention of the oft-quoted "fair days work for fair days pay", and we shall perform our duties in a way "in the best interests of the Employer". How do they determine their interests? Through the driver methods we are all trained in. What does SPORH have to do with those? The OJS measures your SPORH with someone observing you doing the methods, making suggestions/corrections where needed. They aren't supposed to help you-outside of maybe demonstrating once or twice-and they sire can't tell you to use shortcuts; otherwise the ride would be grievable. Whatever your SPORH is on that route over the three days will be the standard you'd be held to. If you begin to falter-and not once or twice, because that does not a pattern make-then they'd infer you are no longer following the methods, which can lead to discipline.

SPORH, to me, is not a "production" metric, but a "performance" one. Yeah, the "planned day-SPORH" can be argued to be pulled out of thin air, but if a driver continually misses it, then they may get a 3-day. THAT SPORH is not pulled out of thin air, which is why it is used as the basis for discipline, sometimes successfully (we had a driver serve a 5-day that went all the way to national; actually it was a termination that got reduced to a 5-day by the company, for they had won grounds for termination at national hearing).

There may be dirty tricks used by management to try to make you have a good ride-a loader notorious for loading 4 misloads on you each and every day suddenly has none, and your loads are clean-but there are ways to combat that, i.e. going by official policy and not delivering air with ground (that new DIAD training on proper use of exception codes concerning air gives good reason to do so). I've had a couple of check rides where the supervisor prevented me from delivering on-area misloads; this will not happen on a 3-day, as official policy is if management does not give you other instructions and if you are able to make service (i.e. it's on-area) we are to attempt to delivery. I pointed out as much to the sup; he also had my heavier pickups covered, and I pointed that out, too. If that had been an actual 3-day, all that stuff is grievable.

I believe in a balanced argument. Drivers here saying SPORH is something pulled out of IE's butt are off here, and any new and/or un-initiated driver may be swayed by this. There are ways to make the 3-day go in your favor, but to dismiss it and laugh in its face is unwise, and yes, the contract supports it, without directly stating "stops per on-road hour".

If you haven't documented load issues in your preloaded com. you may have an issue proving the groomed load of a three day ride vs the poor loads that you've possibly dealt with up to then. Miles cut, bulk reduced, etc all should be documented. If you know you allow too much "customer contact" it would be a good thing to fix that asap before you are a target. Honest work ethics are hard to discipline even if you need a little brushing up on methods in some area. A good sup that's been around can tell if you are milking it. Honest work ethics have their own reward. It shows on and off the truck.

 

[Anonymous 10]

My dog does that, I allow it. Shes so cute. But if a boss did it I would fall on my face.

You got a new dog???

 

[toonertoo]

You got a new dog???

Shes not new but shes velcro doggie.

 

[BigUnionGuy]

Sorry BUG, I wasn't going over the past posts.

First, the management agreed with the local to one ride per twelve months years ago. I believe Art 4 was used since. The only language I've seen on the one ride in twelve months is with more than one sup. I wasn't involved in the 1/yr agreement but I've seen it applied. It was my guess that it prevailed elsewhere.

Sorry, I wasn't ignoring you.

Thanks for the food.

Thanks for the response.

I was wondering.... because I have seen other drivers get confused on that language.

I personally have never heard of anyone using Article 4.... or any Local company labor person agreeing to that.

Most of the local labor people, wouldn't make a decision like that without checking with the company regional chairman.

This is true bug. There are many supervisors who attempt to "walk on heels" or "kick" the back of heels to make drivers walk faster. Sure, there are compliants filed and the practice stopped in each center when it arises. No police have been called yet, but UPS still tries to use this practice to speed up drivers.

TOS.

I haven't heard of that "technique" being used for a long time.

Here's another good one.


Too many times.... drivers have followed the protocol on "unknown" spills in a package car.

The company's typical response is "do you feel comfortable bagging it" (meaning a DR bag)

If and when.... the company fails to immediately respond.... let them know you calling the fire department.


You will see what happens. Their whole attitude changes.

In article 37 of the master it makes mention of the oft-quoted "fair days work for fair days pay", and we shall perform our duties in a way "in the best interests of the Employer". How do they determine their interests?

That language has always meant....

You can't intentionally cause the company to lose revenue.... because of your interaction with customers.


It has nothing to do with sporh.... which is a arbitrary and subjective opinion.



