Why does grieving scare management?

oldpaddy

Well-Known Member
I filed a grievance and have decided to stop talking and take it to the panel. My grievance is about "respect and dignity" issues.
What I don't understand is why is managment so scared about grievances? What happens to them when you win?
 

tieguy

Banned
I've never felt threatened by them. I don't know many management people that are really bothered by them. I think its just another communication channel for those that need a union to engage in basic dialogue.
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
I've never felt threatened by them. I don't know many management people that are really bothered by them. I think its just another communication channel for those that need a union to engage in basic dialogue.[/QUOTE]

Let me explain this sentence in truck driver terms for everyone that didnt understand Tie. When people get sick of being walked over and decide to stand up for themselves against contract violating management a grievance is the perfect way to go. How many times as a steward have we heard the argument for not discussing the problem first? Too many!

Its simple if a driver does not want lets say 9.5 either get him off the road under 9.5 or pay him triple time, why must we file a grievance in order to get whats spelled out in the contract?
 

1989

Well-Known Member
I've had a couple hundred filed against me. Never had one paid. The funny part is that there are always a couple people that just do it to annoy you, but they are more annoying to the union.
 

Bubblehead

My Senior Picture
I filed a grievance and have decided to stop talking and take it to the panel. My grievance is about "respect and dignity" issues.
What I don't understand is why is managment so scared about grievances? What happens to them when you win?

It's just this simple.
They fear the ones that could cost the company money.
Money is all they care about.
Quite frankly, your grievances about "respect and dignity issues" will at best win you the following award.
"Company is instructed to comply with Article 37".
You want respect and dignity through the grievance process, find a way to cost them some money.
Otherwise your spinning your wheels.
 

freecarry88

Member
Money is all they care about.
Quite frankly, your grievances about "respect and dignity issues" will at best win you the following award.
"Company is instructed to comply with Article 37".
You want respect and dignity through the grievance process, find a way to cost them some money.
Otherwise your spinning your wheels.

Not true. Sometimes the truly serious complaints get mixed in with the serious complaining. This does formalize it and make it important to management. I have settled many from my desk with the steward, the grievant, a meeting of the minds, and a handshake.
 

Bubblehead

My Senior Picture
I filed a grievance and have decided to stop talking and take it to the panel. My grievance is about "respect and dignity" issues.
What I don't understand is why is managment so scared about grievances? What happens to them when you win?

Not true. Sometimes the truly serious complaints get mixed in with the serious complaining. This does formalize it and make it important to management. I have settled many from my desk with the steward, the grievant, a meeting of the minds, and a handshake.

Reread the OP.
He states he is past talking and ready to go to the panel.
He no longer believes the idle chatter and empty promises.
The grievance procedure provides for the talking phase prior to filing.
Your statement shows the inherent problem.
Managements complete disregard for dealing with the issues until, and only if they are forced to.
 

Overpaid Union Thug

Well-Known Member
It's just this simple.
They fear the ones that could cost the company money.
Money is all they care about.
Quite frankly, your grievances about "respect and dignity issues" will at best win you the following award.
"Company is instructed to comply with Article 37".
You want respect and dignity through the grievance process, find a way to cost them some money.
Otherwise your spinning your wheels.

I hate to say it but that is right. Most grievances result in a letter in the mail stating "Company agrees to comply with Article __."
 

freecarry88

Member
Reread the OP.He states he is past talking and ready to go to the panel.He no longer believes the idle chatter and empty promises.The grievance procedure provides for the talking phase prior to filing.Your statement shows the inherent problem.Managements complete disregard for dealing with the issues until, and only if they are forced to

He says stop talking you say past talking...you are probably right; but I disagree with your assertion that management has a complete disregard for dealing with issues until forced to. Obviously we can do better, but we deal with many issues daily. You may not know about them, and you shouldn't. How many times does a person have an issue, come to management, get it fixed quickly and then go tell everyone? Probably not many times. Point being, we are not forced to deal with many issues, yet we do. We are supposed to. But to answer the original question; management probably feels like they failed when it cannot be resolved locally OR they do not want their dirty laundry exposed. IMHO
 

22.34life

Well-Known Member
It's just this simple.
They fear the ones that could cost the company money.
Money is all they care about.
Quite frankly, your grievances about "respect and dignity issues" will at best win you the following award.
"Company is instructed to comply with Article 37".
You want respect and dignity through the grievance process, find a way to cost them some money.
Otherwise your spinning your wheels.
Bubblehead is right,a grievance that is not monetary will be won so fast your head will spin.BUt nothing comes of it you will come in the next day and the same thing will happen again.One thing i dont understand is you go talk to a stewart about an issue and he says file on it,your next question might be wont they do this or do that to me for it,and he says they cant do that.Now he knows they will be on you like stink on smile* but tells you they wont this is not right for a newer person who does not know.
 

