Jairo Reyes is shown talking to UPS workers in video of a UPS strike. The story has been widely reported, but little has been said about why Reyes — a 49-year-old longtime employee of UPS and a union activist — was fired in the first place. We spoke to UPS and Reyes to get their sides of the story. UPS said it dismissed Reyes on Feb. 14 because he repeatedly clocked in earlier than his shift was set to start, which resulted in his being paid overtime for hours that he allegedly didn’t work. “There was a disagreement over the hours he clocked and the hours he actually worked, and we discharged him after several warnings,” UPS spokesman Steve Gaut told Business Insider. The early clock-ins were reported over a period of five days, Gaut said. Reyes was officially fired for “admitted dishonesty.” But Reyes said he had a manager’s approval to clock in early, beginning around Jan. 6. That same manager later denied giving approval for the new schedule, and Reyes was subsequently fired, he told Business Insider in an interview. Reyes has alleged that the manager was retaliating against him for signing a grievance in early February about senior workers’ hours. Reyes said he was never given a warning before he was fired. “It broke my heart,” said Reyes, a married father of two and a 24-year UPS veteran. “I was out on disability for a year, and I come back thinking I’m going to be able to get back on my feet. Now my daughter is getting ready to go to college and I’m worried. I still have a $13,000 payment to make for her to go to school.” According to the union, Teamsters Local 804, the firing violated an “innocent until proven guilty” clause that allows terminated employees to continue working until they have had an opportunity to defend themselves in a hearing with union and UPS officials. That hearing was eventually held on Feb. 26 at the Maspeth distribution facility where Reyes worked, and his termination was upheld. Immediately following the meeting, Reyes walked out of the facility with about 250 workers in tow. Alleged video of the walkout shows Reyes standing in a circle of UPS workers outside the facility and giving an impassioned speech against UPS. “Without us, there is no UPS,” he’s heard shouting to the crowd. “Why do we get kicked down — because we filed a grievance? Because we want things done right? … Are they not creating an environment of hostility? Everything we do is wrong … It’s not fair to be kicked around. We gotta unite!” Toward the end of the video, an unidentified man explains that he’s spoken to UPS and union officials, and orders all the workers to return to their jobs. The strike lasted 90 minutes. UPS employs 1,400 workers at the Maspeth distribution center. The company is firing 250 employees who took part in the walkout. The company maintains that the 250 firings are totally unrelated to Reyes’ dismissal. Strikes are not an approved method of conflict resolution in UPS’ contract with the union, so the company has the right to fire employees engaging in a walkout, Gaut said. “When a group of 250 employees walk out for 90 minutes it is a significant disruption in the delivery of parcels or packages to customers on that day,” Gaut said. “We get penalties if we don’t deliver on time.”
UPS recently fired 250 Queens, N.Y., employees for staging a 90-minute strike in February to protest the dismissal of one of their co-workers, Jairo Reyes.
UPS vs 250 Drivers…….. How you can help
The Video that Tells It Like It Is:
Customers Tell UPS: Don’t Fire My Driver
UPS Executive Mark Kemper told the Daily News that the company is firing 250 drivers in New York because: “We believe that we owe it to our customers.”
But UPS customers say the company owes them something else. The customers wants UPS to keep the drivers that have served them for years.
Fired Local 804 drivers have launched an outreach campaign to talk to customers about what UPS is doing to drivers and their families. The response has been overwhelming.
More than 3,000 calls have been logged to UPS CEO Scott Davis. Customers are posting messages on the company’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. They’re also taking photos with their drivers to show their support.
“The support has been amazing,” said Steve Curcio. “We’ll keep going out there and talking with every customer, until all 250 drivers get our jobs back. Our message is simple. We love our customers and we want to get back to doing our jobs and to be treated with dignity and respect.”
Over 90% in MSNBC Poll Say UPS Should Rehire the Fired Drivers in Maspeth
Fired drivers Jairo Reyes and Domenick Dedomenico spoke out on MSNBC’s number one rated daytime program.