​-Bug-

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

Thanks for the response.

I was wondering.... because I have seen other drivers get confused on that language.

I personally have never heard of anyone using Article 4.... or any Local company labor person agreeing to that.

Most of the local labor people, wouldn't make a decision like that without checking with the company regional chairman.




I haven't heard of that "technique" being used for a long time.

Here's another good one.


Too many times.... drivers have followed the protocol on "unknown" spills in a package car.

The company's typical response is "do you feel comfortable bagging it" (meaning a DR bag)

If and when.... the company fails to immediately respond.... let them know you calling the fire department.


You will see what happens. Their whole attitude changes.




That language has always meant....

You can't intentionally cause the company to lose revenue.... because of your interaction with customers.


It has nothing to do with sporh.... which is a arbitrary and subjective opinion.



​-Bug-

BUG, what you said sounds almost as much as a "subjective interpretation" as what i said, nevermind drivers have been disciplined for, and some terminated, in part because of their SPORH.

How is "excessive personal interaction" with customers measured? Via how much they interfere with performing the methods of the job. You can talk as much as you want, so long as you are getting done in a reasonable time. The OJS is used to determine what is "reasonable", because it observes you while doing the methods (and from what I have gathered from reading the various posts on this subject on BC, the methods are not challenged by the union, nor really even complained about here, except for tapping the horn twice when pulling up to a spot).

 

[BigUnionGuy]

BUG, what you said sounds almost as much as a "subjective interpretation" as what i said, nevermind drivers have been disciplined for, and some terminated, in part because of their SPORH.

Really....


List a case number.... for the National Panel. I can look it up.



​-Bug-

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

If you haven't documented load issues in your preloaded com. you may have an issue proving the groomed load of a three day ride vs the poor loads that you've possibly dealt with up to then. Miles cut, bulk reduced, etc all should be documented. If you know you allow too much "customer contact" it would be a good thing to fix that asap before you are a target. Honest work ethics are hard to discipline even if you need a little brushing up on methods in some area. A good sup that's been around can tell if you are milking it. Honest work ethics have their own reward. It shows on and off the truck.

Really good post with many good points.

However, how could I document miles cut and bulk reduced outside of an OJS? I know i can show misloads via "precommunications", although lately I've been using "reporting misloads" in the "Communications" sub group, since that does still get the attention of the preload. The rides I mentioned were not 3-days, and thus could not be used for discipline (only
the threat of discipline).

With a 3-day, I am sharing with the Steward all the discrepancies that occurred that day vs a typical day on my car. Actually, where possible I try to share the causes of delays, although it is not always appreciated.

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

Really....


List a case number.... for the National Panel. I can look it up.



​-Bug-

I know the driver's name.

 

[BigUnionGuy]

I know the driver's name.

Thats what I thought.



​-Bug-

 

[Stonefish]

I know the driver's name.

List a last name, year and what local he/she is from. I have copies of decisions. I would like to look it up myself

 

[728ups]

728, I'll take your challenge:

In article 37 of the master it makes mention of the oft-quoted "fair days work for fair days pay", and we shall perform our duties in a way "in the best interests of the Employer". How do they determine their interests? Through the driver methods we are all trained in. What does SPORH have to do with those? The OJS measures your SPORH with someone observing you doing the methods, making suggestions/corrections where needed. They aren't supposed to help you-outside of maybe demonstrating once or twice-and they sire can't tell you to use shortcuts; otherwise the ride would be grievable. Whatever your SPORH is on that route over the three days will be the standard you'd be held to. If you begin to falter-and not once or twice, because that does not a pattern make-then they'd infer you are no longer following the methods, which can lead to discipline.

SPORH, to me, is not a "production" metric, but a "performance" one. Yeah, the "planned day-SPORH" can be argued to be pulled out of thin air, but if a driver continually misses it, then they may get a 3-day. THAT SPORH is not pulled out of thin air, which is why it is used as the basis for discipline, sometimes successfully (we had a driver serve a 5-day that went all the way to national; actually it was a termination that got reduced to a 5-day by the company, for they had won grounds for termination at national hearing).

