Is the pen mightier than the sword ?

will I get a responce ?

  • Yes

    Votes: 10 24.4%
  • No

    Votes: 31 75.6%

  • Total voters
    41

The-UK-Guy

Tea anyone ?
This is a letter I wrote to J Hoffa as a last resort to my situation, I am waiting for a responce.....



Dear Mr. Hoffa,
I do hope this letter finds you well, and I hope you can find the time to read it. I feel like a drowning man cluching at straws and fear this letter is my last hope .
I have been an employee at ups for over 15 years, I have never had a problem and always loved my job , up until last year that is.
A new building manager was appointed to the cerritos hub mid year , I had heard rumers that he was there to clean house. I didnt pay to much attention to this as I am a hard worker and an honest empoyee , so what should I have to watch my back for ??
What I didnt count on was this guy just takeing an immediate dislikeing to me, I`m a well liked person and try my best to be respectful and polite to everyone, what i didnt realise was that it was not me , it was the tattoos I have on my arms . I was told I had to wear long sleeve shirts and must cover them at all times, I wasnt even alowed to order my own uniforms long sleeve shirts were ordered for me. Now I could understand if i had a naked women or vulgarities on my skin that could be offensive, but I have nothing like that at all , its mostly asian , a few cherry blossoms and some koi fish.
This guy was watching everything I did, he would call my center manager to see if I was late punching in , he would check my time everyday and even wrote me up for being 1 minute early takeing my lunch.
I was makeing my first bulk stop of the morning and dislocated my shoulder lifting an oversize package onto the dock, it was in agony , I called the center around 9 30 am and explained my situation to them and was told to wait for a supervisor to arrive . after what seemed like an eternity i was met by an on road sup. I was a little confused as to how he expected me to drive one of the trucks back to the hub , but he explained how I would actually be spending the rest of the day sitting in the jump seat navigating for him.
We returned to the hub around 8.00 pm , that is one of the worst days of my life , I felt sick to my stomach, I had hot chills and was running a fever,
I called in the injury and was told to take off the rest of the week if I wished (rather than go to the clinic ) It was late and i just wanted to get home to see the wife and kids, the thought of a 4 day weekend was very appealing , I had been trying to get a couple of days off for over a month with no luck so thats what i did .
I reported for work 8.30 monday morning feeling ok but I could tell there was something seriusly wrong with my shoulder . I informed my center manager of this and requested a visit to the clinic but he explained how they were very short staffed and if there would be any way I could possibly hold off a couple of days as the staffing should be better towards the middle of the week. Reluctently I agreed to work the Monday but i wasnt sure if I could make it through to Wed and I would play it by ear.
The day went quite well and i got a little help from my center team. On the way into the building i saw a taco truck parked and decided to eat, I called my center team to ask if anyone was hungry and ended up buying a dozen or so tacos for the dispatch and a few sup`s.
After I CLOCKED OUT for the evening I went into the center office to B S and eat a few tacos , I never imagened how a kind guesture could turn around and bite me so hard, i got some grissle out of the taco stck in my throat , not only was I choking but it was hot as hell, I couldnt breath or ask for help all i could do was point at my throat and wonder why no one was doing anything to help me, I could feel myself starting to pass out and was in full panic mode.
luckily for me one of my customers had given me a gift basket that day which included some cheese,crackers varius chips and some bottles of imported beer.
I grabbed one of the beers from the basket and took 2 or 3 huge gulps, dislodgeing the taco from my throat. Forgetting about the pain in my arm and feeling lucky to be alive I went home.
As I was walking towards the time clock tuesday morning around 8.15 I could see the building manager standing by the time clock with a big smile on his face , looking remarkably like the cheshire cat from alice in wonderland. He still had that grin on his face the whole time that I was at my fitness for duty test and also while he terminated my employment for drinking alcahol on company property. I dont know for a fact , but I bet he had a smile on his face when he canceled my health insurance knowing I have 3 children 1 with a heart condition. my insurance ran out 2 days later .
I tried for 3 weeks to get a hold of someone at UPS to take care of my shoulder injury in the end I gave up and hired lawyer .
I have been off work for 8 months now , I have had a major operation on my shoulder and am looking at at least 3 more months of theropy before I will be able to see what use of my arm i will get back. my house is going to for close any day I am eating vicadine like m @ m`s I ` ll be lucky if my family pulls through this one together , my poor wife is going through hell Thank God my children have not been sick and my daughter has not had any problems with her heart , The union has told me to stop calling them everyday to find out whats going on . How long should this B S take , I just want an answer so I can get on with the rest of my life, 8 months waiting for an arbitration that I will probably lose . Then what? , Ive worked for UPS since i was 18 they have ruined my shoulder and seem to want to ruin my life.
I am asking for your help in this matter sir, I have been a proud union member for 16 years my dues are always paid on time and i am in good standings, I understand that you are busy and that my local is also probably very busy, but I am desperate and feel I have no one to turn to for answers. 8 months is a long depressing time when you dont know what lies ahead for you .If I lose my arbitration (if and when I have one) then so be it , but at least then I can carry on with my life and do what I need to do.
My local union is 396 my local rep is Rich Pacheco and I have been a proud teamster since 1992 .
please feel free to contact me any time - -- - - - - - - -