As America hears our story, the calls from the public grow louder for UPS to stop the firings and rehire all fired workers in Maspeth. Over 90% of respondents to MSNBC’s Gut Check poll say UPS should rehire the 250 drivers.
Vote in the MSNBC online poll and answer the question: “Do you think that UPS should rehire the 250 fired workers?”
www.teamsterslocal804.org” target=_blank>Watch the MSNBC video with Jairo and Dedom at www.teamsterslocal804.org
United Parcel Service Fires 250 Drivers
Another tale from the ever-expanding wonderland of corporate abuse. The company dismissed 20 of the workers after their shifts Monday and issued notices of termination to another 230 employees, notifying them that they will be fired once the company has trained their replacements, UPS spokesman Steve Gaut told Business Insider. The workers were protesting the dismissal of longtime employee and union activist Jairo Reyes, who was fired over an hours dispute, according to Gaut. Reyes, a UPS employee for 24 years, had been fired by the company for alleged “dishonesty” when he admitted to starting a shift early with the verbal approval of a manager. He had previously brought a grievance against two co-workers asserting that junior co-workers were barred by seniority from beginning their shifts before more senior drivers. It appears indisputable that his firing was the impetus behind the 90-minute work stoppage, which occurred on February 26. The retaliatory action against what amounts to half of the Queens, N.Y. UPS fleet of drivers has sparked considerable anger among local politicians, who have threatened to eliminate UPS’ sweet deal with New York City through a Department of Finance program which essentially allows UPS to park its vehicles freely while making deliveries, without fear of ticketing. That deal saved the corporation sixteen million dollars in fines last year alone. However, city data from 2006 shows UPS paid nearly $20 million in parking fines that year. That amount fell to $1 million a quarter for parking fines in 2013, after Mayor Bloomberg created the stipulated-fine program, according to published reports. Responding to the point that it currently enjoys 43 million dollars worth of government contracts with the City, UPS’ spokesman suggested that any attempt to cut those contracts would simply result in more firings: “Domenick DeDomenico, 40, was in a coma for 10 days after getting hit by a car last year while delivering packages for UPS,” the Daily News’ Ginger Adams Otis reported. “He fought back from serious brain injuries and needed a year of speech and physical therapy.”
UPS is firing 250 Queens, N.Y., drivers for walking off the job during a 90-minute protest in February.
Of course, there is more going on here than a simple case of corporate retaliation. The workers are unionized. The Teamsters Union is purportedly barred in their contract with UPS from going on strike, although the terms of that contract are not publicly available. Whether a 90-minute work stoppage to protest a co-workers’ firing actually constitutes a “strike” is another question.
UPS confirmed that it participates in the city program that expedites ticket payment and in some cases halves or wipes out penalties. But a spokesman refused to say how much the stipulated fine program saved the company.
But the company evidently feels that breaking the union is worth the risk. Even if 250 people are left without means to support their families.
“UPS appreciates its business with the New York public offices,” Gaut said. “Ultimately if that business is reduced or eliminated, the result will be reduced need for UPS employees to serve the pick-up and delivery requirements of City offices, potentially impacting the livelihoods of the many local UPS employees that did not join in the illegal work stoppage.”
Think Progress points out:
While the details of the contract between the Teamsters and UPS are not known, all workers, both unionized and non-unionized, are supposed to be able to strike without being fired. Late last year, in fact, the National Labor Relations Board decided to prosecute Walmart for violating that law.
Under the National Labor Relations Act:
Effect of no-strike contract. A strike that violates a no-strike provision of a contract is not protected by the Act, and the striking employees can be discharged or otherwise disciplined, unless the strike is called to protest certain kinds of unfair labor practices committed by the employer.
Whether the 90-minute work stoppage was “legal” or not, the response by UPS in firing 250 drivers for standing up for one co-worker suggests a motivation geared to punishing the union itself rather than redressing any proportionate harm suffered by the company.
One of the workers facing dismissal had just returned to his job after a serious accident, according to the Daily News.
Having a bad day?
