UPS escalates worker repression, issues working discharges to 249 NYC strikers

[ckaihatsu]

UPS escalates worker repression, issues working discharges to 249 NYC strikers

By staff

New York, NY – In the wake of a walkout by of UPS drivers on Feb. 26, at the Queens hub in New York City, UPS reportedly issued ‘working discharges’ today, March 6, to 249 workers who participated in the strike.

After the dispute protesting the company’s abuse of workers, including selectively targeting union fighters, UPS ratcheted up tensions to dangerous levels by issuing working terminations. This constitutes a serious threat to the livelihoods of hundreds of workers providing for families and their children.

Currently, negotiations to resolve the dispute continue between the leadership of Local 804 and UPS management. Local 804 enjoys wide support as President Tim Sylvester and his leadership team rebuilt 804 into a militant rank-and-file union in the tradition of Ron Carey over the past few years.

Outrage spread quickly across the country as many Teamsters involved in the Vote No on the UPS contract movement heard the news. Hundreds of comments poured in on the group’s facebook page pledging solidarity with Local 804 and the drivers. With several supplements still outstanding, and dissatisfaction among many UPS workers over the proposed national contract, many workers expect such harsh retaliation by UPS could spark a national pushback at Big Brown.

Several 804 members, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation, reflected this as they went so far as to declare their willingness to walk out and organize a local-wide strike if the company refused to back down and pressed firing the 249 drivers. “I will risk my job and walk, and get as many as I can to follow me if those unfair discharges are upheld,” said one UPS worker.

“If they fire our brothers and sisters, we are going to fight back and do whatever is necessary. This is a fighting union and UPS better realize that if New York City stands up, other locals will follow,” said a part-time 804 member.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]






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[Red Rebel]

Support Growing for UPS Teamsters in NYC (http://www.tdu.org/news/support-growing-ups-teamsters-nyc)

Link has a petition to sign to show your solidarity with Teamsters fighting back against UPS harassment. Sign it!

[ckaihatsu]

Teamsters, supporters rally at NY city hall for fired UPS drivers

By staff

http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-lead-photo/1888578_10200771006517086_1067451732_n-1%20%282%29.jpg

New York, NY – Hundreds of union members and community supporters rallied on the steps of city hall here, April 3, in support of the 250 UPS drivers who were issued terminations for walking out to defend their fellow co-worker.

Union members from Teamsters locals all across the city were joined by MTA workers from Transport Workers Union Local 100, SEIU 32BJ and members of Communication Workers of America and other union supporters.

President of Teamsters Local 804 Tim Sylvester told the crowd, “UPS is threatening to bankrupt 250 families,” and described the attacks as a heartless attack on drivers and their families. The crowd responded with shouts of “shut ‘em down!” and “Save the 250!”

New York Public Advocate Letitia James spoke and threatened UPS with ending their $43 million of tax breaks provided by New York City. She also pointed out that a sweetheart deal on parking tickets is in on the line, now that 250 drivers have been given termination notice and UPS already fired 20 workers on March 31. She went on to proclaim, “This ain’t Wisconsin!”

It was pointed out that different conditions prevail in New York City, which has the highest unionization rate in the country, than in Wisconsin, where right-wing Governor Scott Walker stripped public workers of their collective bargaining rights. “This is not going to end this way,” said City Controller Scott Stringer.

Workers walked out to defend a union activist and 24-year worker, Jairo Reyes, after UPS tried to fire him through an abuse of the grievance procedure. UPS’ abuse of the grievance procedure is a common practice to retaliate against workers who are trying to enforce their rights. UPS issued working terminations to the 250 brave drivers from Teamsters 804, claiming they could maintain the right to dismiss them at anytime.

One of the workers who was issued a termination, Domenick DeDomenico, age 40, spoke of the kind of harassment workers faced on a daily basis at UPS. A car struck DeDomenico while he was delivering packages, and he slipped into a coma for 10 days. He eventually returned to work after brain surgery and serious physical therapy. However, upon his return, UPS issued him a separate intent to discharge for slipping from his delivery rate of 13 packages per hour to 11 packages per hour after his injury. “I have a 13-year-old son and a wife,” said DeDomenico.

