From Austin TX — 02/15/2010
    At one time ups used to be a decent place to work. I have been there 13 years and even with a college degree have still not been able to get a promotion. Part of it is because I have refused to suck up (a requirement). One constant is the ridiculously conservative policies. Men can not have beards. There are no casual dress days ever. Women can’t wear open toe or open heel shoes. Very few personal items are allowed on your desk aside from a calendar, a picture (frame required), and stapler or something. No screensavers or wallpaper are allowed. At first, I though maybe it was just my office, but after talking to other employees at other buildings, I found out it was that strict everywhere. For an hourly employee, pay is below average ( $35,000). Things really started to get worse in the last few years. Due to budget “cutbacks”, they have discontinued the 401k matching program. At the same time, it was also announced they our health insurance benefits would focus on a more “shared responsibility” meaning that I pay almost three times what I used and have less things covered. An ongoing prescription for my kid used to cost $5 per refill, now costs $35!

     The most frustrating thing is how we constantly have meetings saying how much profit we have per quarter, per year, etc. (Around 1 billion annually) Then they turn around and tell us benefits are being cut, we’ve laid people off, etc. UPS recently spent around 7 million dollars to lobby congress in hopes of passing a bill that would possibly cause Fedex to unionize. And who knows how much UPS spends for all the NASCAR stuff. They always tell us UPS’s people are it’s most valuable asset. Well how about taking some of that 1 billion profit and instead of paying congressman and the NASCAR spending and give it back to the people who keep the company profitable?

     OK, so you’ve decided to take that job with “Big Brown”. Better yet you took the job 2 years ago, and now you’re sitting there wondering, “oh hell, what have I done!” Most drivers know about the two year blues. It usually takes a driver about two years to suddenly come to the realization that they are running harder, giving more of their lives, and getting less than the drivers around them. They suddenly start to ask questions, and appear more rebellious to management. They suddenly are in the office, and are quick to express their dissatisfaction with their treatment. They also become more aware of their union, and begin to ask what the union can do about their situation. These are the formative years at UPS. I liken it to becoming a hormonal monster of a teenager. Questioning everything, and placing unreasonable demands on the parent, (the company, aka: abusive daddy), and realizing that being rebellious is a better way of life than just rolling over, and taking it.
     Many drivers make their long term career choice around that time. It’s not uncommon for some drivers to just say, “screw it”. “I’m not putting up with that crap for the rest of my life. Of course when they go home to the new wife, and the new baby, they usually get a scolding about, “where in the hell do you think you are going to get a job with benefits, and make that kind of money, and steady work, and few layoffs, and on, and on, and on”. At that point most drivers have been welcomed into the world of the “golden handcuffs”. The company has them now. They will bleed brown for the next 30 years, and like it, (or not).
    At the same time that most drivers come to these conclusions, they will also begin to look around at the routes available to them. They will begin to search for the kind of route that suits them, such as a long drive extended route, or a high rise downtown route with all of the good looking receptionists to sign for stuff. (Sorry to be so sexist, but I know many a driver where that type of thing is important). Most will settle onto some nice residential route, with less boxes, and a little more driving. It used to be that they could stay out of sight of the company until the advent of Telematics.
    The realities of a career begin to set in. The good things begin to become obvious. With the potential of reaching full seniority, the money begins to look good. They begin to get real used to having healthcare, and it sure is nice to own their own house. They start to enjoy a hobby or two, (of course they never seem to have time to enjoy those hobbies), and with a little push at work, life seems to be falling into place. The route is tolerable, and they get in good enough shape, and learn the ropes to where the job “ain’t so bad”.
     If the driver does not fall into the, “I’m not going to be a truck driver all my life”, mode and make the fatal mistake of going into management, they are on track for a long career at Big Brown. If they look to the Teamsters to help them find the path away from destruction of life, and body, they can have a long career with Big Brown.
     The one place many drivers fail is in their home life. The divorce rate is very high within the company. A driver needs to balance the demands of the home, with the demands of the company. Monday through Friday can be a tough time for a driver. Getting to the kids special times during the week can be tough. Keeping your mates hopes and dreams outside the company satisfied can also be tough. It’s at those times that a driver suddenly becomes aware of the nine-five grievance, and how much work the drivers around them are doing, and what time they are getting off, etc.
     Any drivers that have been around awhile will be chuckling at this point, because we all go through it. It’s a way of life with a “Big Brown Career”. We all go through it in one form or another.
     I can tell you there is light at the end of the tunnel. If you take care of business in the meantime, there is that pension waiting for you at the end. Hopefully if the ex-wives have not decimated you financially, and the company has not stolen your body, you will be able to retire in decent shape, at a decent age.
                  You can then be the driver to look back and remember all of the stages of a-
                                                             “Big Brown Career”

     Do you know someone who is looking for a job? UPS has just announced that they are going to hire 25,000 people. 
     Sounds impressive, that kind of announcement can make the stock go up. But a couple of questions immediately come to mind.
     First, what kind of jobs are they hiring people for? Part time jobs have a high turnover and hiring 25,000 sorters and preloaders over the next 5 years is nothing to brag about. In fact, it only highlites a serious problem that has plagued UPS since wages stopped going up for those jobs in the 1980’s.
     And secondly, we all have to ask ourselves: Would I recommend a UPS job to a friend? Sure, the money’s great, the insurance is great, the checks don’t bounce. But is it a healthy work enviroment?
     We always used to say, somewhat jokingly, “Friends don’t let friends work at UPS.” What would you say today if a friend asked you if driving is a good job because his son or daughter would like to be a UPS driver?

