Reality Check Ep 039 Part timers

The podcast episode features a special guest, William Hale, who discusses the issues faced by part-time workers at UPS. The two main issues are discipline, particularly regarding attendance, and the company's attempts to increase workload and reduce hours. Hale emphasizes the importance of protecting workers' rights and safety, and advises standing up to supervisors and filing grievances when necessary. The podcast hosts commend Hale for his efforts in educating and supporting fellow workers. They also remind listeners to seek advice from local stewards or business agents. The episode concludes with a message of empowerment and solidarity among workers. Teamster Power 767 Reality Check with Jeff Schoenfeld and Garfield Hooper. Cliff, everyone's doing alright today? Yeah, I'm doing pretty good. How are you doing today, Jeff? Good, good, good, good. No complaints. We've got a special guest today here. We've got William Hale out of the Denton Center. He's a part-timer. I don't know about you, Jeff, but it's been quite a long time since I've been part-time at UPS, so we wanted to get somebody on here to kind of talk about some of the issues that part-timers are going through and how we can move past that. Will, how are you doing today? I'm doing alright. How about you? Good, good, good, good. So, Will, what are the big issues going on with part-timers in this day and age? I would say that the two biggest issues that we're dealing with right now is the discipline that we're getting, mostly over attendance. Some of it is, you know, misloads. We've had methods discipline issued, I know, across the local because of those WANs. And the next biggest thing is protecting our work and, you know, reduction in hours and moving down start times and, you know, just generally the company trying to force more onto us in, you know, less time, which is something that you deal with in packaged car too, and I'm sure feeders has the same type of problem. The way that that happens on, you know, pre-reload is they move the start time and, you know, just try and get more on the belts and push you faster and go, go, go. To me, that's a big safety issue too because, you know, the faster you move, you're more prone to accidents, you're more prone to trip, fall, you know, you have egress issues. I know that was a big issue in my building when I was on pre-load because we were a really small building in those heavy days, you know. That belt could get loaded up pretty quick. Well, and also if part-timers don't know their rights, then they're pulling over 70s off the belt without help. And even if they do know their rights with the supervisors, you know, just sort of picking at people, you have people say, oh, I can get that off the belt, and maybe you can get it off the belt once, twice, three times, but can you get it off the belt all the times over your entire career? Yeah. Sounds like a bad idea for your back, shoulders, knees, and hips. Yeah, yeah. So let me ask you something. Being that you're a strong steward and, you know, you're always trying to help them, so what do you do? What do you tell the members when the company's like, oh, do this, do that, hurry up, production this, production that? What do you tell them? You tell them I'm working at a safe pace, and I'm working at a pace that takes into account my age and my physical ability, and, you know, I'll have you not, you know, harass me, and, you know, if you want to harass me, then, you know, I'm going to file a grievance and go get a steward. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's – and they'll try anything. What they do is, obviously, you know it, they'll try to do anything, and they'll try to get them without a steward, right? You know, they won't let them do their wine garden rights, and what do you tell the members when a member of management is trying to, you know, take you aside by yourself? I mean, that's humiliating. I try to educate everybody on their wine garden rights. I've had plenty of parking lot meetings. During the contract campaign, I had a parking lot meeting every week, and it's not been every week since then, but, you know, we do every two weeks, every three weeks. Sometimes we get a little lax, but we have parking lot meetings where I try to educate, you know, members about their rights. The company always has, you know, their flavor of the month where they're pushing, you know, oh, is it misloads? Oh, is it getting done by driver start time? You know, they have their flavor of the month. We have our flavor of the month where we educate members about their rights, but wine garden rights is always something that I harp on, and I harp on, you know, tell the supervisors you're going to file grievances, but then file the grievance, right? It's an empty threat if you don't file the grievance, so put pen to paper and get that grievance in there, and that will show the company that, you know, you take your union rights seriously and that you're not going to be pushed around, and, you know, sometimes if you file a grievance, they may try to push harder, and what you do is you file a grievance for retaliation. Yeah. So do you find when you have those parking lot meetings it's been helping? It's been helping, you know, get the word out to members because people who don't make the parking lot meetings, you know, some people do make the parking lot meetings, and then others are pulling it into the parking lot and trying to get into the building as quick as they can, but it helps spread the word because maybe you didn't make it to the parking lot meeting, but your buddy that works next to you did, and you can say, you know, hey, what was Will talking about this time around? And, you know, that's kind of how we pass word, you know, through the building. No, that's great. That's something that, you know, stewards have been, you know, people who have been stewards for 20 years don't do, so, you know, that's good stuff that you're doing, you know, having the parking lot meetings and, you know, trying to educate the members. I mean, I commend you on that. I mean, it's something so important that has to happen. It can't just be a one-day thing or what. It's got to be continuous, right? Well, up in Denton, you know, we really see each other as a community, and we try to take care of each other the same way. And, you know, that, you know, one of the main ways that you protect your community is, you know, the union and your union rights. Yeah. No, that's absolutely, that's great to hear. A young man like yourself just, you know, imparting that wisdom, imparting the contract, the educating, that's good to see. If there's one thing you could say to all the part-timers across our jurisdiction, local 767, what would it be? Well, it's hard when you get pulled aside by a supervisor to stand up for your rights. But just know that you have those union rights and, you know, that you need to stand up for yourself and that you need to file grievances. It's just like a bully on the schoolyard. You know, they're just going to keep picking on you if you don't stand up for yourself. So, you know, straighten yourself up, shoulders back and punch them right in the nose. And we do that by filing a grievance. Absolutely. Now that's great to hear. That's great to hear. But listen, Will, we want to thank you for coming on the episode and speaking to what, you know, the part-timers are going through, what they can do, you know, continuous education that you're doing there in Denton. And other things that you're doing. And for myself, Garfield and Will Hale, everyone have a good day. Thanks. We all deal with national language, but on this podcast when it comes to supplemental language, we deal mostly with the southern region. And as always, it's best to get advice from your local stewards or business agents. If you would like to reach out to us with any questions, we have an email address, 767realitycheckatgmail.com. That's 767realitycheckatgmail.com. And remember, strong people stand up for themselves, but the strongest people stand up for others.