Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 15, 1994 TAG: 9403150203
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Spouses and children of local UPS workers have protested a company change that increased the maximum weight of UPS packages from 70 to 150 pounds.
UPS' Roanoke operations were thrust into the spotlight of a national debate over the weight increase when a local driver claimed he was fired for refusing to lift one of the heavier packages.
Carl Richardson, a Teamsters shop steward at the UPS Roanoke hub, has filed a grievance over his firing, but said he expects it will be at least a month before his case is heard. Richardson's wife and two children picketed the UPS facility last week.
Monday morning, they were joined by about 25 relatives of other UPS workers. The demonstration lasted a little more than an hour.
Debbie Scott protested because, she said, her 21-year-old son strained ligaments in his back lifting a 90-pound package.
Scott said her son, Patrick Kelley, was taken to the hospital by ambulance Wednesday after trying to lift the package onto a conveyor belt.
``It just twisted his back,'' she said. Kelley, a Roanoke College senior, works part time as a package sorter at UPS. Scott said no packages over 70 pounds were supposed to come through her son's work area.
Kelley has filed a worker's compensation claim with the state.
Scott said the injury will prevent her son from graduating, because he can't complete two physical education classes.
``We don't know when the doctor is going to let him go back to school,'' she said.
Repeated calls to UPS officials in Roanoke were not answered Monday.
Scott said the company did send Kelley a letter saying they were sorry about the accident.
by CNB