Question for UPS Drivers.

Hi,
I am a Fedex Contractor we make no money and we would like to get unionized. We ALL envy those brown trucks that pass us. But I have a question for you guys to settle a bet. I was told by another Contractor that UPS does not have Medical Insurance for you. I was also told that a UPS drivers that work 5years makes the same as a UPS drivers that has work 25 years. I also was told that UPS does not offer you a retirement package. Could someone answer this for me?

UPS does not provide the medical plan per se. The Teamsters provide the plan, and UPS pays for it. Likewise with the retirement. It is offered at the union local level, and paid for by the company. Retirement benefits vary from local to local, but the medical and related benefits are really better than what management gets.

The pay issue is not described accurately. A driver with 5 years as a driver does not make the same as a driver with 25 years of experience. There is no upward cap on wages at UPS. It goes up a % each year according to the contract, period. Where there could be clarification needed is where someone works for the company for some period of time in a union or non-union position but does not go driving at the first opportunity. That person may go driving at some point well into a career, and thus make something similar to what a driver that went into that position at an earlier date is making. Moving in and out of management and union positions (which is somewhat rare) can play games with compensation levels as well.

Every driver in our center makes exactly the same wage per hour after the 2 year progression. 2 years or 35 its 23.95 per

I have free medical insurance for my family of 5..small copay on certain items. All drivers with 2 years senority up make the same.Our retirement at my center...3500 a month.

Up here in Canada, we get our extended medical and dental coverage after 6 months whether you are part time or full time. Basic medical is free to all Canadians but the system is crippling our country (but thats another story!) Full time package drivers make a top rate of $20.81 Cdn per hour after a 3 year progression. Works out to a fair bit less than what you guys make down there, but then again UPS holds only 10% of the market up here so we haven't really earned those superfat paycheques just yet (or so they tell us).

Kid more or less gave a misleading answer. Medical care is not "free". It is part of what is called the compensation package. But unfortunatly you can not opt out of it, because it is teamster run. Those of us with alternate insurance should be able to opt out of it and get the money paid for it added to our pay. Depending on where you live and what contract you work under that would add an additional 140-250 dollars to your paycheck.

d

Wow. Can't complain about our arrangement then.

<font color="ff0000">Kid more or less gave a misleading answer. Medical care is not "free". It is part of what is called the compensation package. But unfortunatly you can not opt out of it, because it is teamster run. Those of us with alternate insurance should be able to opt out of it and get the money paid for it added to our pay.

</font><font color="000000">Yeah, it's a darn shame that you are FORCED to have one of the best health care plans in the nation. Doggone those wily teamsters! Your answer is far more misleading than Kid's. I don't know of any companies off the top of my head that will let you "opt-out" of the company health plan and cut you a check for it instead. </font>

Sure you do Deliver Man - it's called UPS.
If employees covered under the Flexible Benefits Plan have other insurance, through their parents, spouse or another job, they do get to opt out of the plan and instead get money in their check each week.

curses! foiled again....

And it just so happens that my wife has MUCH better insurance than we do.

On a side note, What little hers does not pay, if ours is so good, why should I ever have to pay a thing out of pocket. Yet last year they(teamsters) paid right at 1100 and I paid out of pocket over 4200 that they did not pay. And that was after my wifes paid the bills. So that extra 250 per week would be much better spent by me than them, dont you agree? HEll if they just paid the amount they spend on postage telling me what they will not pay, it would have paid most of the bill.

d

dannyboy, I understand what you are saying, but you should also feel luck to 1) have insurance and 2) be lucky enough to have two great policies.

Yes the money would be nice to have in your pocket, but if that is the only cross you have to bear you are better off then most.

Trouble

Why should I feel lucky? I am paying for the two policies. That is the problem. Its called my money going down the drain for nothing.

d

danny,
Because most American's don't have insurance.
You stated you paid 4200 oop (out of pocket), but the other policy should have paid, at least a part of it. Imagine if you only one policy, or if you had none (like most of working people) what the cost would be. The 250 you think you would get (you wouldn't get the full amout) a week for not having insurance would cover everything?? Not even close, I've been there and done that.

