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I don't think we are suppose to talk politics on here, but because you brought up the topic, it does seem like the cities with the greatest financial problems are in very liberal states such as California and Illinois. Say thank you to Democratic Governors and Congress People, I don't think it has changed much in the short time Trump has been President. Places like Chicago have always had their financial problems long before Trump even thought about running for President and will long after Trump leaves office.
Next time I’ll leave Trump for the political forum,Thanks
 
Unless he was told to wait for instructions, nobody is sleeping without somebody knowing it, everybody has an electronic leash of some kind. For you to assume the Union driver is stealing time is ludicrous and shows your bias.

Sure, because naps are a regular part of work. Maybe on lunch... this would have been back before the handheld days, when a guy could get away with jerking around on company time. And as I recall, the greatest protest to the advent of handhelds came from union drivers. Probably because of that electronic leash you’re talking about. That can really cramp someone’s nap schedule.

Believe me, it’s not an isolated event either.
 
The pushback on handhelds was because of GPS use for punishment purposes,....for speed and weight violations. Here in Pennsylvania, every back road is rated at 10 tons....The only legal vehicle is an empty pup.......

The company propaganda machine made it out that Union truck drivers were trying to...."hide".....The truth of the matter was that, if you routinely went on 10 ton roads,....exceeding the weight limit,.......the company, tracking your path with GPS,......could eliminate their liability exposure by proving a driver "willfully" went down roads "knowingly" overweight......

Same as being tracked by GPS on a 55 mph road,....If you went 60,....you could be fired for ignoring stated company policy about..."excessive"...speed...

Or 38 on a 35,........or 29 on a 25,........

Union drivers were trying to point out that ,...things that were a normal course of business,...pre-GPS tracking,....and complicitly allowed by the companies,.....became a treacherous liability tool,...if you became a big enough "pest" that the company wanted to get rid of you. How can you win a grievance for firing, if they have you GPSed going down a 10 ton road,....weighing 12 tons?

Even if the factory has been there for,...decades, and you've been delivering there for decades also,.....the day GPS came into play,...was the day you officially violated company policy about weight restriction roads.....Build a case to fire the...."outspoken pain in the butt" anyone?

And,...of course,...since the non-Union guys have no representation,......they have to bow their heads onto the metaphysical chopping block,............Or, as the company would gladly explain, in these days of Employment-at-Will,.......You can Quit......

The Union guys were trying to make the case against micro-managing a driver's work day to nit-pick "violations" to build a potential case against......anyone.

I don't think I've ever included...naps....as a regular part of my day. I've armor-alled the dash and floorboards,...waxed the tractor,...re-wired the CB radio antenna,...fixed dash lights,....tightened various nuts and bolts,.....and, on occasion due to ill health or cold medication,...laid my head on the wheel,.........

But,....I never planned a....nap.....as part of my day.

Nor have I ever worried about having a company person..."surprising" me while stopped for a while. I was always doing...something,.....usually on a "hint" from the dispatcher......
 
Sure, because naps are a regular part of work. Maybe on lunch... this would have been back before the handheld days, when a guy could get away with jerking around on company time. And as I recall, the greatest protest to the advent of handhelds came from union drivers. Probably because of that electronic leash you’re talking about. That can really cramp someone’s nap schedule.

Believe me, it’s not an isolated event either.
Yeah, only the union guys screw off, GTFU
 
Sure, because naps are a regular part of work. Maybe on lunch... this would have been back before the handheld days, when a guy could get away with jerking around on company time. And as I recall, the greatest protest to the advent of handhelds came from union drivers. Probably because of that electronic leash you’re talking about. That can really cramp someone’s nap schedule.

Believe me, it’s not an isolated event either.
Funny I don't see any mention of non union here, you clearly targeted the union driver. Oh and by the way I regularly see an OD driver sitting in his truck on my way to the gym and many times he's still there on my way back, is he stealing time?
 
I believe if you would have read my other posts you would see that I openly admit that this behavior occurs at non-union outfits as well.

I'll give you credit for that, Brother,..........But you have to admit sometimes the corporate propaganda influences the way people perceive things..........sometimes even unbeknownst to the person doing the "perceiving"......

The point I was trying to make was that there is a rise in intrusive technology,......GPS, driver-facing cameras, computer-recorded driving techniques, lane control warnings,.....that spells corporate micro-managing the most liability-ridden sector of their workforce.

The company salesman,...on company time, and in a company car, going to a sales meeting with a customer,......doesn't have a driver-facing camera staring at him, ....or face discipline based on GPS information.

Basically,.....the technology is used to ........build a case for dismissal,....on pretty much every driver.....

To be used,...ONLY when they need it,......

Like, say,.....when a guy shows up with Union petition for organization. In the corporate eyes, he's interfering with the companies' operations,...and under Employment-at-Will,......he can be fired for....anything other than "Union organizing"...

They can fire him for "theft of time",......3 minutes unaccounted for at a customer's dock. Theft is Theft,....there is no "degree of theft"....(...That quote comes from a company official at a grievance hearing..).....

They can fire him for going down a 10 ton road while weighing 16 tons,..........regardless of the fact that he's done this for ....years prior to his discipline.....

They can fire him for "inappropriate actions" for giving a finger to an idiot who cut him off,.....and having that incident recorded on a driver-facing camera.......

With increasing driver surveillance through technology,........in the name of "Safety",......we ALL become guilty of,....something. The way the companies "sold" the idea of intrusive technology,....was by creating a myth that,.....drivers NEEDED electronic baby-sitting,.........'cause, you know,.....those Darned Lazy Drivers will Goof Off every chance they get,....if We Don't Watch Them!