I Don’t Know Either
Stand Up for your Rights
When UPS sent 250 workers termination notices for taking part in a protest, you joined over 100,000 people across the country to demand UPS stop workplace retaliation.
That’s why you should be the first to know: UPS chose 20 out of the 250 drivers at random and fired them last night. UPS timed the terminations so that these drivers and their families would lose their healthcare coverage.
UPS cannot expect to fire these workers without repercussions. We need to ratchet up the pressure immediately and make sure UPS knows we’re paying attention.
Can you call UPS CEO Scott Davis and tell him to respect their workers and stop workplace retaliation? Click here.
UPS is hoping they can continue to sweep their labor issues under the rug. That’s not going to happen. Working Families Democrats are putting pressure on UPS to rescind the terminations and negotiate a settlement with their union.
But we need you to make some noise. UPS is a profitable company — and no business can afford to ignore thousands of calls from unhappy consumers.
Click here to call UPS CEO Scott Davis and tell him to revoke the terminations and settle this dispute through dialogue, not intimidation tactics.
In solidarity,
Bill Lipton
Working Families
8 worst right-wing moments
Social Security Privatization? What Will These People Retire ON?
Dozens of employees of bankrupt American Title Services — whose CEO committed suicide with a nail gun last month — say they are just now discovering that their company-run retirement accounts have been mostly drained.
American Title workers say retirement funds went missing
Some employees allege that money deducted from their paychecks for retirement savings was never deposited. Others said funds were withdrawn from their accounts without their permission or knowledge.
Several have filed claims for the missing 401(k) fund in American Title’s bankruptcy.
One employee said she transferred about $45,000 into an American Title retirement fund from an account with a previous employer, then had contributions deducted regularly from her paycheck over the next five years, only to find that it’s nearly all gone, according to court records and interviews.
Another employee recently learned that three years of 401(k) contributions she made at American Title were liquidated in 2011, and that thousands of dollars were siphoned from her account literally overnight two years later without her knowledge or consent, court records show.
“I just now find out that my account doesn’t even exist,” said Jacqueline Bartlett, a title examiner who started at American Title about a year ago and filed a bankruptcy claim. She said about $3,000 was deducted from her paychecks for her retirement, but when she contacted the plan administrator, she was told no account could be found.
“I never got any statements, but I thought it was an oversight,” she said.
The employees said their accounts were handled by an Internet-based company called TheOnline401k.com. A spokesperson for the company refused to comment.
The allegations are the latest development in the unraveling tale of American Title CEO Richard Talley. Employees and industry watchers say on the surface the company appeared successful and growing, but its finances turned out to be in shambles.
The missing employee retirement funds are not among lawsuit allegations from Title Resource Guaranty Corp. of Texas, which says American Title’s books were doctored to cover up a $2 million shortfall, all of it from escrow accounts set up to cover real estate expenses American Title handled at closing.
American Title wrote real estate title insurance policies for Title Resource, which underwrote and guaranteed them.
Talley, 56, killed himself in the garage of his Aurora home on Feb. 4, the day he was to meet with Title Resource officials over the escrow account discrepancies.
Employees say he had attended a meeting that morning to discuss a new venture, to be called American Land Title.
Talley’s widow, Cheryl Talley, American Title’s co-founder, has not been reachable, although she has denied in court records any knowledge of the company’s financial troubles.
It’s unclear what the missing Title Resource escrow funds were spent on, or who was responsible for their misuse. After Talley’s death, the Colorado attorney general launched a grand jury investigation, and the state Division of Insurance began a civil inquiry into the company.
But none of those investigations involve the employees’ missing savings, an issue which is just emerging in the bankruptcy claims they filed.
Although only a handful of claims have been filed, employees said dozens are affected.
The missing money included a company match to employee contributions as well as profit sharing, records show.
Some employees said they took their allegations to the U.S. Department of Labor last year. The department appears to be investigating, according to e-mails and paperwork employees shared with The Denver Post.
The department investigator identified in the communications would not comment, and a department spokesman similarly refused comment.