CC. teamsters local 396, the better buisness beurau, the CA labour board ,UPS
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
I feel sorry for your family, man, but how could you be so stupid??? You dislocated your shoulder, and worked the rest of the day???

Actually, I fell for that. The beer thing was too much. This can't possibly be true. No one is that stupid. You got me!
 

tieguy

Banned
I feel sorry for your family, man, but how could you be so stupid??? You dislocated your shoulder, and worked the rest of the day???

Actually, I fell for that. The beer thing was too much. This can't possibly be true. No one is that stupid. You got me!

I agree . He had me hooked until he did the choking on a taco wash it down with a beer before I passed out trick. This was a classic. Very creative.
 

diadlover

Well-Known Member
Dear The-UK-Guy,

You are somehow more full of it than I am. I don't know how you did it, but congratulations.

Sincerely,
Diadlover
 

The-UK-Guy

Tea anyone ?
I feel sorry for your family, man, but how could you be so stupid??? You dislocated your shoulder, and worked the rest of the day???

Actually, I fell for that. The beer thing was too much. This can't possibly be true. No one is that stupid. You got me!
this is not A JOKE I know it seems funny but trust me it is no laughing matter, I am trying to file a lawsuit against the superviser that made me work after I had hurt my arm, as he gave me the " are you refusing to work as directed" speech

what I really need is for people to take me seriusly, perhaps then I can possibly get my job back or move on, I know that I made some very stupid mistakes , But should I have to Pay for those mistakes for the rest of my life ??
 

The-UK-Guy

Tea anyone ?
why dont you come over to my house , "Brother" , I`ll show you a stack of bills I cant pay, my 3 kids that need shoes, Braces and a stack of other things that I cant afford, then w`ell take a drive over to the UPS hub, where I am not alowed to enter and the police will be called and told that there is a discruntled x employee who could possibly be under the influence of something , then we can go to local 396 together and wait all day only to be told that they are busy and they have no news about my arbatration. I dont care if you belive me or not dude, as a matter of fact I`m getting used to been called stupid and a b s er what I really need is some good advice on what I can do to speed up the waiting process for my arbitration or something that could point me in a posotive direction , I`ve had nothing but negativeity for 8 months, I dont know if you have kids or not man but let me tell you putting my family through all this *%!@# sucks, I feel bad enough as it is . I am many things , stupid being one of them , but I am no liar
 

The-UK-Guy

Tea anyone ?
this is no joke, brother ,I need someone to take me seriusly and possibly point me in the right direction so I can get some help, or should i just roll over and take it up the shorts from these nazis ?? I ve been paying union dues for 16 years ,I`m 36 years old ,why am i on a god dam chat room looking for help . Its easier for people to just not belive my situation than to have to try and do anything about it or offer help .
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
Dear The-UK-Guy,

You are somehow more full of it than I am. I don't know how you did it, but congratulations.

