ups 804 pension
- Thread starter brez3903
- Start date
wkmac
Well-Known Member
Brez,
I can't speak to the specifics of 804 but here's what we've seen in Central States. Starting in 2004' the union has taken the contractual increases for healthcare and transferred them to the pension fund. As a result, a number of major changes to the Central States healthcare have come out to where the participate is having to lay out much more than the $20 co-pay these days. Central States in a cost savings move have now placed us under Blue Cross & Blue Shield along with a number of other measures in order to save money. The reason is that CS has told it's members that all healthcare increases through the end of the current contract will be taken and move to the pension fund to shore up it's shortfall liabilities. In other words, for now and the next 2 years, your healthcare will be purchased with 2003' contracr dollar levels. Know any doctors or healthcare providers giving service these days as 2003' cost levels? Yeah, me neither.
As to your pension fund, you might consider this document from Central States just released a few weeks ago in that the employers were facing an excise tax from the IRS to cover the shortfall so all the recent events are likely more to do with that than anything else.
Personally, I'd rather give up some raise and leave the healthcare alone but the union can't go along with that because they need the dues increases from the raises in order to keep their own financial fortunes alive.
In the end, we are getting squeezed by both the union and the company although I blame the union much more because the company signed a contract in good faith and it's not their mission to look out for the employee interests but rather the interest of the company as a whole and the shareholders.
I'd suggest you save all you can going forward and also be prepared for an alternative career past your retirement/leaving from UPS. The other alternative is UPS better be prepared for having a much older workforce who will know all the ends and outs of the job (very job smart) but will not have the same physical abilities in speed and performance they once had. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that where a load of packages may only require 4 package cars and 4 35 year old drivers to deliver, it may take 6 cars and 6 drivers when you are dealing with 60 year olds. And dealing with those Over 70's? Get ready for a lot of "I need help with this Over-70" phone calls.
Oh wait, you have PAS so you can dispatch the lighter packages into the routes of the 4 old souls and collaspe all the heavies and Over-70's into one route of a young and buff 35 year old and you can look good to the Div. Man. and IE because you saved a route and driver but look really close at those number. Sure you save a car and driver but you heavies driver is having to go all over the place and his/her SPORH as a result is horrible which drags down the total. Now add in the extract fuel he/she has to burn going all over, duplicate cars in the same area at the same time and in some cases duplicate stops at the same customer and not to mention the extra ordinary miles on the single car which would prematurely age and shorten it's own fleet lifespan not to mention a more accelerated maintenance schedule with automotive and that one car/ one driver savings is quickly gone and in fact you've now busted your own business and cost plan!
Us increasingly older cats may at the end of the day be like the Fram oil filter. You can pay us now (the cost of the oil filter) or you can pay us later (the cost of a new engine or entire vehicle)? At the end of the day this thing may end up coming down to just such a scenario.
Oh, one other thing. Imagine a center of 70 drivers where 55 of them have 6 or more weeks vacation not to mention the option week which because of age will be used as call in days as us old farts are starting to have failing health issues. How many extra drivers on the payroll just to cover the vacations alone!
This thing is going to come down to pure economics in the long run and although the company has the clear upperhand right now, in the few years ahead that dynamic may begin to shift and it's is possible we could begin to see a buyout for the older hourly employees if enough of them begin to stick around. That likelyhood increases as more and more pension funds follow Central States IMO.
local804
Well-Known Member
The trustees from local 804 voted AGAINST the 30% hold back. There is another thread re:this made a few weeks ago.Look into that post.
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