Strike Vote

[spycmon]

We don't like unproductive people either because it puts more burden on us. Those who deserve to get pushed out usually find a way to mess up enough to get themselves out. The protection I'm talking about is protecting hourly work. Sups doing hourly work or having less seniority hourly do extra work without bidding to senior first. These have been real big problems of late. Sups doing our work or the loaders work and not following the seniority rule on Saturdays and when calling in drivers to load. Ofcourse, sups harrass just as much as loathers loath...

 

[spycmon]

Drooler, once again you jumped on your horse! Please read my post again where I said "I know that doesn't speak for the whole" and " it has gotten much better over the past year". I did not say "all the incompetent management are ruining the company" Just some of them..

These are our experiences in our center maybe things have always been rosy where you are. 8 different Center Managers and 13 different Sups in one center in 5 years can't be a good thing!

 

[upsadvisor]

The brown cafe has made into the business news wire today.

The news piece used the Brown Cafe poll as a resource.

The article was saying that while the strike vote results have authoized a strike by the union, the members do not feel a strike will happen according to a Brown Cafe poll on how likely
a there is to be a strike.

John

 

[my2cents]

spycom,

I have never felt someone is "stealing" my work. Time to get in the 21st century. Every other non-UPS job I have held, supervisors have jumped into the fray as they see necessary. UPS is no exception. Sometimes supervisors have no choice because the hourly employee is either grossly tardy or is a no show. The workplace needs flexibility, not more rigid union work rules.

Additionally, I would like to see a merit based system where we work, instead of one which is totally based on seniority. A system totally based on seniority produces many mediocre employees. There is some deadwood in our center, which should be pruned. These people stay forever because they know they can't be fired. People of merit should get first crack at open positions. Senority should be a secondary factor.

 

[spycmon]

I think you are missing the point, maybe not. Sups covering some lame no-show is one thing and that person eventually will be fired. I see it all the time. Filling a need in a crunch is one thing but blatently not bringing someone in then seeing a sup do the work instead is another. The "Flexibilty" you speak of would only open the door for more sups to be doing the work and less hourlys. Hence, nothing to stop UPS from hiring 220,000 Sups....

What kind of merit system are you speaking of? You either do your job or you don't. It's not that technical. The packages either get delivered or they don't. That's what OJS's are for. You can't use a merit system because no two routes or areas are them same (i.e. same amounts of stop, packages, weight, miles , location, dock time, walk time, elevator time, etc.) That's why time-studys and WOR stats are not in the contract.

What kind of open positions are you refering to as well? Management, fill out a resume. Feeder, seniority will always prevail because experience and safety. That's a lot of responcinility and money on the highway. Route bidding, You'd have hard time convincing even Big Brown that the fastest worker should have the easiest route. So, two senoirity based openings out of three and then there ain't much else as far as openings go. Unless you are talking part-time. I find it hard to believe that someone who works part-time 4 to 5 years only to wait to go driving is not pulling as much weight as 6 month employee fresh off the street, Otherwise? how did he last so long? If he didn't like the manual labor part-time he won't like it full-time.

 

[my2cents]

To me, merit should be based on a minimum combination of a positive work ethic and a solid attendance record. I have seen some people who have neither of these qualities but get assignments because of senority. Additionally, as we all know, some of us pull more weight than others do. That should go into consideration as well. I know some people who have been with the company for an extended period of time and are of absolutely no value to either their co-workers or the company. They use the system to their advantage. It doesn't matter what their job classification is. This is the gist of my beef and sometimes I get tired of seeing these slackers being coddled. I don't have all the answers, but I would rather see these types of issues addressed rather than more union work rules.

 

[driver1]

FedEx is telling their customers that they have to commit their volume to FedEx by June 3rd in order for FedEx to handle it in the event of a strike at UPS. So stand by for declining volume and potential layoffs the week after next.

 

[driver1]

That should be "FedEx telling UPS customers", not FedEx customers.

 

[driver1]

In reference to previous posts re: votes to strike, Teamster leadership has stated to the press that there was a 95% vote in favor of a strike. That may be true but they failed to state that less than 12000 members voted. 93% of 12000 is about 5% of the total members, somewhat different than 93%. What is the purpose in alarming shippers by this kind of press release? It can only hurt the members.

 

[thedrooler]

my2cents

Never talk to the teamsters union about having merit replace seniority when it comes to who gets promoted. This would put them out of business. If you reward employees for doing a good job, you would have too many good employees on your hands and there would be very few employees for the teamsters to "represent". Being a senior employee does not automatically mean you are a better employee. It does not mean you are a safer employee either. It simply means you have been doing what you're doing longer then some other employees.

Drooler

 

[my2cents]

Drooler,

Thanks for saying what I was thinking, but couldn't put into words at the time. The word "merit" is the equivalent of stepping on the third rail in some circles. Anyway, hopefully customers won't be spooked by this unimpressive strike-threat mandate.

