New Bedford Man Claims Harassment and Bullying by UPS Supervisor

FRANKLIN (WBSM) — A New Bedford man has claimed that his manager at a UPS facility assaulted him and that he is being subjected to a campaign of harassment and bullying, and his union is standing by him.

On Thursday, Teamsters Local 25 held a rally for shop steward Carlos Pina outside of the UPS processing facility in Franklin.

Dozens of fellow union members showed up in support of Pina, who said his phone was slapped out of his hand by his division manager when he attempted to show him photos on his phone of OSHA violations back in April.

“I went to him with a safety concern about an OSHA violation he had in his building, and he fell into a fit of rage, ripping my phone out of my hand, grabbing my wrist, resulting in a severely sprained wrist when I went to Bellingham Urgent Care,” Pina said.

Pina has claimed that even after the incident, he has been harassed and bullied.

“The atmosphere now at UPS is constant harassment. I feel like I’m not wanted here,” he said.

Pina described some of the bullying he said he's had to endure.

“I came in after doing light duty for two weeks, I came into work to drawings, somebody drew pictures of an Academy Award-winning trophy and my wrist, and put it on my union bulletin board. They’re just constantly mocking me, and they think it’s a game.”

“Nothing has happened to this guy,” he said. “There’s supposed to be zero tolerance for workplace violence, and they’re encouraging it.”

Pina has the full support of his union brethren.

“Our members will not tolerate this company’s bullying, especially when it uses discrimination to impede the work of our dedicated shop stewards,” said Tom Mari, President of Local 25 and Secretary-Treasurer of Joint Council 10.

“We are determined to stand-up to this harassment and will be persistent in pursuing this case and will never stop fighting for our members," he said. "We are sending a strong message to UPS that Teamsters will not tolerate harassment and we will hit back at the company every time they violate our members’ Article 37 rights.”

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UPS did not directly address Pina’s accusation against his supervisor when reached by WBSM for comment.

"UPS is a people-led company, and we are committed to promoting a safe and rewarding work environment for all our employees. We do not tolerate harassment or discrimination of any kind and provide our employees with several ways to share their concerns and issues so they are promptly addressed in the appropriate manner,” a UPS spokesperson said in a statement to WBSM.