UPSSOCKS

Well-Known Member
Trust me, the only management person that truly cares about grievances is the labor department. Everyone else just pretends like they care. I believe the OP is referring to Article 37, and that particular article is a joke. That article is something you pretend like it is a big deal in front of the union so it doesn't end up on the front page of the paper. The golden rule with grievances is, if you get caught make sure you get your money worth. I tell my guys to work like hell, but if you get caught you better be working 3x as fast as the fastest union guy.
 

Bubblehead

My Senior Picture
Bubblehead is right,a grievance that is not monetary will be won so fast your head will spin.BUt nothing comes of it you will come in the next day and the same thing will happen again.One thing i dont understand is you go talk to a stewart about an issue and he says file on it,your next question might be wont they do this or do that to me for it,and he says they cant do that.Now he knows they will be on you like stink on smile* but tells you they wont this is not right for a newer person who does not know.

If you are someone who makes a habit of "running with scissors" at work, then I'll agree that the grievance procedure is not for you.
If you come to work everyday and do the job right and have a legitimate, unresolved issue, then grieve.
Show me anything worthwhile that doesn't come with some kind of price and I'll show you an illusion.
Employees who are unwilling to stand up for themselves and their union counterparts will be exploited nearly every time at UPS.
 

telly

member
its all about documentation - write everything they do down, demand to be at the hearing its your right, if they micro-manage you after you file they are only adding gas to the fire so enjoy it
why are they scared: you are exposing their inability to do their jobs professionally, correctly, and in the manner in which it should be performed
 

Champ_Here

sheet it missed


He says stop talking you say past talking...you are probably right; but I disagree with your assertion that management has a complete disregard for dealing with issues until forced to. Obviously we can do better, but we deal with many issues daily. You may not know about them, and you shouldn't. How many times does a person have an issue, come to management, get it fixed quickly and then go tell everyone? Probably not many times. Point being, we are not forced to deal with many issues, yet we do. We are supposed to. But to answer the original question; management probably feels like they failed when it cannot be resolved locally OR they do not want their dirty laundry exposed. IMHO

it's different for each center I agree with bubblehead... I've dealt with 7 different supervisors in the past 3 years and not one of them wants to solve anything logically... So, I just go straight to grievances now.... every time I see one of those evil mother:censored2::censored2:'s touching a package, I notify a shop steward and hand them my filled out grievance. I'm sure there are some supervisors out there that are cool enough to follow the damn contract so this stuff doesn't have to happen.
 

local804

Well-Known Member
I've had a couple hundred filed against me. Never had one paid. The funny part is that there are always a couple people that just do it to annoy you, but they are more annoying to the union.
Out of a couple of hundred not one paid? come on.....
 

local804

Well-Known Member
I've never felt threatened by them. I don't know many management people that are really bothered by them. I think its just another communication channel for those that need a union to engage in basic dialogue.

The first part of the procedure is a shop steward talk with the supervisor in charge. If the sup and steward cant get a satisfactory settlement in one working day, the employee shall submit it to the union rep in writing. My question to you tie is that if management isnt really bothered by them, why does the grievant usually get his overtime cut and a target after his back after the paper is filed?
 

Dustyroads

Well-Known Member
1989, we have a very similar experience. In my 31 years as a driver, I've filed five times, and I've won every single one. There were only two that involved money, and I got the green check both times. As for some of the assertions that managers don't really care if there are grievances filed against them, well here's my little story on that subject. A few years ago, I had an issue arise where the company was violating a particular article of the contract, and when I complained to the manager, he just said that he didn't plan to do anything to remedy it. I explained that I would then have to file, and it would be very unpleasant for him, getting an a@@ chewing. He said, grievances don't bother me, nothing will happen to me if you file. I told those exact words to the union steward. We filed, and when it went to panel, the steward presented the information and quoted the center manager, word for word. The division manager asked for a couple minutes with the center manager outside. They took a break, and when they came back, the center manager apologized for his statements, saying that, indeed, grievances were significant, in that they demonstrated areas where the company was failing to meet their contractual obligations. He assured me that the problem was solved, and would never occur again. And, the center manager was true to his word, 100%.
 
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