There may be dirty tricks used by management to try to make you have a good ride-a loader notorious for loading 4 misloads on you each and every day suddenly has none, and your loads are clean-but there are ways to combat that, i.e. going by official policy and not delivering air with ground (that new DIAD training on proper use of exception codes concerning air gives good reason to do so). I've had a couple of check rides where the supervisor prevented me from delivering on-area misloads; this will not happen on a 3-day, as official policy is if management does not give you other instructions and if you are able to make service (i.e. it's on-area) we are to attempt to delivery. I pointed out as much to the sup; he also had my heavier pickups covered, and I pointed that out, too. If that had been an actual 3-day, all that stuff is grievable.

I believe in a balanced argument. Drivers here saying SPORH is something pulled out of IE's butt are off here, and any new and/or un-initiated driver may be swayed by this. There are ways to make the 3-day go in your favor, but to dismiss it and laugh in its face is unwise, and yes, the contract supports it, without directly stating "stops per on-road hour".

Because of the infinite variables of the day-to-day operations SPORH is simply not recognized by the Union,nor have any SPORH cases been found in favour of the company in my Region. The reason being it is VERY easy to show that the routes are no longer the same as Pre EDD/PAS i.e. the Same stops ,Same Area Day in and Day Out.

Myself and several others had 3 day 'Lock In' rides this year and as we all have several years of working Safely and by The Methods our numbers looked little to no better even with Manicured Loads,no Bulk etc. My center was time 'Virtually' Time Studied earlier this year and several routes 'Lost Time' . Of course management has wanted to whip us into going faster to 'make up' the time...yet another reason teh Union dosen't recognize numbers that can be changed at whim

​I also would like to see case numbers of the drivers you say have been terminated for SPORH related issues. I'd like to see the entire story

 

[chuchu]

Really good post with many good points.

However, how could I document miles cut and bulk reduced outside of an OJS? I know i can show misloads via "precommunications", although lately I've been using "reporting misloads" in the "Communications" sub group, since that does still get the attention of the preload. The rides I mentioned were not 3-days, and thus could not be used for discipline (only
the threat of discipline).

With a 3-day, I am sharing with the Steward all the discrepancies that occurred that day vs a typical day on my car. Actually, where possible I try to share the causes of delays, although it is not always appreciated.

If you are targeted for a three day ride keep quiet about all discrepancies. Just record them for evidence if you need it.
You can get the past record of miles ran daily by having the union requisition the DDR (daily dispatch report) for as far back (history) as you can get it. That will show the pieces, miles, stops, spohr and pick up info that you normally run.
If you are targeted for an OJS I can guarantee you that NO extra talking will be tolerated unless you have a sup that is n o r m a l. They may be on the endangered species list.

 

[chuchu]

Because of the infinite variables of the day-to-day operations SPORH is simply not recognized by the Union,nor have any SPORH cases been found in favour of the company in my Region. The reason being it is VERY easy to show that the routes are no longer the same as Pre EDD/PAS i.e. the Same stops ,Same Area Day in and Day Out.

Myself and several others had 3 day 'Lock In' rides this year and as we all have several years of working Safely and by The Methods our numbers looked little to no better even with Manicured Loads,no Bulk etc. My center was time 'Virtually' Time Studied earlier this year and several routes 'Lost Time' . Of course management has wanted to whip us into going faster to 'make up' the time...yet another reason teh Union dosen't recognize numbers that can be changed at whim

​I also would like to see case numbers of the drivers you say have been terminated for SPORH related issues. I'd like to see the entire story

It looks like many bonus centers got virtual time studies. In other words, the routes lost at least 30 min. once or twice.
Some management want to use the term "supervised vs unsupervised" for performance variation after a three day ride. The employee should always take a steward into the review meetings with them because it's all leading to discipline no matter what they say and they should both write down in a notebook what management says and any arguement you have in every review. They're used to stressing employees out to make them run faster and jump higher but the burden of proof lies on them.
Don't work any harder than you can safely. Ever.

 

[728ups]

It looks like many bonus centers got virtual time studies. In other words, the routes lost at least 30 min. once or twice.
Some management want to use the term "supervised vs unsupervised" for performance variation after a three day ride. The employee should always take a steward into the review meetings with them because it's all leading to discipline no matter what they say and they should both write down in a notebook what management says and any arguement you have in every review. They're used to stressing employees out to make them run faster and jump higher but the burden of proof lies on them.
Don't work any harder than you can safely. Ever.

