Weingarten Rights - Right to union representation

[jibbs]

Yesterday was a bad day, I'll admit that. I had one truck look ed because of all the bulk PALed to the floor with near empty shelves. Supe ran an audit after driver complained, gave me 20%. The 20% I "was given" was for no misloads and no damaged packages.

Today the supervisor makes a bee-line for me with the audit in hand, pictures, all that good . We start getting into it because apparently just because something's PALed to a specific area doesn't mean you have to put it there (though that's pretty much the opposite of what I was told when they started giving me these "LIVE ORION LOADS"). Whatever, that's cool. Then he asked me to sign. I told him I'd need to speak with a steward before I write anything on that paper. He responded, and I quote, "If we have to get union reps involved then this is going to go past words." That confused me. I felt he was threatening retaliation for exercising my Weingarten Right to union representation, and was truthfully momentarily intimidated into signing that gosh darn mother ing piece of ing piece of paper.

My plan was to grab a steward when the drivers came in (there isn't one on the preload) and run the situation by him to gauge his opinion and receive some advice as to how to proceed here, if there's even anything to proceed with. Unfortunately, I was pegged to do add-cuts on my belt and every steward I know of had left the building by the time I was off the clock and free to go find one.




I realize I likely missed my boat here by letting myself get stressed into signing. I'm more curious as to how you guys think this kind of situation should be handled if it were to arise again. Also (and forgive my legal wording here), is there a statute of limitations on bringing these kinds of issues to your union rep? I'm assuming that I may have to go digging through my copy of the master and/or supplement to find out the specifics on that for me, just kind of hopin' on a prayer that one of youse guys already knows the answer.

 

[oldngray]

Why not just print RTS and if he insists you have to sign then call in a steward?

 

[CHALLY9TX]

What did the paper say? You have 10 working days to file a grievance. Make sure you file a harassment grievance.

 

[PT Car Washer]

I was threatened once on the preload for being 99% effective and how I had better shape up. No misloads for years. Just idle threats.

 

[jibbs]

Why not just print RTS and if he insists you have to sign then call in a steward?

Because, in my mind, signing RTS is still signing. A signature doesn't have to be your name-- it can be a symbol for all an uninformed 3rd party is concerned. It didn't work out the way I wanted it to, but I wanted there to be no doubt that I was refusing to sign until a rep was there.


Honestly, there's more to this story building up over the past several weeks. Upper management change within the center... I've felt like I'm being attacked every gosh darn day for one reason or another even though I haven't had a misload since last Tuesday. Without getting into all the specifics of that situation, I'm just at the point where I feel ed with by new management and every day I go in unsure if I'm still going to have a job or if that's the day a switch is going to flip and I kirk the off on my way out the door. I feel like now may be the last chance to file legitimate grievances and save a few more dollars in the event of surprise unemployment.

What did the paper say? You have 10 working days to file a grievance. Make sure you file a harassment grievance.

It was a simple audit. There were 10 things to check off, i.e. Were H1N numbers visible? Was there packages secured behind the lip-loaded packages? Was there empty shelf space? And next to each of the 10 things there was a box where the supervisor marked either "Y" or "N."

I understand the audit was simple.

My problem is that I feel my request for union representation before the discussion took place was equally as simple and, further than that, something I'm legally entitled to.

I was threatened once on the preload for being 99% effective and how I had better shape up. No misloads for years. Just idle threats.

It makes no sense why they'd want to squeeze more performance out of decent employees in order to allow the less-than-average ones continue to be less-than-average.

 

[Brownslave688]

First it's easy to be intimidated when you're new. All of these situations are new to you.

Second you were threatened. Write down everything you remember then find a steward to file a harassment greivance.

 

[jibbs]

, dude, I'm not new but I get what you mean.

I'm gonna write everything down now. I didn't want the effort to be in vain if this was something that had to be addressed immediately on-site or not. I know how quickly this kind of thing can snowball into he-said-she-said and I want no parts of that kind of game.

 

[Brownslave688]

By new I meant under ten years. I could be wrong but I thought it had only been a few for you.

Hell I know 20 year employees that I would consider new as far as the union and dicipline situations go.

 

[jibbs]

p.s. Thanks guys. I know I'm a dick on here every now and then but you're all awesome for the most part. I feel my question's been answered but feel free to keep chiming in here. I love learning this union stuff and, honestly... now that I think about it...

I probably should've posted this in Union Issues, huh? Oh well, didn't even think of it until now...

By new I meant under ten years. I could be wrong but I thought it had only been a few for you.

Oh! Yeah! I fall under that category. I'm still under 5 years.

 

[Brownslave688]

, dude, I'm not new but I get what you mean.

I'm gonna write everything down now. I didn't want the effort to be in vain if this was something that had to be addressed immediately on-site or not. I know how quickly this kind of thing can snowball into he-said-she-said and I want no parts of that kind of game.

Be as specific as possible add in times and dates if possible.

 

[PT Car Washer]

Somewhere UPS management got the idea that a hostile work environment is a productive work environment. Has always been that way but I would have thought with the low PT wages they would have lightened up some.

 

[clean hairy]

Become a broken record in a case like that.
"When I have a Steward present, we can discuss your concern."
Those are the only words you know until you get a Steward.