                                                                    UPS jobs available:
                         25,000 UPS jobs open nationwide, baby boomers retiring from UPS careers

UPS jobs and careers are in the news today with the announcement that that United Parcel Service will hire 25,000 employees. With the average income of a UPS driver at approximately $70,000 per year, this is great news to many who are unemployed.

Applicants must pass a virtual driving test as part of their application for the UPS jobs. 

United Parcel Service, Inc., more commonly known as UPS, is the world’s largest package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States,UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.

If an applicant for a UPS job passes the virtual driving test, training is then based at a facility approximately 10 miles outside of Washington D.C. 

Package handling jobs are the most readily available jobs with UPS driver jobs a more coveted and hard to get position. However, with the announcement by UPS about 25,000 new jobs over the course of the next five years, it may be worthwhile to apply for any job within the company to start a career with UPS and move up the ranks.

UPS states that it does promote from within, so if you are unemployed or looking for a position with a growing, stable company, applying to UPS is a smart move. In Rhode Island, the UPS delivery center is in Warwick off of Jefferson Boulevard. On any given day, drivers can spot hundreds of brown UPS trucks coming and going from that area. However, do not apply at local centers, instead use the on-line application to start the process.

Find available UPS jobs in your area here 

Providence Business Headlines ExaminerCheryl Phillips

     One of the things about working for UPS that rarely gets talked about is the backroom deals made by the guy that drives next to you, with his manager or supervisor. Many of the weaker personality types are quick to make a deal to keep themselves out of the line of fire. Every driver will talk about favoritism, or preferential treatment of the management team, towards a particular individual, and many a driver will demonstrate an unreasonable amount of push to give the company what they want. Most of these behaviors are the result of the “backdoor deals” made with management. 
     Usually the Union Steward doesn’t get involved until the deal blows up in either the driver’s face, or the company’s face. Of course rarely is the deal admitted to by either party, as if no one knows that these deals are made. 
     Deals come in many  forms. The most popular is a trade of production levels for the running of a certain area. Variations on this theme are the driver that is always called upon to “help out” in many of the trouble spots with other drivers. Usually this driver deal can be spotted when the “deal making driver“, begins to bitch about the guys around them not carrying their weight, or hosing the company. Of course the “DMD” will immediately go to management with that complaint. Management usually greets the info with a shrug, then calls in the other driver, treating them like “dirtbag”, “lazy”, “slackers”, all because of the “DMD“. 
     Often the biggest “DMD‘s”, are the long time swing drivers. They usually have some death sentence held over their head, and they run their asses off for fear that management will zero in on their weakness. Now I know that some of the swing drivers just love some of the routes they get to drive, but that is the rarety, not the norm. Watch a lot of these guys. Most will be in the office making their deals before the steward ever gets in, in the morning. They are very often in the cars early, sometimes at managements request, to check up on some other driver, checking out loads, or moving things around. Nowadays with the implementation of PAS, they can be seen snuggling up to the dispatch supervisor, advising them of what this or that driver should be able to do. Of course when they run your route, they make you look like crap because they skip their lunch, and drive like maniacs, and throw things at the gates or mailboxes, never really doing the job right. Of course they then call you a slug to management, directing managements focus on you, and away from them, allowing them to continue to hide in their weak minded little world.
     Of course the wheels usually come off when they wreck, or get hurt, or have a bunch of claims. Suddenly management has another opportunity to get the swing driver back under their thumb again, and of course these drivers will be camped out on the Steward’s ass, hoping for the steward to protect them from “evil management”. Once things quiet down, they are right back to their old games.  Meanwhile the rest of the drivers are left to fight the battle, in fear of being stabbed in the back by these “Deal Making Drivers“. 
      When management approaches you about how the “DMD”, runs your route when you are gone, your response should be simple. “I don’t want to be fired for doing things like he/she does”. Of course management will jump to the chance of getting dirt on someone and begin to quiz you about what that person is doing. Your response is simple, “I’m here to do my job, not tell on my fellow drivers!” At that point walk away and leave the manager wondering about the “DMD“, and wondering whether the manager has made a good deal or not. Of course that will deflect the manager off of your ass, and you can go have a nice day.
     Do not get caught up in the “daily deal” making with management. Do the job. Use your steward, and you will have a decent life at UPS.
                                         If you “Make a Deal”, you could be in for more trouble than it’s worth.
    

