What to do about a sort gone completely rogue?

I will begin by saying I have far more likes than meet the eye and my popularity surpasses appearance. With the emergence of the new board software my account was stripped of all accolades which has lowered my desire to harass UpstateNYUPser.

I come to you today in rather dire circumstances as I have exhausted all known avenues.

My sort has gone rogue.

- On our sort, seniority "does not matter" (what?) as our sort is "special" (huh?) and is strictly "work as directed" with no preferred jobs. When asked to see the preferred job list you will be given the run-around if not openly attacked. Our steward and BA have turned a blind eye to all of those who seek to right this wrong, openly mocking our inquiries and concerns.

- On our sort, we have pick-offs and sorters with mere months on the job while 13 year employees are unloading trucks. Again, our steward and BA tell us they are "working on it".

- On our sort, they call supervisors working at least two times a week. The VLO is handed out until we are understaffed at the start of the shift. Mid-way through they call "supervisors working". There is always an "unforeseen unload" that "requires" them to call supervisors working half-way through the shift. This takes a 5+ hour shift and leaves us with barely 3 1/2, taking food off the table in an unacceptable fashion. Essentially, if there is a chance they won't hit their ever-more-efficent "number" they call supervisors working and our grievances become worthless. Once again, our steward and BA provide no answers and our grievances fail to go through.

- On our sort, the manager is verbally abusive to every side, having been escorted out of our hub recently for their unacceptable management "style".

Our steward and BA have been "working" on the above offenses for 2 + years. Their time is expired. There is no choice but to go above their heads as my paychecks are getting smaller while I am still dishing out union dues to a completely ineffective system.

What avenues do I have at this point? I am unafraid of flack from either side. I have no fear. There is right and there is wrong and UPS management as well as union "leadership" is wrong. I will deal with the wrong until it is made right. Take food off my table while pocketing my $ and I will see it through until you are out a job for being a thieving union hack.

Our BA should be in the hub every single day as our sort has gone rogue and this is well known. Instead this individual is in the pocket of UPS and downplaying our serious concerns. Seniority is the most important thing you earn at UPS and I refuse to watch a 2 month employee pick off while those with decades in are told these issues are "being worked on".

There are very serious safety issues with EGRESS as well as LEAKING PACKAGES knowingly being sent down the system by working supervisors as hitting the STOP button in our hub is no longer an option.

If your opinion is of the worthless "vote them out" type, kindly pound sand. Enough people are pacified with the VLO to keep the same individuals in power. The rest of our shift is composed of 18 year old children who can't wait to get off their shift and do drugs with their 19 year old supervisor in the parking lot. There is no union presence, period. There is no desire for union presence by more than 49% of dues-paying members, period. This is not an avenue for fixing the problem and UPS management knows it. They hold the deck and control it with their hiring demographic. We are a money shift. We pick up the slack for other sorts who still have some semblance of a union by using every supervisor as a worker.

Those who do care are not enough to make change. Doesn't this mean the system is broken?
Call (202)624-6800 and talk to your international. This will get the ball rolling quickly.
 

anonymous4

Well-Known Member
Thank you. What avenues do I have to learn the ins and outs of the contract? More so, the grey areas. I am not comfortable becoming a steward with my limited knowledge. And while it might be comparable and cleaner than our current steward, it is not enough for me to say I can fairly represent the membership.

UpstateNYUPSer, always remember: Nothing compares to you.

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UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
If you call the International they are going to ask if you went through your shop steward and BA first. The International does not have the time nor should they involve themselves with issues at the center level, especially minor ones such as this.
 

anonymous4

Well-Known Member
If you call the International they are going to ask if you went through your shop steward and BA first. The International does not have the time nor should they involve themselves with issues at the center level, especially minor ones such as this.

And the answer is yes, I have gone through both and have come to a dead-end. This is not a minor issue. This failure undermines the most basic of union principals and is applicable to thousands of people dealing with the same failures by those paid to catch and deal with the memberships concerns.
 

anonymous4

Well-Known Member
Walking to the pisser yesterday, I counted 5 supervisors working, be it loading or sorting. I am unable to file any grievance that will stick because they called "supervisors working" when they didn't like after-break goals. The previous day it was the same story but an hour into the shift. Yet the building was bare-bones due to VLOs passed out to the undesirable.

I have not seen a BA walk-through on this sort in the decade I have been here.

There is nothing to see here though, this is a minor concern. Minor compared to what in relativity? Minor compared to being told my seniority means nothing because this shift is "special"? Special as in completely, unequivocally corrupt from the top down.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Minor as in no one is being forced to work in an unsafe manner or in unsafe conditions.

Minor as in no way is being physically threatened or verbally abused.

Minor as in you are getting your daily guarantee.
 

anonymous4

Well-Known Member
Minor as in no one is being forced to work in an unsafe manner or in unsafe conditions.

Minor as in no way is being physically threatened or verbally abused.

Minor as in you are getting your daily guarantee.

Leaking packages are handled and cleaned up by supervisors to avoid the wait-time involved in proper clean-up by a certified union employee. Egress stacked higher than the loaders in nearly every truck in certain areas.

Union employees that are pals with supervision have made threats of physical assault on other employees who have gone against the grain of their management friends, in ear-shot of several long-time supervisors and other union employees with no repercussion.

Minor guarantee has nothing to do with allowing supervisors to work solely so I barely get my guarantee. Supervisors shouldn't be working, period, let alone calling supervisors working "officially" ever, let alone twice a week.
 

anonymous4

Well-Known Member
They are not just working out of sight, that was last year. The flavor of the month is to just call every supervisor working if things are not optimal, and even more recently, to call them working just to beat production.

And as stated, if a package is leaking on a sort slide, you can be sure a supervisor will be the one to wipe the mess up and urge their new-hire sorters to continue sorting.

As I also said, I have heard a particular union employee threaten another union member with physical assault because he "talked back" to a supervisor that is a friend.

These are not minor concerns and the problem is becoming worse, motivated by the evolution of greed, enforced by the good ol' boy system.
 

Old Man Jingles

Rat out of a cage
I think I will show this to the people around Corporate since there appears to be no unity or purpose in the Teamsters any more. based on Doug's and others postings in this thread, there is no purpose for the local Union halls and their staff and certainly no need for stewards. It is certainly looking good for UPS to just push the Teamsters aside as they set out to control costs by reducing the influence of the Teamsters.
 

anonymous4

Well-Known Member
I have never heard of a "supervisors working" announcement, which exonerates the company from further actions.

You mean you've never seen every single supervisor in your hub doing union labor because management purposefully understaffed and were not satisfied with their "after break numbers" 2 out of 5 days per week?

Get a few grievances coming in on a particular day and they will call "supervisors working " to "nullify" the grievances. The people who do grieve are bought off with comfy positions and days off. Our hazmat responders take too long to respond so a supervisor with paper towels will be happy to assume the leaking package smells safe so surely they are capable of the clean up to keep things running nicely.
 
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