KMART DISTRIBUTION CENTER Union files charge over evaluation system

Older workers have trouble meeting work demands, the union says.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
BAZETTA -- Workers at the Kmart Distribution Center are being pushed too hard by an unfair evaluation system, a union official said.
"It's a pretty nerve-racking environment," said Carmen Greene, president of United Auto Workers Local 2901, which represents about 480 workers and 40 people on layoff.
The union has about 100 grievances pending with the company and two weeks ago filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board that says it has been denied information about the evaluation system.
A Kmart spokesman couldn't be reached to comment.
The system is especially unfair to older workers, Green said.
"You hire a guy when he's 20 years old. Now he's in his 40s and he's not quick enough. That's ridiculous," Green said.
He said the union has filed a grievance over a 59-year-old worker who was fired this week because he wasn't meeting demands placed on him.
Green said workers are aware that Kmart is a struggling company, having emerged from bankruptcy court protection last year, and that jobs are hard to come by in today's economy. Still, the workers believe they have to stand up to what they think is an unfair evaluation, he said.
Worker expectations
The system sets expectations for how much work employees are to do. For example, it says workers unloading trucks should handle so many cases an hour and workers in the warehouse should pick a certain number of boxes per hour.
Greene said workers can give 100 percent effort and still not meet the expected rate.
There may not be enough work available on a given day or an assignment given by management could prevent the rate from being met, he said. The system doesn't adequately take into consideration the size or location of different boxes, he said.
Contract provisions
The system was an issue in labor contract negotiations last year. Greene said that the resulting contract deals with the system for the first time, but that not all the provisions are being followed.
For example, the union is seeking help from the NLRB because it has been blocked from obtaining information about development of the standards, he said. The NLRB said it has the case under investigation.
About the first of the year, Kmart closed a distribution center in Massachusetts and realigned its remaining warehouse operations, he said.
The local center gained more stores that it ships to, but lost some larger stores, he said. The changes made workers' jobs harder because they must reach the evaluation's quota by filling smaller orders, he said.
shilling@vindy.com