Shop steward and 804 driver Vincent Perrone told the crowd, “How do you do something like this to our families? We work 10, 11, 12 hours a day…we leave houses at 6 o’clock in the morning and get home at 10 o’clock at night. It takes a toll on us, on our families, but we want to work. All we want is the dignity and respect we deserve.”

A spokesperson for UPS later issued continuing threats, claiming that if UPS lost their tax breaks and sweetheart deals they may be forced to fire additional employees.

“This company thinks they can get away with whatever they want. If they refuse to listen to reason, if they refuse to back down, it’s time to walk all the buildings and show them what union power means,” said one 804 member who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation for advocating a work stoppage. “We’ve got the support of the city, now’s the time to take a stand.”

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]






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[Prometeo liberado]

Im waiting for the the soon to come post decrying this as nothing more than a bourgeois pissing match of union leaders vs.the bosses.
This is a real life issue unfolding in real time at the expense of real working people.

[ckaihatsu]

New York Local 804 Teamsters fight back, force UPS to rehire drivers

By Dustin Ponder

New York, NY – Since the Feb. 26 walkout at the UPS facility in Maspeth, Queens, Teamsters Local 804 and UPS traded blows in a critical struggle over the fate of 250 workers and their families. Workers walked out to defend a union activist and 24-year worker, Jairo Reyes, after UPS walked him off the job. The company authorized Reyes to start early in the weeks leading up to Feb. 26, but when he filed a grievance over UPS abusing seniority provisions in the contract, the manager went back and claimed he was never authorized to start early, and ironically tried to fire Reyes for “dishonesty.”

The struggle that exploded over UPS’ abuse of their workforce and the unjust firing of union activists ended with the company giving in to the demands of Local 804 and the legion of supporters that they assembled nationwide. Today, April 9, UPS settled with the Executive Board of Local 804, and agreed to rehire all the fired workers, including Jairo Reyes, and committed to treating workers with dignity and respect.

Richard Pawlikowski, a veteran driver who participated in the walkout, spoke about the conditions in Queens, “In our contract, UPS agreed to treat us with dignity and respect at all times. They don’t even do it for five minutes. They treat us like criminals. It finally reached a boiling point.”

Pawilkowski was one of the 36 out of the 250 Queens drivers who actually walked off the job, and who UPS claimed would be replaced. When asked about how he felt after being fired by the company he gave so much for, he said, “I walked out with my pride. I didn’t do anything wrong. I had a clean conscience. I’ve grieved hundreds of abuses by the company, and I have no discipline in my file.”

After the walkout, UPS issued working terminations to the 250 participants. In response, Local 804 launched a national campaign of support that included gathering over 120,000 names on petitions, solidarity from hundreds of local unions and aggressive support from a wide range of politicians. The union held several rallies, and many of the fired drivers even went and discussed the situation with their customers, who demanded UPS rehire their delivery drivers. As support and solidarity continued to spread, UPS caved.

Driver Tom Oliver, who participated in the walkout, spoke about the union power that ultimately brought UPS to the table. “It’s a sweet victory that only happened because we stuck together and we got tremendous support. Even with all the stress that came with the walkout and the aftermath, it brought attention to a lot of problems with our facility that I hope can be corrected.”

Oliver, a committed union fighter, and family man with a wife and two children, joined the walkout and stood up for justice despite the threats of retaliation from UPS. “I think the excessive overtime, the unfair discipline, the micromanaging and the outright bully tactics took a toll on all of us. The unjust firings and, specifically, the firing of Jairo Reyes was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

After a battle that inspired thousands of union members across the country, Local 804 members look forward to resting easy for a night after several weeks of uncertainty. The message from the Local 804 website read: “Tonight is first and foremost about the 250 drivers and their families. We congratulate them on standing together through this ordeal and winning their return to work with respect and dignity.”

