Something new to hold us accountable for

[Fnix]

Originally Posted by LKLND3380

Our bulding it is Unloader, Sorter, SPA Person, and Pick Off... I think we were one of the test buildings 5 years ago.

How do you control the flow to the SPA people if the sorters are after the unloaders? Our unload is limited to how fast the SPA person can scan. It is slower to unload because you have to pace yourself, keep labels up so they can see them, make sure you send no irregs or tape ups up the belt until the end.

[DS]

Our new CM has recently started a new practice.
We are not on pas or edd so we still do things the old way.
Since Monday is "perfect service day",and everything is wrapped early,we expect no service failures.
Every Moday morning now,there is a sheet of paper that says something like this...
I your name ,have x amount of 10:30 commits and x amount of noon commits.I will make my time commits for all my deliveries on time your signature.
When I told my on car sup that there was no way I would sign it,he asked why.I said most of the time my truck is too full to stop what I`m doing at 10:15 at look at every single tracking label on every package.
He then asked if I could write in the amount of commits that
I knew of,which I agreed to,but I always write in,"that I know of" after,and instead of signing it ,I put im my truck number.
As far as delivering damaged pkgs goes,they have not said anything to us.I always point out the damage to a customer and let them decide if they want to accept it.A roll of tape is a necessity to make even unbreakable packages look presentable.Our system is hard on packages.

[rocket man]

write a grivance he violatedyour weingarten wrights you write that up the wont even want to no yourname that was a serious violation

[LKLND3380]

Originally Posted by Fnix

How do you control the flow to the SPA people if the sorters are after the unloaders? Our unload is limited to how fast the SPA person can scan. It is slower to unload because you have to pace yourself, keep labels up so they can see them, make sure you send no irregs or tape ups up the belt until the end.

You control the flow by hitting the red stop button... LOL Seriously... If the SPA people are being hit hard they will stop the belt...

The three belts (Lakeland, Plant City, and Winter Haven) each have two SPA people and a Data Ac Clerk. Lakeland and Winter Haven each have a pick off person, Plant City belt does not. The first two preloaders on Plant City must pick off, split and load their package cars.

The unload tries to blow out the sorters at times. The supes in the unload will tell them if they can knock out 6 feeders in 20 minutes before break they will get McDonald's the next day.

The result is the SPA people missing packages, sorters placing wrong packages on the wrong belts, IN and OUTs not split and blank/unSPA'd/Missed packages piled at the end of the belt causing egress issues. Preloaders can not keep up because the belt is not split, you push packages over (spilt) hoping your neighbor can get their packages. Doing this may cause other packages to fall - causing egress issues.

Now the SPA people will shut down the belt but that does not shut down the system (PE came in and said someone must have rewired something) so the unload and sort continue until it causes a jam. The sort belt will shut down but the unload continues so they stack out the sort belt.

When the SPA people turn on the belt after they caught up they are now faced with a two foot high - eight feet long wall of stacked packages... They knock these to the floor as they can not SPA the mess and that creates an egress issue in their area.

Problems with this set up is that the packages reach the SPA (going down a slide) without labels up. Envelopes and smalls are mixed with larger packages. You have to hold the SPA gun and search for packages/envelopes under packages - hard to get a firm grip.

It ends up being a mess but in the end the unload knocks out six feeders in 20 minutes and everyone goes on break. Around 8:10 the unload and sort are done and the preloaders along with SPA are stuck cleaning up until 8:50. The driver start time is 8:50 so the Center Manager tells all Preloaders to go home and the drivers to wrap up.

9:05 the drivers are out and the CM is wondering why there is still work going down the belt. This is work that went down the wrong belts earlier or missed work at the end of the belt. Now someone has to shuttle out the work that was left in building...

The next day all the preloaders are pissed because they get to watch the unload and sort eat McDonalds during break.

