michael
Chicago area
I have been watching this post with interest, can anyone tell me how much interest is being generated in the APWA , and support this information ? I have not formed an opinion on the APWA and would like to know how much interest the rank and file has shown in it up to this point.
wkmac
Well-Known Member
michael said:
I think overall it's not that much. In fairness to APWA it's only been within the last 6 months to a year that APWA has really got going. They have held meetings in a number of places and to the numbers or success I can not say as I don't know. What I can say is that they have generated a lot of backlash and growing from the IBT lapdogs so that should suggest something is up. I suspect if not already that TDU will join Hoffa & company as an ally against APWA if it does in fact grow to a bigger threat.
There are till many, many questons left out there concerning APWA but I will suggest this. Read over the various ideas on their website and I mean down to specific details. Once you feel pretty good at expressing and explaining those ideas, then go to your co-workers and ask their opinion of some of these ideas. Don't say a thing about this coming from a possible alternative union to the IBT but just throw out the ideas themselves and as much specifics as you can give them. Then watch the reaction. I've found overwhelmingly that people ponder and give great thought to the ideas and consider them worthy of merit and broader consideration. Now you can tell them at this point about it coming from an alternative union front and then the signals generally become mixed with the majority still not liking IBT but too afraid to make the switch either and mostly because the union has control of our bennies. Union sure knew what they were doing when they made that move!
APWA itself may not be the answer but as I've said before, it doesn't stop us from using it to force the IBT in a direction more favorable to us UPSers either.
JMO
Michael I know the APWA has been in several states and working their way to you, send a message to them showing your interest,ask questions I know they are very busy but they will get back to you, The APWA has been in 26 plus states and have a majority in every state they have been, in 19 of those states theyy have an overwhelming majority, my center is about 85-90% infavor of the change there are several good people in a lot of states working hard to see it through.michael said:
U
UPS FREIGHT WORKER
Guest
UPS FREIGHT/Overnite has a 5o cent per dollar match, up to 7% not 12% and not dollar for dollar. Our pension is fully funded and has more flexability than the Cen states, but is not as much money when you retire. With 30 years at $60,000 per year you get about $2,500 a month, but who knows how long it will be till the pension is done away with and all liabilities paid out.A single pension fund is much more easy to eliminate than a multi-employer one. The crap is thick!
tieguy
Banned
UPS FREIGHT WORKER said:
A single employer plan that folds pays about three times what a multi-employer plan that folds does. You can always look for negatives and positives. Just depends on what you want to focus on. One of our drivers talked to a ups frieght guy in the salisbury maryland area that claimed the 401 K plan maxed out at a 12 percent match. Our driver is a steward in salisbury and he is a reliable source.
Does anybody really think that the Federal Government will permit the multi employer pension fund to fold, think of the liability with the Federal pension insurance. The recent rush of corporations and companys filing bankruptcy, raiding the benefits programs for it's employees, destroying collective barginning agreements then reorganizing and making the shareowners and executives feed on the profits are over when this pension reform act goes through. Especially like the provision about if the employer decides to cast off their responsibiity of paying for promised pension benefits for it's employees they would lose also any golden parachute packages that executives and the sort currently enjoy. In other words if corporations decide to play the game the Feds will bascially take ALL their ASSETS or be forced to pay more in these plans to get them to the required funding levels. The same provision will also be applied to all the multi-employer trusts, sometimes we forget that these funds are not totally controlled by the unions, have we forgot the the board of trustees that control these plans for the best interest of it's participants are a equal balance of corporate and union executives. Where were these company trustees when these plans started to go south, or was it a calculated decision to destroy their collective barginning agreements and make the federal government pay for their greed.
The new pension reform bill requires 100 percent funding within a certain time frame, believe it is seven years for most of the underfunding pension funds. Corporations will be forced to pay more to cover that requirement once this bill passes, could be why the company and union are willing to negotiate earlier than "2008". Again this is not like the steel industry and airlines, enormous profits have been made over the years by the company, it could easily provide monetary contributions to cover the pension for every teamster retiree. People like to mention that these future teamster retirees from other companies will cut into our pension benefits, but are we forgetting that they were paying into that plan the same as we were per contractual agreeements. The real problem was these companies that bailed out of their responsibility to provide funding for it's retirees without any penalty or accountability.
