Repercussions for crossing a picket line?

542thruNthru

Well-Known Member
My area has at least 2-3 thousand employees. There will be no shortage of people willing to show up and walk the line.
Gotcha. Let everyone else stand up for what you want. You can't be bothered to spend a few hours on the line to help in that fight. Again, you really don't know what a strike is. To you it's a vacation and let the others do the heavy lifting.

You're that backup kicker that walks around with the championship ring pretending you did something.
 

542thruNthru

Well-Known Member
It's very disappointing

Especially with somebody that has that much time in this place
He's never had to fight for anything. Everything has been given to him at UPS by those that did fight. Now he'll sit back and enjoy the benefits because getting off his couch for 4 hours a day to walk a picket line is beneath him. Yet he'll gladly reap the rewards and high five everyone after.
 

Sacrificial Lamb

Package Shepherd
He's never had to fight for anything. Everything has been given to him at UPS by those that did fight. Now he'll sit back and enjoy the benefits because getting off his couch for 4 hours a day to walk a picket line is beneath him. Yet he'll gladly reap the rewards and high five everyone after.
I’ve been giving people :censored2: about this in my hub. Bunch of yellow bellied pusillanimous who want everything spoonfed to them. :censored2: them.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
My area has at least 2-3 thousand employees. There will be no shortage of people willing to show up and walk the line.

If you are willing to have 2-3 thousand of your fellow employees mad at you when the strike is settled ---go for it. In the long run it will come back to haunt you a thousand-fold. I guarantee it.
 

brett636

Well-Known Member
Gotcha. Let everyone else stand up for what you want. You can't be bothered to spend a few hours on the line to help in that fight. Again, you really don't know what a strike is. To you it's a vacation and let the others do the heavy lifting.

You're that backup kicker that walks around with the championship ring pretending you did something.
Given the number of people we have that are one or two paychecks away from bankruptcy they will have no choice but to sit on the picket line if they want to keep all their bills current. Then you have those who want to do as little work as possible who will gladly eat hamburgers and hotdogs while sitting in a chair at the gate and get paid to do so. My time is worth more than that so you won’t find me out there, and to be frank nobody will miss me there either.
If you are willing to have 2-3 thousand of your fellow employees mad at you when the strike is settled ---go for it. In the long run it will come back to haunt you a thousand-fold. I guarantee it.
Honestly I just don’t care what they think. They don’t pay my mortgage or my light bill. If they think it’s so important to be walking the line then they can do it themselves.
Some of the guys we work with truly think they are more than just blue-collar truck drivers. They’re not down with the struggle because they think they’re better. Forgot where they came from and how what they have was made possible.
Those who struggle do so largely because of their own choices. You shouldn’t hate on those whose choices put them beyond the struggle.
 

Sacrificial Lamb

Package Shepherd
I truly do not understand that mentality
That mentality is the reason why this country is in the state it is in.
IMG_1441.jpeg
 

Thebrownblob

Well-Known Member
Given the number of people we have that are one or two paychecks away from bankruptcy they will have no choice but to sit on the picket line if they want to keep all their bills current. Then you have those who want to do as little work as possible who will gladly eat hamburgers and hotdogs while sitting in a chair at the gate and get paid to do so. My time is worth more than that so you won’t find me out there, and to be frank nobody will miss me there either.

Honestly I just don’t care what they think. They don’t pay my mortgage or my light bill. If they think it’s so important to be walking the line then they can do it themselves.

Those who struggle do so largely because of their own choices. You shouldn’t hate on those whose choices put them beyond the struggle.
Dude, you’re not beyond the struggle you just think you are. If you get up every day and put your Browns on you are in the struggle. Being successful is great. I am also blessed but it’s also my duty to make sure I pass on the opportunity that was given to me to the next group.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
@brett636 I applaud your resolve and decision to ignore the Joe Unions on this forum and, I assume, at your center/hub, by choosing to use your time more productively. The "success"---there are no "winners" in a strike---of a possible (not gonna happen) work stoppage is not going to be based on how many people are standing by the side of the road by their respective work locations but rather by the willingness of the Company and Union to work together to reach an agreement which takes care of both sides. Your co-workers may give you some grief over not having stood alongside them, especially if you make the ill-fated decision to accept your "strike pay", but that grief will fade after a week or so of having returned to work; however, if you were to make the shortsighted decision to cross an active picket line, that grief will turn in to full blown anger and resentment that will linger until you retire. Based on your previous posts, I have no doubt that you possess the financial resources to not even consider crossing. You did mention taking your CDL to make a quick buck elsewhere----do yourself a favor----don't do that. Take your vacation week the first week of August and enjoy a few extra days (unpaid) off if the contract has still not been completed by then. I am quite confident that there will not be a strike as I see an agreement in principle in place by the end of June with voting to take place in mid-July. Sadly, as has always been the case, fewer than 1/3 of eligible hourlies will be bothered to return their ballots.

