Situation @ Work Need Help and Advice Everyone

[edg3h]

I lurk around all the time and read alot of the forums.

I need some advice from you veterans out there.

I was hired as an unloader, learned the sort out and i am sorting right now. I have been here for about 9 months and never had a problem. I am attending school now and unfortunately have to attend school on mondays which will interfere with my twilight shift. There are other employees who have requested the day off, showed thier schedule that they have to attend school and never had a problem. I showed my schedule to my full time sup he said no. Because of an incident with other employees about school time so he "shut school time off" for everyone he says. He said Quit or go to another shift. I don't want to do neither, and find it a little unfair i was denied school time becuase of some one else fault, while there are a couple employees missing days in my shift now. I talked to H.R today they were going to talk to supervisor again but didnt sound to sure. Some one recomended me to go to the "shop steward". But don't know if they can help..



Tomorrow i H.R should be contacting me to see what is going to happen.

ANy advice guys and gals?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Find out who your shop steward is and get him/her involved. You are right, you should not suffer for the misdeeds of others.

 

[Bubblehead]

Find out who your shop steward is and get him/her involved. You are right, you should not suffer for the misdeeds of others.

I agree to an extent. We need more information. What exactly are you asking for? To leave a few minutes early? For a certain day or days off each week. I think that is the key here. If you are asking for something that will adversely affect the operation, then a shift change may be the best solution. In my local I know of no language that affords you this right of "school time off". That's where I agree with UpState, check with your steward. He or she would better know your options and may be able to negotiate a fair solution.

 

[grgrcr88]

As far as I know there is no provision in the contract that would grant any time off for school conflicts. If your sort has been doing this it has been out of pure kindness, unfortunately, that is the way of the world. One person screws it up for everyone.

That being said, this is a job. UPS is running a bussiness to make money, not to put you thru school. Perhaps it is time to start acting like a grown up and realizing that in the real world you have to have priorities and plan accordingly.

 

[Anonymous 10]

The twilight starts at about 1700 where i'm at cant you get in by then or do you go to night school?

 

[feederdriver06]

you may have to bite the bullet and switch shifts. There may not be any other option .

 

[brownrod]

HR uses the 'school friendly' angle to convince college students to work here. But the reality is that the operations supervisors don't give a damn about your school commitments. All they care is that you show up on time and achieve good numbers. You are probably SOL. Very unlikely there is anything the union can or will do either.

 

[trplnkl]

As far as I know there is no provision in the contract that would grant any time off for school conflicts. If your sort has been doing this it has been out of pure kindness, unfortunately, that is the way of the world. One person screws it up for everyone.

That being said, this is a job. UPS is running a bussiness to make money, not to put you thru school. Perhaps it is time to start acting like a grown up and realizing that in the real world you have to have priorities and plan accordingly.

On the other hand, UPS (here anyway) advertises and pushes the "only student" part timers are to be hired. Even getting a PT job hinges on being a FT student. If they are not willing to work around the school schedule, they need to make some policy changes.

 

[edg3h]

According to My supervisor someone had a bad incidident with "school time" and he shut school time for everyone yet there are still people doing "school time". I need monday off yes its night school. I understand its the heaviest day but i also realie that the majority of times, i am unloading because they have to many sorters up on the sort. so i know it cant be because of staff. I understand it IS a job but they did tell me they help studenst and whatnot and now they are not. Why me? why did i get denied acess to the same privleged others have? if it comes to switching sorts i would have to learn a new sort lose my pay raise for being a skilled employee and move to a worse shift that will jeoperdize my grades in school. I think i would rather quit then change shifts.

 

[iowa boy]

This happened last year in our building too so you are not alone. I think the higher ups got tired of everyone going to school and needed all this time off for school, so rather than try and continue to work with them, it was decided that its either school or work, not both.

 

[tieguy]

According to My supervisor someone had a bad incidident with "school time" and he shut school time for everyone yet there are still people doing "school time". I need monday off yes its night school. I understand its the heaviest day but i also realie that the majority of times, i am unloading because they have to many sorters up on the sort. so i know it cant be because of staff. I understand it IS a job but they did tell me they help studenst and whatnot and now they are not. Why me? why did i get denied acess to the same privleged others have? if it comes to switching sorts i would have to learn a new sort lose my pay raise for being a skilled employee and move to a worse shift that will jeoperdize my grades in school. I think i would rather quit then change shifts.

Its possible that it may not just be you that is asking. There may be many others working for your supervisor that are also asking for this accommadation. He may find in such a case its easier to deny it to everyone then to try to cover everyone.

HR will have a hard time fighting for you because they should have stressed the five day work week to you when they hired you.

 

[PT Stewie]

Call your steward and or union rep .You may be able to get off because of such a thing called "past practices" This simply means that if somrthing as been done as a matter of practice i.e. like giving hourlies off to attend school on certain days or hours it is an arguable point as far as the union is concerned .If this has been SOP in the past in your hub one disgruntled sup should not be able to deny it. It is worth a try.You may have to file a grievance under "past practices"

 

[kreator562]

According to My supervisor someone had a bad incidident with "school time" and he shut school time for everyone yet there are still people doing "school time". I need monday off yes its night school. I understand its the heaviest day but i also realie that the majority of times, i am unloading because they have to many sorters up on the sort. so i know it cant be because of staff. I understand it IS a job but they did tell me they help studenst and whatnot and now they are not. Why me? why did i get denied acess to the same privleged others have? if it comes to switching sorts i would have to learn a new sort lose my pay raise for being a skilled employee and move to a worse shift that will jeoperdize my grades in school. I think i would rather quit then change shifts.

