Local driver says he's been abused

UPS drivers are taking a lot of abuse from motorists across northern Indiana, even though they are not on strike.

"I've been flipped off so many times today," said "Tom," a Warsaw man who works at the UPS hub in Bourbon.

Another driver who lives in Kosciusko County reported some semis tried to run his UPS truck off the highway.

Instead of being happy the delivery service is in operation, many people seem angry to see UPS trucks out on the road. Tom thinks they are Teamsters who believe local workers have crossed the picket lines.

But the Bourbon delivery center, unlike many hubs across the country, is not on strike. Bourbon is under the jurisdiction of Teamsters Local 710 out of Chicago, which already negotiated its contract with UPS.

"There are Teamster UPS members who are not on strike," said Tom. "... We are required to work. If I don't, I'll be fired.

"(The Teamsters) didn't come and picket the Bourbon center," he said. "We would not have crossed a picket line if there was one at our center."

He said the first day of the strike, Monday, was normal because of packages still in the UPS system. But only two employees were scheduled Tuesday in a branch that normally runs 50 routes. Tom, who said he is 12th out of 25 drivers, worked Friday after being laid off Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

He said local UPS employees are in the dark as to what is going on with the strike. "We have heard nothing from the union or the company through the whole thing - all the information we've gotten is through the media.

"We certainly have no control over the situation,^ he said.

If local drivers had their way, there might not even be a strike. "I don't think many drivers in this area agree with the strike," he said. "We're not crossing the picket lines - we're just trying to do our job like we do every day."