Back in '97 we were still at our old facility which was at the end of a long driveway off of a busy 4 lane road (Rt. 3) in Plattsburgh NY. The boys set up shop out by the road. I pulled a shift on the first day and, based on what I observed, knew that my time would be wasted there, so I got a short term construction job. No, I did not accept either of the two $55 checks from the union as I had not "worked the line". The first day was like being on vacation----we grilled, drank and enjoyed the support of the vast majority of those who drove by; however, as the strike dragged on, the party atmosphere faded and, after a local newspaper printed an article in which they revealed our hourly wages down to the penny, public support also faded. No one crossed but even if they had tried to their efforts would have been thwarted as the Company locked us out. We did have a couple of more vocal hourlies who used the strike as their opportunity to tell the Company what they really thought----both were gone within a couple of months of our return to work. We had one hourly who had a little too much to drink who would verbally accost any non-supporters who expressed their displeasure by telling us to "get out 'butts' back to work"---he even ran out in to traffic and tried to confront one physically. (Jim B.) He no longer works there. The on-cars and center manager would stop by the line to make sure folks were behaving themselves and to give us updates, which were few. I think there may have been a time when they bought the boys pizza. Ours was a more friendly union/company center and when it did come time to go back to work it was (almost) business as usual. The new facility is on a much quieter two lane road and, as such, a picket line there would have very little impact. They may have to go down to the corner to set up shop.

@brett636 You are an adult who is more than capable of making your own decision based on your own personal financial situation. Don't worry about "honoring those who came before us" or "reaping the benefits without having put in your time on the line". As I stated above, the picket lines, other than garnering a few minutes of TV time on the local news, will do nothing to impact negotiations. Good luck to you in whatever you decide. David.
 

Thebrownblob

Well-Known Member
@brett636 I applaud your resolve and decision to ignore the Joe Unions on this forum and, I assume, at your center/hub, by choosing to use your time more productively. The "success"---there are no "winners" in a strike---of a possible (not gonna happen) work stoppage is not going to be based on how many people are standing by the side of the road by their respective work locations but rather by the willingness of the Company and Union to work together to reach an agreement which takes care of both sides. Your co-workers may give you some grief over not having stood alongside them, especially if you make the ill-fated decision to accept your "strike pay", but that grief will fade after a week or so of having returned to work; however, if you were to make the shortsighted decision to cross an active picket line, that grief will turn in to full blown anger and resentment that will linger until you retire. Based on your previous posts, I have no doubt that you possess the financial resources to not even consider crossing. You did mention taking your CDL to make a quick buck elsewhere----do yourself a favor----don't do that. Take your vacation week the first week of August and enjoy a few extra days (unpaid) off if the contract has still not been completed by then. I am quite confident that there will not be a strike as I see an agreement in principle in place by the end of June with voting to take place in mid-July. Sadly, as has always been the case, fewer than 1/3 of eligible hourlies will be bothered to return their ballots.

Back in '97 we were still at our old facility which was at the end of a long driveway off of a busy 4 lane road (Rt. 3) in Plattsburgh NY. The boys set up shop out by the road. I pulled a shift on the first day and, based on what I observed, knew that my time would be wasted there, so I got a short term construction job. No, I did not accept either of the two $55 checks from the union as I had not "worked the line". The first day was like being on vacation----we grilled, drank and enjoyed the support of the vast majority of those who drove by; however, as the strike dragged on, the party atmosphere faded and, after a local newspaper printed an article in which they revealed our hourly wages down to the penny, public support also faded. No one crossed but even if they had tried to their efforts would have been thwarted as the Company locked us out. We did have a couple of more vocal hourlies who used the strike as their opportunity to tell the Company what they really thought----both were gone within a couple of months of our return to work. We had one hourly who had a little too much to drink who would verbally accost any non-supporters who expressed their displeasure by telling us to "get out 'butts' back to work"---he even ran out in to traffic and tried to confront one physically. (Jim B.) He no longer works there. The on-cars and center manager would stop by the line to make sure folks were behaving themselves and to give us updates, which were few. I think there may have been a time when they bought the boys pizza. Ours was a more friendly union/company center and when it did come time to go back to work it was (almost) business as usual. The new facility is on a much quieter two lane road and, as such, a picket line there would have very little impact. They may have to go down to the corner to set up shop.

@brett636 You are an adult who is more than capable of making your own decision based on your own personal financial situation. Don't worry about "honoring those who came before us" or "reaping the benefits without having put in your time on the line". As I stated above, the picket lines, other than garnering a few minutes of TV time on the local news, will do nothing to impact negotiations. Good luck to you in whatever you decide. David.
Getting an accolade from Dave should tell you were doing something wrong. I read the first line and that was enough.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Dude, you’re not beyond the struggle you just think you are. If you get up every day and put your Browns on you are in the struggle. Being successful is great. I am also blessed but it’s also my duty to make sure I pass on the opportunity that was given to me to the next group.
Your only "duty" is to give the Company a "fair day's work" in exchange for a "fair day's pay".

This is a seniority job----your predecessors put in their 30 which then allows you to put in your 30 so that your successors can put in their 30. It is not your duty to ensure that those who follow make the most of their opportunity.
 
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