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Can You Be Buried in Your UPS Uniform?

George — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:58:00 GMT

     I have to admit that I've been enjoying the dickens out of my retirement. I've been retired long enough now (18 months) to get real accustomed to not having to go to work and just waiting for the check to come at the end of the month. I've gotten so out of the habit of having any sort of time structure in my life that I decided to get a part time job.
     Although I drove for UPS for 30 years, I always looked back fondly on the job I had before I put on my first pair of browns. I was florist. Now a florist isn't the greatest job, it has 5 peak seasons. Valentines Day and Mothers Day being the worst. But I loved my job there, I started out as a driver and worked my way up to designer and even shop manager. But the pay was not the best and I was starting a family, so I took a look at Big Brown and decided to make a career there.
     But now that my career is over at UPS, I've gone back to the flower shop as my first post retirement employment. And it's as much fun today as it was 30 years ago. I'm back where I started, delivering bokays. I work maybe 10 hours a week, usually three 3 hour+ days. It's a rough schedule. And I crank out maybe 4 stops an hour. I'm not hustling. I stop to smell the roses.
     One of the aspects about floral delivery that most folks don't think about is that we do a lot of funeral work. I've got 6 or 8 mortuaries that I go to. There is always a flower door just for people like me. Most times I just drop off the arrangements in the flower room and sign the log and I'm on my way. But once in a great while, I'll be asked to place the flowers in the viewing room.
     Well, last week the inevitable happened. I was asked if I could put the casket spray on the casket. An open casket. Well, I mustered up my best delivery man face and I walked right in there and I did it. It was just me and the mortician and the other guy. When I looked down at the other guy, lo and behold, he was wearing a Teamster jacket. My Local. I had to stare for a second. I couldn't look away.
     The mortician finally said something, like can you move it a little closer to the body, and it snapped me out of my trance. I hurried on out of there, but it got me thinking. I wonder if I could be buried in my UPS uniform if I wanted to? I mean after all, I spent 30 years in browns. That's how most people know me. Strangers could walk into my funeral and say, "Oh yeah, I know that guy!"
     But one thing that came to mind is that that other guy owned his Teamster jacket. We don't own tour UPS uniforms. In fact, we are supposed to turn them in when we retire.
     Could I wear a UPS coat after I had "punched out" for the last time? I don't know, it may not be worth the risk. What if I got caught? Would I be disciplined? The Brown Police are everywhere.
      But then again like I always used to say, "what are they gonna do, fire me?"

Article by Jim Hansen in Colorado Labor Blog

Bob — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:21:00 GMT

With some Dem friends, who need enemies?

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would have made it easier to organize workers who want to be union members, is fast becoming a dim memory, with little chance of even being considered this year.

If it isn’t passed this year, odds are that EFCA will never become law, and major labor law revisions, which would add some balance to labor-management relations, will not be achieved in your lifetime.

Our federal labor laws have been revised only twice since the Wagner Act, the first comprehensive federal labor law, was passed in 1935, as the Great Depression was winding down. The two revisions since, the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 and the Landrum-Griffin Act in 1957, gave huge advantages to employers

Even when Democrats controlled either both the U.S. House and the Senate, or the White House and both houses of Congress, as they do now, they were unable to achieve passage of any major labor law revisions. Defeats always came when key Democrats voted against the best interests of working families.

During the administrations of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson in the 1960s, labor worked diligently to repeal Section 14b of the Taft-Hartley Law. Section 14b allows states to pass right-to-work laws, onerous measures that prohibit labor and management from negotiating an all-union shop. Such laws exert downward pressure on workers’ wages and benefits. Wage earners in right-to-work states earn $5,333 less per year than workers in other states, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The U.S. House of Representatives finally passed a bill in 1965 by a vote of 283 to 221 to repeal 14b. Unfortunately, supporters in the Senate couldn’t break a Republican-sponsored filibuster, which would not have succeeded without the votes of 22 Democratic senators, and the issue was lost.

In 1976, President Jerry Ford vetoed a “common situs picketing bill” that would have lowered the barriers for unionization of construction workers. The bill was introduced again in 1977, but was voted down in the House 217 to 205 with many Democratic representatives voting against the proposal.

Organized labor was KO’d again during the administration of Jimmy Carter when a labor law reform bill, which would have leveled the playing field between labor and management during union organizing campaigns, was defeated. It failed to survive another Republican filibuster, which was bolstered when 17 Democrats vote with the Republican against cloture.