Remember when the mess of the central states plan started to get noticed that Hoffa personally went to these companies in that plan and asked for more money to help the underfunding. From my understanding they told him to take a hike, that they were under no obligation to pay more than the contractual agreement. A planned calculated attempt to get out of it's obligations only the shadow knows
The new pension reform bill requires 100 percent funding within a certain time frame, believe it is seven years for most of the underfunding pension funds. Corporations will be forced to pay more to cover that requirement once this bill passes, could be why the company and union are willing to negotiate earlier than "2008". Again this is not like the steel industry and airlines, enormous profits have been made over the years by the company, it could easily provide monetary contributions to cover the pension for every teamster retiree. People like to mention that these future teamster retirees from other companies will cut into our pension benefits, but are we forgetting that they were paying into that plan the same as we were per contractual agreeements. The real problem was these companies that bailed out of their responsibility to provide funding for it's retirees without any penalty or accountability.
Remember when the mess of the central states plan started to get noticed that Hoffa personally went to these companies in that plan and asked for more money to help the underfunding. From my understanding they told him to take a hike, that they were under no obligation to pay more than the contractual agreement. A planned calculated attempt to get out of it's obligations only the shadow knows
1. Any hours worked over 8.5 is paid at tripple time. Sooner or later the union has to make it more expensive for the company to force employees to work excessive overtime instead of hiring more full timers.
2. No employee required to work in excess of 11 hours. All overtime after 11 must be volluntery.
3. All 22.3 jobs brought up to the same wage as package car drivers. Allowing package car drivers to bid these jobs without a loss of pay.
4. Increase all start rates for parttimers to 12 an hour. You can't live on the kind of money they are paying these parttimers.
5. Increase sick days to 8.
6. Increase options days to 5.
7. Any member discharged, for any reason, to continue working until the grievance process is completed. If the company claims dishonesty caused the termination then the matter goes directly before the national panel, while the employee continues to work, or the company can put the employee on adminstrative leave with pay.
8. All warning letters must go before the appropriate grievance panel. This will insure the company stops issuing bogus warning letters as a form of intimidation.
9. Contract length of 4 years.
10. Wage increases of $1.00 per hour for length of contract.
2. No employee required to work in excess of 11 hours. All overtime after 11 must be volluntery.
3. All 22.3 jobs brought up to the same wage as package car drivers. Allowing package car drivers to bid these jobs without a loss of pay.
4. Increase all start rates for parttimers to 12 an hour. You can't live on the kind of money they are paying these parttimers.
5. Increase sick days to 8.
6. Increase options days to 5.
7. Any member discharged, for any reason, to continue working until the grievance process is completed. If the company claims dishonesty caused the termination then the matter goes directly before the national panel, while the employee continues to work, or the company can put the employee on adminstrative leave with pay.
8. All warning letters must go before the appropriate grievance panel. This will insure the company stops issuing bogus warning letters as a form of intimidation.
9. Contract length of 4 years.
10. Wage increases of $1.00 per hour for length of contract.
teamsterdan
Well-Known Member
my personal solution to the 9.5 problem would be to identify the routes / areas that typically run over and bid them out monthly or however same deal for routes / areas that get little or no ot........seeing my wage as a 22.3 employee jump to the same $$$ as drivers may cause me to change my handel to UPSDAN.......now I'm not saying that 8.50 is much; it's what I started @ in 93......both the market for workers and employers have changed drastically, the work and the benifits have not....in 93, 8.50 was a decent wage, most employees were like me and going to school, never though twice abt. the health care benifits unless we got in a bar fight and needed stitches.......now 8.50 is a joke especially for the nature of the work BUT 4 hrs. a day, virtually FREE health care....now you get single parents or spouses who work a 2nd job, THIS job specifically for the families health care.....I have seen so many part-timers who quit or passover driving jobs because "the supervisors are too hard on them" that on avg. you can go from part-time off the street here, to driver in less than 5 yrs........I say friend'em make the wage $9.....As far as the APWA being god's gift to the labor mvmt. blah fing blah..... the teamsters changing, sucking, what ever...is the fault of us the members letting it get that/this way .......I personally don't do enough, but then again neither do they, in reality we must all know that it's by far one of the best deals around otherwise most of us would be else where.....
You're dreaming. Nice thought though.happybob said:
I like it. You go, bob.happybob said:
Possible, but not likely, and I personally don't see it as a big issue. The combo jobs are much easier, and I think the pay difference is commensurate with that.happybob said:
You're not supposed to live on a part time job. That's what fulltime jobs are for.happybob said:
You GO, bob!happybob said:
Workplace violence?happybob said:
The grievance machinery is seriously broken, we need deeper changes than this to make it effective. Making warning letters into panel cases will just add to the current backlog.happybob said:
By the time they finish wining and dining 'ol Jimmy boy, he's gonna bend over and give them 10. You heard it here first.happybob said:
That's the bare minimum, and we'll be lucky to get it.happybob said:
