Lunch Break

Maybe the best advice I ever received from a shop steward was to do whatever they instructed you to do, it's eventually come back and bite them in the a**.(if they are wrong) If , in your opinion, they violate the contract, file a grievance and let the proceedure sort it out. I know it's a hard pill to swallow and I have trouble always following that advice. Example: It would have been much easier for and on PaidSlave to go ahead and skip his lunch that day then file a grievance, than to have to fight to get his job back. Pick your battles carefully.

To take a lunch or not, when or how much time to take etc. is very inconstant across the country and even in the same district. On the local level management can get away with just about anything they wish to do, if the employee allows it to happen without doing anything.

To those that suggested that Paidslave quit, please consider the following. If he started working at UPS at the age of 21, has been there for 23 years he is 44 years old. I hate to break it to y'all but that's not a favorable age to be looking for a job and/or changing vocations and it gets worse as you get older. Does this mean he has to bend over and take whatever management wants to do? NOPE, that is why we have a union, protection from being unfairly treated.
Some in this thread even went as far as to insinuate that PS was here just for the money. Well, DUH that's why we all work for UPS, it sure isn't for the fine relationships we develop with the management team. Who here would do this for 1/2 of what we make now? Well Tieguy would, because that's what he did...take a pay cut to suit up. Oh yeah and BTW, Tieguy's response was typical management.
 

diesel96

Well-Known Member
I think I'm going to change my avatar to "Lunch Break".....spent 3 hours at the airport the other night...Where's my memory foam pillow ?

Paidslave, with 23 years you should be eligible to bid in feeders by now, you'll get plenty of "lunch break" to rest those old grumpy bones. Just a recommendation and don't let anybody get you worked up in here.
 
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tourists24

Well-Known Member
Why do we always have this conversation. People, TAKE YOUR ONE HOUR LUNCH at the prescribed time. NO termination will hold up at panel simply for taking your lunch at the correct time. It's the company's obligation to make sure your deliveries are not missed as long as you inform them
 

HEFFERNAN

Huge Member
I don't know what the fuss is. Take the lunch between 1-2 pm and thats that. Even if you get ''terminated" the next day, You are going to get your job back. You are doing what you are suppose to do.
It's in the contract.

I've been cover driving for a long time. And Yes, there are some routes that are very difficult to take the lunch then. I have had many days where It was so busy I had to stop and take the break between 1-2 and then call in about missed business.
I still have my job folks, and always will
They know I work hard and don't second guess me.
People that get pulled in the office more than once probably deserved it
 

sendagain

Well-Known Member
We always had a 30 minute lunch in California and that was more than enough time unless you paid for lunch in a restaurant. I always packed a lunch and would restrict it to ten minutes on heavy days, then take the remainder of my breaks after all was finished. My mostly business route was always well taken care of using this method.
 

browniehound

Well-Known Member
We always had a 30 minute lunch in California and that was more than enough time unless you paid for lunch in a restaurant. I always packed a lunch and would restrict it to ten minutes on heavy days, then take the remainder of my breaks after all was finished. My mostly business route was always well taken care of using this method.


This is my point of forced lunch. They load us up with business deliveries some days that we can't finish before pickups unless we run our lunch. Who wants to sit somewhere at the end of the night when the job is done? I sure as hell don't. I want to get home as soon as I can.

Now, there are going to be people here that say just stop 1 hour before pick-ups and call the center and let them know you will have X amount missed. I can't argue that point, but it would make everyones life easier if they just paid us for what we worked and dock us for what we take as a lunch break.

This seems a lot easier than sending a driver doing residentials from another town to take 10 business stops from a driver that can't get his lunch in. Think of the cost in labor and fuel for that!

My feelings are that if I'm going to be out there all day I want to work and I want to be paid. If its up to me I would never take a lunch. I would take 10 minutes to eat a sandwich, or if I needed to grab something at a sub shop I would take 20 minutes and then get back to work. 1 hour just seems a bit too much.

We are only alive for so many hours and we are wasting 5 of those every week sitting in a UPS vehicle freezing our buts off and doing nothing. Our hours are long enough. I say lunch should be optional so we can get home to our families.
 

rocket man

Well-Known Member
IF 80.000. brown nosers dont take there lunch a day. thats 80.000 hours. a day. 400.000. hours aweek. IF everyone would take there lunch thats about 2000 more rts aweek to put on roadFORGIVE my math but u get the big picture.IF EVERY ONE TAKE TAKES THERE LUNCH.IT dosent mean. u have to spend 10 12 dollars a day eating . sit in your car.see if u have missloads call a friend ect take your HOUR show your hub center you will be behind and they will need more carS . witthe ne contract coming. you have the option for over 9 .5 EVEN WITH YOUR LUNCH. SOME WIIL AGREE SOME WONT BUT EVERY ONE HAVE AGOOD HOLIDAY AND NEW YEAR.:anxious: its just athought.
 

BigBrownSanta

Well-Known Member
There is no Federal law requiring a lunch break, most lunch laws are done at the state level. Some states require employers to provide a lunch period and some do not.