During Bill Clinton’s first term, an “anti-scab bill” was introduced that would have made it illegal for strikebound employers to permanently replace striking workers. It passed in the House but was blocked in the Senate by the usual Republican filibuster, in which six Democrats voted with the GOP to ensure defeat of the bill.

So while Democrats, for the most part, have been passively supportive of labor’s issues, they have refused over the years to provide enough votes to pass legislation that would have been the most meaningful to working families.

Instead, they have provided Republicans with key votes to pass tax breaks for corporations and millionaires. They have helped the GOP give tax incentives and loopholes to all manner of businesses, even those, in some cases, that move manufacturing plants out of the country. Democrats have voted for huge government contracts with corrupt military contractors, such as Blackwater and Haliburton. Over the years they have cast many votes that have helped Republicans pass legislation that has hurt working men and women.

Moreover, Democrats have often aided and abetted GOP union busters. Two Democratic votes recently prevented the confirmation of labor lawyer Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. When George Bush was president, he loaded up the NLRB with corporate types who seldom, if ever, sided with labor in disputes before the board. In addition, political apathy has allowed employers to circumvent out-of-date federal labor laws for at least 30 years.

Meanwhile, the wages and benefits of most workers have not kept pace with the growth of their productivity since 1980. For the first time on record, the real incomes of middle-class families actually declined from 2001 to 2007. More than one-third of all income growth since 1989 has gone to the top one-tenth of one percent of all earners, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Workers are not getting a fair share of the wealth they helped create.

And, they’ll never get a fair share as long as Congress refuses to deal with issues like the Employee Free Choice Act, which would be the first revision ever of our nation’s labor laws to right a longstanding wrong.

You can read more at www.coloradolaborblog.org

TeaBaggers Hope Your Pension Collapses

George — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:11:00 GMT

     I've been led by the media to believe that the teabaggers are just common folks like you and me. I thought they were regular joes, blue collar workers who were fed up with big government and big spending. If that's true, then why wouldn't they want me to have a pension? Why would they revel in the dream that the Union pensions could go bankrupt in this economy and leave us all without our hard earned retirement funds?
     In a recent article entitled The Coming Union Pension Plan Collapse on 73Wire, a teabagger website, the author has no sympathy for the struggles of Union members and their pension plans in the current economy. He blames a lazy Union membership for our own sad state of affairs. He even gives a list of pension plan that are in trouble. But don't get the rope out yet, the list is skewered to make things look a lot worse than they really are. If you are in any of the listed pension funds, do a little research of your own, write them and ask them if the figures given for your plan are correct.
     It's interesting that the article doesn't vilify corporate backed 401(k) retirement accounts (that also tanked in recent years) but only harpoons defined benefit Union plans. And if you check out the 73Wire teabagger site a little bit more, you will see that they attack Unions in every labor article that they write.
     That' s a real shame, because the teabaggers, the common folk , could really benefit from the rewards of strong Unions.  If they really want to grab back the power from the elitist class, be it government or corporations, they would rally behind Union involvement as an avenue to grassroots power.
     But unfortunately, the teabaggers appear to spew the same rhetoric as the right-wing powermongers. They hate Unions, they don't want any kind of universal healthcare and they want to see the President fail. These are the same people that could most benefit from collective bargaining , cheaper healthcare and a strong America.
     It's sad, isn't it.

Telematics, Unintended Consequences 101

Bob — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:01:00 GMT

    Here is another addition in the long list of unintended consequences of Telematics. Drivers are now bidding routes with the crappy, old vehicles because they are not equipped with the Telematics transmitters. Any vehicle on the ADA list has not been retrofitted with the Telematics equipment, so the drivers are wanting routes to stay out of "Gods" eye.
     The P-32 is on the short list to be smashed, but the company has been slow to replace them. The company has had a problem finding a direct replacement vehicle the size of a P-32, and therefore has chosen to fix them rather than replace them.
     Of course the idea that the drivers will remain "out of sight" is ridiculous. The sooner a driver gets under Telematics, and trains themselves in the function of the system, the sooner the driver will be at peace with the "Brown World".
     The days of the "Lord and Master" are here. The dispatch functions are being systematically centralized. Soon the only function of the management people will be "bed check". In other words, management's function will be simply to make sure the drivers show up, and deal with the day to day issues of the drivers. One or two sups. can certainly handle those issues in a 60 driver center. That goal is why we are seeing the layoff of management in the current economic times. The overhead of so much management just isn't needed any longer.
     The driver simply cannot be "replaced" by technology yet! The driver can be controlled, and managed by technology. Management, on the other hand, can be replaced by technology.
     Over the years I have watched the technological changes, from pen and paper, to the Diad, PAS, and now Telematics. With each change the driver's fear of company reprisal has increased. Yet the value of a good, solid, day to day driver has quintupled within the company. Until robotics, or virtual delivery can be achieved, that value will continue to rise.
      Keep those ideas in the back of your mind as you go through the day. Listen to your fellow drivers, and do not let the company "fear mongers" scare you. They need you more everyday.
                 By the way, have you put in your management letter yet?
                                                            That's the quickest way to promote yourself out of a job.