Dustin Ponder is a union activist and member of Teamsters 804.

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[M-L-C-F]

I'm not really surprised about this. At my old grocery job, one of the cool vendors was retired from UPS. He said that the job sucked, and was hard as fuck. That the bosses were dicks, especially during the holidays. He worked for them for like 35 years. So his pay was good, but for other newer people, he said it wasn't the case. He supported their union, and still does iirc.

[ckaihatsu]

[LaborTech] To Increase Productivity, UPS Monitors Drivers' Every Move "You know, it does feel like big brother."


To Increase Productivity, UPS Monitors Drivers' Every Move "You know, it does feel like big brother."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/04/17/303770907/to-increase-productivity-ups-monitors-drivers-every-move

by JACOB GOLDSTEIN
April 17, 2014 7:34 AM ET
Listen to the Story
Morning Edition4 min 25 sec

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/04/16/ap578231033286-1c91c8ae4d64c56cfbb597a7adef5f67bd984485-s4-c85.jpg
A typical UPS truck is tracked by hundreds of sensors.
Elise Amendola/AP


The American workforce might want to pay attention to all those brown trucks full of cardboard boxes. UPS is using technology in ways that may soon be common throughout the economy.

On the surface, UPS trucks look the same as they did more than 20 years ago, when Bill Earle started driving for the company in rural Pennsylvania.

But underneath the surface, Earle says, the job has changed a lot. The thing you sign your name on when the UPS guy gives you a package used to be a piece of paper. Now it's a computer that tells Earle everything he needs to know.

The computer doesn't just give advice. It gathers data all day long. Earle's truck is also full of sensors that record to the second when he opens or closes the door behind him, buckles his seat belt and when he starts the truck.

Technology means that no matter what kind of job you have — even if you're alone in a truck on an empty road — your company can now measure everything you do.

In Earle's case, those measurements go into a little black box in the back of his truck. At the end of the day, the data get sent to Paramus, N.J., where computers crunch through the data from UPS trucks across the country.

"The data are about as important as the package for us," says Jack Levis, who's in charge of the UPS data. It's his job to think about small amounts of time and large amounts of money.

"Just one minute per driver per day over the course of a year adds up to $14.5 million," Levis says.

His team figured out that opening a door with a key was slowing their drivers down. So drivers were given a push-button key fob that attaches to a belt loop.

The team figured out how to use sensors in the truck to predict when a part is about to break.

And UPS solved a problem that Bill Earle and other drivers used to have: At the end of the day, there would be a package in the back of the truck that should have been delivered hours before.

"You want to cry 'cause you have to go back," Earle says.

A computer now figures out the best way to load the truck in the morning, and the best way to deliver packages all day.

Earle says a typical day for him used to be around 90 deliveries — now it's about 120.

When you hear people talk about technology increasing workers' productivity, this is what they're talking about: same guy, same truck — lots more deliveries.

In the long run, as workers have gotten more productive, their pay has gone up. UPS drivers today make about twice what they made in the mid '90s when you add up their wages, health care and pensions, according to the head of their union.

But Earle says there is another side of driving around a truck full of sensors: "You know, it does feel like big brother."

Take, for example, backing up. For safety reasons, UPS doesn't like it when their drivers back up too much.

"They know exactly how many times you're backing up," Earle says, "where you're backing up, and they also know the distance and the speed that you're backing at."

Every day, Earle says, the company lets drivers know if they are backing up too much.

"You can't let it feel like it's an attack on your own personal, the way you've been doing the job," Earle says. "You can't look at it that way 'cause you'll get so frustrated that you won't even want to do it anymore."

Jack Levis, the UPS data guy, says the data are just a new way to figure out how to do things better, and faster. And, he says, the drivers benefit from that along with the company.

"They're the highest paid in the business, which is why my job is to keep them productive so they remain the highest paid in the industry."

Still, issues over the data the company collects have become part of the bargaining process between the drivers' union and the company. Under the drivers' contract, the company cannot discipline drivers based solely on data, and can't collect data without telling them.