PERFECT SERVICE DAY

[big_arrow_up]

This all goes back to my rant about damaged packages. If people wouldn't allow them in the system then none of this would happen. So, if you are a preloader and one comes down the belt then do your part and either tape it up or give it to whoever deals with damages. Don't just put it on the truck. I had two damaged packages on my truck today and 5 opened packages. I ended up bringing back more than two though because a couple of the opened packages lost their contents when I picked them up off the floor. When I parked my truck at the end of the day there was metal fasteners, Avon booklets, magazines, and packing "popcorn" all over the floor of the truck.

And no....you don't have to sign anything.

[tieguy]

Originally Posted by LKLND3380

Or the steward can say how about you cut the guy a break and we forget this grievnces for harassment that was witness by four co-workers on the belt...

In my experience harrassment is something someone tries to cry when they aren't doing the job and have nothing else to defend theirselves with.

I can ride out a lot of trumped up grievances. Your employee that wants to have a steward present when I say good morning to him has only so many steps of discipline before he exhausts them all.

[tieguy]

Originally Posted by LKLND3380

It may be extremes but then maybe we should focus on the original post that started the thread.

An inbound feeder is late because of traffic or a wreck that can be verified by police reports? Maybe because of weather conditions - a supe would never ask anyone to engage in unsafe behavior.

Can't find out about the wreck if I don't ask the question. According to your point I can't ask the question unless the steward is standing there. This is normal conversation that does not require a steward. why are you late? bad wreck out there. Ok.

A person calls in... Is this an hour before start time or less than an hour?

Does not matter. Under your point I can't ask the guy why he is not coming into work. Have to have a steward next to me and have to have one driven out to the guys house.

Bottom line is that the employee has the right to ask for a steward at anytime and may stop the questioning or refuse to sign.

Thats fine. someone who draws the line where every conversation requires a steward being present will see that I use that steward when I may not have disciplined the guy otherwise.

So again weingarten is fine and I agree with the principles of representation. Going back to the original conversation as you asked the employee did not load any damages therefore he had nothing to be investigated for. Therefore a steward was not required. If the conversation had turned accusatory at any point then the employee would have been within his rights to ask for representation. Once he asks for representation I'm checking his load because he had no need for a steward if he did not load any damages. If I find one then it gets ugly for him. Asking for a steward for all work related conversations will hurt him more then it will help him. There will be no breaks if I have to have a steward everytime I ask him a work related question.

[soberups]

Originally Posted by tieguy

Insisting on the steward being there actually strengthens the supervisors position not the employees.

Having the steward there means there is a witness to what is actually said, NOT what the sup makes up in order to strengthen his case.
Also, having a steward present has probably prevented a lot of sups from getting the crap beat out of them by the employee whose ass they are riding. Its always best to have someone who is willing to get in the middle.

[soberups]

I dont sign anything either. It is important to remember that, from the day you are hired, UPS begins documenting a case for your eventual termination. Why help them? Most of the time, stuff like this is the result of some moron from Corporate getting a bright idea and writing a memo. It will last a week, maybe two, and then just sort of fade away.

[dilligaf]

Originally Posted by tieguy

I think you're taking it to extremes. So under your scenario I inbound a feeder driver and ask him why he is late. Should the steward be sitting next to me or next to the driver on the other end of the phone?

Tie, I don't think LKLND is taking it to extremes. We have the right to protect ourselves and if we have to invoke Weingarten then that is what we have to do. If the feeder driver feels he needs a steward then he has the right to ask for one. It would depend how much the driver trusted you. If you are the type of boss that I have then I would ask for a steward every time.

Am I supposed to have a steward present everytime one of my sups trains a driver and instructs him with information that I could use to hold him accountable later? And if you are the steward where in the tractor cab would you like to sit?

Come on Tie, your are being silly. Just trying to pick at everything.

How about when the person calls out sick and I question him on the phone. Should I have a steward present in my office and one present at the employees house?

How about waiting until the driver returns to work? Then he can ask for a steward if he desires.

I understand your point about having a steward present but there are too many everday conversations that fit into your vague reference that are not practical in application.

Again, it would depend on how much you are trusted.

[dillweed]

Damages in our building are an outrage. I'm on the sort aisle and see so many damaged pkgs go past. Try to grab them to set aside for taping but have my own area to sort. Can't get them all.

