Honest question... Why haven't my union brothers and sisters not already in TeamCare, not cried foul that so many of us in CS aren't getting the same benefits they are?
Never have gotten the same benefits in the few short years that I have worked at UPS and I suspect it has been that way since the very first Region/Local supplements. The reasons for this are many and easily justified (YMMV on justification I suppose). Is it
always fair? Of course not. Frankly, you get better Health and Welfare benefits in CS than I do in Local 959; however, I don't cry about that.
Don't we all put our monkey suit on and push boxes in the same manner? Are you somehow more deserving of superior FREE healthcare than myself and my family? Why aren't you pissed off that I'm already getting shafted deeper than you, Brother?
We put on a similar monkey suit and push boxes in the same manner; however, you are delusional if you think it is in the same environmental conditions, economy, or labor relations environment. These differences are the reason that Region/Local supplements offer different wage and benefit compensations.
You don't get shafted deeper than me for healthcare. Part-timers in Local 959 would get shafted so deep in Local 959's Health and Welfare (H&W) that they could not afford to be insured in the same manner that our full time drivers are insured in Local 959. Our Local 959 part-timers would have to make up the difference in co premiums from additional non-UPS wages (i.e. pay to work at UPS) if they were insuring a family under the dollars based H&W Trust in Local 959. Going into TeamCare (as it currently stands) is the next best alternative available to Local 959 part-timers over everything that has been discussed other than status quo.
Why haven't you stood up before now? Did you suddenly find your voice when "my problem" landed on your doorstep?
For starters, my experience in Local 959 has taught me that once you remove the healthcare from the a contractually obligated UPS plan and place it in the hands of H&W Trustees, then there is little to be done by standing up. The H&W Trustees are not required to negotiate reductions in benefits or changes in benefits. The only recourse is during elections of the Teamster H&W Trustees.
I speak for no one else but my voice was found when CS pulled the greedy money grab (with the backing of IBT) by assuming that they should be entitled to provide H&W for everyone that they cherry picked. I will guaran-damn-tee you that CS will not invite non-CS Teamsters into TeamCare whose employers contribute at the bottom of the hourly H&W contribution scale but they scooped up UPS Teamsters because UPS is at the top of the heap regarding hourly H&W contributions. I will also not be surprised to see two tiers of H&W benefits in TeamCare where part-timers have lesser benefits than full-timers. There has been no guarantees that non-CS TeamCare participants will have a vote in TeamCare Trustees that I am aware of (even if there is, their vote will be necessarily diluted from what it currently is). Nonetheless, we are left to assume what TeamCare will mean for our non-CS Teamsters because there is very little substantive details about TeamCare benefits. Why shouldn't there be smoke and mirrors out of CS? They got what they came for and IBT isn't going to jeopardize the NMA ratification any further by forcing CS to honest and forthright.