This article on life at UPS comes to us compliments of the UPS Stony Brook Center, Local 804, Long Island, NY. Be sure to check out their website a Packagecarunion.com

                                                                                I Want My Life Back

I am a proud UPSer. I am the face of one of the most successful companies in the history of the planet. I am a proud Teamster, working at one of the largest union employers in the world. I have no interest in working for an anti-labor CEO like Fred Smith. I believe strongly in UPS and in unionism. UPS is a top corporate citizen and the “World’s most admired” delivery company. Organized labor and the Teamsters began in order to combat workplace abuses. Workers did excessive overtime and did not get to see their families. There was no safety in the workplace, endangering the workers, and there was favoritism and harassment.
One of the basic tenets for all labor agreements is the principle of “a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay”. We have strayed too far from that principle, and I want my life back.
Our National Master Agreement contains language that states: “Employer shall make reasonable effort to reduce package car drivers’ workdays below 9.5 hours per day”. It does not say “paid day” or “planned day”. It says “workday”. Punch in to punch out is my work day. When people discuss their typical workday, it’s 9 to 5, not 9 to 2 and 3 to 5. People don’t work 35 hours a week plus 5 hours in breaks, they work a 40 hour week. Paid or not, breaks are part of the workday.
Lunch and breaks are unpaid. Unpaid is not the same as off the job. We are told the parameters in which we are allowed to take our breaks, and there have even been several instances where UPS management tried to instruct employees exactly when to take their break. We are told that we are allowed no more than a mile off-route. We are still representing the company and still accountable for our actions. We can’t fight with or insult the customers simply because we are not being paid. We are still responsible for the vehicle, diad, equipment, and cargo. If we fall down and get hurt during lunch, we are still covered by Worker’s Compensation. When the NY state DOT instituted it’s 14 hour rule, they specifically included break time, punch in to punch out. By law and contract we have to take our breaks.
The 40 hour week is the basis for the contract language contained in Article 3 of our Supplemental Agreement. “The basic workweek should be 40 hours, consisting of 8 hours per day, 5 days per week. Employees may be required to work overtime”. If we work 40 hours in 4 days, we have met our commitment. If that is the case, Friday should be an optional workday. The contract mentions mandatory overtime at times, our building is operating with a plan of 9.2 hours on road. This translates to 1 ½ to 2 hours of mandatory overtime daily. They further exacerbate this by exceeding their own excessive standard, with drivers often punching out after 12 hours.
Our Local Sort starts at 6 o’clock, with a 3 ½ hour guarantee. With the vast majority of drivers returning after 7 o’clock, how can the Local Sort turn the work around for the outbound trailers? Drivers returning at 6:30, which is an actual 9 ½ hour workday, makes more sense and meshes with the Local Sort operation.
Overtime excesses rob the Union of both pension contributions, and jobs. Each center does roughly 100 overtime hours per day, sometimes while laying off drivers. UPS should be honoring their commitments and the Union should be demanding jobs. A “scheduled off” day does not contribute a pension credit. Excessive overtime tires out the drivers and limits the need for a 5th day’s pay. When the guys try to take off to allow the laid off drivers to work, we are trying to help our union brothers, and in fact we are helping to screw them. The Teamsters promote organizing to create more Teamster jobs. These Teamster jobs are right here. The excessive overtime is cutting out at least 8 full-time jobs in each center. As one of America’s top corporate citizens UPS has a responsibility to the public to try and create jobs. During this “global economic meltdown”, UPS made 2 billion dollars profit. Rather than helping to stimulate the economy by creating jobs, UPS chooses to reduce staffing and asks us to contribute more for our medical coverage and take a reduction in pension benefits. I want UPS to be successful, but UPS needs to share the success with the people that helped bring it.
We are not meeting customer expectations or our commitment to our customers. We guarantee the day of delivery and we do a good job of meeting expectations for our commercial stops, delivering by 5 o’clock, which is considered normal business hours. After the majority of workers have headed home, we are delivering our residential stops. People are having dinner, getting the kids ready for bed, winding down their day, and we are leaving boxes at their door. If we don’t make delivery by 6:30, we didn’t really meet our obligation.
Increases in overtime lead to more injuries and accidents. OSHA lists rushing, fatigue, and frustration as the top three causes of injuries and accidents. A typical day for one of my closest friends at work consists of waking at 6, followed by a shower, shave, getting the uniform ready, breakfast, then a 1 ½ hour drive to work. Through the guard booth, inside and upstairs to the locker room, then down to the pcm. Work until 7:30 or 8, back to locker room, then drive home. Dinner at 9:30, not considered healthy dinner time. The kids are in bed and the wife is exhausted from working her job and taking care of everything at home. Bed at 11:00, too late for a healthy 8 hours of sleep, and start all over again the next morning. Doing this for the month of December is understandable. Doing this as a way of life is unconscionable.
The growing frustration can be felt throughout UPS and the Locals. Forums and message boards across the country are full of these stories. Some Locals have even taken to renting planes to carry flyover messages and billboards to promote their mounting displeasure.
When unions began, workplace abuses were rampant. We created safety in the workplace and now it’s been stolen and used as a tool for harassment. I work to live, I don’t live to work. I want a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. I don’t want my family life or my health destroyed. I want my life back.

-Mike Hagenburg