what do part timers want in 2013

[upsman2940]

Can't pay the bills with union dues from a ptimer.

[NJx89]

It's good to see the fters have the same elitist attitude here as they do in my hub. Part time wages are pure garbage for the work we do. I work on the sort aisle and am lucky to get over 15 hours a week. I read on another thread here someone saying the contract guarantees you 3.5 or 4 hours or whatever, so just push to make sure you get those hours. I know first-hand if you try to do that it puts you on the bad side of every sup in the building. The only thing the sups care about is production after force-feeding you the safety garbage everyday. We actually have some pencil pusher watching us work 2-4 days a week and taking our names down for not treating every box like a new born baby. example: box was on ground. i bent over and slid it onto the belt with my hands slowly, as it went on the belt, it rolled onto its side. Said pencil pusher comes by and asks my name to take it down for mishandling.

Also, its a real laugh to read "it's our fault we are part time because its a choice". True story, i asked one time what it would take to become a fork lift operator in the building. I asked our union rep of the building who is a fork lifter. He said something along the lines of "when he, x, or x dies." Fact is, there are no ft jobs to be had. The people who get them (or any other decent position) don't want to leave them and there are no new positions higher then a pter sup opening up, which comes with its own risks in itself considering you aren't even union anymore and you lose half your benefits. It is far from a choice. I have personally seen 3 or 4 people leave after 4-5 years working their behinds off for peanuts as a pt trying to score that sweet driver job that is never gonna come along. Yet every driver I talk to complains about how they have too much work. And there are no new jobs becaaaauuuuse??? UPS is 100% about production, and use whatever methods are required to increase it, usually yelling at the workers and if that fails, the sups yell at each other. At least the fters get paid for their hassle. What do I get as a pter? some benefits that would be great if i had a family and wasn't just a single healthy young male like 80% of the other pters? I've been there 2.5 years (yes i know in the grand scheme of things that isn't very long) and i'm still behind many people to even get a pt sup position, let alone a ft position. At this point I think it might be better to just cut my losses and work somewhere else. I could probably get hired at costco with a starting pay of 12 or 13 dollars (im at 11.50 lol), actually get the minimum they promise to employees (25 hours) and the job would be so much easier. Maybe almost as hectic, but not nearly as hard. If only I didn't turn them down in my first 6 months at ups when I was allured with the prospect of a part time sup position when I told them I was going to quit to work there. Suffice to say, they still haven't attempted to help me get that position.

so what I would like to see?
1.more ft jobs.
2.higher pt pay.
3.actually following through with the minimum hour per week requirements or at least hiring enough people to do the workload in the time they expect at a reasonable pace so I'm not working as hard as I can to still get yelled at.

[FAVREFAN]

It's good to see the fters have the same elitist attitude here as they do in my hub. Part time wages are pure garbage for the work we do. I work on the sort aisle and am lucky to get over 15 hours a week. I read on another thread here someone saying the contract guarantees you 3.5 or 4 hours or whatever, so just push to make sure you get those hours. I know first-hand if you try to do that it puts you on the bad side of every sup in the building. The only thing the sups care about is production after force-feeding you the safety garbage everyday. We actually have some pencil pusher watching us work 2-4 days a week and taking our names down for not treating every box like a new born baby. example: box was on ground. i bent over and slid it onto the belt with my hands slowly, as it went on the belt, it rolled onto its side. Said pencil pusher comes by and asks my name to take it down for mishandling.

