Have had several PT Sups. tell me they have the right to tell us to stack boxes on the belt 2-4 at a time and work faster each time they come in a truck in the Unload. I work PT Unload. Some say they can't because it is employee harrassment. In the contract it states that Managment may only direct employees, but not critique performance.
Question being: Can managment really dictate how many boxes are coming out of our trucks and how fast?
Work as directed unless you feel like it compromises the safety of yourself and the employees around you.
Never, Ever, Ever trust management. In my experience you will get 1 out of every 10 that have a bit of integrity left. The rest are just out for themselves, looking to make their numbers, thus they only see you as a number.
There is NO SUCH THING AS PPH....if...and ONLY IF....you have attained SENOIRITY. If you are in this classification, and some smart mouth supe tells you to do something that is clearly unsafe and against the methods taught to you, you have every right to tell him to get the shop steward and a member of the safety committee while you continue to work in an efficient manner...following the methods. I'm sure you will not hear a word from him after that.
Remember, they just want to make their numbers, so they will constantly push you to see what they can get away with, and if you get hurt, they will quickly turn it around on you to see if you followed the methods. Do what is right EVERY SINGLE TIME and you will be untouchable.
Now, if you are new and you are still in the process of making seniority, then you have to play the game. You don't want to talk back and you want to prove you are a hard worker. During this qualification period only, the Supervisors have actual power over you because they can let you go anytime before the probation period ends if they are not satisfied with the way you work, so you must tread carefully. Work as instructed, but try to make friends with the shop steward and safety committee people. Maybe you might casually mention the situation during break and maybe someone might be there for a surprise visit the next day and maybe that supe gets his ass chewed out.
It amazes me how every single peak, these guys think that they can just throw packages on the belt with reckless abandon when all that happens every peak is jam after freaking jam on every corner of every belt or slide. And of course every peak some poor seasonal is yelled at to go break a jam every 5 minutes because the college educated supe with no logic is yelling at the unload to go faster.
Boxes on belts is like traffic in New York City. Traffic moves better if people just made space in between cars. If we just took a bit of time to do it right and make a little space in between boxes then the people loading them on the other end would be able to load them more efficiently. In addition, egress would be clean and less boxes would ship out damaged. Just my 2 cents...