                                   You're not "just a truckdriver" anymore!
            The Teamsters are more important in your life today, than ever before. Get involved, or get fired.

Why Do Conseratives Hate UPS?

George — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:27:00 GMT

     The right-wing think tank, the Heritage Foundation, has found a way to criticize government efforts to increase US exports. Now I would think that exporting more manufactured goods could only be a move in the right direction to get our economy back on track and put people back to work.

     More exports, more manufacturing, more jobs. Sounds good to me and it sounds good for UPS because we fly those goods to other countries. So what could be so bad about increasing exports?

     Well, the brainiacs at the Heritage Foundation think it's too much government. "President Obama’s “Export Cabinet” wants to hire more U.S. Government (USG) bureaucrats “to advocate for U.S. business” and channel more taxpayer dollars into “export promotion activities” at the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Agriculture." Man, that sounds nasty!

     And they go on to complain that "“improved access to credit” through increasing U.S. Export-Import Bank lending to small- and medium-size businesses from $4 billion to $6 billion through FY 2011 budget increases" would only hurt everyone in the long run, because....the lenders could play favorites with the loans.

     The bottom line they say is, "The National Export Initiative (NEI) relies on too much government interference and too many USG bureaucrats shilling for politically well-connected companies." And to prove their point, they attack that liberal, socialist Commie company, UPS. "Another little sign—a pro-NEI press release from the United Parcel Service (UPS) was distributed at the luncheon. Non-unionized FedEx has alleged in full-page advertisements in the Washington Post and elsewhere in recent months that the Obama Administration has tilted USG policy in favor of UPS and their 35,000 Teamster Union drivers."

     So the right-wing Heritage Foundation has found a reason to hate UPS. And I thought UPS was pretty far to the right. How far to the right of UPS must The Heritage Foundation be? Apparantly they are too far out there to see that this country isn't going to last much longer if we don't start creating some jobs.

Will Your Manager Get a Raise?

George — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:11:00 GMT

United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) said the total compensation paid to Chief Executive Scott Davis fell about 0.6% last year, to $6.24 million.

Davis's 2009 base salary was flat at $1 million, in keeping with the package delivery giant's move to freeze management salaries amid the economic downturn.

In addition, the value of stock awards included in the calculation of his total compensation slipped to $3.89 million, from about $3.97 million in 2008, according to the company's proxy statement filed late Monday.

UPS pegged Davis's 2008 total compensation at $5.6 million in its proxy statement last year. But Norman Black, a UPS spokesman, said a subsequent change in accounting standards for stock awards resulted in a restatement of his 2008 total compensation to $6.28 million.

Last month, UPS announced a thaw in its policy on management salary freezes for this year, citing signs of a nascent economic recovery. Black said managers will have to achieve various performance benchmarks to get them.

The company will hold its annual meeting May 6 in Wilmington, Del. No proposals from shareholders are up for consideration.

- By Bob Sechler; Dow Jones Newswires

Will your manager make his "benchmarks" and get his raise?

I wonder what that benchmark will be?

Could it be improved performance numbers for his group?

Does that mean you need to do a little more and do it faster??

Injured Postal Employees Taken Off The Job

George — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:58:00 GMT

     UPS has a long history of targeting injured workers for special treatment. They rank problem workers by number of injuries. They give these workers special treatment, they follow them around and watch them. They look for ways to get rid of injured workers who they feel aren't working safely.
     UPS even makes workers earn their comp. money for the first month with its TAW (Temporary Alternate Work) program. While UPS regards TAW as a benefit, most workers think of it as punishment. They have even gone so far as to try to reduce or eliminate workers comp. payments to workers they felt had caused their own injuries by not following proper work methods. (That idea took advantage of a little known Colorado law, but fortunately didn't work out for them.)
     The Post Office has a similar problem but has come up with a program that they hope will get rid of their injured workers. They are taking them off the job and sending them home. They used to try to accomodate injured workers, but now they are not trying so hard. The new approach works like this:

DENVER (CBS4) ―People are sending less mail and that's left the U.S Postal Service with a huge deficit and now employees are losing their jobs. Some workers injured on the job say they've become targets.