We arent a Bonus Center,but they have certainly tried squeezing more blood from the stone.
This year we were given Diad 4's for Helper Boards,and those of us that are working safely and by the methods( NOT scanning the package until we reach the delivery point,3 points of contact in and out of the truck,no backing,walking driveways etc) are on the List as our 'Numbers' arent looking good.

 

[The Other Side]

We arent a Bonus Center,but they have certainly tried squeezing more blood from the stone.
This year we were given Diad 4's for Helper Boards,and those of us that are working safely and by the methods( NOT scanning the package until we reach the delivery point,3 points of contact in and out of the truck,no backing,walking driveways etc) are on the List as our 'Numbers' arent looking good.

Exactly the case in most centers. Outlying rural centers, maybe not so much. But in large corridors this is the daily operation. Push push push until you cause the driver to get into a serious accident.

I am in feeder now, and it took me two weeks to adjust to "slowing down". Now, on the street, I slow for an intersection hundreds of feet beforehand downshifting and coming to a crawl whereas in package, if I did the same thing, the sup would be all over me for "extending my day" or "stealing time".

Managers have no "voice" in these decisions. They are sent the numbers, and no matter what, they want them met or they are instructed to discipline drivers. In our district, each center manager has to identify the 5 top overallowed and put them into a specific catagory where they are monitored and disciplined week after week. Then, they present this stack of paperwork to the Dm and district to show they are on top of things.

The problem is, the managers know its crap.

One supervisor was fired a short time ago, because he was instructed to discipline his drivers in his group for going in the hole. After riding with each one several times, he saw that the numbers could not be met. When he took this analysis to his center manager, he was told to either discipline the drivers or be disciplined himself. Facing a "no win" situation, because he respected all his drivers and did not want to mar up his drivers with discipline, he decided to take another action.

As "we" talk about on this thread, the numbers are crap and unattainable, so rather than start a war with his drivers, this on road supervisor went into the computer and adjusted area numbers ever so slightly until all his drivers were within 1/2 hour of scratch.

This was the "MAR" that the company was looking for.

Now, it worked for a short while, until an IE geek looking at numbers was puzzled on the recovery of time ( knowing they had cut it in the first place to an unacceptable level) discovered that the allowances for areas had been increased. ( even fractionally)

The on road sup was questioned, and then denied doing it, only to later confess to the action by explaining what I have explained to you all. He stated to the company that they were being unfair to the drivers, drivers who work hard and bust ash everyday, and expressed his objections to being instructed to discipline them.

The company fired him.

You have to respect a supervisor ( a former 18 year driver out of Glendale center ) for standing up for what was right, even though it cost him his career.

The company has long since gone away from promoting experienced drivers for this very reason. They want YES men, men without experience, men who wont say NO or understand when to say NO.

Its this methodology that will eventually drive this company out of business.

Cheers to A. A. where ever you are! You have our respect.

Peace

TOS

 

[chuchu]

We arent a Bonus Center,but they have certainly tried squeezing more blood from the stone.
This year we were given Diad 4's for Helper Boards,and those of us that are working safely and by the methods( NOT scanning the package until we reach the delivery point,3 points of contact in and out of the truck,no backing,walking driveways etc) are on the List as our 'Numbers' arent looking good.

We've come to realize the helper must deliver the same amount of stops per hour the driver normally does or you've lost time from the moment they punch in.
Since ups doesn't send them to integrad (sp?) for training and we have to train them on area their overallowed isn't our problem. Ask the center manager for training time.

When they gave me a new helper
every day for four days in a row I left my diad in the truck for an hour after my airs were delivered and just walked with the helper and trained them to use the board. I punched in "driver training driver" in other work and that was the best thing for both of us.

Make sure you get the OK to do it first. I don't understand what the company is thinking when they don't completely train a driver helper on the diad because they are not working safely with their attention focused on finding functions and keys on a computer board. It's easily observed that they are not watching their walk path or totally paying attention to traffic with their face glued on the diad and it's even worse for them in the dark.

Like I said before, the overallowed is from a slow "helper" and it's not your problem. It's management's problem....they own it.

 

[Bubblehead]

I don't understand what the company is thinking when they don't completely train a driver helper on the diad because they are not working safely with their attention focused on finding functions and keys on a computer board.

I can tell you it isn't safety, ever.
All they are ever thinking about is liability.
That is why they try and have us sign a driver helper certification, which gives them an avenue to shift the blame on the driver when something goes wrong.
Please people, don't sign these forms.