Hope IE has to run routes when we strike

rod

Retired 22 years
There will be NO routes. At the most there will be a days worth of packages already in the system and a few stragglers. Management will pretend its business as usual and will drive around in empty trucks for a few days and then will tire of that and sit in the office all day and play cards and talk on the phone to their "masters". They don't even get to drink beer like the strikers do. Sucks to be them.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
Did it in 1997, it was no big deal. Spent the morning picking through trailers and finding packages destined for the hospital, loaded up a van with said packages, and then drove through the picket line of guys I had NEVER seen before or since, on my way to the hospital with those packages.


So you worked one day? Your handle should be "dudebroke".
 

UnconTROLLed

perfection
Did it in 1997, it was no big deal. Spent the morning picking through trailers and finding packages destined for the hospital, loaded up a van with said packages, and then drove through the picket line of guys I had NEVER seen before or since, on my way to the hospital with those packages.
surely they said the same about you.

Or are you saying it was a group of stand-ins who weren't UPS'ers but thugs? :D
 

dudebro

Well-Known Member
It seemed to me they were a bunch of losers without jobs who don't care about any causes, just looking for an opportunity to start trouble or punch someone under the color of "fighting for the working man"
There will be NO routes. At the most there will be a days worth of packages already in the system and a few stragglers. Management will pretend its business as usual and will drive around in empty trucks for a few days and then will tire of that and sit in the office all day and play cards and talk on the phone to their "masters". They don't even get to drink beer like the strikers do. Sucks to be them.

I don't know what you spent your time doing here, but you don't seem to understand the system very well. If the drivers strike and there are ~30M packages in the system, there will be more than one day of work for management to clean it out. There's no way the management remaining can deliver anywhere near the amount of packages the drivers do - there aren't enough of us.

I guess when you were 7 beers in on the line you thought management was "pretending" to go out, but from the inside, I can tell you we were flushing out whatever was in the system, highest priority packages first, then, picking up and delivering 1DA to maximize the revenue from the much smaller mgmt workforce.
 

Staydryitsraining

Well-Known Member
It seemed to me they were a bunch of losers without jobs who don't care about any causes, just looking for an opportunity to start trouble or punch someone under the color of "fighting for the working man"


I don't know what you spent your time doing here, but you don't seem to understand the system very well. If the drivers strike and there are ~30M packages in the system, there will be more than one day of work for management to clean it out. There's no way the management remaining can deliver anywhere near the amount of packages the drivers do - there aren't enough of us.

I guess when you were 7 beers in on the line you thought management was "pretending" to go out, but from the inside, I can tell you we were flushing out whatever was in the system, highest priority packages first, then, picking up and delivering 1DA to maximize the revenue from the much smaller mgmt workforce.
Ha most ors dont know the routes anyway. That pc doesnt have a phone charger for gps. Under zero circumstance could the company survive if we strike.
 

UnconTROLLed

perfection
Ha most ors dont know the routes anyway. That pc doesnt have a phone charger for gps. Under zero circumstance could the company survive if we strike.
Maybe not, but it is much much more easily conceived now than ever, that UPS could have scabs come in and run routes, load cars, sort pkgs. That is the point of PAS, ORION, etc. Any idiot can jump in and do the jobs as they are completely de-skilled. That wasn't around in '97.
 

Been In Brown Too Long

Ex-Package Donkey
I don't know what you spent your time doing here, but you don't seem to understand the system very well. If the drivers strike and there are ~30M packages in the system, there will be more than one day of work for management to clean it out. There's no way the management remaining can deliver anywhere near the amount of packages the drivers do - there aren't enough of us.

I guess when you were 7 beers in on the line you thought management was "pretending" to go out, but from the inside, I can tell you we were flushing out whatever was in the system, highest priority packages first, then, picking up and delivering 1DA to maximize the revenue from the much smaller mgmt workforce.

I'm thinking it's you that doesn't understand how the system works. Yes, there's 30 million pieces in the system, the majority of which are in transit. There are only 1 days worth of volume at the destination building. Feeders were not running. Packages in transit were stuck. So you guys had 2 weeks to deliver 1 days worth of volume, and that didn't happen. 50 routes a day leave our building. Sitting on the picket line, even 7 beers in, we could count the 1 package car that left our building daily, and for only about 2-3 hours a day. Figure 10-15 friend/t and p/t management inside at any given time, guessing a whole lot of sitting around doing nothing going on. Building was still full of packages the day we returned. They cherry picked 1 or 2 bulk stops a day, that's it.
 

Been In Brown Too Long

Ex-Package Donkey
Maybe not, but it is much much more easily conceived now than ever, that UPS could have scabs come in and run routes, load cars, sort pkgs. That is the point of PAS, ORION, etc. Any idiot can jump in and do the jobs as they are completely de-skilled. That wasn't around in '97.
Really? Because they have trouble training even 1 newbie "idiot" preloader with a fully functioning operation running. And it usually takes about 3 new hires for 1 to stick around. It's naive to think that even with all the new systems in place that you could simply swap out an entire work force overnight. Would be months before you could pull that off, and more than likely the business would be gone by then.
 

UnconTROLLed

perfection
Really? Because they have trouble training even 1 newbie "idiot" preloader with a fully functioning operation running. And it usually takes about 3 new hires for 1 to stick around. It's naive to think that even with all the new systems in place that you could simply swap out an entire work force overnight. Would be months before you could pull that off, and more than likely the business would be gone by then.
Wooshhh...not once did I say or imply any of the words you are putting in my mouth. The fact remains that it would be easier to do so now than 20 years ago. I did not say it is possible overnight. It would also be easy to pay more in wages to a non union workforce to attract more people. (Perhaps with lesser health/bennies) remember that keeping good part time help is less likely with the throwaway union wages
 

Been In Brown Too Long

Ex-Package Donkey
I wasn't so much trying to put words in your mouth as I was responding to your post. The overnight comment was just suggesting that UPS would be naive to think that their systems could make a transition to a new crew painless. Yes, perhaps it would be easier now vs. 1997, but the de-skilling you mention has also occurred within the ranks of management. Many of them simply don't have the knowledge or experience to pull such a large scale transition off. Simply throwing money at new people will not make it less painless either. Yes it will attract virtually everyone, but the disruption would still occur, and customers will not be as patient as they were in 97. There are also more options now as well. Yes, any one idiot can be trained to do the job, but 200,000 idiots? All at once. While business evaporates. Doesn't seem like a good idea for anyone involved.
 

Wally

BrownCafe Innovator & King of Puns
It would be great if IE had to run routes when the strike comes to fully appreciate their planning.Ill wave when you come in about 10 pm and watch your faces when you arrive the next morning to do it again.
Run what? There will be no work to run.

During the last strike, they were still processing the little leftover volume weeks later.

Make a good deal and end the bull.
 
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