It's the first-ever layoff at the Postal Service. Although they're technically not calling it a layoff, it's a work force reduction that specifically targets workers with work-related injuries.

Postal workers say the layoffs will result in longer lines and reduced services.

Bonnie Holloman started as an automation clerk, but after four years of repetitive motion, she got hurt.

"I got tendonitis, I got a sprained back and sprained knee, and this put me into limited duty," Holloman asid.

So Holloman moved to the manual unit.

"You take the tray of mail, and each tray holds about 600 pieces of mail, you take each letter and you manually throw it," she said.

She's done the job nearly seven years and the repetitive motion caused four ruptured disks in her neck. But she still worked up until Feb. 3.

"They called me into the office and they said, 'Due to your restrictions we have no work available, so get off the clock and go home.'"

Holloman is one of nearly a 100 postal workers in metro Denver being sent home.

"The Postal Service contends they are running out of money, and in 2006 they rolled out this national reassessment program designed to attack permanently injured employees," said Gary Scott, Denver metro area local American Postal Workers Union President.

The national reassessment program involves limited duty and permanently injured Postal Service workers hurt on the job. Phase 1 of the program started in 2008. It consisted of reviewing medical records of those employees. Phase 2 rolled out this year. The Postal Service identified what jobs were available at each facility. It then attempted to match the employee with the necessary work, and if there was none, the employee was notified that no work was available.

"It's not a dismissal, you're basically sent home until your medical restrictions improve," Scott said. "The Postal Service hopes you go into disability, retirement, or are permanently assigned to the Department of Labor's workman's comp program."

"I was healthy when I got the job. You can't break me and then show me the door," Holloman said.

Holloman wants her job back.

"The work is there, even though it's not an actual job they say, the work is available because they had to pull me out of a job to tell me there's no work," she said.

The postal workers union hopes to get the case in front of an arbitrator within the next year or two. Meanwhile an attorney in Texas is working on putting together a class action lawsuit against the post office.

What Is That Stuff That Trickles Down?

George — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:50:00 GMT

Organizing labor has never been easy, And FedEx knows that if it ever gets easy they will be well equal to UPS. Here is the way the regulations are, UPS is regulated by the National Labor Relations board, and FedEx is regulated under the Railway Labor Act. The difference is this, Air Lines and Railroads have a de facto protection against union labor, collective bargaining contracts have to cover all workers nation wide to help prevent paralysis in the industries because of local strikes. There are more details HERE from National Public Radio.

Congress is considering changing the status of FedEx, putting them in the same regulatory mix with UPS and other trucking and delivery companies, and making it much easier to organize workers in local terminals. FedEx does not like this idea at all. They have launched a multimillion dollar ad campaign to get the change in status out of the FAA renewal bill now in the Senate. It has already passed the house.

Public Relations Week, says, "Earlier this week, FedEx launched a multimillion-dollar campaign, Brown Bailout, directly attacking its competitor United Parcel Service (UPS) for supporting legislation that could make it easier for some of FedEx's workers to unionize. FedEx argues that the bill, currently making its way through Congress, is tantamount to a government bailout for UPS, because it would stifle competition." You can read that story, if you register, HERE. UPS on the other hand says that FedEx has an unfair competitive advantage. It seems clear they do, since UPS employees have very widespread collective bargaining agreements, along with the resultant Higher Wages, Better Working Conditions, Better Health Care Coverage, Better, fully funded, Retirement Plans, and all the other benefits that go with Union Representation.

An Article in Business Week echos that, and shows the difference in the profitability of Each company. FedEx earned 182 million dollars on revenues of 8.14 billion. UPS earned 718 million on revenues of 10.9 billion. This is NOT a mistake. FedEx had a profit of 182 million dollars on 8.14 billion dollars in revenue with a labor force that is non union, earns less than UPS workers, and UPS made 718 Million on 10.9 billion with almost full unionization. For every 49 dollars FedEx earned on their revenue, UPS earned 59. And, the Union Company did more business.

I am having a REALLY TOUGH TIME BELIEVING THIS. But it was published in Business Week, and they have a better reputation these days than the Wall Street Journal. The Business Week article is HERE. It is hard to believe for a very simple reason, I have been told, since I was old enough to read the newspapers, that unions are bad for business.