And.....many drivers fell for that myth,........and applied it to whichever group of drivers it was more politically expedient to hang that albatross around the neck of.......

"Lazy Union Drivers" comes to mind,..........because that was the group speaking up against intrusive technology for driver surveillance...........Damn! They must have something to Hide!

Or,....maybe we are more concerned with the Constitutionality of constant surveillance,....and it's use in punitive discipline to silence dissenters through economic intimidation.........

Nah,...........got to be Lazy Drivers........
 
Funny I don't see any mention of non union here, you clearly targeted the union driver. Oh and by the way I regularly see an OD driver sitting in his truck on my way to the gym and many times he's still there on my way back, is he stealing time?

You didn’t look back far enough.

Idk, how long are you at the gym? Most likely he is. And there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. But, I’ll tell you this; like as not it will catch up with him. If he keeps it up, those electronic tattles you were talking about will tell him out out, and there will be no defense for him.
 
You didn’t look back far enough.

Idk, how long are you at the gym? Most likely he is. And there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. But, I’ll tell you this; like as not it will catch up with him. If he keeps it up, those electronic tattles you were talking about will tell him out out, and there will be no defense for him.

"MY, how times have changed" Song, I guess you probably know I was a line driver in my days, I ran 3 Charl. to Jax. trips each week, paid 391 miles, I don't recall many trips south, that I didn't catch a nap around Estell S.C.
That is, if some disrespectful Carolina or C F, didn't beat me to my Oak Tree.
I was only caught sleeping once by our saftey man, punishment was swift and harsh, he apologised for waking
me, said "when you finish your nap, come on down the road, and I'll buy your breakfast"
I'd say we were rewarded for our goofing off.
 
You’re right, all jobs are open to goofing off. But name me another place where it’s protected.


It's not protected, Brother.......Unions neither hire,...nor do they fire. The companies do both,...but the Union ...by law,......must represent ..UNILATERALLY,....to the best of their ability,......any lazy slug the company has hired.

Do the companies hire "lazy people"? Or,...do they create them? Either way,....they know the Union must use it's resources to fight for that employee. As a former steward, I can tell you it's not cheap to defend the indefensible.....

Companies tend to use a chronically "lazy" person as a bargaining chip to eliminate other grievances that affect the company much worse than Mr.Goof-Off.....

The scenario goes: "We'll give McLazy his job back,.....if you sign off on these three grievances about supervisors working.."

So,.....what do you do?

Companies LOVE the McLazys,.....They become the foil to actual and valid grievances.....

I had one guy who was actually documented shopping in a store,....accidentially left his handheld on a store shelf,....drove back about 5 miles to retrieve it, only to find someone had stole it,...and the GPS signal ended in a creek 2 miles away, when the thief realized it was worthless to a civilian.......Wasted about 3 hours,.....

Did the company fire him? Oh, no.........They threatened to,...unless several grievances and barn conditions were given up.....and when I refused to,........weighing the grievances and conditions more important than our impromptu shopper..(..who I had to defend in any case to the best of my ability, WITHOUT bargaining grievances...).....the company wrote a mere warning letter (..I wrote the rebuttal..).and REINSTATED Mr. McLazy!

They KNOW he will screw up again,......and they KNOW next time it might be Monty Hall time for important Union positions........So they keep him around.......

The Union knows it,...the Company knows it,...I knew it,......the other employees knew it,.......The only one who wasn't aware that his lackadasical attitude about work was going to be used by the company to tear down barn conditions.........was McLazy HIMSELF!

So,.....did the Union protect him,..in the name of Justice and Fairness?.....or did the company protect him,..in the event they could use his misdemeanors as a bargaining chip to erode conditions,...because the Union is required to "Save Our Brother."?
 
Name one place where it is protected, stealing time or property is a deadly sin, union can't help, so where is this place you speak of that this is a protected activity?

I believe brother canary made my case for me below. The union has to defend the slackers as well as the hard workers, so tell me how that doesn’t breed a culture of slackers? I may be painting with a broad brush, but human nature is pretty predictable.

“They can work me long, but they can’t work me hard...”
 
"MY, how times have changed" Song, I guess you probably know I was a line driver in my days, I ran 3 Charl. to Jax. trips each week, paid 391 miles, I don't recall many trips south, that I didn't catch a nap around Estell S.C.
That is, if some disrespectful Carolina or C F, didn't beat me to my Oak Tree.
I was only caught sleeping once by our saftey man, punishment was swift and harsh, he apologised for waking
me, said "when you finish your nap, come on down the road, and I'll buy your breakfast"
I'd say we were rewarded for our goofing off.

I feel ya there, being a road driver is a little different. Getting mileage pay, it really doesn’t matter how long the run takes, you get paid the same. Only thing you can be guilty of is holding up due freight. I used to catch an occasional nap while on the extra board, being married to the phone is hard on the sleep schedule. We don’t do 3 hour call blocks either, so you’re subject to being called at any time.
 
Sure, because naps are a regular part of work. Maybe on lunch... this would have been back before the handheld days, when a guy could get away with jerking around on company time. And as I recall, the greatest protest to the advent of handhelds came from union drivers. Probably because of that electronic leash you’re talking about. That can really cramp someone’s nap schedule.

Believe me, it’s not an isolated event either.
Song, when I was a city driver for Marten-Brower I, and most local runs, had nap time built in. Lunch time was blacked out for deliveries to restaurants like Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Lone Star Steak House, Long John silver's, etc. Most runs had 3 hours (11am-3pm) non delivery time. And when I worked for Wilson Freight there was at least 1 or 2 days a week when I would have ALL my deliveries made but no scheduled pickups available. So dispatch instructions were something like 'take a nap and call me back in an hour and maybe I'll have something for you then.' Both these companies where non-union.
 
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