UPS laying off Technical hourly employees

[ncrtscisme]

Hello, fellow UPSers!
Unfortunately, i will not be able to say that for long because i am directly affected by this "layoff". Here is what I know so far. Nothing has been put in writing yet, but I'm hearing it all first-hand:

- All 8 TSC departments will be closed down this year (these are the call center technicians, all of them in the U.S...the guys you talk to when you dial 1-888-UPS-TECH)
- They will not all be closing at the same time...Portland, OR and Orlando, FL will be closed in Feb...Addison, IL will be closed in May...it goes all the way to Nashville, TN as the last one to close in Nov.
- TSG (the "field technicians"...you probably know them as the computer guys in the hubs, centers and out in the field that come and fix your stuff) will have their positions reduced by at least a few in each building. my district has not yet informed us of how much...however, another district very close to us was told all of that information, including where they each individually stand, which really caused an uproar amongst those of us who were (and still are) told nothing at all.
- there will be a "LIST" created containing every technician's name by order of seniority (this includes TSC, TSG and external TSG)...in my case, that list will contain all techs in district 46, 47, Region 02 offices, and CACH.
- there will be a "LINE" drawn at a yet-to-be-announced place in that list (rumor puts this line somewhere between 6 and 10 years of service as the cutoff)
- if you happen to currently work in a position that will NOT be eliminated AND you are above that line, then your job is supposed to be safe.
- if you are currently working in a position that WILL be eliminated and you are above that line, you will have the choice of A:leaving and taking a severance package, or B:bumping another tech out of his/her position if they are below that line and currently have a position that has not been eliminated.
- if you are below that line, you have but ONE CHOICE: to leave and take a severance package. You can NOT move to an open job in another department. However, if enough people who were above the line leave and as a result there are open positions left over (this would be HIGHLY UNLIKELY), then the people just below that line will be able to stay (with the last pick of job choices, of course).
- many more positions will become part-time, which most full-time workers will be forced to have to pass up due to the fact that they probably have a mortgage to pay and family to feed and life to live.

 

[DS]

Re: Technical Support TSC/TSG downsizes

Thats terrible news ncrt...I hope you end up on the still have a job side.
Surely this will affect us all in some way.What do you,as a technician,think will happen as a result?

 

[ncrtscisme]

Re: Technical Support TSC/TSG downsizes

that's hard to say...first of all, phone support will suffer greatly, especially in the beginning when the only support you have is people who have never even SEEN a UPS program or server or PC ("PAS, DCS, PTE, CRS, OCS, ORS, UDC, ETT, PCIS, IVIS, HFCS, DPS....What??").
Secondly, the field technician support will be reduced which means greater downtimes for our critical systems and also longer delays for less-critical problems. Just wait until the next crazy virus hits and the few techs in your building are too busy getting the server back up and running to be able to take care of the virus on your PC.
And don't forget about all the unfortuate employees, some with many years of service and loyalty to UPS, who will be suddenly forced to look for another job in a field that is already shrinking at a fast pace. Most of the people I work with have families to support, but they won't even be given the choice of taking a job in a different department. I know "business is business" and all that, but UPS is not by any means hurting financially (as we are sure to see this thursday when the earnings are announced). This could also have been handled in a better way, because from what I see the employees are getting no answers and the communication is very "uneven" throughout the different districts.
I can definitely say that I have never experienced such a dreary mood at the workplace before. And to make matters worse, management is watching everybody very closely and giving us the impression that they are ready to fire anyone who tries to speak up or step out of line. It really is becoming a scary situation for a lot of people.

 

[spidey]

None of the 5 or 6 people I know who are being laid off are being offered jobs inside the company. That may be just the sampleing I know, but I think the point was to cut the payroll, period, not to move the expense to another area.

 

[tieguy]

the payroll gets cut when they are moved. They will only be moved to open positions that have not been filled. The HR managers must have known for a while since they did not let anyone fill any positions for a while thus our people had jobs to move into.

 

[spidey]

I sure hope so, Tie. I know that they've done that in the past, but they've trimmed down a lot of departments the last few years, and it seems there just isn't enough open this time around. As someone stated before a lot of full time jobs have become part time, and many people can't take the cut.

I am not soap-boxing about this in any way, I haven't seen the books, people paid far more than me decided it needed done. It's just sad watching people who are already streched too thin try to cover more centers while others are back in the workforce again. I remind myself regularly that it could be me next month or next year or in five years. It's my job, I work very hard and take a lot of pride in it, but it is just a job. Love your family, love your doggies and your pot roast. The job is just the means to the end.

 

[brown_blood]

What would it take for the unionization of TSG? It sounds like that will be the only possible hope.

 

[ncrtscisme]

"unionization of TSG"...hmmmm...well that's interesting that you say that, because there has been some talk of it over the past few weeks. But as soon as management got wind of it, they completely "freaked out", stating that if we were to unionize there would be jobs lost and they would (and i quote) "use all available resources to stop it from happening". I found it to be a strange coincidence that the "layoff" announcement happened very shortly after they found this out. I'm sure it's been in the works for quite some time now, but the union talk probably sparked it to happen as fast as possible. Too bad we didn't pursue a union sooner. check out www.uatups.com.

 

[Anonymous Coward]

"unionization of TSG"...hmmmm...well that's interesting that you say that, because there has been some talk of it over the past few weeks. But as soon as management got wind of it, they completely "freaked out", stating that if we were to unionize there would be jobs lost and they would (and i quote) "use all available resources to stop it from happening". I found it to be a strange coincidence that the "layoff" announcement happened very shortly after they found this out. I'm sure it's been in the works for quite some time now, but the union talk probably sparked it to happen as fast as possible. Too bad we didn't pursue a union sooner. check out www.uatups.com.