Regardless, the Federal DOL does require employers to pay employess for all hours worked. If you are putting your lunch time in the DIAD (as the company is instructing) and working through the lunch hour, then according to the US DOL, the company is still required to pay you for that time worked.

(a) Bona fide meal periods. Bona fide meal periods are not worktime.

Bona fide meal periods do not include coffee breaks or time for snacks. These are rest periods. The employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purposes of eating regular meals (How many times have you received messages during your lunch break?). Ordinarily 30 minutes or more is long enough for a bona fide meal period. A shorter period may be long enough under special conditions. (My supplement allows up to 3 - 20 minute breaks. They should be paid breaks.) The employee is not relieved if he is required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating. (How many times have you heard, "I can't take my lunch because I will have missed businesses"?) For example, an office employee who is required to eat at his desk or a factory worker who is required to be at his machine is working while eating. (We have been told that we must carry the DIAD at all times, even when at lunch.) (Culkin v. Glenn L. Martin, Nebraska Co., 97 friend. Supp. 661 (D. Neb. 1951), aff'd 197 friend. 2d 981 (C.A. 8, 1952), cert. denied 344 U.S. 888 (1952); Thompson v. Stock & Sons, Inc., 93 friend. Supp. 213 (E.D. Mich 1950), aff'd 194 friend. 2d 493 (C.A. 6, 1952); Biggs v. Joshua Hendy Corp., 183 friend. 2d 515 (C. A. 9, 1950), 187 friend. 2d 447 (C.A. 9, 1951); Walling v. Dunbar Transfer & Storage Co., 3 W.H. Cases 284; 7 Labor Cases para. 61.565 (W.D. Tenn. 1943); Lofton v. Seneca Coal and Coke Co., 2 W.H. Cases 669; 6 Labor Cases para. 61,271 (N.D. Okla. 1942); aff'd 136 friend. 2d 359 (C.A. 10, 1943); cert. denied 320 U.S. 772 (1943); Mitchell v. Tampa Cigar Co., 36 Labor Cases para. 65, 198, 14 W.H. Cases 38 (S.D. Fla. 1959); Douglass v. Hurwitz Co., 145 friend. Supp. 29, 13 W.H. Cases (E.D. Pa. 1956))
(b) Where no permission to leave premises. It is not necessary that
an employee be permitted to leave the premises if he is otherwise
completely freed from duties during the meal period.

I know this won't clear up anything, but it is interesting that the company allows people to work through their meal period, and then doesn't compensate the employee for doing it.
 

1989

Well-Known Member
Sometime the whole country will move into the 21st century. Lunch will be taken between your 4th and 6th hour or you will be fired. If you are taking your board with you during lunch and reading or answering ODS messages, you are working during lunch.
 

leastbest

LeastBest
Back in '79 I had to run a route blind. My sup came up to me and said it was a real bear with a ton of pickups. He then said that this was the kind of route where there was no time for lunch.

I called in at 3pm saying I'd need someone to cover the last few pickups. He got upset and started yelling. I then explained that he had been wrong, there was plenty of time for lunch, just not enough for pickups.

I never had to run that route again.

Randy
www.leastbest.com
 
If every driver would do that constantly, management would fix it eventually. However you better make sure you dot all you i s and cross all you T s.
 

browniehound

Well-Known Member
IF 80.000. brown nosers dont take there lunch a day. thats 80.000 hours. a day. 400.000. hours aweek. IF everyone would take there lunch thats about 2000 more rts aweek to put on roadFORGIVE my math but u get the big picture.IF EVERY ONE TAKE TAKES THERE LUNCH.IT dosent mean. u have to spend 10 12 dollars a day eating . sit in your car.see if u have missloads call a friend ect take your HOUR show your hub center you will be behind and they will need more carS . witthe ne contract coming. you have the option for over 9 .5 EVEN WITH YOUR LUNCH. SOME WIIL AGREE SOME WONT BUT EVERY ONE HAVE AGOOD HOLIDAY AND NEW YEAR.:anxious: its just athought.


Rocketman,
I'm not advocating skipping lunch and not getting paid. We all know the math and the money we are leaving on the table for skipping lunch. When you state this, though it makes me question your intelligence:




"IF EVERY ONE TAKE TAKES THERE LUNCH.IT dosent mean. u have to spend 10 12 dollars a day eating . sit in your car.see if u have missloads call a friend ect take your HOUR show your hub center you will be behind and they will need more carS . witthe ne contract coming. you have the option for over 9 .5 EVEN WITH YOUR LUNCH. SOME WIIL AGREE SOME WONT BUT EVERY ONE HAVE AGOOD HOLIDAY AND NEW YEAR


All I'm saying is if I'm doing strictly house calls, why am I required to take an hour lunch? Why can't you just let me deliver out ther on trace and smoke the house calls?


Or, if I'm doing a route with some businesses and pick-ups that start at 3pm, and it it takes me untile 230 to finish my businesses deliverires, why can't you just dock me 30 min. for lunch instead of 60? Then you make me sit at the end of the night ot fininsh my lunch? What purpose does this serve????
 