The only indication of the inquiry appears in American Title bankruptcy filings that identify the company’s largest unsecured creditors. The Labor Department claim, “ERISA Plan Liability,” is for an undetermined amount.
ERISA is the Employment Retirement Income Security Act, which sets conduct standards for those who manage employee benefit plans and their assets.
Some employees said Richard Talley refused to give them access to their accounts and denied them passwords when they asked for them.
“I asked for it on several occasions and was just pushed aside,” said Elizabeth Frederick, who worked as a closer at American Title for nearly six years. “We were not allowed access.”
When Frederick finally got access last week, she learned much of the money she had invested was gone. She said there were others like her, but most were too worried about their jobs to make a fuss.
“I could never get a password,” said a long-time employee who has not yet filed a claim and asked her name not be used because she is seeking new employment. She said she was laid off from American Title in 2011.
“I put in about $100 a month for seven years, and my paychecks showed the company match,” the woman said. “When I left the company, it showed a balance of $1,200.”
Reality!
Walmart Just Revealed How Poor US Shoppers Are
Walmart is no stranger to sensational headlines, but there’s at least one story this week that is just begging to be taken apart. Anyone who thinks “Walmart Just Revealed How Poor Its Customers Are” is an accurate reflection of the facts, needs to keep reading. Our business operations are subject to numerous risks, factors and uncertainties, domestically and internationally, which are outside our control … These factors include … changes in the amount of payments made under the Supplement[al] Nutrition Assistance Plan and other public assistance plans, changes in the eligibility requirements of public assistance plans, … The implications are that Walmart preys on poor people, that the retailer has somehow created poor people by paying low wages. That it relies on government assistance in a way that goes beyond accepting payment from shoppers via government programs. According to Business Insider: Walmart, for the first time in its annual reports, acknowledges that taxpayer-funded social assistance programs are a significant factor in its revenue and profits. This makes sense, considering that Walmart caters to low-income consumers. But what’s news here is that the company now considers the level of social entitlements given to low-income working and unemployed Americans important enough to underscore it in its cautionary statement. Not quite.
Because the problem isn’t that Walmart revealed how poor its customers really are, it’s that Walmart revealed how poor U.S. shoppers really are.
The hook here, the news peg, is that Walmart released its annual report and in it, there’s a specific paragraph that states:
It’s not the first time Walmart noted that a reduction in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would hurt business. It may have been the first time that was mentioned in an annual report, but that’s because the reduction took effect during the fiscal year in question.
In November, benefits for a family of four were be reduced by $36 a month. Benefits had been increased as part of the Recovery Act in 2009, but Congress allowed the increase to expire on Nov. 1.
An estimated 48 million Americans benefit from SNAP while roughly 80 percent of U.S. consumers shop at Walmart at some point during the year.
Not all of them use SNAP, but the majority have some kind of budgetary constraint and it’s a number that keeps growing. Ten years ago, roughly 50% of Walmart shoppers cited low prices as the most important reason to shop at Walmart, today that number is 75%, said Andy Murray, Walmart senior vice president creative, speaking at the Shopper Marketing Summit this week.
Walmart shoppers are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in the price of gas, to small tax increases or to anything that adds another $20 burden to a household in any given week. Budgets are tight and getting tighter all the time, in spite of a slowly recovering economy.
Walmart is hardly the only retailer to be effected by a reduction in SNAP benefits, or to say so in financial documents. The dollar store segment is also vulnerable. Roughly $4 billion in SNAP benefits was vaporized, money that was once spent at U.S. stores, not just Walmart. This was bad news for shoppers and retailers, across multiple channels.
As one grocery executive said on an online retail forum regarding the issue, “This cut hurts all of our sales, not just Walmart, let me make that clear. The struggle is universal for retailers, and sales are down around 8-10% since the first of the year.”
I’m not a fan of criticizing other reporters or publications, but these headlines are designed to get clicks, to be shared, to fan the flames of outrage. In this case, it’s a false and very misplaced outrage.
Walmart didn’t just reveal how poor its customers really are, it revealed just how poor so many U.S. shoppers are.