I think you just answered your own question. " i think i would rather quit than change shifts". I think you have to ask yourself which do you value most at this moment?

I had this same dilemma in 08', work vs. school. The fact of the matter is that school will always be there, as you can take a "W" and take it again the following semester, whereas, a job in this current climate may take 6+ months to even get a decent interview.

Whichever class is interfering with your schedule you can take a "W" or outright drop. Now, i dont know if you have a financial aid obligation where you need a certain amount of units to maintain a level of aid, etc.

You also have to think about your major. Do you have a softcore or hardcore major? Is your major in demand to the point you will find work within 3-months of graduation?

Think about those things and more....it isnt as tough of a decision as you think. Do you need the 700.00+ dollars a month from UPS, the consequence being a downsized work school load. Or, can you survive on school alone this early in your college career.

 

[grgrcr88]

On the other hand, UPS (here anyway) advertises and pushes the "only student" part timers are to be hired. Even getting a PT job hinges on being a FT student. If they are not willing to work around the school schedule, they need to make some policy changes.

If that is actually the case, there should be alot of descrimination lawsuits filed.

 

[22.34life]

this is classic ups at its best ,they dont want to have any fulltime jobs because this job is for students,right.then they dont want to work with the kids schedule.this job has almost zero attraction anymore used to be the job payed well above min. wage,so students could earn more money in a shorter period of time now min. wage is only 1 dollar below starting pay.ahh yes but you get benifits here ....in 12 months, want to add any dependents thats 18 months.so now they dont want to work with school conflicts either,why would any student want to work here i guess maybe if school doesnt work out you could always become a package car driver .....in 5 years.if you want to catch a certain type of fish you got to use a certain type of bait,ups just needs to figure out what kind of fish they are fishing for.

 

[JonFrum]

On the other hand, UPS (here anyway) advertises and pushes the "only student" part timers are to be hired. Even getting a PT job hinges on being a FT student. If they are not willing to work around the school schedule, they need to make some policy changes.

Didn't the government, back in the early '70s, tell UPS that their policy of hireing only students was illegal? Being a student was not a legitimate requirement to handle boxes, and still isn't.

Are you sure they are practicing this policy currently in your area?

 

[dillweed]

Please don't take the situation personally. Its the worst mistake one can make at UPS. You're not being denied the opportunity to take Mondays off because of who you are or how you do your job.

The longer you work for the company the more you'll see things like this going on.

I'd agree with those who suggest trying the union. Sometimes they are helpful, sometimes they are not. If they don't help you don't take that personally either.

I feel the company/union relationship is like a dance; sometimes company leads, sometimes union leads and the partners often just follow along.

It could be that those who are allowed to leave were established before you came along. Now, they may be having staffing situations where they don't want to have any more people leaving early. Also, taking the entire day off might be a problem for them. Many of our students do leave a bit early to make it to class but I've never seen anyone take the whole shift off.

Best of luck with this, a good education is such a valuable asset. dw

 

[UPSSOCKS]

Call your steward and or union rep .You may be able to get off because of such a thing called "past practices" This simply means that if somrthing as been done as a matter of practice i.e. like giving hourlies off to attend school on certain days or hours it is an arguable point as far as the union is concerned .If this has been SOP in the past in your hub one disgruntled sup should not be able to deny it. It is worth a try.You may have to file a grievance under "past practices"

You can't file just because your unhappy. There is no greivance here. Past Practice is union lingo that is about as worthless as the workforce. "Past practice" works for some situations but not this one.

As for your sup, he is on a power trip. Had you not said anything abut Monday's and just called off, he probably would of never caught on. Now you painted a big bullseye on your back. If you went to HR then the bullseye just got larger.

As for you, what came first the chicken or the egg? Did you have your job at UPS before you made your schedule? Of course you did, so why take the Monday night class? The road you are traveling on has been paved by a bunch of guys before you. Some of them took night classes so they only had four day work weeks, some just told UPS they had night classes so they could have three day weekends. The point I am making is UPS just didn't wake up and say screw the college kids. UPS got tired of getting screwed by the college workforce and just said "no more schooling allowances."

I always thought the college thing was good for UPS, but both sides screwed it up in the end.

 

[22.34life]

You can't file just because your unhappy. There is no greivance here. Past Practice is union lingo that is about as worthless as the workforce. "Past practice" works for some situations but not this one.

As for your sup, he is on a power trip. Had you not said anything abut Monday's and just called off, he probably would of never caught on. Now you painted a big bullseye on your back. If you went to HR then the bullseye just got larger.

As for you, what came first the chicken or the egg? Did you have your job at UPS before you made your schedule? Of course you did, so why take the Monday night class? The road you are traveling on has been paved by a bunch of guys before you. Some of them took night classes so they only had four day work weeks, some just told UPS they had night classes so they could have three day weekends. The point I am making is UPS just didn't wake up and say screw the college kids. UPS got tired of getting screwed by the college workforce and just said "no more schooling allowances."

always thought the college thing was good for UPS, but both sides screwed it up in the end

this sentence is the truest statement you have ever made on this site.if you think its screwed up now just give it a few years when there is no students no quality people at all because they cant iive on 150 bucks a week and they dont give benefits and the chance of getting a full time job is slim.then we will be left with thieves and thugs it will be a great place to work.

 

[tieguy]

this is classic ups at its best ,they dont want to have any fulltime jobs because this job is for students,right.then they dont want to work with the kids schedule..

we try to be flexible. Every now and then we also try to remind ourselves that we still have a business to run and committments to customers to keep.