Surepost/Preferred Work

[bakagigee]

I work in a very small center. We only have 7-8 workers in our 6-10am preload shift. One person unloads the semi. One person scans and applies labels. Four people load the packages in the trucks... And one person spends their time dumping smalls bags, pulling holds and damages off the belt, correcting some of the bad addresses, splitting the belt, and pulling, sorting and then scanning and bagging surepost packages.

Can someone who is currently loading a package truck force management to put them into what I'll call the Surepost position, simply because they have more seniority than the person who's currently doing it?

Is the Surepost position considered a preferred position? Is the SPA considered a preferred position? Should management be posting a list for everyone to pick what positions they want to work in by seniority? For example, should the highest seniority person get to choose what spot they want before anyone else gets to pick?

Up until this point management has basically just decided who they want where and then we just worked wherever they told us, but now we're wondering if we should get to choose based on seniority?

Thanks for the help. I've read the Master but it seems to me that section 4 of Article 22 is talking about hiring people into specific positions, which I could see in a larger facility, but ours has never done it like that. We've all thought of ourselves as being on the preload, and then management decides where we go from there.

 

[Bottom rung]

If there are no bid positions you can be placed wherever management sees fit. Seniority only matters when filling a bid position.

 

[bleedinbrown58]

8 people on a preload SHIFT? I can't fathom a center that small. The answer is...usually no..unless the job has a bid list...management can put you whereever they want on preload.

 

[CHALLY9TX]

Our contract states that the principles of seniority must be given prime consideration in the operations of the building. When I first started at ups it was as a loader. The preferred position on my belt was a pickoff. There was no bid for that position but it would always go to the senior person on the belt. That's how it was for all the belts in my building. You might have a grievance if and only if there's been past practice to giving the preferred positions to senior workers.


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[bakagigee]

Thanks for the replies.

A couple of you mentioned "bid positions". What qualifies or makes a position a "bid position? I guess that's part of the heart of my question? Up until this point, there hasn't been any bidding on anything. But maybe there should have been? Should we be bidding every week or month or whatever to see who gets to be the SPA person, or do Surepost, or load trucks, or unload the semi? Is that something we should be doing, or are those positions not bid positions? What determines that?

As far as I'm aware, no one was ever hired to just work as the SPA person, or just as a loader. We just got hired for the morning shift and went wherever we were told.

Chally9tx...

Actually, I'm the person with less seniority in the Surepost position. It wouldn't be me with the grievance, but the person who wants to bump me out of it. But, I, or someone with the same seniority as I have been in that position since it started. I'm trained to do it and all the data correction and everything else. This other person has always been loading trucks, but now they are getting lots of misloads and they have been getting disciplined for several things and so it seems like they are trying to protect themselves by moving out of a position where they have to load and can be held accountable for the misloads.

 

[fres431]

How this can be played is the contract states they have to take the health and and well being of the employee into consideration in iob assignments.

 

[bakagigee]

There's a pandora's box.

 

[barnyard]

Our building has a little bit larger preload, but about the exact same circumstances. The higher seniority person could demand to be moved to the surepost/AC position. However, they cannot use their seniority to move around every other day.

 

[bleedinbrown58]

Thanks for the replies.

A couple of you mentioned "bid positions". What qualifies or makes a position a "bid position? I guess that's part of the heart of my question? Up until this point, there hasn't been any bidding on anything. But maybe there should have been? Should we be bidding every week or month or whatever to see who gets to be the SPA person, or do Surepost, or load trucks, or unload the semi? Is that something we should be doing, or are those positions not bid positions? What determines that?

As far as I'm aware, no one was ever hired to just work as the SPA person, or just as a loader. We just got hired for the morning shift and went wherever we were told.

Chally9tx...

Actually, I'm the person with less seniority in the Surepost position. It wouldn't be me with the grievance, but the person who wants to bump me out of it. But, I, or someone with the same seniority as I have been in that position since it started. I'm trained to do it and all the data correction and everything else. This other person has always been loading trucks, but now they are getting lots of misloads and they have been getting disciplined for several things and so it seems like they are trying to protect themselves by moving out of a position where they have to load and can be held accountable for the misloads.

To the OP...maybe you need a position where you sweat your off and do a little hard work and give the loader a break from the wear and tear on their body.

 

[bakagigee]

Bleedinbrown58...

I totally understand where you're coming from, so I don't want to sound like I'm just spouting off some sort of over inflated reply... But... I have done every pull on our sort, and my work ethic is not an issue... You could ask anybody, from the managers, to the drivers to my coworkers, including this person who wants my spot. I'm fine doing this person's pull, in all honesty it would be a bit of a vacation. I've even thought of unloading the semi, because it's a nice relaxing workout. The problem, is that everyone knows that this person regularly fails to put in their fair share of a day's work, and the rest of us regularly have to do our jobs and part of theirs as well.

The move isn't the issue, it's the fact that by making the move there's the potential that they will then be enabled to sandbag even more, and that I and others would have to pick up even more of their slack.

Hence, the reason I'm wondering about the bid stuff. Personally, I find the variety of loading trucks to be easier on my body than the strain repeatedly gripping and twisting smalls puts on your wrist as well as splitting the belt almost the entire morning.

In reality, this person probably has a better chance getting hurt doing surepost than their other position. The real issue is they are trying to avoid getting fired for being a sub-par employee. Which I totally understand, but then again, if you can't put in an honest day's work, then maybe it's time to get out of the kitchen.

I realize you have to take my word on this, but since you brought it up, I thought it might be worth addressing so others don't get the wrong impression.

 

[cosmo1]

With a 10:00 start for your drivers, and only 4 actual loaders, I'm guessing you are in some kind of satellite center running between 12 and 16 routes, right?

 

[bakagigee]

With a 10:00 start for your drivers, and only 4 actual loaders, I'm guessing you are in some kind of satellite center running between 12 and 16 routes, right?

The drivers are usually out by 9am, but we are in a very rural area and do run between 12 and 16, you're right.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Sounds like the Dickson, Tn center.

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[annie345]

There is no seniority within a sort unless prior practice has been established. The bid jobs are preloader( which includes sure post, spa, dcap, pkg car loader, semi unloader), clerk, local sort( which includes semi loader, pkg car unloader), sorter, etc.. If you are a preloader that guarantees you preload work.. But u don't get to choose your work station or your work assignment.. That is up to mgmt., if a person was elderly and was unable to load cars for example.. There is a clause that says mgmt. Should take into account the workers age and physical condition when assigning work.