As UPSers, Do We Need To Force IBT's Hand?

[wkmac]

I think we do! What I mean is looking at some of the Teamster driven blog sites, it's apparent that the Master Freight folks look at the IBT as their domain and that we UPSers should sit in the back and just ride the bus while they take it all over the cliff. We are nothing more than a cash cow to them and maybe it's time to flex our muscle a bit.

This fall is the IBT election for President and those of us covered by CS know firsthand what has gone down the last several years in that area. That said, here's what I'm thinking and I know some will object but hear me out because I'm talking a UPS effort to steer the future of the IBT, not abandon it although I admit I'm not opposed to that idea. But for this exercise, we're staying so don't get your thong in a wad!

Sign an APWA card to help them get the 30% needed to force a vote between the IBT and the APWA. Am I crazy? Maybe but why not use the "Fear Factor". Both Hoffa and Leedham will play to the Master Freight folks and we all know this and why should they take us serious. They screw us more and more and we just sit back and take up the whazoo like good little soldiers so I'm suggesting we stick a little something up their whazoo for once and the timing couldn't be better.

Imagine if all of a sudden in the middle of the campaign, I mean in the heart of it, that a rogue UPS union effort manages to get enough signatures to authorize a decertification vote of the IBT and to install the APWA as the union at UPS. You thought we were on TV in 97'! LOL!!! All candidates will come immediately to our doorsteps on bended knees pleading as to what can be done. We, UPSers then hold the upper hand over everyone else and therefore can get hard committments in writing as to what will happen, plus we got the national media there with TV cameras filmming it all. We can now direct the union as we see fit, we can drive the bus for a change and tell the rest to sit in the ing back like we've been told way to many times.

Will APWA win? I doubt it but all we gotta do is make IBT think it's possible and we've got us a game! Just something to ponder and think on as the fall IBT Presidential elections approach.

 

[18wheelbrownie]

thankyou ,but its not a decertification vote, also it will give the apwa more publicy

 

[wkmac]

also it will give the apwa more publicy

Yeah! And! So they get more publicity. I figure if we use them to turn over Hoffa's applecart, they should get some benefit out of the deal! Besides I don't think Leedham is the answer either so there you go!

 

[ducky13swing]

Sometimes change is a good thing, but as I have been told a thousand times, you know what you have now, who knows what you will get. This seems to be the consensus with everyone I talk with.
This site is not the place to get a grass roots effort going. This has to happen in the ranks.
The additional publicity could cause a ripple effect through our customers. They (our customers) already panic when the negotiations come around. It took alot to rebuild our customer's trust after '97 and in the business world, there are some good memories. What is worse, having your merchandise missorted or having sit in the warehouse because there is no one to move it? I would have to say having it sit in the warehouse, because you are not making profits on storage.
We are not the only dog on the porch, now there are other lower cost alternatives who are improving their service regularly, who will never go on strike.

It is all something to think about. I, for one, have never been one to stay with the status quo.

A quick story to demonstrate how the status quo gets established:
You take nine monkeys and stick them in a room. Put a ladder in the middle of the room, above it dangle some bananas. Everytime a monkey starts to climb the ladder to get the bananas, you spray all of them with ice cold water. After the routine is established. Remove one of the original Monkees and replace it with a new monkee and stop spraying them. You will see when the new monkee starts to climb the ladder, the rest will beat him up trying to prevent the group from being sprayed with water. Eventually you replace all of the original monkees with new ones, and you get the same result, the new monkee gets to the ladder and the other monkees beat it up. By the time you replace all of the original monkees, (keep in mind, none of new monkees have ever been sprayed with water and all of the original ones are gone), you will see that all of the monkees still beat up the new ones who reach for the bananas, but they do not know why. IT IS JUST SOMETHING THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN DONE. Thus, the status quo is established.

Moral of the story, don't sit back and let things happen the way they always have. ASK QUESTIONS. SEEK OUT CHANGE. DON'T LET LIFE HAPPEN TO YOU, CONTROL IT. After all it is YOUR life. If you are paying for a service and you are displeased, find a new source of the service you desire, or save your money and go without.

You wouldn't continue going to the same doctor if he/she messed up on you or a loved.
You wouldn't go to the same mechanic if he/she changes your oil and forgets to add more.
You wouldn't go to the same restaurant if you got food poisoning there.
You wouldn't shop at Wal Mart if they were higher priced than Target.
You wouldn't ...

 

[pretender]

Great idea!

 

[disneyworld]

I think we do! What I mean is looking at some of the Teamster driven blog sites, it's apparent that the Master Freight folks look at the IBT as their domain and that we UPSers should sit in the back and just ride the bus while they take it all over the cliff. We are nothing more than a cash cow to them and maybe it's time to flex our muscle a bit.