This kind of back and forth — about what kind of data companies can collect, and what they can do with it — isn't limited to UPS. It's going to start popping up for more and more workers and more and more companies.
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[ckaihatsu]

Teamster leadership hammers through UPS contract despite mass opposition by members

By staff

Atlanta, GA – On April 23, the leadership of the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters (IBT) announced that the concessionary national UPS contract will go into effect this Friday, April 25. The contract – the single largest collective bargaining agreement in the country – was overwhelmingly opposed by Teamster members in Philadelphia, Western Pennsylvania and Louisville, Kentucky, who voted down their local supplements and riders twice. According to the terms of the national UPS master agreement, the contract cannot go into effect until all supplements have been ratified by the members.

The unilateral move to hammer through the contract without full approval drew harsh criticism from Teamsters locals around the country. Teamsters Local 89, which voted down their concessionary supplement by 94% earlier in April called the move, “the greatest display of failed leadership and cowardice by [International Secretary Treasurer] Ken Hall and his cronies.” The statement, a press release posted to their website, continues, “By selling out thousands of their fellow Teamsters, Ken Hall and his cronies are complicit in subjecting UPS workers to financial hardships, reduced benefits and inferior working conditions. It is sad commentary on the state of a once great and powerful IBT when its current leadership grovels for table scraps of its corporate master UPS. The membership fully expects the Company to attempt to destroy the rights of its employees - that’s just how UPS does business - but the IBT directly attacking good wages, benefits and workplace rights is not only shameful, it’s treasonous.”

UPS Teamsters voted down 18 local riders and regional supplements during the first round of voting in 2013 and a whopping 47% voted against the negotiated contract. Members overwhelmingly opposed the contract due to its major concessions, which included major increases in co-pays and deductibles in the company health care plan. Other concessions include an additional year required for package car drivers to reach the top rate of pay.

Several supplements were subsequently passed in a second round of voting, but the supplements in Philadelphia, Western Pennsylvania and Louisville were repeatedly rejected by the members. Louisville hosts the largest UPS hub the in country, the Worldport, which handles huge volumes of UPS air traffic. Louisville Teamsters rejected the original supplement and then rejected them again after UPS came back with a worse offer that in no way dealt with serious problems facing members, like pension contributions and long commute times for workers through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints.

Ken Hall, the lead Teamster negotiator for the UPS contract, cited article XII of the IBT constitution in an unsigned fax, which announced the leadership’s decision to push through the contract without full approval. Hall argues that the members of the three local supplements rejected the supplements purely because of dissatisfaction with changes to the company health care plan, which he says gives the international leadership the ability to force through the contract.

Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), the rank-and-file reform caucus of the IBT, led the campaign to win the right to vote on contracts in 1991. Rank-and-file organizing, along with critical support by TDU, was instrumental in coordinating the “Vote No” movement on the most recent concessionary contract. At the time of this writing, the “Vote No on UPS Contract” Facebook group, which Teamsters around the country used to oppose the concessionary contract, had over 5500 members.

Bobby Curry, a member of f Philadelphia IBT Local 623 and one of the lead organizers of the Vote No movement,. "It's so wrong to have Teamsters’ voting power taken away from UPS Teamsters. This is definitely a low point in Teamsters history."

“Since the start of the Vote No movement, part-timers and full-timers at UPS have been fighting for a better workplace,” said Jared Hamil of Teamster local 79. “Teamster locals like 89 and 804 should be looked up to. They’re the ones fighting the boss to get us better conditions. This company wants to take away everything we have. They want to make it worse for us and now Hoffa, Hall and the other sellouts are siding with the company over fighting locals like 89. Teamster leadership should be fighting tooth and nail for a better workplace, not siding with the company. For us in Tampa, we’re not going to stop. We know that the company doesn’t want to help us and we need to keep fighting back!”

The locals that have had their votes on the supplements overturned by the national leadership are looking into appealing the decision.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]






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