Robert Thompson
New Member
I was employed originally for Motor Cargo, which was a spectacular company. During this employment, Motor Cargo was bought by UPS, thereby creating UPS Freight. The teamsters immediately took over UPS Freight, and began a work slowdown, which has continued to this day! I was alienated by the teamsters due to my refusal to participate in this slowdown, and was harassed by my shop steward. The teamsters reclassified my job as a "casual employee", which stripped me of my seniority. There was a "red-circle" clause in the contract, which should have grandfathered me in with my current seniority. UPS Freight blatantly denied this part of the contract, and the union did nothing! Furthermore, we were all told that union employees get work before non-union employees do, which is an outright lie! I was laid-off at the end of 2015, "due to a slowdown of the freight industry", which is not the case. I have since been to several of the competition, Saia and Old Dominion, only to find that they have had continuous business gains, and are currently moving 3 times as much freight as UPS Freight, there is no "slowdown of the freight industry". There are now two drivers working my shift, at a higher pay rate, and getting overtime(time and a half). This shift took me 6 hours by myself, with no overtime, at a lower pay rate. I have consistently, and measurably, been more productive than any other employee at this terminal, and quite often in the top few of the entire company! They are spending more money for less work, and the terminal is failing. Many people within the company see this happening, but can do nothing. The upper management makes VERY poor decisions, and WILL destroy this company. The local management isn't allowed to manage, they are simply told what to do, and can do nothing but that. Many UPS Freight employees are incompetent at their job, and still get to keep it. How hard you work, how much work you do DOESN'T MATTER to UPS, which is a recipe for failure. DO NOT WORK FOR UPS IF YOU NEED RELIABLE EMPLOYMENT! My 12 years of continuous productivity, and my outrageous attendance record(8 years with no sick days), doesn't amount to anything. The Tucson terminal is probably doomed, our competitors leave empty trailers at our rural points, because they know we wont make those pickups. It almost seems that they are trying to close the doors here in Tucson, where they bought this terminal, and spent ton of money to pave the yard. Every single decision UPS Freight makes seems very wrong. How does it make sense to get rid of the most productive worker with the lowest pay rate.
