46 CHEMA pkg drivers laid off

blue efficacy

Well-Known Member
Ah- those were the days. There are still 2 gals left at my old center who work part time for 28 bucks+ an hour with full benefits. One is the morning clerk (no one knows what she does other than gossip with everyone) and the other one does re-wrap and porter. You can only imagine how much the UPS would like to get rid of those two.:wink2: P.S. Neither one of their husbands work :happy-very:
But thanks to the will of full time UPSers us part timers make peanuts.
 

blue efficacy

Well-Known Member
Totally agree with you. If the PTers did organize, they would be a force to be bargained with. The guy at UPS who dreamed up the signing bonuses to get the "two tier" contract passed was a genius. Of course if UPS was paying the PTer drivers wages, we would not be competitive at all.
How could they have been competitive when they did pay PTers good wages and not now?


It's a problem that feeds itself really. The ****tier the starting pay gets, the fewer PTers youll get who would even consider caring about voting on contracts. You full timers need to get off your soapboxes and stop making it out to be my fault that kids working there for minimum wage and quitting after a short time can't be convinced to care about the union or contracts. There is no way you can get these kids to care. So I think it is a bit unfair to blame the victim here.

I have a medical condition that bars me from driving and makes me a prisoner at UPS to keep my health insurance. Forgive me if I am a bit jaded towards full time drivers who approve a contract that continues to pay new hires McDonald's wages and now doesn't even give them medical for a year. But it was good for you guys, right?
 

rod

Retired 22 years
Forgive me if I am a bit jaded towards full time drivers who approve a contract that continues to pay new hires McDonald's wages and now doesn't even give them medical for a year. But it was good for you guys, right?


If all the part timers stood together and voted they could pretty much get things their way. The key word here is "voted". I could be wrong but I think I remember hearing that only 7 % of part timers voted the last time. Don't blame full timers on your situation.
 

peppa

Member
I heard that yesterday. I guess it's 46 between CHEMA and LYNMA. So if 46 drivers are laid off, it means they're working inside. Does that mean 46 inside people are out on the street?

And 46 pkg drivers are now making inside rate. That has to be hard.

Feeders is in the process of moving p/us to package. Any CHEMA pkg drivers have a new ex-feeder p/u? I was told from the top that where practical, feeder p/us will continue to be moved to package.

Obviously, this will result in Feeder drivers being moved to Package (IMHO). Anyone just miss the 46 driver lay-off? This means you're still not safe.

Good luck to us all.
 

peppa

Member
Obviously, the North East region is a test region for corporate. They probably have some insane, "Stone-busting" region manager that is giving the, "Underqualified" labor managers and district managers free reign to downsize. The quagmire here, is that the more they cast a dark shadow on the work force with their propoganda from the media about this economy, the more they will drive down morale on the inside ops and on the road. This will reflect negative growth.
In the second quarter, they will realize that the revenue numbers are falling faster than the, "so called savings" that they will uligize about at your PCM's and you will soon(about midway through the second quarter) hear about a new, "revamped" sales lead program that will put the burden of driving revenue on the driver's conscience.
The customer that has a specialized feeder pick up and is slowing down, due to slow consumer spending, will not be apt to stay loyal to a carrier that kicks them when they are down and charges the same rates for less service.
Ups, as with many publicly traded companies is allowing wall street to control their decision.
This is obscenely wrong!
As someone who managed for UPS when they were a private organization, as well as a public organization, I can tell you that when the economy slipped(1987), during our privately held days, we didn't have to worry about stock prices, we managed costs practically, and our employees were engaged because everyone belonged to the Thrift Plan(another topic) and had a vested interest in the company.
The Thrift Plan was not a fund for vacation money or a new pick up truck. We counciled our employees on weekly conservative savings and investments and it worked.
It was this wall street driven management style that drove good managers, to which I have been told I was, away from UPS.
This business model that UPS is trying to follow in driven by the Fedex model(to the power of three), and you see how that is working for them.
UPSFreight? What is that? A billboard campaign? The revenue per stop on those 26 and 53 foot monsters is no more than a small machine shop that a package car driver delivers Air, International, Second day, and Three day select too and picks up as well.
At an average of 2 stops per on road hour. Ask your district manager if 2 SPORH is acceptable. Or, better yet, how much money was spent on PAS and what profit have we realized from this costly endeavor.
Our company; I still say our company, because I am still an owner, is being driven into the ground, by so-called intellectuals.
I was told by a 30 year-old female division level manager that I was to put an 11 hour day on a driver that could not deliver after dark due to the safety of the inner city neighborhood, only because a computer generated a report that said he was planned at a 8.5 hour day. When I challenged her, she called me stupid.
The requirements for leadership in our company have drastically changed. Most of today's young, slick, managers and division managers have never unloaded, sorted, done clerical work, and most importantly never drove by themselves for even the old 90 day required period.
Nothing, has ever made me a more successful as a manager than my time driving.
Example: If I was impolite to a customer and got a complaint, a "hand written" explanation had to be sent to my District manager within 24 hours. Sometime, "Good" district managers would make it a priority to call the center manager to voice his/her concerns on the issue. Today we pay a part-timer to process, "Concerns" that most of the time arn't even discuss with the employee.
The personal complaint process taught me that how I treated people had a direct corelation to how I was valued.
A value that I carried into management.
I appologize for the length, but I needed to get this off my chest.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
1 Chema Feeder job cut last week, 2 more this week. We did have 1 more job than drivers because of comp, but not anymore.