 

[jibbs]

Become a broken record in a case like that.
"When I have a Steward present, we can discuss your concern."
Those are the only words you know until you get a Steward.

Yeah. The wheels started turning in my head and and my anxiety jumped to overdrive-- essentially, the guy got under my skin and I lost my calm and collected exterior. It eventually got to the point where my desire to personally defend myself overpowered my want for union representation, and I could've avoided it getting to that point by simply not allowing myself get baited into responding with anything other than the mantra you just provided me.

 

[HardknocksUPSer]

Yeah. The wheels started turning in my head and and my anxiety jumped to overdrive-- essentially, the guy got under my skin and I lost my calm and collected exterior. It eventually got to the point where my desire to personally defend myself overpowered my want for union representation, and I could've avoided it getting to that point by simply not allowing myself get baited into responding with anything other than the mantra you just provided me.

Should have politely asked him to leave your work area because you he's distracting you and you need to focus, tell the sup if he needs you to talk to you after the sort, by that time the drivers are there and you can go grab your steward to listen in on the sups conversation with you, I guarantee it wouldn't have been as hostile.

 

[FrigidAdCorrector]

Should have politely asked him to leave your work area because you he's distracting you and you need to focus, tell the sup if he needs you to talk to you after the sort, by that time the drivers are there and you can go grab your steward to listen in on the sups conversation with you, I guarantee it wouldn't have been as hostile.

If a sup is being a jerk like his, it was going to be hostile no matter what. That guy had a mission in mind when he went with the paper and being accommodating wasn't part of that mission.

The sup should know better. The right to union representation is day 1 stuff. Don't ever allow someone to intimidate you even in management. I know it's tough because it is your job. But that is not how things should be handled from their side. If they ever fired you for requesting union representation you'd have your job back so fast it would make their head spin.

 

[HardknocksUPSer]

If a sup is being a jerk like his, it was going to be hostile no matter what. That guy had a mission in mind when he went with the paper and being accommodating wasn't part of that mission.

The sup should know better. The right to union representation is day 1 stuff. Don't ever allow someone to intimidate you even in management. I know it's tough because it is your job. But that is not how things should be handled from their side. If they ever fired you for requesting union representation you'd have your job back so fast it would make their head spin.

Management ain't nothin but puppets in most cases, your 100% right

 

[jibbs]

Should have politely asked him to leave your work area because you he's distracting you and you need to focus, tell the sup if he needs you to talk to you after the sort, by that time the drivers are there and you can go grab your steward to listen in on the sups conversation with you, I guarantee it wouldn't have been as hostile.

When I say supe, I mean my PT supe's boss's boss. So... building supervisor? On-road supe? Idk. He's up there. It would've been my supe's boss but he was out today, so the guy he reports to was the one to come give me . That's where the intimidation came into play. It wasn't because of who he is personally, but what his official title/role is that changed how I would typically carry myself.

[EDIT: The reason it was

If a sup is being a jerk like his, it was going to be hostile no matter what. That guy had a mission in mind when he went with the paper and being accommodating wasn't part of that mission.

The sup should know better. The right to union representation is day 1 stuff. Don't ever allow someone to intimidate you even in management. I know it's tough because it is your job. But that is not how things should be handled from their side. If they ever fired you for requesting union representation you'd have your job back so fast it would make their head spin.

I appreciate that kind of response coming from you, Frigid (from your postings on here I've come to assume you're in management, is what I mean).

 

[PT Car Washer]

When I say supe, I mean my PT supe's boss's boss. So... building supervisor? Idk. He's up there. It would've been my supe's boss but he was out today, so the guy he reports to was the one to come give me . That's where the intimidation came into play. It wasn't because of who he is personally, but what his official title/role is that changed how I would typically carry myself.





I appreciate that kind of response coming from you, Frigid (from your postings on here I've come to assume you're in management, is what I mean).

Sounds like a sort manager. I think of them like the breakfast shift manager at McDonalds. Bottom of the management rung and most likely the highest he will ever go. Unless he gets demoted which is more often the case. We had a Labor Manager be demoted to Preload manager to On car sup.

 

[jibbs]

Sounds like a sort manager. I think of them like the breakfast shift manager at McDonalds. Bottom of the management rung and most likely the highest he will ever go. Unless he gets demoted which is more often the case. We had a Labor Manager be demoted to Preload manager to On car sup.

Lol, I really need to learn these guys' titles. I just know them as management, and which ones report to the others. I feel like I've worked here too long to not know what their titles are, but it always seemed pretty trivial to me in the past.

 

[HardknocksUPSer]

When I say supe, I mean my PT supe's boss's boss. So... building supervisor? On-road supe? Idk. He's up there. It would've been my supe's boss but he was out today, so the guy he reports to was the one to come give me . That's where the intimidation came into play. It wasn't because of who he is personally, but what his official title/role is that changed how I would typically carry myself.

[EDIT: The reason it was





I appreciate that kind of response coming from you, Frigid (from your postings on here I've come to assume you're in management, is what I mean).

I just don't understand why everything at UPS has to be made into a big deal. It's stupid quite frankly