This fall is the IBT election for President and those of us covered by CS know firsthand what has gone down the last several years in that area. That said, here's what I'm thinking and I know some will object but hear me out because I'm talking a UPS effort to steer the future of the IBT, not abandon it although I admit I'm not opposed to that idea. But for this exercise, we're staying so don't get your thong in a wad!

Sign an APWA card to help them get the 30% needed to force a vote between the IBT and the APWA. Am I crazy? Maybe but why not use the "Fear Factor". Both Hoffa and Leedham will play to the Master Freight folks and we all know this and why should they take us serious. They screw us more and more and we just sit back and take up the whazoo like good little soldiers so I'm suggesting we stick a little something up their whazoo for once and the timing couldn't be better.

Imagine if all of a sudden in the middle of the campaign, I mean in the heart of it, that a rogue UPS union effort manages to get enough signatures to authorize a decertification vote of the IBT and to install the APWA as the union at UPS. You thought we were on TV in 97'! LOL!!! All candidates will come immediately to our doorsteps on bended knees pleading as to what can be done. We, UPSers then hold the upper hand over everyone else and therefore can get hard committments in writing as to what will happen, plus we got the national media there with TV cameras filmming it all. We can now direct the union as we see fit, we can drive the bus for a change and tell the rest to sit in the ing back like we've been told way to many times.

Will APWA win? I doubt it but all we gotta do is make IBT think it's possible and we've got us a game! Just something to ponder and think on as the fall IBT Presidential elections approach.

The devil you know is better than the devil you don't. That's not to say which way I'm leaning.

 

[scratch]

I am all for bringing on any pressure against the the Teamsters. I don't really think that APWA or TDU can solve all our problems, but I am all for making Mr. Hoffa sweat a little bit. It would probably be the first time in his life!

 

[disneyworld]

I am all for bringing on any pressure against the the Teamsters. I don't really think that APWA or TDU can solve all our problems, but I am all for making Mr. Hoffa sweat a little bit. It would probably be the first time in his life!

No,I'm sure he sweats just walking from the buffet table back to his seat.

 

[Pip]

I'm not really sure what to think here with this thread. On one hand, I feel that people are speaking without consideration of the past and present. Meaning, the history of the teamsters who fought for the wages and benefits and rights we as UPS employee's enjoy this very day. Faces and people have come and gone. But the power and concept of people standing together for what they believed in, is still the very foundation of what the teamsters was built on.

A person doesn't have to look very far to see other people who don't have what were at UPS have. People working in what ever profession making a fraction of the wages and next to nothing for benefits. What we have at UPS comes from people sticking together, forming a union and being represented by that union. The teamsters union has done an awful lot for the people that have come and gone through UPS.

From what I am seeing here is, well, it just looks like ungrateful ignorance of what you have and are able to enjoy as an employee of UPS's. If it wasn't for the teamsters, we, all of us could easily be making $10 an hr. with hardly any benefits to mention of.

Becareful of what you wish for, You might not like the alternative.

 

[mittam]

be carefull what you wish for? PIP staying with the IBT after they gave you wages and benefits and stabbed you in the back on your representation and pension why?

 

[pkgdriver]

But the power and concept of people standing together for what they believed in, is still the very foundation of what the teamsters was built on.


Yep We UPS Teamsters believe we are getting the screw

Im with ya Wkmac good post

 

[speeddemon]

I'm not really sure what to think here with this thread. On one hand, I feel that people are speaking without consideration of the past and present. Meaning, the history of the teamsters who fought for the wages and benefits and rights we as UPS employee's enjoy this very day. Faces and people have come and gone. But the power and concept of people standing together for what they believed in, is still the very foundation of what the teamsters was built on.

A person doesn't have to look very far to see other people who don't have what were at UPS have. People working in what ever profession making a fraction of the wages and next to nothing for benefits. What we have at UPS comes from people sticking together, forming a union and being represented by that union. The teamsters union has done an awful lot for the people that have come and gone through UPS.

From what I am seeing here is, well, it just looks like ungrateful ignorance of what you have and are able to enjoy as an employee of UPS's. If it wasn't for the teamsters, we, all of us could easily be making $10 an hr. with hardly any benefits to mention of.

Becareful of what you wish for, You might not like the alternative.

You talk with much ignorance.

 

[mittam]

But the power and concept of people standing together for what they believed in, is still the very foundation of what the teamsters was built on.


Yep We UPS Teamsters believe we are getting the screw

Im with ya Wkmac good post

DITTO .....

 

[over9five]

Pip, I agree with you that we ahve done good because of the Teamsters.

But, times have changed. Do we stay with them out of some sense of loyalty? My worry is, if we DO, we run a huge risk of sinking the ship (UPS) and winding up with NOTHING.

It is my belief that (in the future) UPS will no longer be able to afford to compete, and we will all lose.

Changes have to be made. I'm not saying we should dump the Teamsters..... but I think we should be thinking about it as one of our options.

 

[mittam]

I agree over9.5