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UPS Fires 250 Employees For Staging A 90-Minute Protest To Defend Coworker
business insider ^ | 4/2/14 | Hayley Peterson

Posted on 04/03/2014 7:47:30 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave

UPS is firing 250 Queens drivers for walking off the job during a 90-minute protest in February.

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 long-time employee and union activist Jairo Reyes, who was fired over an hours dispute, according to Gaut. The New York Daily News first reported on the firings.

The local branch of the Teamsters union that represents the dismissed workers has described the firings as "a heartless attack on drivers and their families."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ups-fires-250-employees-2014-4#ixzz2xpo4wYtB

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: unions; ups
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To: Las Vegas Dave
..., notifying them that they will be fired once the company has trained their replacements, UPS spokesman Steve Gaut told Business Insider.

Thanks for the heads up, Steve, FedEx for the foreseable future for me from now on. Don't want my shipments getting trashed by disgruntled employees.

41 posted on 04/03/2014 8:42:41 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: Las Vegas Dave

Ahhh, the good old Maspeth distribution center, huh? No surprise to me. I sent my daughter a package in late Jan, that had to go through that facility. My daughter worked from home that day so she could be there when it arrived. (She wasn’t comfortable with the idea of a box of necessities being left on her stoop in Brooklyn.) Anyway, they didn’t deliver the package, and had no reason that it could have been delayed, so they had to refund my money. Maybe one of these guys was the driver that didn’t deliver it to her. A few days later it showed up in their system again. It was strange and frustrating.


42 posted on 04/03/2014 8:42:54 AM PDT by FamiliarFace
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To: lodi90

Yeah, but the fired employee was a long timer and union activist, maybe the firing was justified, no way of knowing from this article.

I’m only pointing out that the 90 min protest was for the ‘firing’ not for the hour dispute.


43 posted on 04/03/2014 8:46:00 AM PDT by Sir Napsalot (Pravda + Useful Idiots = CCCP; JournOList + Useful Idiots = DopeyChangey!)
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To: wideawake

Absolutely the same with my wife.

I have to believe that other employees were prodded to join this 90 minute protest and said NO. UPS has to play hardball because to excuse ONE would mean excuse ALL.


44 posted on 04/03/2014 8:48:54 AM PDT by LeonardFMason (LanceyHoward would AGREE)
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To: Las Vegas Dave

I knew some people who worked for UPS and they loved the company.

UPS has a stellar reputation compared to the Teamsters.


45 posted on 04/03/2014 8:50:14 AM PDT by Iron Munro (The future ain't what it use to be -- Yogi Berra)
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To: Las Vegas Dave
Rule 1: Boss sets the rules, it is HIS business.

Rule 2: If you don't like the rules, quit and go elsewhere.

Rule 3: See Rule One. It is HIS business, not yours. It is your job, NOT your business. He put his money and time on the line to set up the business. If the business had failed, he would have lost all his money. You would have lost a job, collected unemployment and welfare. He would have been bankrupt. Not you.

Rule 4: Heck, there is no rule four.

46 posted on 04/03/2014 8:53:51 AM PDT by RetiredArmy (MARANATHA, MARANATHA, Come quickly LORD Jesus!!! Father send thy Son!! Its Time!)
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To: Las Vegas Dave

As a UPS employee, these 250 people were told by their business agent (a union leader) to go back to work and they continued their illegal strike. This is stupid because the 1st driver they walked out for would prolly have gotten their job back with all lost pay. These people that walked out essentially probably will not. On a personal note, I can say I am thankful that in my state this incredibly toxic work environment between management and employees does not exist.


47 posted on 04/03/2014 8:57:32 AM PDT by TheArizona
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To: brooklyn dave
I am not a big union supporter, but in his case the workers are right.

Crap on both parts of your statement.

48 posted on 04/03/2014 8:58:44 AM PDT by USS Alaska (Exterminate the terrorist savages, everywhere.)
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To: brooklyn dave
I am not a big union supporter, but in his case the workers are right.

Crap on both parts of your statement.

49 posted on 04/03/2014 8:59:07 AM PDT by USS Alaska (Exterminate the terrorist savages, everywhere.)
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To: NEMDF
Think of the freedom they will now have to pursue other interests, start their own businesses, spend more time with the family.
This is a good thing, right? They are no longer locked in to some day-to-day grind.

The O'Conomy

Ending Job-Lock Since 2009


50 posted on 04/03/2014 8:59:30 AM PDT by Iron Munro (The future ain't what it use to be -- Yogi Berra)
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To: Iron Munro

I knew some people who worked for UPS and they loved the company.

