August 11, 2010: “It’s been a long, hot summer at UPS. The loads are so heavy it looks like peak some days.
We still have members laid off, but management keeps cutting routes and piling it on.
Package drivers are out past eight o’clock. It’s not right.”
Todd Hartsell, Local 90 Des Moines, Iowa
“The company and union repeat over and over: ‘Be glad you’re employed’.”
David Dethrow, Local 688, St. Louis
“All is not well and good in UPS world, that’s for sure. At our building, management is cutting jobs and getting rid of customer counter clerks by eliminating full-time inside jobs, making many workers with over 20 years of seniority having to work split shifts.
“They’ve cut routes and are overburdening the drivers with excessive stops.
“They fire over infractions without adhering to progressive discipline.
“And they have never honored the 9.5 language of the last contract, the language that was supposed to allow drivers to opt in or opt out of overtime.”
Michael Carano, Local 348, Akron, Ohio