Hello there. Long time follower of the Brown Cafe forums, first time poster. I have been employed with UPS since Oct, 2004. 5 years in at SDF on the ramp, and 5 years in at a smaller UPS hub in Western Kentucky. During my tenure with the company, I never experienced any problems with the union helping me or sorting things out at SDF, always cut and dry and the problems fixed. However, I'm afraid that is not the case at my location now. It seems that my union representatives and management have some sort of "off the books" methods of special treatment and tolerance towards employees, and it is rather disheartening. Back in September, our building bid a fueling job. Well, the bid sheet was posted for about an hour before it was taken down, the supervisor stating that there was an error with the job title (it was fueling/shifting, not supposed to be combined) and that they would be putting another sheet up soon. Well that never happened lol. Instead what happened, was they asked nobody, and I mean nobody if they wanted the position or not and gave it to a relatively new employee who so happens to be outside of work business friends with a couple members of the mgmt team. Normally I wouldn't much care, I just do my job and don't try to make much stink. I'm used to having my neck stepped on and dealing with it. Yet, I was legitimately interested in this job, and it does offer more hours. With the recent holidays, I overheard how this employee that lucked into the job is paying more in taxes every week than I bring home. So, with proper procedure I inquired to my steward about filing a grievance. Not specifically for the pay return, but just so that there would finally be a bid sheet put up (also another sheet for a small sort position that needs to go up, they have just been playing musical employees and filling the position nightly for about a month). Well, I was informed that the employee that has been fueling, automatically gets it because it has been longer than 60 days since he started doing that job. My question was how is this possible because the entire building (only about 14 employees total on my local evening sort here not counting drivers) can attest that there never was a bid for the job and no one was asked if they were interested in addition, there is no physical paper trail for this "60 days". I was quickly told to just drop it and was given the distinct impression that if I did not, that my position with the company would become much more difficult. I have two union stewards, both of whom told me the same thing pretty much, and to just not open a can of worms or else. Both stewards are very good friends with the members of mgmt, which is fine outside of work, but nothing ever gets rectified in our building because of this. This center is the biggest joke I've ever experienced as far as work places go. Employees regularly run around throwing things, shouting extreme obscenities, pulling each other's pants down, and other immature buffoonery. Any ideas of how to fix these problems without martyring myself? I'm considering quitting after 10 years because I loathe the work atmosphere and lack of worker representation. Thank you for reading and your responses.