Supervisors aren’t helping us when they do bargaining unit work. They’re taking money out of our wallets. Members lose out on the opportunity to work extra hours—even overtime.

UPS has to pay members who file a grievance double-time pay for supervisors working violations. 

Under the new contract, if the same supervisor is found guilty of doing our work three times in any nine-month period, the penalty for that supervisor’s violations will be  three times the employee’s rate of pay for the time worked by the supervisor.

Local 623 members are winning grievances against Supervisors working. You can too. This advice sheet spells out winning tactics to stop Supervisors Working and make UPS pay for violations.

ASK THEM TO STOP.

According to Article 3 Section 7 of the UPS Master Contract “the Employer agrees that supervisors or other employees of the Employer who are not members of the bargaining unit shall not perform any bargaining unit work.” When you see a supervisor working, ask them to stop.

ASK TO DO THE WORK INSTEAD.

Ask the supervisor to be able to do the work or ask the supervisor to leave it so that you, or the most senior union employee who wants the work, can do it later.

WRITE DOWN THE DATE & TIME.

We need a record of WHEN the violation occurred. Write down the date and time. For night shifts that start on one day but finish the next day, be clear about the date so there are no arguments later.

WRITE DOWN WHERE THE SUPERVISOR WORKED AND WHAT THEY DID.

Write down the details. What area (package car, box line, slide, belt, assignment, area such as small sort or unload, PD 2,4,6,8 etc.) And write down the work they did. And make sure to record the supervisor’s name! If they won’t give you a name write down a description of the supervisor. The more detail the better.

FILE THE GRIEVANCE.

To win the grievance, we need a record of the basic facts. Documenting a sups working violation is not hard. Just make sure to include the five W’s:

• Who was working?
• What work were they doing?
• Where were they doing it? (Which box line or work area etc.)
• When did they start working and when did they stop? Including starting and stop time will give management less wiggle room to debate how long the supervisor worked.
• Witnesses, if any. Witnesses aren’t required but having them strengthens your case.

Once you’ve documented these facts, talk to your steward about filing a grievance.

WHAT DOES THE CONTRACT SAY?

Article 3, Section 7 of the National Contract says that the company shall not “send any employee home and then have such employee’s work performed by a supervisor” and that the company must “maintain a sufficient workforce to staff its operations with bargaining unit employees.” (Article 3, Section 7—National Contract)

If you see a supervisor working, make a note of any members who were sent home early. That information will make it harder for UPS to blame absenteeism for the fact that supervisors were doing our work.

Article 3, Section 7 also says that the company shall ““exhaust all established local practices to first use bargaining unit employees including double shifting, early call-in and overtime.”

If management did not ask members to double shift, come in early or work overtime, then they don’t have an excuse for supervisors working.