UPS in Atlanta just made another move

[wkmac]

OK local, I see what you are saying now. Sounds like your management group has decided to make sure everyone has a day off instead of paying that extra day. Now from your standpoint I understand the week getting knocked out isn't to keen but from the business side it may make sense and for me I'd rather have the day off too. Business is usually down that week anyway and then couple that with your local group scheduling so that an extra day of pay doesn't tap their business plan, not bad thinking. Blocking out the week from vacation may have been necessary to ensure flexibility to schedule everyone off during that week. From the business side, good economics but is it contractual? From what you said sounds like your local union folks are looking at this and if allowable then it will fly.

What maybe you should have done is look hard at this yourselves as a group and then went to management (not all are open to this method so be careful) and work out some kind of deal with them but every driver has to be in the boat. If one driver even hints of not being fully behind this don't do it. We all agree and reframe from selecting that week for vacation to avoid a union twist but what back scatchin' will you do for us? We'll go an oddball way to help you make your numbers but what you gonna do for us.

Just an idea.

 

[proups]

804: I'm with Deliver Man:

"A minimum of fifteen percent(15%) of the employees in a center will be permitted off each week during the months of June, July, August, September, and October.
A minimum of ten percent(10%) of the employees in a center will be permitted off the remainder of the vacation period"

That is the contract.....it's not the "suits" in Atlanta.

 

[local804]

Deliveryman, I have the local 804 supplement and that post you posted is very clear, but it is not listed in MY contract.If it was listed, I wouldnt be here asking for help from my fellow drivers.15% of 75 drivers is 5, and that is what we get across the board.

 

[local804]

Feederdryver,
Thank you for your post correcting my spelling. Most of my posts are either after work (10-11 hour days min)or really, really early.If spelling is such a big deal to you, maybe you should look at YOUR NAME. Feederdriver is spelled driver NOT dryver.For now on, I am going to hit my feeder key(spellcheck) so I do not make any more mistakes.Actually, I could give a rats ass if I make a spelling error, I am only human.

 

[ups79]

local 804 15% of 75 drivers is 11.25 drivers

 

[ups79]

wkmac, i heard just the opposite several months ago from our driver supervisor. he told me management is not allowed to pick the july 4th week because volumn is high during that week. i might of misspelled volumn might be volume however i don't plan on spending any time looking if up.

 

[local804]

UPS79 My boss only gives us 5 sometimes 6 weeks across the board in the summer. I was being a wiseass when I said that 5 was 15% of 75. It seems like my UPS manager makes the rules to suit his needs.He is one from the old school that will do what he wants(against the contract) and will change his plan only if someone files a grievance.I am all for making money for the company and I give 110% just like all of you guys and girls do.Sometimes enough is enough though.If my mgr had his way, he would make us come in and deliver on Christmas.Family time is more important to me right now and it will always be.If we lose the July 4th week, I will take the day he gives me,add a sick day after that, and make it a 4 day weekend.Thats enough of that.....

 

[j135011]

Most operations managers don't take the week of July 4th and the week after because these are the lowest volume weeks of the year. This creates dispatch problems because routes need to be cut in order to insure service and production goals are met. At the same time, all pickup stops have to be made and that can mean a very different operating plan than normal. Operations management needs to insure that all the "exceptions" are covered so we don't upset our customers with these changes.
That being said, I've never heard of drivers not being allowed to take vacation at that time of year. It's interesting that even with a national contract, we still have over 10 supplimental contracts across the country. It makes for interesting discussion about the differences in contract language from different areas.

 

[brown138]

How can they just decide to give everyone monday off? Packages are due to be delivered. July 5th is not a holiday. Something doesn't sound right.

Brown

 

[deliver_man]

Local804, I'm not sure what the problem is. You say your manager "just does what he wants", and you guys just accept it? If you allow him to violate the contract whenever he pleases you have only yourselves to blame. We have a strong contract, but a contract is only as strong as the union, and the union is only as strong as it's members. Denying drivers their contractual right to bid vacation during an arbitrary week is the kind of issue your BA should be all over. If you are not filing grievances over something like this then you are a fool. Having said all that, though, I rather suspect there is something going on here that you either do not understand or are not making clear to us. To be honest, the situation you are describing just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The language regarding vacation bid should be spelled out VERY clearly in your area supplement (it's not the kind of thing that is left open to a lot of interpretation), and I find it hard to believe that management would take it upon themselves to just disregard that language entirely.

 

[local804]

The manager does what he wants to when he wants to.We(all the drivers) are always filing grievances to correct his insanity.The contract book say nothing(and I mean nothing ) about percentages to be taken off on any given week including July 4th.It says everything from picking at least one winter week(Oct 1 to Apr 30) to vacation pay,vacation picks,tentative vacation list,vacation seniority, senior credit for vacation entitlement, and no work during vacation period.It says nothing about percentages for any givin week.I am just posting here to get some feedback from some of the other locals.Deliverman, trust me, our drivers are not a bunch of wimps but we have no section in the book to file a grievance and have it stand.The business agant is aware of the situation and he will solve the problem. If he dont solve the problem, we will go above his head to the VP of our local.If he then cant solve our problem , there will be 75 pissed off MF`ers and November is election time for ALL of our elected officials.

 

[brownmonster]

FYI Central Region Supplement
Seventeen percent (17%) of the employees in a center will be scheduled off during the months of May, June, July and August.
This language in the new contract added one driver off each week for the summer in our center. Helped some of the lower seniority drivers get some time off in the summer.

 

[proups]

804: is that the contract Ron Carey negotiated for your local?

 

[wkmac]

ups79,
Volumn works for me. In our case locally the volume drops because many companies in our area experience a high amount of employee vacation and time off in conjunction with the 4th so production levels drop. You also have the case of the business quarter having just ended with June and there is, at least in our case, a spike upward of volume in association with that so a natural lull is created by this.

I know this week isn't blocked for us in the Southern Conference but other regions could very well be a different case. Unless your contract is specific to this week I would most definitely speak up. As to your volume going up you may have businesses that accelerate during that period. You guys don't deliver beer and fireworks do you?

 

[local804]

Proup,
No, this was under the Hoffa regime.

 

[pretender]

It was my understanding that the contract allows for additional people, over and above the vacation allotment, to take the week off without pay. (The same with the week between Christmas and New Year's.) Of course, a lot would depend on which day of the week the holiday falls.

 

[local804]

The Local 804 board met with the Chiefs at UPS about the closed July 4th week.Our answer to the multiple grievances filed was that UPS at a copr. level is thinking about closing the monday after July 4th to observe the holiday.They also opened up an extra 7 weeks in July and August to compensate for the closing of the July 4th week.I knew it would be a matter of time before this problem was settled.
PS Doubletime on election day is very very sweet.

 

[local804]

The Local 804 board met with the Chiefs at UPS about the closed July 4th week.Our answer to the multiple grievances filed was that UPS at a copr. level is thinking about closing the monday after July 4th to observe the holiday.They also opened up an extra 7 weeks in July and August to compensate for the closing of the July 4th week.I knew it would be a matter of time before this problem was settled.
PS Doubletime on election day is very very sweet.

 

[browndude]

they are not thinking about closing the 5th. it is a given that we will be closed the 5th. if a holiday falls on sunday we get monday but if it falls on saturday we just get an extra days pay!

 

[local804]

Oh really, so its a done deal huh....I cant see why they wasted all this time and money on the meeting then.I am wondering also why no one ever my local and all the managers at UPS in NY this information.