actually, there are many paths and the trick is finding the correct path for oneself...If I insulted anyone it was unintentional and I apologize. It is clear that teamster pensions currently are better than management pensions in many respects with some notable exception....paying for healthcare is one and the uncertainty of the solvency and reliability of the teamster defined pension......I do not have those concerns.......I see the strong possibility of ups further scaling back ground operations in North America and concentrating overseas where the profits are.....labor costs and population densities are some of the reasons......the i.a.m. has a superior pension and is very very well run......both the teamsters and ups should pay attention and try to emulate. more r.t.w. states will further erode the market share of teamster membership.......consider that in general percentages in forty years union membership has gone from 40% to 10% of the workers.. not very good organizing results and given a choice many people are opting out......future harbingers for sure.those percentages are approximate and vary from area to area yet show or should show a disturbing trend.....what is does show is dismal organizing and failure to keep or convert states to closed shop states.....
I also want to apologize..Really enjoy your retirement you earned it...
Your observation about UPS cutting back on ground operations is incorrect, ground will always be the main source of profits and growth. Air is just frosting on the large cake, particularly with the increased volume and revenue associated with people ordering on line now a days....
Corporate wants out of every defined pension plan that they have control over, the cost savings would be enormous. They already made their plans for your retirement plan that will not change your current status or benefits by freezing it or eliminating contributions in 2023..I believe that currently the UPS Retirement Plan has
(18 Billion) in assets. By contrast the other major defined pension plan controlled by UPS is the UPS Pension Plan for mostly part time employees under the Central and Southern, it has
(8 Billion) in assets with about the same number of (participants), I have a record of it being vested at
(103.73%) as of 1 January 2018, any pension trust that goes over 100 % vesting rate has the ability to just cover their costs associated with funding without putting anymore contributions, basically living off the interests of their investments.
My biggest issue would be the inequality of monetary contributions over the years between the Management Plans and the Hourly Plans. When you bring up the possibility of the Company eliminating the Collective Bargaining agreement with the Teamsters that would be akin to Nuclear Warfare..It ain't going to happen.
Remember also that the Pilots extended 2 year contract expires at the same time as the Teamsters, they are vested in the soon to be defunct UPS Retirement Plan the same as management. They have vested interest in negotiating out of that plan also, maybe offer a sweet matched 401K also. The UPS Pension Plan for mostly Part time Union employees is a money saver, first of all their benefits are basically frozen and are very seldom raised and also frozen at 35 years of service. I believe that this plan also will be on the table, just not enough Part Timers are staying long enough to become vested anymore and most of them would happily jump at a matched 401K plan.