But that is not the issue here.

The issue here is should FedEx Continue to enjoy a special status designed to avoid disruptions in rail and air travel or should they play on the same field as their competitors, including UPS and other regional, national and international package delivery companies.

The FedEx Ad Campaign is going to tell you NO...they should be treated the same way the airlines are.
Karl Leuba

Does UPS Have a Moral Obligation??

George — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:38:00 GMT

     UPS has a long history of not revealing to future employers the reasons that caused them to terminate an employee. That works to your advantage if you get fired, because all potential employers are in the dark as to why or under what circumstances you left UPS.
     It's interesting to note here that when UPS is threatening to fire you they will tell you that they will "tell all" and prevent you from ever getting another good job if you don't just sign off and quit. But that's not true. In reality, they only give the dates that you were employed and nothing else. NOTHING.
     While that works to your advantage if you get canned, it works to the disadvantage of the general public, as seen in this case of Johnson VS United Parcel Service. Read the brief analysis of the case and you be the judge.
     Is UPS's silence a wise policy or are they simply passing their problems on to others?

                                         JOHNSON v. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE, INC

Larry Demond Johnson was employed by Kroger Limited Partnership I at a Kroger Distribution Center. In June of 2005, Kroger hired Raymal Rivers. Rivers and Johnson worked together at the Distribution Center. On May 27, 2006, Rivers and Johnson, accompanied by several other employees, left the Distribution Center during their lunch break to eat at a nearby McDonalds. During the lunch, an argument broke out between Johnson and Rivers. At some point, Rivers left the parking lot of the McDonalds to retrieve a firearm from his vehicle, after which point he returned, shot, and fatally wounded Johnson.

Before working for Kroger, Rivers had been employed by UPS from June 2000 until 2004. While employed by UPS, Rivers displayed aggressive behavior on numerous occasions. On February 27, 2004, Rivers threatened a coworker, James Beasley, who then reported the incident to management. Rivers also engaged in other aggressive behavior, such as making threats to co-workers in the parking lot and waiting in the parking lot for employees to leave. He also reportedly followed female co-workers to their cars. The co-workers reported these incidents to members of management and security at UPS. On March 10, 2004, UPS held a disciplinary hearing regarding these allegations against Rivers. Rivers was reassigned to a new work area and ordered to attend anger management classes. He was later terminated from UPS.

Some time after being fired by UPS, Rivers applied for employment with Kroger. On his application for employment, he listed UPS as a previous employer. Kroger called UPS to obtain verification and for a reference check. The Estate alleges that UPS verified only the dates of employment and the title of the position Rivers held.

Kroger thereafter hired Rivers to work at the Distribution Center where Johnson worked. After Johnson was killed, his Estate brought the present action in Jefferson Circuit Court, claiming, among other things, that UPS was negligent in its referral and failure to warn Kroger and that UPS was negligent in its performance of the duty it undertook and in its misrepresentation of Rivers.

What do you think?
Does UPS have a responsibility to warn a future employer of a potentially violent ex-employee?

UPS Faces Class Action on Fuel Charges

George — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:43:00 GMT

     DENVER (CN) - A federal RICO class action claims that United Parcel Service for years has charged customers a premium to ship packages by air while actually shipping them by truck to save money on fuel and add to its bottom line. The class claims the "Air-In-Ground program" has earned UPS "hundreds of millions of dollars" in ill-gotten gains since 1995.
     The class claims that UPS charges fuel surcharges for air shipping even if it ships the packages by truck.
     UPS denied the allegations and said the lawsuit is "baseless."
     "Every package we send is transported in some part by ground," said Susan Rosenberg, a UPS spokeswoman in Atlanta.
     Rosenberg said the company's standard service contract states that UPS "reserves the right to use any mode of transportation," and that pricing for package delivery is based not on mode of delivery but on the "service level."
     But Arapahoe Hyundai's complaint states that, compared to air shipment, shipping by ground "constitutes a materially different level of service." Shipping by air costs two to three times more than shipping by ground, according to the complaint.
     "When a customer selects the level of service (air or ground) for his package, he does not know that UPS has already pre-determined whether his air package will actually be shipped by air or ground," the complaint states. "UPS does not tell the customer his air package will be shipped by ground or that he will be paying a higher price for a level of service he will not receive."
     Rosenberg says that the company has been "very openly talking about shifting some packages from air to ground" to minimize its carbon footprint. She said on Thursday that the company had not yet been served with the lawsuit but contests the charges.
     Arapahoe Hyundai seeks damages for breach of contract, fraudulent inducement, fraudulent nondisclosure, intentional misrepresentation and other charges.
     It seeks treble damages, an injunction and restitution.
     It is represented by Kirk Tresemer with Irwin & Boesen in Denver.
Courthouse News Service

Who Is He Kidding?

George — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:07:00 GMT

Who is UPS CEO Scott Davis kidding?

In this recent video, Mr. Davis claims that the United States leads the world in exports.

Say what?

In this US government report by the CIA, the European Union was ranked first, China second and Germany third. The US ranked 4th based on 2009 estimates.

And it was reported earlier this year with some fanfare that China had in fact taken over the number one spot. China is now the world's leading exporter of manufactured goods.

I don't think this comes as a surprise to anyone, except maybe Scott Davis.

Fifth-generation Device for UPS Drivers

George — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:08:00 GMT

The handheld device that UPS drivers use as the primary tool of their trade is getting smaller and smarter. It could soon be as small as a fancy remote control.

UPS and Honeywell International announced Wednesday they are creating a new device – called the DIAD V, or Delivery Information Acquisition Device, fifth-generation.

Brown-clad drivers use the DIADs to scan packages on pick-up, track them during transit and confirm delivery. The devices also have route maps and can send messages to redirect drivers. FedEx drivers use a similar device.

Next year, after testing is completed, 100,000 devices will begin to hit the streets worldwide. The primary improvement is a new microprocessor that can support video, a camera and a navigation system. The camera could be used to confirm delivery or the condition of a package, UPS said.

It's the first time Honeywell, the Morris Township, N.J.-based technology company, will create a DIAD for UPS. Three previous devices were made by Motorola, and the most recent one, the DIAD IV, was made by Symbol Technologies, a company Motorola has since bought, UPS spokeswoman Donna Longino said.

Sandy Springs-based UPS was the first shipping company to give a sophisticated technology to their drivers back in 1991, said Longino. The first devices were the size of a clipboard, she said.

The devices that will be deployed next year will weigh only 1.3 pounds and measure 3.5 inches across, about half the size of what's in the field now, she said.

UPS spent about $22 million to develop the DIAD IV that is currently in use, Longino said. She would not reveal the cost to develop and deploy the newest version.

Doug Caldwell, a principal with ParcelResearch.com, an Oregon-based small package consultancy, said delivery is where things tend to go wrong in the package delivery business.

So the better the quality of the technology certainly leads to a better delivery which is the make-or-break situation for individual package delivery."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Pilots Face Concessions or Layoffs

George — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:09:00 GMT

In a move that underlines the company’s need for “belt-tightening” in a gradually-recovering economy, the world’s leading package delivery shipper, the Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), intends laying-off as least 300 pilots.

The proposed lay-offs - which will comprise nearly 11 percent of UPS’ 2,800 pilots - will take effect in May, in case the company, in consultation with its employees union, fails to work out a way to increase its savings.

Already in the process of slashing 1,800 small-package jobs in US operating districts, UPS averted the pilot layoffs last year, largely because it was working jointly with the Independent Pilots Association to identify ways to reduce its operating costs. An agreement for $131 million in labor concessions over a three-year period had forestalled the layoff situation last year.

If the talks come to a naught, the pilots to be furloughed will be intimated in May, and 170 of them will likely be laid-off this year alone.

Commenting on the company’s need to take the pilot layoff route, UPS Airlines President Bob Lekites said: “Even though the economy has begun to turn around, UPS anticipates a very gradual recovery and a continued need for belt-tightening.” Lekites added that the layoff is “a painful decision for our people, but one that is right for the on-going health of our business.”
TopNewsNetwork

UPS Engineer Joins Picketing, Quits

George — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:00:00 GMT

Here is a story from 2008 that just begs to be repeated.
Enjoy...

