LocalAgitator.org

"agitating for the Rank-and-File"

                    Part-Timers Speak Out

            I work as a preloader at UPS on Foster Ave and the things that management do is just ridiculous.  Supervisors cannot keep their hands off the work.  After 2 hours of start time, you can hear them talking over the radio about sending workers home. It’s not easy to get up that early in the morning to work for just 2 hours, making less than $20 a day!

During the course of the night, supervisors can be seen doing work.  Whenever anyone stands up to this nonsense, they automatically become the enemy and management tries to find ways to make it a hostile work environment.

Some stewards seem to be siding with management or they just look out for their friends.  It seems like the policies that UPS has only applies to some people.  I’m not sure what the penalty for supervisors working is but it sure doesn’t sound serious since they are constantly working.

Tell you the truth, I wouldn’t know the union rep if I bumped into him.

I started writing grievances since I was told this is the right thing to do.  I want to see the response that I get.  I will let you know.   - Anonymous Foster PTimer

Part-timers and full-timers need to work together.  Loaders need to slow down and do the job right.  We need the drivers on our side and they need to be on our side!

Management wants speed and accuracy and safety.  That’s undoable. 

To the drivers, stop talking down to us and stop complaining to management about us.  Treat us with respect. We get disrespected every night from these (UPS) guys and then you guys walk in your trucks and add to that.

We make mistakes but you can respect us more and give us guidance to make your day better and together we can stand as one against management.-Anonymous Melville PTimer

I bet you Part-timers and inside guys agree with all this.  I’m sure every building, every center has someone who says these things in the locker room, on the line or in the break area.

This Local is filled with intelligent, overworked and abused Part-timers, working 2 or 3 jobs, who feel disrespected by management and Full-timers; hence you feel powerless.

But you Part-timers have lots of power, if you learn how to use it.  Solidarity -sticking together, not cutting special deals, knowing the contract inside out- against management can bring big returns: less harassment and more $ in your pockets!        

If you see a supervisor working, BOOM, put in a grievance; if management forces you to do an assignment that you are not required to do by the contract, BOOM, take out your copy of the contract and stick it in their face!  Remember, that contract can be your “get out of jail free” card.

Also within the union, Part-timers make up over 65% of all UPS Teamsters.  If this group is mobilized and informed, it has the collective power to really shake things up in our Local:  like voting down bad contracts or voting out an ineffective Executive Bd. It’s up to you!

Part-Time Starting Rate Frozen at $8.50Healthcare Givebacks for New Part-Timers

Details on the proposed economic package for part-timers are beginning to emerge, and they are not pretty.

The tentative agreement would freeze the starting pay rate for part-timers at $8.50 until August 2013. It would provide for an increase to $10.50 after 90 days on the job.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Thoughts Of A Former Part-Timer

I know what you’re thinking: here we go again...another flyer handed out...they want me to vote for so and so. These guys don’t care about us part-timers; they just want our vote. They ignore us 350 days of the year and for 2 weeks they "care" about us.

And you are absolutely right...

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Thoughts of a Part-Timer

Every day I walk to the time clock to punch in. On the way, I say "hey" to a handful of loaders, sorters, and a few clerks, but rarely a driver. At my shop, solidarity between UPS drivers and part-timers is the biggest and most overlooked issue. Management deserves credit for dividing us. In response, Teamsters must do an even better job of coming together on the shop floor.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

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