UPS Inc. (NYSE:UPS) said it is testing advanced technology that it claims will enhance driver and public safety, to the chagrin of a Teamsters union dissident group that warns the company could be continuing a decades-long pattern of leveraging technology to harass its drivers.
The Atlanta-based company has installed the “Lytx Drivecam” in its familiar brown vans at four centers in Texas and Oklahoma. It is the first step in a plan to install the technology nationwide, according to the Teamsters For a Democratic Union (TDU), a group at constant war with mainstream Teamster leadership and deeply suspicious of UPS’ labor-related initiatives.
UPS, which is the largest Teamster employer with about 252,000 members, would not comment on whether a nationwide rollout is planned.
In a statement emailed to FreightWaves late Friday afternoon, UPS said that two devices are being tested: One is an in-cab sensor that monitors driving habits and sends an audible alert to the driver to take “corrective action.” The other is an outward-facing camera that alerts the driver if the vehicle drifts on the roadway or if a potential hazard is detected.
The in-cab device does not have video or audio capability. The outward-facing device records video for use in accident claims and to raise awareness of safe driving behaviors, UPS said in the statement. The devices, which are enhancements to telematics systems in place for more than 20 years, are part of UPS’ ongoing effort to keep “our people and the driving public safe,” the company said.
In an internal memo issued Wednesday, Dennis Taylor, director of the Teamsters’ package division, said it is “investigating the enhancements” as it relates to contract language addressing how UPS’ technology changes affect the labor-management relationship.
“We have been assured by UPS that there is no driver-facing video or audio capability,” Taylor said in the memo. He advised Teamster officials to contact the division if they have any verifiable information to the contrary.
That doesn’t sit well with Ken Paff, TDU’s long-time national organizer and the group’s point man on matters concerning UPS and other Teamster employers. UPS Teamsters, he said, “know all too well how management abuses telematics to harass and discipline (its) drivers. The technology being tested could be another layer in the company’s efforts to hassle its drivers while they’re on the road,” Paff said.
Paff accused the administration of Teamster President James P. Hoffa, which the TDU opposes, for accepting at face value UPS’ explanation of how the technology will be used. Paff called the Taylor memo “weak,” and said union workers “cannot afford to wait until management activates all of the spyware’s capability before our union takes action.”
Over the decades, there have been union anecdotes of UPS using telematics as a tool to harass drivers about the amount of time spent at one stop, or how long it took to arrive at the next stop, among other things.
Jason
If they actually cared about our safety and us falling asleep at the wheel, then they would hire enough people to get the job done and not force us to work 60-70 hours a week. Tbey don’t care about safety. They care about us costing them money.
tbd
At our center, every truck has something wrong with it. Diad cradles that are broken, many trucks dont even have cradles to charge the diad or give gps. Preload scanners that you can barely read the labels, broken or missing rollers, horns that dont work in the trucks. No fans for the drivers nevermind an ac. And now with Failure 3.0, the new orion update, the diads are as slow as a 1990’s dialup computer. Its the way ups management allocates its resources that I think makes teamsters detest them. Instead of fixing any of the above problems, they’re looking for ways to harass the people who bring home the bacon for them everyday. Who deal with dogs running at them everyday, who deal with idiot drivers talking on cell phones and doing their make-up while driving everyday. If amazon or FedEx started paying a ups wage tomorrow, I’d be willing to bet nearly all ups drivers would be switching companies. It’s tough staying loyal to a company that is constantly gunning for you
Derek Ockenfels
Great tool, i now have to press a button to shut off my engine and count to three and press it again to open my bulkhead door. Telematics wastes company money but makes me work less.
Hard worker
UPS is one of the last companies where a high school graduate can make a really good living. I mean really GOOD. Think about it, we’re one of the highest paid truck drivers, full paid insurance, a pension, and a union that will uphold us in anything right or wrong. So if by using technology to hold extremely high paid drivers accountable for their actions. I say it’s well worth it. Just go to work, do the job, and go home. Simple right? Not for us union employees.
Jerry Edwards
We all know how hard we work we also know how much we get paid but the biggest problem isn’t how fast you do your job it’s about management accountability apparently nobody knows how to fix the problem anymore and passes it on to the drivers whenever they don’t get it done in time because of managements lack of ability they blame it on the drivers so do not tell us how much money we week we earned every dime of it
Joe blow
Maybe they should save the money it takes to buy and install all this technology, and buy use safe trucks and dads that work. O and maybe a decent dolly.
Joe Rab
I am a long time UPSER..newly retired. I can say the telematics can be great tool.
If a driver is doing the right thing, shouldn’t be an issue.However, if anyone on the management team doesn’t. like the employee , they will go out of their way to nail them.
John
UPS management never tells the truth. They try to say it’s all about safety, when actually they want to spy on the driver’s. I know as I’m a 22 year teamster employed at UPS. As soon as the figure out how it can be used effectively for spying on us, they will. Look on YouTube for the camera, it records both audio and visual all the time. Not just prior or after an accident or a sudden swerve. Manchester NH UPSer.
BB
Will save UPS a vast amount of money lost through accident claims due to negligence on behalf of employees’ which work unsupervised.