Insurance is not cheap and insurance and will not always cover everything. No policy does.

Not looking for a fight just trying to put a positve spin on an issue that plagues this nation.

Danny,
I will not pretend to understand how our insurance works because I really don't. What I do know though is that 2 years ago I had cancer and went through months of treatment. It was extremely unpleasent and very expensive. I survived it physically because of the excellant care I recieved. I survived it financially because of the insurance I have at UPS. I also received some disability pay through all of it which came through the teamsters. Had I not had this coverage I would be in debt for the rest of my life. (Or dead) Trouble 1903 is correct in saying we are the fortunate ones. I couldn't agree more.

First off, dont get me wrong, we do have better than average insurance. But when you have additional insurance(and my wifes is the primary for the family except me) Teamsters will try and do anything to keep from paying anything. The 1100 Teamsters paid was on me, not anything on the copay or deductable on the others in the family. You would think that they would be glad to only pick up the 4200, the other insurance paid better than 125000. If my wife had not had the insurance, they might have had to pick it all up!

All I was saying is that for what UPS pays the Teamsters for my coverage, it would have just about covered my OOP.

Dammor, Glad to hear you are doing well. Lost my mother, fatherinlaw and motherinlaw all within the last 3 years to cancer. Its a tough fight. Prayers for you for your continued health!

d

Thanks Danny

Danny, if your wife has good, if not better insurance, you should make yours the primary. Reason why.

I had SAME problem you did. My now ex had a job for the airlines, and her bennie package was really good back then. We made mine the primary, her's the secondary. Her insurance was more then happy to pay the residual costs. Say it this way, we paid $0 when my daughter was born, $0 when son was born (including circumcision which normally costs). I only put maybe a few dollars out of pocket (mostly on prescription drugs)the whole time we were married. I'm single now (still have custody of kids) and pretty much in same boat. Really no out of pocket expenses except a very small copay. Plus, I don't pay a premium (my Dad pays about $350 a month plus copays) which I feel lucky for.

Do we have the best insurance out there? No. But, for the pay we get and what we pay for our insurance, it's pretty damned good. I'm not going to say UPS/Teamsters are perfect. But we could be doing ALOT worse out there. If it wasn't for this job/benefits, I would've probably went bankrupt because of my divorce. I got a free lawyer from my benefits package, and my payscale helped me pay all the bills when my ex decided she wasn't going to pay her share anymore. So, I'd say I got it pretty good.

My insurance is primary for me, hers is primary on the wife and kids. HAs to do with the rules of which was born first you or your wife. We have absolutly no say over which is primary for what, the insurance companies have rules which govern that.

d

Wow, I guess they must have different rules depending on your Rider or conference agreements. My ex wife was older then myself, and they always ran my insurance first. Hmmmm. Interesting. They even ran mine first for the kids and my exwife. The Teamsters paid most of her prenatal care and OB costs. Her insurance only picked up a fraction of the costs.

I have no idea why things are different across the board. Beats me.

steelheader69 - it's not who is older, it is whose birthday is first during the year, that is, May is before June .. so that the spouse born in May has the primary insurance and the spouse born in June has the secondary insurance, regardless as to who is older.
But Danny, that should go for the whole family, not just your wife and kids, her insurance should cover you first as well.

According to my better half, and she is a section manager at the hospital, each spouses insurance covers the insured as primary. The only reason the birthday issue is in effect is for the dependants. THat gives an even split of how and who's insurance is primary for the kids.

Now if both spouses were born in may, and on the same day, the older spouse would have the primary insurance. This is not just a local thing but is an industry wide accepted practice.

d

d

(Message edited by dannyboy on March 02, 2003)

SMF, only said older because of what Danny said. I have no idea. Hmmm, my ex was born in Oct and I was in Dec, so have no idea. And I still have receipts here, both showing Ethix billed first. So, beats me. I'm at a loss, just know my insurance was billed first.

Were those bills for you or her?

d

They were all her, since she was one pregnant, not me. LOL. I did first part, she did the delivery part. Only thing that involved me was going to the classes, prenatal visits, and being there to help deliver our kids. But DR. didn't touch me.