1 Feeder driver returning to Package so far....
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
Update:

2 Chema Feeder drivers have returned to Package.

4 more return next week.

One guy wanted to go back, which would have let one of the forced guys stay. Company OKd it, but some snitch went to the union and cried, so the union nixed it.

Now, instead of two happy employees, you have two unhappy employees....
 

UnconTROLLed

perfection
Update:

2 Chema Feeder drivers have returned to Package.

4 more return next week.

One guy wanted to go back, which would have let one of the forced guys stay. Company OKd it, but some snitch went to the union and cried, so the union nixed it.

Now, instead of two happy employees, you have two unhappy employees....

Funny the union will come in and reverse things like that, but real issues are avoided.

Also pretty AWFUL how top-rate drivers are working for 11/hr inside.
 

browniehound

Well-Known Member
Update:

2 Chema Feeder drivers have returned to Package.

4 more return next week.

One guy wanted to go back, which would have let one of the forced guys stay. Company OKd it, but some snitch went to the union and cried, so the union nixed it.

Now, instead of two happy employees, you have two unhappy employees....


Why not let the guy who wants to go back, go back and make everyone happy?

My guess is the union has to follow the contact just as the company does. Problem with this logic is the company is offering senior drivers unpaid weeks of vacation now to allow junior guys from being pushed into the pre-load.

I think this is no different than the feeder situation. If someone wants to go back let him go back so a feeder driver can who wants to stay in feeders, stay.

The only issue I can think that would matter would be the package drivers who would get bumped. If a higher senority feeder driver goes back willingly, he may bump a more senior package driver who would not get bumped if the less senior feeder driver went back. Follow me?
 

browniehound

Well-Known Member
Plus 81 Feeders, maybe 10 shifters.


Hey Over,
I know feeder guys have to shift for part of their shift and I know the are some jobs that are 100% shifting. Shifting doesn't require a licence so my question becomes would you like to shift for you entire "shift" LOL?

I ask this question because it seems like a good alterantive to package without the responsibility of having a class A. Would you consider it? I am when I get enough "juice".
 

wrecker

Well-Known Member
There are some "yard only-non cdl" jobs here. It's better to get the license and go places. No a/c in the shifters.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
The only issue I can think that would matter would be the package drivers who would get bumped. If a higher senority feeder driver goes back willingly, he may bump a more senior package driver who would not get bumped if the less senior feeder driver went back. Follow me?

Yup, and that's an excellent point. I wonder if the more senior feeder driver had offered to bump in at less than the other guys date?

Hey Over,
I know feeder guys have to shift for part of their shift and I know the are some jobs that are 100% shifting. Shifting doesn't require a licence so my question becomes would you like to shift for you entire "shift" LOL?

I ask this question because it seems like a good alterantive to package without the responsibility of having a class A. Would you consider it? I am when I get enough "juice".

All the shifters have more seniority than me. We have one guy that's a '64. Can you even imagine being here that long???

Oh yeah, I hate shifting!!!!!
 

Covemastah

Hoopah drives the boat Chief !!
Hey Over,
I know feeder guys have to shift for part of their shift and I know the are some jobs that are 100% shifting. Shifting doesn't require a licence so my question becomes would you like to shift for you entire "shift" LOL?

I ask this question because it seems like a good alterantive to package without the responsibility of having a class A. Would you consider it? I am when I get enough "juice".
Its a long day in the shifter if you are there for the duration of your "shift' it's a tedious job & you have to have the mind set for it!I did it for a long time & I thought I'd go crazy in that little glass sweatbox! I allways looked forward to getting out of the yard! I often wonder how some of these guys do it 10/12 hrs a day & not go out of their minds!
 

Covemastah

Hoopah drives the boat Chief !!
Not to mention names,but think about the guy who talks with NASA when they got problems!!look what it did too him!:wink2:
 
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