Posted on February 8th, 2009
“In Germany, they came first for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
and then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
and then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
and then… they came for me… and by that time
there was no one left to speak up.”
- attributed to Martin Niemoller
This past week in the Willow Grove UPS hub, some disturbing things have been happening. While we’ve known for a while about layoffs, the new developments revolve around the company reportedly trying to redefine some key terms in our contract.
Read more…
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Filed under: 2008 contract, Article 22.3, I.B.T., Teamsters Local 384, UPS, exposing anti-union propoganda, rights, solidarity, unionism
Posted on January 4th, 2009
Hundreds of Teamster-represented UPS employees in the Metro-Philadelphia District received short paychecks this past week. Members of management acknowledged that up to 900 hub employees at the Willow Grove facility have yet to receive pay for the Christmas holiday.
No other details or reasoning were given, and employees were told that corrections would be made in the following week’s pay — despite contract language requiring shortages of this size be paid within two business days following the company’s awareness of such shortages.
One cannot help but wonder how such a “mistake” could have been made, especially considering rumblings earlier in December of alleged management intent at UPS Freight to deprive employees of holiday pay due to a layoff day. That plan was reportedly averted, though with a similar layoff day imposed on workers at UPS, the possibility of company payroll misinterpreting the company’s obligations and voiding holiday pay does exist.
Though no express contract language provides for an automatic penalty for such a widespread shortage, an investigation into the company’s failure to meet payroll obligations may be in order.
UPDATE: Most Christmas payroll shortages were corrected a week after the shortage, though some employees (mostly Article 22 full-time workers) had to wait an additional week for their money. A small number of employees (those who filed grievances for late payment penalties) should be getting penalty payments the week ending January 31.
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Filed under: 2008 contract, UPS, rights
Posted on November 17th, 2008
Oh wait, we do:
But UPS is thousands of jobs short of the 20,000 full-time combo jobs required by the contract. And every day management is eliminating more of these jobs.
President Hoffa has bragged that our union has a “Hammer” to stop employers in egregious cases like this: the Right To Strike on deadlocked grievances.
No one needs a strike, especially before the holidays including UPS. What we do need is to send a clear message to every Teamster employer that our union is serious about protecting members’ jobs.
Is it time to remind management that we’ve got the Hammer? (read more)
Now if we could only use it to help UPSers like Mary Seumaala: Read more…
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Filed under: 2008 contract, I.B.T., Rank-and-File, Teamsters Local 384, UPS, jobs, rights, solidarity, strikes, unionism
