I guess the first order of business is you would have had to be around since 97 to remember the strike. It was short by most terms, about 2 weeks. The company was counting on the drivers to cross the picket line. Most did not, but a few did. Most of these drivers were the self serving, run and gun, types UPS loves.
Most of these drivers thought they could cut a fat hog with management allowing them to be protected for life from the company’s ruthless ways. Ironically about 78% of these drivers have been terminated in the 12 years since. Most ultimately turned to the Teamsters for help to try to keep their jobs, but their infractions were so major, and the company so ruthless, and unforgiving, and forgetful of what these people did for them that today they work elsewhere.
Many of these sell outs even campaigned for Right-To Work for less legislation testifying that they didn’t need the union. Yet they were the first to cry when they were caught stealing from the company, or getting their second DUI while in the company “spin-dry”. They immediately whined to the Teamsters, then just as quickly started to bad mouth the Teamsters when it turned out their violations were so egregious that the company simply would not back off of the terminations. The Teamsters took their cases to the limit just to be sure these people were given their rights under the Union Contract.
Isn’t it ironic that the people that fought the Union the most, received the most attention in the end.
The observation I make is a Scab is a personality trait more than an action. These people cannot stand by anyone else. They seem to have abusive tendencies much like the company.
As a long time UPSer my observation is:
Be a Scab! Get fired!
Daily Archives: August 14, 2009
Wal-Mart Saves the World
I’ve never been a big fan of Wal-Mart. I used to have one on my route. I made friends with the back door girls, I got an inside picture of what Wal-Mart is like to work for. I saw one of my friends get injured one day and not report it because their “bonuses” were only awarded if they had no reported workman’s comp injuries. Not only would you lose your own bonus if you reported an injury, but the whole store lost its bonuses. That’s a lot of pressure to not report an injury.
Occasionally I would mention the Union as we unloaded my truck, and I soon learned that Union was a four letter word. It was amazing to hear what their management told the workers about unions. Most of it was outright lies. But effective lies. My associates felt they knew unions and they would never let that kind of scum come into Wal-Mart. Of course they were insanely jealous of my wages and benefits but couldn’t see the difference between a good union job and a lousy non-union job.
Now comes this bit of information from CommonDreams.com. I offer it as another example of why I still refuse to shop at Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart is, apparently, hankering to launch a big initiative to stamp every product it sells with an eco-friendly rating label, some sort of grand, awareness-raising system to inform all Earth-conscious Wal-Mart customers — I know, I know: oxymoron — where every product falls on the you-are-destroying-the-planet scale. It’s a rather wonderful idea that could radically transform the company’s entire supply chain for the better.
Except for one thing: Wal-Mart has no plans to slap a giant label on its own bloated megastores themselves, no plans to reveal the enormous waste and destruction Wal-Mart itself embodies merely by existing, by shipping a million products over from sweatshops in China and Malaysia and India. Nor does it plan to offer a Smiley-Face Local Economy Decimation rating to all those countless small towns it’s swooped into and gutted. But hey! That giant tub of HFCS-blasted caramel corn? Not all that bad for the planet. Yay!