    When employees conduct informational picketing, they hope to raise public awareness of their workplace problems and send a message to the employer.
    But a Thursday march involving about 50 ASTAR Air Cargo pilots outside UPS’s Atlanta headquarters reached different eyes: A UPS software engineer on lunch decided to join the protest and, after leaving the picket line, resigned on the spot when approached back at work by two security workers and two Human Resources staffers.
    Tony Bordoli said by phone Friday he came upon the picketing while walking with a friend, and was touched when he saw a big sign on a vehicle that said the proposed UPS-DHL deal could devastate 10,000 families.
    “It affected me and there was something I knew that I could do about it, so I did. And I took a stance against an unethical action by my company. It’s probably not going to change things. I know I’m one person but it may slow it down,” Bordoli mused.
    Bordoli said his work was not related to the proposed contract, but that as a UPS software engineer in a financial office, he created programs that produced detailed analysis reports regarding which workers should have their hours cut.
    “I just felt I was really being used as a tool to devastate families and communities, and it was just simple. I mean, how could I not put the two together? I’m not going to be used as a tool to devastate families and communities anymore. I can’t conscientiously be a part of that,” said the 36-year-old Bordoli, who had worked at UPS for 10-plus years.
    In a way, the picketing indirectly woke me up,” he feels.
    He had been working on his current project for the past four months, said Bordoli, and had gotten to the “second plot point, if you will.”
    “It’s a big burden off my mind and off my back,” he said Friday concerning his decision to quit UPS. “Because I was feeling very conflicted with this particular project to begin with.”
    On Thursday evening, after joining the ranks of the unemployed, Bordoli did some research on the DHL-UPS deal and about the picketing ASTAR pilots in an attempt “to get more educated in what exactly I had chosen to do,” he chuckled.
    “And that’s when I was reassured that I was making the right decision,” he said.
    “This was by no means premeditated. I just went by my conscience when I saw the picketing, and the information of the families being devastated. It dawned on me that what I was doing by my actions, you know by my involvement, I wasn’t that far from that, you understand.”
    Bordoli said it may sound like a rash act and he admitted he did “get a little harshness this morning from my father.”
    “This time, I’ll pick a better company,” Bordoli said. “One that actually exercises proper social responsibility.”
    When he joined the picketing with the pilots, all in their pilots uniform, the picketers started asking him who he worked for?
    “I said UPS, and everyone, it was like a cheer moment,” he said.
    Later he told Human Resources staff and security in the stairwell that he was tendering his resignation, and let fall his UPS identification badge to the floor in protest.
    “I wish the cause well, because I have a family. You know, my family won’t be devastated from this because in the Atlanta area, I have marketable enough skills to quickly recover. So, I’m not worried about myself in particular. But I know things in our breadbasket up in Ohio, those guys are going through a lot more than I am. I’m actually fortunate,” said Bordoli.
    UPS spokesman Norman Black said Friday it is company policy not to publicly discuss individual personnel matters.
wnewsj.com

Mad TV Loves Brown

Bob — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:04:00 GMT

More Brad Brown

George — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:27:00 GMT

[Author’s note: I worked for UPS Corporate for about 2.5 years from 2005 to 2007. I made a lot of observations while working there. I thought I’d share them here in a series of never-ending articles. If I end up being assassinated for writing this article, I’ll leave the evidence in that place I left that thing that time before.

The people who handle your packages are known internally as “throwers.”
A UPS driver makes only left-handed turns, unless he’s stopping by to have sex with your wife - then any turn, left or right, is fair game.
UPS owns the patent to the color Pullman Brown. Any use of this color by anyone else is strictly prohibited.
Jim Casey, the UPS founder, got his start by delivering heroin to drug addicts, and by tailing people. Of course, in those days, it was all perfectly legal. Today, we would frown upon his shady shenanigans.
Each year, UPS displays a United Way fundraising progress meter on the wall of the entrance to corporate. Unfortunately, it resembles a giant, engorged penis.
You are allowed to have a maximum of fifteen items on your desk. In the old days, desk patrol would write tickets for disorderly desks. These days, your boss will indicate violations through passive-aggressive behavior.
Tyler Perry, playwright and creator of the character Madea, is a former UPS employee.
UPS is the largest shipper of pornography in the world.
There is a bell in the UPS lobby. The CEO rings it whenever some major event happens, like a layoff or an acquisition. If you (a non-CEO) ring the bell without a corresponding major event, you’re fired.
I wasn’t kidding about the roaches in the coffee machine.
Brad Brown is not Antony Bordoli, but I am jealous of the publicity Antony has received, just for quitting his job.
The frozen body of founder Jim Casey is in a cryogenic chamber in the documentation archive in the basement at corporate headquarters.
It’s illegal to send non-urgent letters via UPS. This allows the United States Postal Service to maintain their postal monopoly for the good of mankind.
UPS employees don’t get discounts on shipping, which is why the majority of UPS employees ship DHL.
UPS employee badges contain RFID tags, which allow the company to track employee movement throughout every corporate-owned building. If you spend more that five minutes per hour in the bathroom, you are severely penalized.
UPS was approached by the producers of the movie “Castaway.” The producers asked if UPS wanted to be the shipping company that would appear in the movie. UPS said “no.” FedEx said “yes.” The movie grossed 483 million dollars.
Some guy (we’ll call him Dick) retired after 35 years. Dick took a celebratory vacation to Hawaii where he promptly died on the fourth hole of his first round of golf after retirement.
When UPS first opened in Germany, they had a hard time attracting customers due to public perception. They finally determined that they weren’t popular with the Germans because the UPS uniforms looked too much like Hitler’s SS uniforms. Today, German delivery drivers wear red unitards.