Sincerely,
Diadlover

DL, is this you? Buying supper for the Center team and drinking beer from a gift basket in Summer instead of using the water fountain? We probably have somebody from the Cerritos Hub that could easily verify this, I am sure everyone there would have heard about it. If this is a real post, I am sorry for you. Drinking at work is a cardinal sin as far getting fired goes. If you were injured on the job, than the company has to pay for it. They have twice for me through Workman's Comp.:confused:1
 

diadlover

Well-Known Member
DL, is this you? Buying supper for the Center team and drinking beer from a gift basket in Summer instead of using the water fountain? We probably have somebody from the Cerritos Hub that could easily verify this, I am sure everyone there would have heard about it. If this is a real post, I am sorry for you. Drinking at work is a cardinal sin as far getting fired goes. If you were injured on the job, than the company has to pay for it. They have twice for me through Workman's Comp.:confused:1
Come on, Scratch. This is now the second time I've been accused of being someone else. I am DIADLOVER and that is it. This is so old.
 
Last edited:

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
Come on, Scratch. This is now the second time I've been accused of being someone else. I am DIADLOVER and that is it. This is so old.
As you were typing this, I noticed on "who's online" that UK-Guy was sending me a PM. So I apologize to both of you, you would have to have two computers and user accounts to do that at the same time.......:confused:1
 

diadlover

Well-Known Member
As you were typing this, I noticed on "who's online" that UK-Guy was sending me a PM. So I apologize to both of you, you would have to have two computers and user accounts to do that at the same time.......:confused:1
I accept your apology, thank you. In addition I think it would only be fare if you edited that post as well as mine.
 

local804

Well-Known Member
I would think that your union on a local level would take care of this problem before Jim Hoffa Jr would have to get involved. I am sure you will get a response to your letter, it just wont be directly from Jim. We use a chain of command in UPS and the teamsters and usually you dont bypass 8 levels. I wish you luck sir,
 

Cole

Well-Known Member
I am so sorry to hear of this, but this is exactly why it is imperative for everyone to know their contract. If you are injured under article 18, you do not have to continue, and they have to take you to the hospital asap.

I know that doesn't help you now, and drinking the beer is not either. My advice is contact the media immediatley, UPS hates bad coverage, and be willing to name the managers involved. Also contact OSHA,and give them the whole story. You need to talk to an Attorney as well. Your local should be raising hell for you, but sometimes sadly that is not the case. Yes it's cardinal, but you can request to get in the rehab program, even if you're not an alcoholic, at least at that time.

I would send a paper trail through your own center, to the saftey coordinator, and to the district manager, and even to UPS's national saftey person, and the Teamster national safety person. I don't know who it is now, under Ron Carey it was Caroline Robinson, and she was good. I would send those letters certified, and even one to Mike Eskew.

The media will probably contact UPS but they will be squirming. A good Attorney will help you immensley. I don't need to remind you that you're not fighting just for yourself, so do what is necessary from a legalistic standpoint. They viloated the contract as soon as they told you you had to ride with the sup, and again when they didn't immediatley get you to a hospital. There is nothing to my knowledge about tattos in our contract or supplement.

Also you can call the NLRB - National Labor Relations Board and see what they tell you. If it is a contractual issue more often than not they will defer it back to the Union, but it atleast puts some pressure on the Union, because the NLRB, still has to follow up on it, after it has been heard by the Union.

Do no sit idle my friend, justice is slow moving, but you need to get moving asap!

I hope your brethren there are helping you out. This is when they need to step up and help out.

Please keep us posted on this!
 

Iconoclast

Well-Known Member
Your story is so far fetched, it doesn't seem to hold much credibilty. If you were truly on the verge of passing out, how were you able to get a beer out of the gift basket so quickly and open it? Was it a twist off, or did you have to use an opener?

If you were sharing tacos with a group as you suggested, was there no other beverages available? It may be plausible for you not to have had anything to drink, but it seems unlikely that there would have been a group of people enjoying tacos and nobody had an available beverage for you to grab.

Also, It would be hard to believe that the very same people that accepted the tacos from you would not come to your aid in some capacity, offer you a beverage, slap you on the back, anything but just sit there-It sounds strange, but there have been other human beings in history who have choked to death, surely those who shared the tacos with you know this fact - why would they ignore an obvious emergency situation, it is not in human nature to have nobody react in that situation.