Also, its a real laugh to read "it's our fault we are part time because its a choice". True story, i asked one time what it would take to become a fork lift operator in the building. I asked our union rep of the building who is a fork lifter. He said something along the lines of "when he, x, or x dies." Fact is, there are no ft jobs to be had. The people who get them (or any other decent position) don't want to leave them and there are no new positions higher then a pter sup opening up, which comes with its own risks in itself considering you aren't even union anymore and you lose half your benefits. It is far from a choice. I have personally seen 3 or 4 people leave after 4-5 years working their behinds off for peanuts as a pt trying to score that sweet driver job that is never gonna come along. Yet every driver I talk to complains about how they have too much work. And there are no new jobs becaaaauuuuse??? UPS is 100% about production, and use whatever methods are required to increase it, usually yelling at the workers and if that fails, the sups yell at each other. At least the fters get paid for their hassle. What do I get as a pter? some benefits that would be great if i had a family and wasn't just a single healthy young male like 80% of the other pters? I've been there 2.5 years (yes i know in the grand scheme of things that isn't very long) and i'm still behind many people to even get a pt sup position, let alone a ft position. At this point I think it might be better to just cut my losses and work somewhere else. I could probably get hired at costco with a starting pay of 12 or 13 dollars (im at 11.50 lol), actually get the minimum they promise to employees (25 hours) and the job would be so much easier. Maybe almost as hectic, but not nearly as hard. If only I didn't turn them down in my first 6 months at ups when I was allured with the prospect of a part time sup position when I told them I was going to quit to work there. Suffice to say, they still haven't attempted to help me get that position.

so what I would like to see?
1.more ft jobs.
2.higher pt pay.
3.actually following through with the minimum hour per week requirements or at least hiring enough people to do the workload in the time they expect at a reasonable pace so I'm not working as hard as I can to still get yelled at.

Sounds like the UPS I know.

[brown_trousers]

We should organize all our part-time brothers in the RTW states, and leave the teamsters an ultimatum that if they don't negotiate in our favor next contract (part-timers favor), all the part-timers in those RTW states will opt-out of the union.

[hembone]

I live in a RTW state and most part-timers are not in the union and have no interest in it. What are you saying,get them to join just to withdraw?

[ftballer67]

That is already happening. Unfortunately, the Teamsters won't act until more states go RTW and they really see the effect in lost dues. I'm not a huge RTW supporter but I'd be in favor of it as I'm convinced that is the only way we will ever see a decent contract from the Teamsters, when they start to see significant losses in member and dues. Sad it has come to that.

[ftballer67]

My above reply was to brown_trousers post.

[Inthegame]

That is already happening. Unfortunately, the Teamsters won't act until more states go RTW and they really see the effect in lost dues. I'm not a huge RTW supporter but I'd be in favor of it as I'm convinced that is the only way we will ever see a decent contract from the Teamsters, when they start to see significant losses in member and dues. Sad it has come to that.

The only thing loss of membership through RTW legislation would produce is less negotiation power resulting in pay and work conditions even lesser than what exists today. Locals would be the first impacted by RTW which would reduce representation locally (where you need it the most) thereby encouraging even more freeloaders which continues the cycle downward. Stats show weak numbers of pt'ers being involved in voting either for contracts or local officers. Until that changes pt'ers will be pooped on. When the leaders at the IBT see big numbers (interest) from pt'ers, they'll get attention. A guy named Ron Carey had that figured out years ago.

[ftballer67]

Local representation, LOL what's that? We don't see that now and I've been to union meetings where it's been painfully obvious they don't care. The only time anyone from the Local shows up at my building and even pretends we exist is when they need signatures for a petition drive or ballot initiative.

Negotiation power. Another LOL! The power that does exist is used to benefit and enrich full time members at our expense with the occasional scraps and crumbs coming our way.

No offense but it can't get much worse for us than it is already in relation to what full time compensation is. That's part of the reason the part time work force is uninvolved, I think most of us are resigned to the fact that the way things are set up now we will never get fair representation from the Teamsters compared to the full timers.

[ftballer67]

BTW, what's your solution because you are never going to see massive union involvement from part timers. Most of us have to work 2 jobs just to make it which doesn't leave us free time to organize any kind of movement and the rest are students or those who working temporarily and just don't care. The way it is set up now the Teamsters will never help us, I believe only when forced by the loss of dues & members will they then actually have to compete for members by offering a decent contract like they do for full time members.