Home
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
Latest activity
Members
Current visitors
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Home
Forums
Brown Cafe UPS Forum
UPS Discussions
Fedex Should be Nervous...
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="GuyinBrown" data-source="post: 215569" data-attributes="member: 9444"><p>One of the problems with comparing UPS to the auto industry is the level of efficiency. We are so efficient compared to them it's almost unimaginable ( or maybe it isn't. The cost of a new car reflects their inefficiency pretty well... ). However, your comment about them being able to strike against one to force the hand of the other two certainly seems to be a big reason for this. One of my best friends works at a nearby Chevy stamping plant. His father, sister and sister-in-law work there as well. His father is a die maker and makes quite a bit more per hour than we do (But generally only has to do any work when something breaks). My friend works on one of the stamping machines and makes a wage very similar to ours ( +/- a dollar or so, I forget exactly) He readily admits that we work much harder than he does and he once relayed this story to me about how his day went....</p><p></p><p>There are 5 "stations" on the machine and he spends 30 minutes at each one before being rotated to the next. </p><p></p><p>Station 1- You sit at the machine and press a button that feeds a piece of sheet metal into the machine. Another button is pressed to stamp the metal into the part you're making. Pressing the first button again ejects the part from the machine and onto a set of rollers while feeding another piece of metal into the machine to start the process over again. </p><p></p><p>Station 2- You stand by the rollers and make sure that none of the parts fall off. Yes, that's it. The company argued that placing rails on the sides of the rollers would work just as well, but the union wouldn't let them eliminate the job. </p><p></p><p>Station 3- ( This is the station that actually requires some effort ) You remove the parts from the rollers and stack them into a bin. </p><p></p><p>Station 4- You count the parts in the bin and write out a tag listing the part number and number or parts in the bin. I asked him how many of these he had to do during a 30 minute session and he said it depends on how fast the line was running. If they were really pumping out the parts, they might have to write out 5 or 6 tags per session.... </p><p></p><p>Station 5- Break. As in... rest up from all the work you've done before you have to return to the grueling task at station 1. </p><p></p><p></p><p>So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I agree with you. If the teamsters were allowed to take the kind of hard line with UPS that the UAW used to take with the Big Three, it might be great for us in the beginning but we'd have to pay the piper eventually. Look at the sorry state of the domestic auto industry today. It's great that we have union protection, but when those protections become abusive to the point that it costs the company unnecessarily, it's bad for everyone involved. We need to get what we can get, but be realistic in our demands. It's a fact that UPS has much higher overhead than FedEx due to our wages and benefits but through efficiency, they still manage to remain a strong viable company that posts healthy profits. I'd love to see the IBT organize FedEx and put the overhead on a more level playing field, but not at the expense of our future. However, I don't see anything like that happening for a long, long, time. Look at DHL ( formerly Airborne ) what percentage of that company is organized and how long have they been at it? I can't imagine things moving any faster with FedEx.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GuyinBrown, post: 215569, member: 9444"] One of the problems with comparing UPS to the auto industry is the level of efficiency. We are so efficient compared to them it's almost unimaginable ( or maybe it isn't. The cost of a new car reflects their inefficiency pretty well... ). However, your comment about them being able to strike against one to force the hand of the other two certainly seems to be a big reason for this. One of my best friends works at a nearby Chevy stamping plant. His father, sister and sister-in-law work there as well. His father is a die maker and makes quite a bit more per hour than we do (But generally only has to do any work when something breaks). My friend works on one of the stamping machines and makes a wage very similar to ours ( +/- a dollar or so, I forget exactly) He readily admits that we work much harder than he does and he once relayed this story to me about how his day went.... There are 5 "stations" on the machine and he spends 30 minutes at each one before being rotated to the next. Station 1- You sit at the machine and press a button that feeds a piece of sheet metal into the machine. Another button is pressed to stamp the metal into the part you're making. Pressing the first button again ejects the part from the machine and onto a set of rollers while feeding another piece of metal into the machine to start the process over again. Station 2- You stand by the rollers and make sure that none of the parts fall off. Yes, that's it. The company argued that placing rails on the sides of the rollers would work just as well, but the union wouldn't let them eliminate the job. Station 3- ( This is the station that actually requires some effort ) You remove the parts from the rollers and stack them into a bin. Station 4- You count the parts in the bin and write out a tag listing the part number and number or parts in the bin. I asked him how many of these he had to do during a 30 minute session and he said it depends on how fast the line was running. If they were really pumping out the parts, they might have to write out 5 or 6 tags per session.... Station 5- Break. As in... rest up from all the work you've done before you have to return to the grueling task at station 1. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I agree with you. If the teamsters were allowed to take the kind of hard line with UPS that the UAW used to take with the Big Three, it might be great for us in the beginning but we'd have to pay the piper eventually. Look at the sorry state of the domestic auto industry today. It's great that we have union protection, but when those protections become abusive to the point that it costs the company unnecessarily, it's bad for everyone involved. We need to get what we can get, but be realistic in our demands. It's a fact that UPS has much higher overhead than FedEx due to our wages and benefits but through efficiency, they still manage to remain a strong viable company that posts healthy profits. I'd love to see the IBT organize FedEx and put the overhead on a more level playing field, but not at the expense of our future. However, I don't see anything like that happening for a long, long, time. Look at DHL ( formerly Airborne ) what percentage of that company is organized and how long have they been at it? I can't imagine things moving any faster with FedEx. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Home
Forums
Brown Cafe UPS Forum
UPS Discussions
Fedex Should be Nervous...
Top