Your supes get paid more then a new hire and they don't have some 22yo A hole yelling at them and demanding them to load fast which makes it easier to deal with the job and show up.
I understand wanting to see your work place do well and everyone work together to bail each other out but the company can slow down the unload so they don't destroy you but they won't because it hurts their numbers and bonus. It's not a catch 22. You don't get anything for going down on time other then go home early. You're paid by the hour.
We've all worn the rose colored glasses at some point. The whole "team work and rah rah let's get it done." Its a motivator that the company likes to use. Its fake. The only people that benefit from it is your upper management.
Not trying to come down on you because I was there when I used to load. Looking back I can see how easily some of us were manipulated. They make you feel like a important part of the process when in reality they couldn't care less about you.
Never said I wanted to see my workplace do well. Agreed, they won't slowdown the unload. Hell, just yesterday they had us all start at 6:30 (normal start time is 6:00, or 6:15) because the volume was "light". That's a bunch of baloney - they basically shortened the window for us to work (seems they try to have us out of there by 10 pm every night, and then sups run around finishing up iregs and whatever else is left), and slammed us with boxes all night long. It was rough for the areas that don't usually have a heavy flow of packages, as they aren't used to it. As we were walking out at the end of the night - the areas that are usually done by 9-9:30 were still busy. My area closed down at 10, and everything was done (iregs loaded, etc). In my area, we're always overloaded (my PD always has the heavest workload - as everyone in the building will tell you PD5 gets crapped on all the time with workload), so for us it was business as usual.
I'm not wearing rose colored glasses. I see both sides of the argument in the sense of understanding why union people get pissed when a non-union member does work that should be being done by a union member, and likewise why sups jump in to help, and union staff don't complain. I understand the whole "taking money out of a union members pocket" side of the argument. Trust me - I'm not a high school kid.....I'm 37, with a 9-5. In case you are wondering why I'm at UPS - simple. I need additional income, they were hiring, and I don't mind physical labor. It's a mindless job, and a workout all the same, that I get paid for. I don't mind it. The politics and beaurocracy - that's annoying. I deal with that enough in my day job.
I know that "we" loaders (or anyone that is PT really) don't matter. We're nothing but numbers to the company, and all easily replaceable (which is the downfall of a simple job....you aren't special, and are easily replaceable as anyone can do it). However, I also realize that without the loaders and rest of the PT staff, nothing gets moved....and with that, realistically, the company needs it's workers just as much as the workers need the company. The duality of it is the worker's job is try to do the least amount of work and get paid the most for it, where as the company wants you to do the most amount of work possible and pay you the least for it. It's the effort to strike some sort of balance between those two extremes - that's what I see every day, literally, at the building I work in.
Bottom line - I come in, I do the best I can, I move the boxes from here to there, and I go home. I'm reminded of the movie 8 Mile where Eminem is working at Detroit Stamping, and his older co-worker tells him "Stick with the plan, man. Come in, do your work, and shut the friend up." Truer words have never been spoken.