Have you considered sworn affadavits from those who were in the office with you and saw you choking? that could have some impact on the decision.

Off the top of my head - these are some of the things that don't seem to add up.

I hope you are able to resolve this.
 

The-UK-Guy

Tea anyone ?
Thankyou very much for all the info , I have a meeting with an employment Lawyer on tuesday of next week, bringing the media in is a great idea, I will contact my local channels immediatley . I have written to the nlrb twice already but i suppose a 3rd or 4th letter all phone call wouldnt hurt . Its hard to keep fighting for so long , especialy when you get no responces . I`m glad I posted this mesage , the responce that I have received from you is exactly what I needed to get me back into the game, I realize that i have friend### ed up big time but I am not going to go out lying down I have worked to goddam hard for that . Thankyou for all the advice, I really do appreciate it .
 

DS

Fenderbender
This is a letter I wrote to J Hoffa as a last resort to my situation, I am waiting for a response.....



Dear Mr. Hoffa,
I do hope this letter finds you well, and I hope you can find the time to read it. I feel like a drowning man clutching at straws and fear this letter is my last hope .
I have been an employee at ups for over 15 years, I have never had a problem and always loved my job , up until last year that is.
A new building manager was appointed to the cerritos hub mid year , I had heard rumors that he was there to clean house. I didnt pay to much attention to this as I am a hard worker and an honest employee , so what should I have to watch my back for ??
What I didnt count on was this guy just tak-ing an immediate dislik-ing to me, I`m a well liked person and try my best to be respectful and polite to everyone, what i didnt realize was that it was not me , it was the tattoos I have on my arms . I was told I had to wear long sleeved shirts and must cover them at all times, I wasnt even allowed to order my own uniforms long sleeve shirts were ordered for me. Now I could understand if i had a naked women or vulgarities on my skin that could be offensive, but I have nothing like that at all , its mostly asian , a few cherry blossoms and some koi fish.
This guy was watching everything I did, he would call my center manager to see if I was late punching in , he would check my time everyday and even wrote me up for being 1 minute early tak-ing my lunch.
I was mak-ing my first bulk stop of the morning and dislocated my shoulder lifting an oversize package onto the dock, (it) ?was in agony , I called the center around 9 30 am and explained my situation to them and was told to wait for a supervisor to arrive . after what seemed like an eternity i was met by an on road sup. I was a little confused as to how he expected me to drive one of the trucks back to the hub , but he explained how I would actually be spending the rest of the day sitting in the jump seat navigating for him.
We returned to the hub around 8.00 pm , that is one of the worst days of my life , I felt sick to my stomach, I had hot chills and was running a fever,
I called in the injury and was told to take off the rest of the week if I wished (rather than go to the clinic ) It was late and i just wanted to get home to see the wife and kids, the thought of a 4 day weekend was very appealing , I had been trying to get a couple of days off for over a month with no luck so thats what i did .
I reported for work 8.30 monday morning feeling ok but I could tell there was something seriously wrong with my shoulder . I informed my center manager of this and requested a visit to the clinic but he explained how they were very short staffed and if there would be any way I could possibly hold off a couple of days as the staffing should be better towards the middle of the week. Reluctantly I agreed to work the Monday but i wasnt sure if I could make it through to Wed and I would play it by ear.
The day went quite well and i got a little help from my center team. On the way into the building i saw a taco truck parked and decided to eat, I called my center team to ask if anyone was hungry and ended up buying a dozen or so tacos for the dispatch and a few sup`s.
After I CLOCKED OUT for the evening I went into the center office to B S and eat a few tacos , I never imagined how a kind g-esture could turn around and bite me so hard, i got some gristle out of the taco stuck in my throat , not only was I choking but it was hot as hell, I couldnt breathe or ask for help all i could do was point at my throat and wonder why no one was doing anything to help me, I could feel myself starting to pass out and was in full panic mode.
luckily for me one of my customers had given me a gift basket that day which included some cheese,crackers various chips and some bottles of imported beer.
I grabbed one of the beers from the basket and took 2 or 3 huge gulps, dislodg-ing the taco from my throat. Forgetting about the pain in my arm and feeling lucky to be alive I went home.
As I was walking towards the time clock tuesday morning around 8.15 I could see the building manager standing by the time clock with a big smile on his face , looking remarkably like the cheshire cat from alice in wonderland. He still had that grin on his face the whole time that I was at my fitness for duty test and also while he terminated my employment for drinking alcohol on company property. I dont know for a fact , but I bet he had a smile on his face when he cancelled my health insurance knowing I have 3 children 1 with a heart condition. my insurance ran out 2 days later .
I tried for 3 weeks to get a hold of someone at UPS to take care of my shoulder injury in the end I gave up and hired a lawyer .
I have been off work for 8 months now , I have had a major operation on my shoulder and am looking at at least 3 more months of therapy before I will be able to see what use of my arm i will get back. my house is going to for_close any day I am eating vicodin like m @ m`s I ` ll be lucky if my family pulls through this one together , my poor wife is going through hell Thank God my children have not been sick and my daughter has not had any problems with her heart , The union has told me to stop calling them everyday to find out whats going on . How long should this B S take , I just want an answer so I can get on with the rest of my life, 8 months waiting for an arbitration that I will probably lose . Then what? , Ive worked for UPS since i was 18 they have ruined my shoulder and seem to want to ruin my life.
I am asking for your help in this matter sir, I have been a proud union member for 16 years my dues are always paid on time and i am in good standings, I understand that you are busy and that my local is also probably very busy, but I am desperate and feel I have no one to turn to for answers. 8 months is a long depressing time when you dont know what lies ahead for you .If I lose my arbitration (if and when I have one) then so be it , but at least then I can carry on with my life and do what I need to do.
My local union is 396 my local rep is Rich Pacheco and I have been a proud teamster since 1992 .
please feel free to contact me any time - -- - - - - - - -

