Ha, try and read it all, bet you cant, yes I am slightly drunk again.I went out again with everyone from work. I got home an hour or two ago. I am not as drunk, if drunk at all. I am more dizzy than anything. Had two shots this time. Played pool most of the night. Then got dropped off at home, and finished my Dr Stranglelove movie that I started before I went to work. Had an intresting day at work. Got into a heated arguement with the Center Manager (person in charge of the building and everything that goes along inside it). She is a bitch, and has become more of one in the last few months as I have gotten to know her backstabbing ways. In a dispute between her and I over the work that was done by my supervisor, she seem to threaten me. Now, this is all based on the UPS and Teamsters contact. A supervisor can not do union work. Union work includes about anything an person who works for UPS does. Loading, sorting, unloading, driving, smalls, car wash, refueling, etc. Being part of management in UPS means that you are to control and direct what the union workers do. My direct supervisor violated the contract between UPS and the Teamsters by doing union work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. For a total of three and a half hours this week. This I feel is unacceptable and I have filed a greivence before on him for doing union work. I had a meeting with the same Center Manager and she promised (in writing) that this will never happen again. While it has happened a few times during very short intantances, I have never really complained or I just opened my mouth and he proceeded to stop. But this week, it wasnt such the case. I was ready to file one grievance, but the papers we not there, hmm, could this be on purpose? Anyway, the next day, the papers are still not there, he continues, I get more and more upset. It isnt just me, it is nearly half, if not more of the sort that feels that time has been stolen from them. But I get a meeting setup by a close friend in management that I feel wishes to get this whole situation straighten out as soon as possible without turning into something major. I have the utmost respect for him, he does an excellent job and knows what he can and can not do. A very good head lies on his shoulders and he really knows all his stuff (wish he ran our sort). Although, I dont know how much of a 'spy' he is, or how true he stays in keeping everything I mention to him to himself, but I figure some gets told, and I am believing nearly everything I tell him stays only with him. Back to my meeting/discussion. It starts out simple as just stating the facts. Which turn into a very uncomfortable arrangement for me to be in. She started to get hasty with me. I wish I had a tape recorder so I could document exactly what she said, but from what I remember, it was along the lines of: if you scratch my back, I will scratch yours. That is NOT what she said, but it is exactly what it came off as to me. She continued to explain that my supervisor was working to help us (the sort) out and get all the packages exported out on time. I really didnt get the analogy she used with a friend and fellow union worker standing around while my supervisor did his work for him. She was arguing that my supervisor was not stealing union work as long as the union member was getting paid to stand around. I tried to explain how this made no sence. But she has to stick up for her management staff even if it means purposely trying to confuse me. How is it, that a union person standing around that SHOULD be doing HIS assigned task while the supervisor sent him away to stand around while the supervisor did the work for the union memeber. This is what it came down too, the exact agurement each time we went through all the different situations changed. But her reply was how was he to know that the union work was standing around while the supervisor work? Well, first, THE SUPERVISOR SHOULDING BE DOING THE WORK TO START WITH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And second, the on case where it was very clear, because I was involved, I sent the person back to TAKE OVER for my supervisor when he in turn sent the person right back to help me out by standing around. This is the most clear cut case I had and she tried all she could to turn it around ignoring the fact that in Article 3 Secton 7 of the UPS/Teamsters contract it states that a managment or supervisor position is not to do any kind of union employed work. That is the whole point I had. Whenever I mentioned that she would play the case of, well no one is to missort a package (sending a package to the wrong place, on purpose or by accident). And if she was to follow up on dislipenary (i really screwed that spelling up) action, she would have to fire everyone that worked there. This is where I really got pissed, but I kept everything inside and tried my best not to display the anger inside me. I simply asked if this was a threat to me (and in my mind, the whole sort, not just me). I know, and have seen many times, where a person has been fired for one reason or another and has returned to work thanks to the union getting thier job back because management can not fire them for that reason (only like three or four things I could do and not get my job back). They even get paided for all the days they did not work because they were fired. It is kinda a sweet deal if you can put up with all the bullshit and paperwork. Anyway, from this point on, I was very anger and only said a few word for each responce, not giving anything for her to build off of and only opening my mouth when she excreted more bullshit. She has very little respect from me before this, and has lost all respect from me, and nearly everyone else on the sort after they got wind of what happened (some were able to her everything she said because she had raised her voice by this time). I kept my cool and had the roll your eyes to everything attitude going. She attacked me and the sort directly with the 'fire everyone' comment and that was no where near what I was going after or even thinking she would say. I think in my mind, she knows she was screwed with my supervisor working when he shouldnt be, and that it makes her look back on her reviews because she is in charge of him. Hence she get less of a bonus. I got the feeling of, if you follow through on this, I will make sure you get no freedom on anything, and that no one else on the sort would get anything either. So she tried to lay a guilt trip on me, hoping to play off of my willingness to open my mouth about something that was going wrong while she proceeded to threaten me to keep my mouth shut. Thanks to this discussion, others are willing to open thier mouths about our supervisor working instead of me. Many are behind me, but I still feel wrong getting everyone screwed so I can make sure to get my point across. I have to sleep on it, to see what I wish to due. I will maybe try to talk with my Union Representive (who doesnt seem to care, or do anything, seems as if he has been bought out by the Center Manager and will not stick up for any of the union workers). I have already contacted my Union Hall, and they said I need to fill a grievance and/or talk with my Union Rep. I may talk with a few drivers tomorrow, see what advise they can give me, or any kind of arguement advantages. I know one driver I talked to yesterday, said I need to stick with it, and that I was right and need to expose everything that my UPS building has gotten away with because no one else is willing to stand up for themselves let alone others. This makes me sick, and very willing to give up on a job that I have enjoyed do to my coworkers for three plus years. I have made some really good friendships and hope to establish many more. But this whole situation leaves a very sour taste in my mouth with the end result of leaving and finding somewhere esle to go. But this means 'they' have won without a fight. I can not let this happen, I will continue to act and behave the way I have always. This is a work related issue that will not get in way of my job to get the customer's package from point a to point b correctly. Any issues I have will be resolved in a different context and state of mind compared to the one I use to enjoy while at work. Thanks for reading, or glancing from word to word. Hopefully my drunkeness did not affect my language structure compared to my normal language usage. EDIT: Terry said I talk more when I am buzzed. And I guess so, I wrote a ton. |
