4 ms·

I worked for UPS before going to college. It was a strong union shop, and I have decidedly different memories of it. When I slipped on a set of stairs and hurt

by revscat 10y ago

I worked for UPS before going to college. It was a strong union shop, and I have decidedly different memories of it. When I slipped on a set of stairs and hurt my head, my manager immediately rushed me to the doctor and gave me the day off. The pay was good for an 18 year old without a degree, and I had full health/401k.

sokoloff 10y ago
There are many non-union shops that would have done the same thing after your fall. In fact, I'd wager to say almost all of them with more than a handful of employees. (Mom and Pop places may have you "walk it off", but beyond that, through a combination of genuine concern for employees and HR/Safety policies, you'd be attended to.)
- programminggeek 10y ago
  Oh there are many many non union shops that would NOT do the same thing and many places wouldn't offer health insurance or 401k at all.
  - jtbigwoo 10y ago
    Agreed. I know anecdotes aren’t data, but here are some of the workplace injuries I witnessed before I got a white collar job: Hardees - frier accident=third degree burn. Management told her to finish the dinner rush. Two days later when her leg wasn't healing she went to the doctor. The owners never paid for the doctor, fought her workers comp claim, and fired her a few weeks after she came back to work. Little Caesar's - cook slipped and got a deep cut on his arm. The manager tried to keep him at work until he ruined a couple pizzas by bleeding on them. He drove himself to the emergency room. He quit the next month when the owners refused to pay for the emergency room bill. UPS - When I worked at a bookstore, the UPS guy who delivered to our mall came in with a terrible limp. A stack of boxes had fallen on him as they were loading the truck. His manager told him to complete his shift since they didn’t have any other drivers. He ended up needing knee surgery and having to fight the company for months for workers comp. To UPS’s credit, they didn’t fire him and he was still working for UPS when I quit the bookstore job. (I lived in a right-to-work state, so I don’t think the UPS drivers were unionized.)
    - serge2k 10y ago
      > right-to-work I hate that phrase so much. Crushing unions described as protecting worker rights.
arcticfox 10y ago
That just sounds like a nice person. Union/non union would never cross my mind if someone had a head injury. What would cross my mind, even if I was a bad person, is that it sounds totally illegal to make someone keep working with a head injury (regardless of unions). I don't know if it actually is, but I'm guessing mid-level UPS managers don't either.

by revscat 10y ago

sokoloff 10y ago

There are many non-union shops that would have done the same thing after your fall. In fact, I'd wager to say almost all of them with more than a handful of employees. (Mom and Pop places may have you "walk it off", but beyond that, through a combination of genuine concern for employees and HR/Safety policies, you'd be attended to.)

programminggeek 10y ago
Oh there are many many non union shops that would NOT do the same thing and many places wouldn't offer health insurance or 401k at all.
- jtbigwoo 10y ago
  Agreed. I know anecdotes aren’t data, but here are some of the workplace injuries I witnessed before I got a white collar job: Hardees - frier accident=third degree burn. Management told her to finish the dinner rush. Two days later when her leg wasn't healing she went to the doctor. The owners never paid for the doctor, fought her workers comp claim, and fired her a few weeks after she came back to work. Little Caesar's - cook slipped and got a deep cut on his arm. The manager tried to keep him at work until he ruined a couple pizzas by bleeding on them. He drove himself to the emergency room. He quit the next month when the owners refused to pay for the emergency room bill. UPS - When I worked at a bookstore, the UPS guy who delivered to our mall came in with a terrible limp. A stack of boxes had fallen on him as they were loading the truck. His manager told him to complete his shift since they didn’t have any other drivers. He ended up needing knee surgery and having to fight the company for months for workers comp. To UPS’s credit, they didn’t fire him and he was still working for UPS when I quit the bookstore job. (I lived in a right-to-work state, so I don’t think the UPS drivers were unionized.)
  - serge2k 10y ago
    > right-to-work I hate that phrase so much. Crushing unions described as protecting worker rights.

arcticfox 10y ago

That just sounds like a nice person. Union/non union would never cross my mind if someone had a head injury. What would cross my mind, even if I was a bad person, is that it sounds totally illegal to make someone keep working with a head injury (regardless of unions). I don't know if it actually is, but I'm guessing mid-level UPS managers don't either.