UPS has a stellar reputation compared to the Teamsters.


Really depends on the job. Entry level employees do the grunt work emptying out the trucks and putting in time to get a driver job. Pay is low and the working conditions are often dangerous. UPS doesn’t allot enough time to unload a truck safely so corners are cut, boxes thrown, etc. if the truck has a big/heavy load. Driver jobs pay well and it’s not quite so crazy.


51 posted on 04/03/2014 9:09:16 AM PDT by lodi90
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To: RetiredArmy

excellent..

not a public sector job... they can do what they want.. I would have no problem with the issue ending up either way... the union works it out with UPS? okay fine... the company fires the workers? okay fine..

it irks me when they are public employees and can NOT be fired..


52 posted on 04/03/2014 9:14:57 AM PDT by Chuzzlewit
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To: Red Badger

“Their contract probably prohibits ‘wildcat’ strikes”.
Yep, most union contracts do.


53 posted on 04/03/2014 9:20:00 AM PDT by MCF
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To: MrB

It is not possible to falsify your time sheet. You clock in and out on their DIAD board. There is also numerous sensors on the truck including GPS. If your bulkhead door or back door is open, they know if your seat belt is on, they know every time you back up how far you back up, you think the NSA spies UPS knows all in their trucks. UPS has rolled out a new delivery system called ORION. It is very new is it still being rolled out. Packages are loaded by sequence numbers on each shelf 1000-8000. The new system will jump from shelf to shelf. If your truck is bricked out and your board has you go from shelf 1000 to shelf 8000 you might waste a lot of time getting back there looking for stuff because its not possible to load it all in order. The old system you do 1000 2000 3000 4000 etc those are closest to the driver. Since the drivers have the same route for years they don’t usually follow either system entirely as they know their area better than a computer.

The new system has flaws and it takes months to work them out. In my building they give the drivers the freedom to do what is best and when the company target strays away they ask everyone to use the system to get it back in line.

I can only imagine at that center, management and the union nit pick every little thing and make it intolerable for both sides. No one likes making changes this includes management and drivers. And replacing 250 experienced drivers is not an easy task. It takes 3 drivers off the street to equal 1 experienced driver. I point to Christmas hires. They get 2 months training before December and even at 1/3 the rate of a top rate driver they still don’t pull their weight and most quit before their temporary job is over because it is very difficult.

UPS drivers have a tough job. Its both physically and mentally demanding.


54 posted on 04/03/2014 9:22:45 AM PDT by TheArizona
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To: MrB

this can be a chain reaction. If the trucks are sabotaged, the company can deduct repairs from their last paycheck. And on and on.


55 posted on 04/03/2014 9:24:18 AM PDT by morphing libertarian
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To: brooklyn dave

What are you talking about? The workers were right. no one has the right to walk off the job, especially to protest against management’s right to discipline another employee. Even if they had an existing contract, this would have been a violation of the contract.

If you want to unionize then you better be ready to live within the very strict enforcement of the contract provisions.


56 posted on 04/03/2014 9:24:51 AM PDT by dirtymac (Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country)
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To: from occupied ga

It’s always a good thing!


57 posted on 04/03/2014 9:25:25 AM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal
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To: MrB
What you wanna bet he was falsifying his timesheets?

He's described as a "union activist". Maybe he was doing his community organizing on company time.

58 posted on 04/03/2014 9:36:32 AM PDT by tacticalogic
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To: Las Vegas Dave

bkmk


59 posted on 04/03/2014 9:49:03 AM PDT by AllAmericanGirl44
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To: Chuzzlewit
When I was on active duty in the army, it was next to impossible to fire a civilian employee.

You had to call them in, counsel them on their whatever. Then they got like six months to improve that. Then you had to call them in and tell them if they had not met the requirements, then give them another 3 months to improve. This goes on and on, but eventually, the military supervisor will change, THUS, all this goes away. They get a do over. If the new supervisor finally sees the screw ups, then it all starts over from the beginning. The old supervisor cannot pass along the process to the new one. The new super has to do the same as the old guy. This is how they always avoid getting fired. In over 20 years on AD, I never saw ONE civilian employee get canned for doing a bad job. I saw plenty of GI's get canned for doing bad jobs, but not those all mighty civilian employees. They were above it.

60 posted on 04/03/2014 10:30:09 AM PDT by RetiredArmy (MARANATHA, MARANATHA, Come quickly LORD Jesus!!! Father send thy Son!! Its Time!)
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