Most of our SPA people have never worked anywhere else in the system and have no consideration for the next person in line. They don't pick the pkgs up so don't have any idea whether or not the bottom is blown out.

Sorters get opens and junkers but have no way to stop the flow. We hollar out and ask the SPA people to hold up but most of them are in la-la land and don't even seem to hear us. Yell louder and they cry that we're harassing them.

Bottom belt gets a good jam and there's no one to shut it off for safe fix so we kick the heck out of the jammed pkg to get the whole shebang flowing again. Damages, oh boy yes.

I've had a pile of damages beside me for later tape-up and seen the pt sup pick them up and toss them on the belts.

All of this crap flows to the preload where they don't have time to tape or room to stack. Pkgs get stuffed into trucks just to get them out of the way.

Now, they can tell what door these pkgs come from by info on the SPA label but we don't see any improvement.

Typical UPS and there's nothing we can do about it except the best we can with what we have. Thank goodness I'm off the preload. I feel sorry for the hell they go through.

[The-UK-Guy]

whats the big deal here damaged packages shouldnt be loaded in the car, how hard is it to not put a damaged package into a car ? you can go back and forth arguing about union representaition but at the end of the day you cant get in trouble if a driver finds a damaged package and reports it because it would be 2 hourly employees words against each other. You can only get written up if a sup goes in your car and finds a damaged package during your shift. Then you can still get busted for the same thing 3 more times in 9 months before you lose your job. If you didnt get union rep for the 3 pinks rest assured they will not be valid. and if you cant go 9 months without loading at least 4 damaged packages and having a sup find each of them, that is telling me that your loading lots of damaged parcels , not just 4 .
its not that difficult , damged package = outside car

[The-UK-Guy]

Originally Posted by dilligaf

Again, it would depend on how much you are trusted.

If you sign it or not , the union rep and the manager both sign it and if it comes down to termination , the "I was never aware of this" line does not work because everybody knows we have the right to rts everything . I dont think anyones job will come down to a signature or a rts . sometimes just to be awkward I write I do not understand this it has not been explained properly then sign someone elses name .

[FromBluetoBrown]

Originally Posted by The-UK-Guy

whats the big deal here damaged packages shouldnt be loaded in the car, how hard is it to not put a damaged package into a car ?
its not that difficult , damged package = outside car

That's all well in good. And most of the time it doesn't go on the car. Now when I see a damaged package it goes in the damaged package bin (We have a boxline) which is usually full of damaged goods. The sort aisle gets yelled at to clean it out. Now I kept track of what I put into the blue bin. 9 times out of 10 I will get that same package back in the same condition it was in when I put it in there. But I did find out something interesting today. They are printing out a sheet and making us sign for packages that were found by the driver as damaged from the day before. One of them was an address that I didnt load and I know this because that particular package was damaged when I pulled it from the boxline and put it in the damage bin. And I'm willing to bet it stayed in there till the end of the sort and then in a hurry to get everyone out on the road it was tossed in a pile with the rest of the stuff to be shuttled and it ended up getting sent out to the driver anyway. He sheeted it up as damaged and I get the rap. Its ok, Indiana Jones signed the paper so its on him now.

[feeder53]

If I were asked to sign a statement that I would deliver my (Time Stop) I would add the caveat that I would do my best, but there are other items that come to play when life is involved. There could be a breakdown, Traffic jam, accident or any number of things that could negate the timely delivery of the package.

[Fnix]

Nothing like picking up a box on the sort aisle shoulder high and then having bolts, paper or bouncy balls fall all over.

[dillweed]

We've had the bouncing baby ball boxes beautifully bombarding us.

[moreluck]

Dill,
Don't you just love alliteration ??

[Fishbulb]

I cant imagine why any sup would give this BS to a preloader. I dont know about other hubs across the country but in mine a good preloader is someone who shows up to work everyday. 90% of our preloaders are kids fresh out of high school who just want some cash, they really dont give a crap about being fired. Especially when UPS works them likes dogs, treats them like garbage & pays them $9 something an hour. Management always says its the benefits that make the job worth while. Do you really think some 18 year old kid gives a rats a** about benefits?