A "What If" Scenario

[wkmac]

I read the following article posted by brownshirt in the thread, "A Different Situation"

'Very Different Situation'
Struggling unionized LTL carriers
post anemic 2Q earnings, eye
Teamsters pact

The organized, long-haul trucking industry cannot afford the type of lucrative contract increase won by the Teamsters union at $30 billion package giant United Parcel Service, a top LTL chief executive said last week.

Yellow Corp. Chairman, President and CEO Bill Zollars said "in many ways the Teamsters know that" the beleaguered unionized sector cannot afford to match the recently agreed upon six-year pact with UPS that guarantees a 22 percent wage boost. A UPS driver, currently earning $23.03 an hour, will earn $28.05 by 2008. Such a wage and benefit boost would cost a unionized freight company with 20,000 Teamsters an additional $60 million annually in labor costs.

Unlike UPS, which earned $2.4 billion last year in a down economy, the unionized freight sector is struggling. Last year, ABF Freight System led the Big Four with $79.4 million operating income. Roadway Express earned $30.8 million last year with Yellow Corp. earning $22.7 million and Consolidated Freightways losing $104.3 million.

First off, thanks to brownshirt for posting this but my immediate thought after reading this was could UPS have used the Union in a sense to put economic pressure on the various union LTL carriers that would force them to raise rates to meet the possible contract demands of the IBT thus making it possible for UPS to better sell the LTL services and even the UPS Logistics services. Also my understanding is 10k of the 20k jobs will be the Logistics side so could it be possible that maybe Hoffa and the boys have jumped on board with UPS because they see this ship high and dry longterm while the others are starting to sink. I have absolutely no proof whatsoever this is the case but this is what came to mind when I read the above article.

 

[spycmon]

Not only is that an interesting view, my fear is much worse. The fear that this "guaranteed ground" thing will spring board Logistics much like 3day select did for subcontracting until we put some reigns on it. If feeder/rail can't make the progressions needed to move the packages in the time that will be required then the door is open to subcontract or move it on the Logistic side to keep its guarantees.

 

[feederdryver]

Let's take a step back and understand exactly what UPS Logistics really is..

They are CLERKS for crying out loud!
They sit in front of the computer all day and talk on the phone!!. They are not the sub-contracted drivers like many of you think they are. I don't even think Logistics have 5k people operating the system let alone 10k or 20k that supposedly will be unionized..it's a scam !!! Start educating yourselves people.. put yourself in Eskew's shoes and start thinking 10 years down the road from now, not just tomorrow or next week..this is how UPS has always operated. They are cultivating long-term big time..and it's blowing right over our heads. Wake Up !! Wake Up!!

Vote NOOOOOOO !!!!!!!

 

[thedrooler]

I certainly hope UPS didn't cave in and let the cancer into the logistics end of the business.

Drooler

 

[ok2bclever]

feederdryver,

The Logistic department is not involved in this 10000 Teamster conversion part of the tentative contract. That pertains to the international auditors and those that wander around checking the size and weights in the operations buildings. You know the jobs that used to be done by Teamsters years ago. My understanding is there are currently about 8000 of them in the system.

As far as I can see the Teamster have taken a complete "hands off/do what you want to do" attitude with the Logistic department. That is the same basic attitude they did when the company started using temporary non union auditors (we saw where that went) and the next day air when it started out. as a competitive concession. (concessions there made sense when it was first starting out late against fed-ex due to the shortsighted first impression by UPS that next day air was not profitable idea ((fed-ex and Smith sure proved that wrong)), course now that it is extremely profitable and well established I don't understand why the Teamsters did not make any significant improvements in the Article 40 travesty).

I think leaving Logistics uninhibited by any union constraints will end up just as negative and dangerous for the hourly employees of UPS.

drooler,

the cancer made UPS the profitable dynamo it is today. Thank goodness for the farsightedness of Jim Casey who invited the Teamsters in to organize his employees. This brought needed stability to his workforce in the form of familyman willing to work hard and stay with the company.

 

[thedrooler]

The employees of UPS, both management and hourly, are what has made the company a success.

Drooler

 

[smf0605]

ok2bclever .... The Logistic department is not involved in this 10000 Teamster conversion part of the tentative contract. That pertains to the international auditors and those that wander around checking the size and weights in the operations buildings. You know the jobs that used to be done by Teamsters years ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ok2bclever,
Exactly when were they teamster jobs? I've been here 23 years. We certainly haven't done international shipments that long, so the FDC jobs weren't teamster jobs, and the Revenue Audit jobs were created about 21 years ago and have always been done by non-union clerks.