I'm sure if we got this out to all of the techs, they would all be on board at this point. I know my entire district team would band together as team once again for this.

 

[trickpony1]

Tie,
It appears the sugar coating is wearing off or do you not remember telling me how it was just my ravaged mind?
It seems this board is receiving input from a number of sources regarding this topic, one of which comments on threats and oppression by management.
Gosh.......what a thought.

 

[tieguy]

Tie,
It appears the sugar coating is wearing off or do you not remember telling me how it was just my ravaged mind?
It seems this board is receiving input from a number of sources regarding this topic, one of which comments on threats and oppression by management.
Gosh.......what a thought.

Trick,
I'm not sure which alleged threat and oppression incident you are referring to but if it's the latest then any management activity of threat and oppression to prevent unionizing would be a NLRB case. Feel free to file if you feel you have a case.

As far as unionizing is concerned , unfortunately that would not prevent the reorganization of the tsg department. Unless the union would like to pay their salaries and we know unions never care about their members that much.

Just curious Trickpony does the union put up bronze statues for its retirees?

and no ontrickpony I don't remember telling you the sugercoating ravaged your mind or even using the ravage mind phrase. Could you point it out to me?

 

[tieguy]

by the way anyone notice ford is talking of cutting 30,000 jobs? Not to distract from the 400 jobs we are talking about here but it does provide a stark contrast to our situation. UPS has ridden out many recessions and almost always created jobs during those times. If you really want to talk about the evil empire and how they cut jobs then you have to factor in the big companies that really drop some big numbers.

If that is sugercoating then let me sprinkle it everywhere. I am gratefull I chose to work for a company that has so much to offer and does not drop 20,000 to 40,000 jobs everytime the economy turns sour.

 

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem we all have here is they are not allowing the techs to move to other positions even though others are being hired and other positions are available.

 

[Anonymous Coward]

The difference is UPS has many other jobs they could place us in. They do not want to because we are making between $25/hr to $30/hr.

 

[ncrtscisme]

I agree with Tieguy in the fact that you should be thankful we aren't losing as many jobs as ford's employees. However, ford's reason for doing it is that it took a lost of 1.x billion dollars over the year...UPS, I can almost guarantee, will announce a PROFIT of over 3 billion dollars for last year. Will the board of directors vote to give themselves another 7.5% raise this year, when the rest of us can get no more than 3? Probably. Will UPS be able to achieve an even higher profit for next year by cutting down so many tech support employees? Of course...but when will it end? When every drop of blood and sweat is squeezed out of our drivers and loaders and when upper management makes more money than they can spend, will that be enough? Doubt it.
We claim to put so much emphasis on technology here at UPS, but when the price of this becomes the jobs of those who worked to put this technology into place is it really worth it?
Sorry, don't mean to be on the soapbox for too long...

 

[yankswinagain]

Trickpony1 posted...

"AnotherTSG,
I'll be getting my popcorn ready also.
On the "menu of life", revenge is best served cold.
Go for it and know my thoughts are with you!
While management is fumbling around wondering why the computers are down and pulling their hair out trying to correct the situation I will be grinning knowing the little guy didn't go down without taking someone with him/her.
Godspeed........and, yes, God will understand."


I guess I never understand this type of thing. When "the computers are down" because a soon to be ex-employee gets pissed off - all employees in the company suffer - we may not be able send bills to our customers, pay our employees, or many other things that are critical to the business.

The way this is being done may not be the best (not allowing people to re-apply for open jobs), but that doesn't mean we should be encouraging people to purposely cause havoc for the company.

 

[DS]

... In my opinion Its the greed that bugs me,we know that they can hire young kids off the street that specialize in computers,and pay them dick all, except for subsidising thier educations,and writing most of it off tax time.Its a kick in the head to the people that got us this far.As far as wreaking havoc on the company goes,how could we possibly do that?
The brown cafe is frequented by people that like to vent,chat,exchange stories,recipes . We are no threat to them. Its hard to tell what you are trying to say in your post Yank...sad? happy? defensive?

 

[Anonymous Coward]

The difference is UPS has many other jobs they could place us in. They do not want to because we are making between $25/hr to $30/hr.

$25 to $30! HA! We were lucky to make $19!

 

[anothertsg]

Trickpony1 - Thank you very much for your supportive comments!!! Let me just say, though, I personally have no desire to commit any acts of sabotage or even mischief with anything owned or operated by UPS. I simply think that out of 300+ people that are being laid off, someone will probably try something. Not everyone with power handles it wisely (true on either side of this particular scenario). The suspense just begs for popcorn! If there are techs in other areas that are being allowed to move into other positions, then I am very happy for them. However, according to the Corporate memo read to us by the HR rep, all reassignments have been "frozen" company-wide. It is THIS action that has our department incensed. Almost everyone knew the downsize was coming, but we were not prepared for being THROWN OUT. As I said before, there are well over 50 openings in my district at this time, but we cannot even ATTEMPT to move into them, or even quit (give up seniority, etc) and rehire for at least 12 months. No one can make sense of it. Even those who came to TSG from other departments, including Operations, cannot move back despite their experience. Finally, I'd like to work in Anonymous Coward's district!!!! Because after 5 years, I'm not even making $20/hour, much less $25-$30. Maybe after 15+ years as a Senior tech?? Certainly those without seniority won't have close to that kind of pay rate, so even that hypothetical excuse would not be valid.

 

[anothertsg]

Interestingly enough, they are also reducing the TSG management staff - by transferring them into Operations, IE, HR, etc. The freeze doesn't apply to them, and that's good. I personally don't want to see any of our sups on the street either. They're pretty shaken up by all of this, too. I just wish we were being treated fairly also.