BigBrownSanta

Well-Known Member
The newly ratified contract was the prime opportunity to have a change implemented. The company would've probably agreed to more language changes rather than pay billions more in penalties and updated actuarial tables to withdraw from Central States after Jan 1.

You have four options:

1. Ask UPS and the IBT to change the language to "a meal period of up to 1 hour is provided but optional unless mandated by state law."

2. Report the hour in your DIAD, then file a complaint with the Dept of Labor when you don't get paid for working through your lunch hour.

3. Find a way to get all drivers to unite and take the full hour lunch or force the company to enforce the lunch hour equally across the board by grieving drivers who work through their lunch hour (I honestly don't know how you could do this with the current language).

4. Take the full hour lunch and wait 6 years for the next contract negotiations.

Since 1 will never happen, and 2 would require guts (read painting a very target on your back), 3 is possible but the members are too divided to accomplish this (TieGuy is exactly right about this one), then 4 seems to be the only answer at this time.

BTW, the naysayers weren't wrong, they were just late to the party. It's not a 1 month campaign to vote down a contract, it's an ongoing effort that requires teaching and explaining language to the members throughout the term of the contract.

With all that said, I'll bet the next contract passes no matter what language gets put in it.
 

Ms.PacMan

Well-Known Member
Taking your lunch improves your SPORH! Why? Because you have less on road time. It also improves your over/under because your lunch is built into your time study.

Example: Driver runs over everyday, skips his lunch but is home for dinner by 6. Grumbles about crappy time study and showing over daily. Gets harrassed for lousy SPORH and running over.

Driver takes his hour lunch, doesn't get done until 7, shows .25 under. Not worth it he says.

But it is worth it. Can't be hassled for being over 9.5 or missed anything because he is scratch and, if I remember correctly, after August 08 he now has a nice triple time greivance if he opts out of over 9.5.

Take your lunch and watch what happens to your numbers. You'll be surprised.
 
The days that I skip my lunch, I am motivated by one thing alone, getting home an hour earlier. I like spending time with the love of my life, and it sure aint UP$.
 

ozlander

ozlander
We are told to you must show your paid 10 min break..and also show your 30 minute lunch...each seperately......they do not care in Kansas when you do it, but you must show it..The young kids run all day and then write off their lunch...they abused it and now...mgmt..will not allow it anymore...Maybe if you have an 8 hr request..and they give you the usual 8.5 day...then they will do it...THey just keep pushing you to the max....most of the time you must break up that lunch break into 10min here or 15min there...With a new ctr mgr..makes it even worse..he is only making a stop at our center to move up the corporate ladder..and steps on everyone in the way to get there....So..whatzz new..thats the way its always been...
 

browniehound

Well-Known Member
Taking your lunch improves your SPORH! Why? Because you have less on road time. It also improves your over/under because your lunch is built into your time study.

Example: Driver runs over everyday, skips his lunch but is home for dinner by 6. Grumbles about crappy time study and showing over daily. Gets harrassed for lousy SPORH and running over.

Driver takes his hour lunch, doesn't get done until 7, shows .25 under. Not worth it he says.

But it is worth it. Can't be hassled for being over 9.5 or missed anything because he is scratch and, if I remember correctly, after August 08 he now has a nice triple time greivance if he opts out of over 9.5.

Take your lunch and watch what happens to your numbers. You'll be surprised.


Ms.PacMan, what you just said is simply not true. The only way not taking your lunch affects your SPOHR is if you are not getting paid for your lunch, in which it greatly inproves your SPOHR if you skip it.

If you skip your lunch and get paid through a code 5 it will be exactly the same as talking your hour lunch and getting docked an hour through a code 6.
 

Ms.PacMan

Well-Known Member
My numbers all improve taking my lunch. How it works, I don't know, but I set about to find what makes me look best and keep myself under the radar. I've been experimenting this past year when all this put in your lunch crap started.

Have you tried it and actually looked at the numbers? Try it...for me.

My time study goes to hell when I skip my lunch. I'm in at 5pm but show over. In at 6pm with a lunch and I show under.

You tell me what's going on then? I also take a 10 min break and show it in my DIAD - I sort my rotten load but the DIAD doesn't know that and resis go quicker.
 

upsgrunt

Well-Known Member
My numbers all improve taking my lunch. How it works, I don't know, but I set about to find what makes me look best and keep myself under the radar. I've been experimenting this past year when all this put in your lunch crap started.

Have you tried it and actually looked at the numbers? Try it...for me.

My time study goes to hell when I skip my lunch. I'm in at 5pm but show over. In at 6pm with a lunch and I show under.

You tell me what's going on then? I also take a 10 min break and show it in my DIAD - I sort my rotten load but the DIAD doesn't know that and resis go quicker.


I agree 100%. I've noticed it also, but can't explain it either!
 

pkg-king

Well-Known Member
Our new supplement changed our lunch from 1 hour to a half an hour. It already is a half an hour in other parts of the country as well. It does not cange your SPOHR by going to a half hour lunch.
 
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