If you are lucky enough to have a decent sup. or center manager, the level of harassment will be tolerable. If you happen to be unlucky enough to have the Soul selling, go getting, “the world is all about my success”, type of manger, or supervisor, you could be in for the fight of your life.
Many of the latter type of management cares little for you, your family, or your life. They are all about making themselves look good. They don’t care if the job gets done by cheating, they are all about themselves looking good, and moving themselves ahead.
These management types do not care if you get hurt, or damage the company’s image with the customer, or even if you sell the company. All they care about is making themselves look good in the eyes of the “Lord and Master”.
Whatever the situation, they will not be on your side. Given even the smallest situation, they will corner you, write you up, terminate you, scream and yell at you, and basically attack you as if you are a child with an abusive daddy.
So what’s a self-respecting driver to do?
The first thing is to remember that you have the Teamsters behind you. Never talk to any manager, particularly this type, without a steward present. These guys function with a, “anything you say will be used against you” attitude. The steward should be able to control the situation, and keep you from being needlessly attacked.
The second thing to remember is the “Article 37” grievance. While these grievances rarely go very far, it opens the door for you to give it back to the sh-t head manager or supervisor, and also wastes a great deal of their time. I always felt that it also prevented them from harassing someone else, since they had to be in the office meeting with you.
The third, and most important thing to remember is to communicate what these management types are doing to you, to the drivers around you. Once the rest of the drivers get wind of the type of person they are dealing with, the hammer will come down. Drivers will cease to do any favors for the jerk, and very often they will get moved to another center, or position because the center begins to look bad for whatever reason.
I have seen many a bad-a– manger change their spots because they just can’t get anything done.
Many drivers have a very difficult time dealing with the harassment. They get upset. They don’t sleep. They take their anxiety out at home. They start to say, and do stupid things in the hope of getting retaliation on the a–wipe manager. That is when the management JA wins. That is when many drivers get fired for doing something stupid.
It takes a great deal of mental strength not to let the boss get to you. Remember to do your job as trained. No more, no less. Stick to the methods, be where you are supposed to be, and ride it out. Eventually the a–hole will head off to an easier target. They have a quota of discipline, and harassment that they need to live up to. They cannot afford to be attacking a driver that is doing their job, because they begin to look bad for wasting time in the grievance procedure, only to look bad in the end.
The last thing to remember is that eventually that manager or supervisor will go away. Each driver needs to remember what it felt like when they were the guy under the gun. Remember how good it felt when the other drivers came to your aid, (and the steward also). When it’s the next guys turn to be singled out, be sure to be there for him or her, as they were for you.
Oh Yeah, one last thing. If you have a manager or supervisor that treats you well, pay them back. Make it worth their effort to be honest with you, and make your working environment decent. Taking advantage of the guy that treats you decently, only opens the door for the jacka–.
