Background:
There is growing discussion among an increasing group of drivers in our center regarding one of our three shop stewards. The allegations touch on everything from company favoritism in exchange for special treatment to actively seeking to have management discipline coworkers he personally disliked.
I personally haven't had any negative encounters because I am pretty good at keeping my nose clean, but should a situation arise where I will need a representative I would prefer to have either of the two who hold good reputations, especially if it were a serious issue.
Questions:
a) Do I have a right to select my shop steward? What are my rights regarding this? I don't have a copy of the new contract yet, or I'd look it up myself.
b) What are the realities of replacing/reforming this steward? That's been the threat made by the dissatisfied workers. Curious on what's involved, and the fallout of doing so. Is there any realworld firsthand experience on what has happened with a removal or replacement?
ARTY S. THE FOLLOWING LETTER HAS BEEN SENT TO THE 800 HOTLINE. I agree with your comment. and the blank spaces were all filled in correctly. I have received one phone call regarding all this and I have been told I am going to receive another follow up call.
Dear Sirs:
My name is __________, an employee of ups sense _____. I am employed by the _________ Center, That’s located in _________ California.
I recently began to notice a discrepancy in package car loads. I’ll try to explain this the best I can and I believe the only way to explain this was to
NOT be anonymous.
My route number in _______ is _____. My route, along with most all routes in _____ go out very heavy, It’s not so bad knowing I’m not the only one, That’s just the way it is. Positioned next to my car is the _____ car. This package car is driven by our union shop Steward. Both of these vehicles are our newer P-700 Automatics. Both of these vehicles can contain large volume amounts and if one is to heavy then we move volume back and forth also known as Push/Pull.
Approximately a year ago I began noticing that my____ route began to go out with more and more volume and the ____ route has been getting lighter and lighter. Over the last year I have communicated this with both the past center Manager and our current center Manager. I have been asking them why were not using our push/pull method to balance out our vehicles. In all cases I have been told that “per the numbers” this is the correct load for these vehicles.
The package cars we have are very well built and are the envy of any driver that doesn’t have one. Our P-700 vehicles can contain more than 300 pieces per day. My vehicle now goes out with between 200 and 300 pieces per day. I have also been watching the piece count on the _____ car, I have also been noticing volume on this vehicle has been decreasing from 180 pieces to as low as 90 pieces.
I specifically asked my on-road Supervisor about this and his reply was. “You should hope that when your that drivers age, You have such a light load. We have several 30+ year drivers and none of them get there load lightened just because of there age. Also, if a particular route is light then a smaller vehicle is put in it’s place. Example a P-500.
It’s my opinion that the vehicle next to mine can be utilized to help lessen the Burdon on my day to day volume. I also return to the building now at 8:00 pm, while the vehicle next to me is returning at 5:00 pm. It’s also my opinion that the ____ vehicle can be replaced with a smaller vehicle to free up the larger P-700 Vehicle to a driver that needs the room to load more packages. It is also my opinion that the driver next to me is being treated with favoritism that no other driver in our center is receiving.
As I mentioned, The driver on the route next to me is a union shop Steward, I have also noticed that this particular package driver gets plenty of days off to do “INSIDE WORK”. The following is only a rumor. However, I have been told that as long as Management scratches the shop Stewards back he will keep the drivers at bay and convince drivers to sign all necessary documents, like the 30 minute lunch waiver and convince the drivers to not sign the 9.5 opt out form.
If all of this is the case then I am going to be the Package driver that is going to be directly affected by this arrangement. And I feel I have been affected by all this. Over the last year I have had two supervisors ride along with no conclusion to the ride along. I have requested a full three day ride and I have also requested a full three day ride for the driver next to me. So far I have been told that the supervisors have there hands way to full to do a three day ride.
CONCLUTION: It’s my opinion that for whatever reason, favoritism is being played out here and I would request that a neutral party take a look at the numbers of my vehicle ___ and the vehicle next to me ___ to determine if management is participating in favoritism. It’s my opinion that all Drivers should be treated with equal fairness when it comes to dispatching vehicles.
Thank You for your time.
Proud UPS Employee:
UPS ID # __________
Name: ___________
Address: ___________
Home: _____________
Cell: ______________
Report # ____________