CC. teamsters local 396, the better buisness beurau, the CA labour board ,UPS

If I was going to fire off a letter to Hoffa,I`d try to spell my words correctly.You may have reason to be upset,but the taco fiasco sounds to me like a bunch of crap.
You are only 36 years old.I started at ups when I was 35 and that was 17 years ago.Stop taking the vicodin.Find another job in the meantime.I wish you luck with the union.
 

tieguy

Banned
UK questions -

What is your sup saying about the injury?

What are the folks in the office saying about the taco/beer incident. Seems like they would be willing to corroborate your story after you were nice enough to buy them tacos?
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
UK questions -

What is your sup saying about the injury?

What are the folks in the office saying about the taco/beer incident. Seems like they would be willing to corroborate your story after you were nice enough to buy them tacos?
Not if their being threatened by the building manager. I went through a termination where the building manager twisted arms to get them to give false statements against me. The one that refused was let go shortly after i won my panel hearing!
 

The-UK-Guy

Tea anyone ?
Well , thankyou for hopeing that i am able to resolve this issue.
I have a feeling that you are in management, I am not certain about this but you do sound like one, immediatly trying to discredit my post and trying to be a private detective. its hard to get a sworn affadavit off managers when they are worried about loseing their own jobs and have been told under no sercomstance to have any contact with me. If you read the post carefully you would see that I bought the tacos from a taco truck on the side of the road , and even if they did have sodas I wouldnt waste my money on them the bottle was not a twist off and i didnt have a bottle opener, I struck the bottle over a desk smashing the end off. I would imagine that if you were in the same situation you would amaze yourself at how fast you could open a bottle . As far as the people in the office not helping me , I have not had an opportunity to ask them due to the fact that was the last time ive seen them , I had quite a good relationship with everyone who was present . I imagine they either froze or more likely, knowing my personality, thought I was clowning around. Listen, I mean no offence in this reply and hope you dont take any, I have no idea what your position is at UPS nor do I care, I`m just frustrated with managment, unions and mostly myself for being so stupid. you are entitled to your own opinion, but its narrow minded opinions like yours that are going to get me terminated.
 
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