 

[brownkat]

Drooler,
To say that the Union is not a value to UPS is ignorance. Just think about the China rights that UPS got last year. Thanks to the Union support UPS was able to win the right to flight into China. And how about the USPS unfair advantage? The teamster were key in helping UPS stop the bill.

I am not a union employee, but do see the value the Union can bring for the company as a whole.

Brownkat

 

[thedrooler]

browncat

I understand what you're saying, but I think UPS would have won the China rights with or without the teamsters involvement. Anything positive for us done recently by the teamsters union is far outweighed by their overall negative impact on the company and it's future. Just my opinion.

Drooler

 

[proups]

I think all of you are in agreement that the Teamsters strike vote is a sham, but that is not what gets media attention. It also doesn't help when Jimmy Hoffa states that UPS is dragging their feet in negotiations. That is not what I am hearing. The Teamsters are dragging their feet. UPS has said since January that they want a quick agreement. Now we are being told that UPS wants us to stop calling our union hall because the Teamsters can't answer all of our calls telling them to get off the dime and get an agreement. I read in a post that the union does not care about our well-being. This is true. Dues increases, playing it out to the media that a strike is on the horizon, not wanting us to call them and tell them to get an agreement. All of this for what? UPS has, and always has, a good contract for us. If you don't agree, then you need to take a hard look at your paycheck each week, or the doctor bills that get paid, or how well you live compared to others that do "blue-collar" work. We are losing volume by the thousands, laying off people, losing part-timers to other jobs because they want a "steady" income not threatened by a potential strike. And why? Because that organization called the IBT wants it's 15 minutes of fame every five years. Get a contract for us IBT - we are tired of your shenanigans.

 

[spycmon]

Proups, Your info about the negotiations are a bit inaccurate. The info is straight from the negotiating committee in Chicago.

By the way, You actually think "UPS has, and always has, a good contract for us. If you don't agree, then you need to take a hard look at your paycheck each week, or the doctor bills that get paid, or how well you live compared to others that do "blue-collar" work." that UPS would just up and give you those things you are refering to without Union involvement. Ask a FEDEX driver what he get's compared to US. Who do you think fought for that pay and that welfare package? Trust me, Brown is not giving it to you freely with lots of appreciation for your hard work. It has been negotiated for you. UPS has tried to take away much more than that in recent contracts.

 

[gsx1990]

spycmon,
It will be people like you that blame UPS when
(hopefully never) UPS goes under due to excessive
demands from the union. You have only your union
leaders to blame. You are the highest paid and
compensated in the industry. If you strike, it
will hurt not only UPS, but the teamsters in
general. People like you can't see the light.
Why is union membership at a 70 year low? Because
they have become too powerful, and they protect
the lazy. This is America, where you get ahead
by hard work and intuition. Not senority and
being lazy! I surely have no pity on people
like you who are already the highest compensated
in your industry, but "DEMAND EVERY GOLDEN EGG!".

 

[spycmon]

Or people like you who don't have the slightest idea what it is like to work for UPS. You opinion is rather bogus considering your lack of participation in the runnings of UPS...

 

[cheryl]

Discussion can be animated, which is fine, but we do not welcome personal attacks, on- or off-board. It is inappropriate to say anything on a discussion board about any individual or entity that you would not be prepared to say to them face-to-face.

It is fine to disagree with a different viewpoint, but please limit this to challenging the idea and not make your comments a personal challenge or make derogatory personal comments about individuals, their ideas or their situation. The latter is considered to be a flame and will not be tolerated.

 

[thedrooler]

Must be extra hot and sunny in the desert today. Come on in out of the sun and put a cold compress on your head. It'll help you think more clearly. Maybe.

Drooler

 

[proups]

There is a "spy" on this board who is like the people that come in every day looking for something to complain about.

Spy - I only know what I am told about negotiations. All of it comes from UPS. The Teamsters don't want me to call them. Looking out for me, aren't they? I know who takes care of me, and I don't need a shop steward to keep working at UPS.

Do you really believe, as well as you seem to know UPS, that Big Brown gives us any more than they plan to give us before they come to the table? Do you really believe that???

Think about 1997. UPS wanted to buy our pension plan. That would have been very expensive for them to do, but they were willing to do it. I saw their proposal - it would have given us a better pension. Carey and his cronies would not hear of it. Do you know why? It would have bankrupted our already corrupted, skimmed off the top, pension plan.

The Teamsters walked away in 1997 claiming a victory. Who won? We didn't. We lost two week's pay. We still got the same basics raises that we always have. We didn't get anything better that we usually do. UPS walked away from the table with all that money in their pockets that they were willing to spend on our pension plan. If you sit down with a calculator, you can easily see who won.

Go ahead, bash me again with some of your logic like you have bashed every other person on this board. You will find yourself like those guys I mentioned that come in every day looking for something to complain about - sitting by themselves in the break area. What a shame.