Bradbrownblog

China and U.S.

Bob — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:14:00 GMT

Sellout of U.S. to China Affects Foriegn Policy

Bob — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:20:00 GMT

     Do you think money isn't power? Our sellout of the world economy to China is beginning to end the United States control of their Foreign policy. When they have the money, and they make ll of the components for our war machines, they control the world.
     China owning our debt gives them control over our lives.

                          Here's proof!

Sick Crap Put Out By Corporatist Liers

Bob — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:21:00 GMT

     Attached is the lies perpetrated by the Corporatist, Anti-Union, Anti-Labor crowd that also wants to destroy our country with the destruction of the American worker.
     Talk about indoctrination. What about these kids, and others that may see this kind of crap.
      The push is to kill the last bastion of hope the average Blue Collar worker has in fighting the Corporate sellout of the American worker.
     You are under attack!
     Your good union job is under attack!
     These people hate your family, they hate your kids, and they want to steal your future.
     They think you are overpaid, and do not deserve benefits of any kind.
     The real thief in this picture is the Corporate money being used to steal your job!

Our Gift to Our Children

George — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:50:00 GMT

     Every parent wants to provide security for their children. A good home, food on the table and a bright future, these are just of few of the things that parents work hard to supply. Any UPS driver out on the road for 11 hours a day will tell himself that he's doing it for his family. He's working like a dog to give his children a shot at a better life.
     But when it's all said and done, are we leaving our children a brighter future? I fear not. I've always judged a bright future by what it promised in the areas of comfort, security and wealth. The more of these I could obtain, the brighter the world seemed. But I've watched with apprehension for the last 20 years as comfort, security and wealth became less obtainable for the average man.
     UPS today seems to be one of the last really good blue collar jobs left. It's the kind of job where you can walk in off the street with no college education and in 3 years be making $70,000 a year with free health insurance. There used to be a lot of jobs like that. Auto workers and airline workers are just two of the many jobs that provided comfort, security and opportunity to thousands. But through apathy and indifference, our generation has allowed the American Dream to slip away for children. We've sat at home and watched American Idol instead of taking our demands into the streets. We've argued amongst ourselves while the captains of industry marched away with the money. And our children will pay the price.
     In a telling aritcle entitled "The rise of the permanent temporary workforce", Peter Coy, Michelle Conlin and Moira Herbst detail the coming era of the disposable worker.

"You know American workers are in bad shape when a low-paying, no-benefits job is considered a sweet deal. Their situation isn't likely to improve soon; some economists predict it will be years, not months, before employees regain any semblance of bargaining power. That's because this recession's unusual ferocity has accelerated trends — including offshoring, automation, the decline of labor unions' influence, new management techniques, and regulatory changes — that already had been eroding workers' economic standing.

The forecast for the next five to 10 years: more of the same, with paltry pay gains, worsening working conditions, and little job security. Right on up to the C-suite, more jobs will be freelance and temporary, and even seemingly permanent positions will be at greater risk. "When I hear people talk about temp vs. permanent jobs, I laugh," says Barry Asin, chief analyst at the Los Altos (Calif.) labor-analysis firm Staffing Industry Analysts. "The idea that any job is permanent has been well proven not to be true." As Kelly Services, CEO Carl Camden puts it: "We're all temps now."

Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, says the brutal recession has prompted more companies to create just-in-time labor forces that can be turned on and off like a spigot. "Employers are trying to get rid of all fixed costs," Cappelli says. "First they did it with employment benefits. Now they're doing it with the jobs themselves. Everything is variable." That means companies hold all the power, and "all the risks are pushed on to employees.""

It's sad to contemplate. It's not what I had planned as a gift to my children. How bad will things have to get before the American worker wakes up? I don't know, but it's not going to be fun to watch, I can tell you that.