All posts by George
UPS vs My Driveway
I like a company that keeps track of your orders. When I had bookmarks made for my new Barringer’s Pass series, Earthly Charms told me when it shipped – Monday – and when it would be delivered – today. UPS seemed to be running late, as it hadn’t arrived by late afternoon. Then I got an email from the company – did I receive my bookmarks? UPS said they couldn’t get all the way up my driveway and left it by a tree half way to the house. They wondered if perhaps deep snow made the driveway impassable.
I hopped in the truck to check it out – sure enough, there were two parcels wrapped in plastic and propped up by a tree. The other package was the edits from NY on my next book. If it really had been snowing, I might never have found them.
In fifteen years of living here, this is the first time a delivery didn’t make it to the house. This is the treacherous driveway he couldn’t handle. The package is at the base of the tree on the right.
A previous UPS driver had told me that company policy says they’re supposed to park on the road and walk up to the house. Obviously, if he did that in my neighborhood where most houses are far off the road, he’d never get done. But that was the rule – walk it up to the house.
I went to UPS.com and used every character permitted to me to explain my dissatisfaction with their service. They’re supposed to answer within twenty-four hours.
Dirt Road Diaries
Teamster Discount
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TurboTax Discount for Teamsters
Teamster households now have access to a leading brand of tax preparation software, TurboTax, at a discount of up to $20 off the price for federal products. A portion of the purchase price will be donated to the James R. Hoffa Scholarship Fund in honor of the 100th birthday of James R. Hoffa.
Strength in Numbers………Get Involved
UPS, UPS Freight Teamsters Rally Across the Nation for a Fair Contract
Thousands of UPS and UPS Freight Teamsters rallied for strong contracts at events across the nation on February 16 and 17. At rallies in Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Toledo, General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall and members of the National Negotiating Committee mobilized members for contract negotiations. More rallies were held across the East Coast this weekend in a continued show of Teamster force for negotiations in the largest collective bargaining agreement in North America. General President Jim Hoffa, Hall and members of the National Negotiating Committee also led rallies in Boston on Friday, February 22; Newark, Philadelphia and Baltimore on Saturday, February 23; and Atlanta, Orlando and Tampa on Sunday, February 24.
More pictures..
Odessa Woman Wins $600,000 Verdict In Sex Discrimination Case Against UPS
Midland attorneys Holly Williams, Brian Carney secure win for former delivery driver MIDLAND, Texas, Feb. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – A federal court jury in Midland, Texas, has awarded a $600,000 verdict against United Parcel Service (UPS) in a sexual discrimination lawsuit filed by a former driver for the package-delivery giant. The verdict represents the culmination of a four-year legal battle between Odessa resident Amber Ibarra and Atlanta-based UPS (NYSE:UPS). The company fired Ms. Ibarra in 2009 after she was involved in an on-the-job single-vehicle accident, although she argued that the accident was simply an excuse, and that she actually was fired because she is a woman. The jury agreed, awarding a six-figure verdict against UPS. “We always felt that if we could get a jury of Amber’s peers to hear this case, to hear what happened to her, and how she was treated, we would be fine,” says Midland attorney Holly Williams of the Williams Law Firm, P.C., who represented Ms. Ibarra at trial along with attorney Brian Carney. “The jurors agreed with us that women should be treated equally in the workplace, and I believe they intended to send a message with their verdict.” In the 2009 accident, Ms. Ibarra was driving a UPS truck when it hopped a curb and hit a telephone pole, causing no injuries. Trial witnesses testified that several male UPS drivers from the same facility in Odessa were allowed to keep their jobs despite being in far worse accidents, including two accidents involving fatalities and others involving serious injuries. Trial testimony also showed that UPS managers gave Ms. Ibarra more packages to deliver than her male counterparts, including one incident when a manager set aside six 100-pound packages for Ms. Ibarra to deliver between 9:30 and 10 p.m. even though she was pregnant at the time. Jurors also heard how Ms. Ibarra and other women at the Odessa facility were subjected to a pattern of repeated insults and harassment based on their gender, including testimony that male managers did not want women working at UPS based on their perception that women were weaker and slower and because they had menstrual periods.
Williams Law Firm, P.C.
All Work @ Straight Time
Your Tea Party at Work
Eric Cantor will propose Federal Law that Ends Overtime Pay for hourly workers
In Eric Cantor’s February 2013 speech, he said he wanted to propose Federal Law that would end overtime pay for hourly workers. Currently, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, mandates that certain workers get paid “time + 1/2” for overtime work. Eric Cantor wants to eliminate that law. Because — ya know — workers not getting paid for overtime hours worked out so good for workers before FDR enacted that Law.
Eric Cantor’s “end of overtime pay for workers” that he talked about in his February speech was overshdowed, in part, by the public whining Cantor did bitching that ‘Obama gave his speech at the same time as me … wah, wah, wah.’
In this month’s New Yorker Magazine, Ryan Lizza wrote an excellent article titled: “Can Eric Cantor, the Republican Majority Leader, redeem his party and himself?” in which Lizza reminded readers that Eric Cantor wants to end the Federal law that mandates certain workers get paid overtime for the extra hours they labor.
From the New Yorker Magazine: (page 12)
Is getting pulled out considered an accident?
Customer at the street……perfect stop
If Only
Jury says UPS owes $3.8 million in fatal Norwich crash
By JOHN BARRY A jury has said an Oakdale truck driver and United Parcel Service must pay more than $3.8 million to the estate and widow of a Jewett City man killed in a Nov. 23, 2010, crash on Interstate 395 in Norwich. The jury reached its verdict Wednesday after a three-day trial in front of Judge Susan Peck in New London Superior Court. Jury selection began Jan. 23. George Upton, 55, was killed in an early morning crash near Exit 82 when his Ford Ranger pickup was hit from behind by a UPS tractor-trailer driven by Joseph Socha, 58. Both drivers were heading south. The six jurors found Socha and UPS negligent and reckless in the crash. They awarded the estate $508,132 in economic damages and $1.5 million in noneconomic damages, and awarded Julie Upton, George Upton’s widow, $1.875 million. The crash happened about 2:45 a.m. Socha was taking a load of packages from UPS’ facility in Chelmsford, Mass., to a facility in Norwich. Upton, also a truck driver, was heading to work at Tri-Mac in Bozrah. When hit from behind, Upton’s pickup smashed through a guardrail and traveled down a 40-foot embankment. Upton, who was ejected from his pickup, was pronounced dead at the scene.
New London, Conn. —