New Hires(Part Time)

[Grumpy Steward]

Can someone explain to me why raising the starting wage for NEW Hire part timers is so important? I'm not willing to give up 1 penny to increase the wage for these people. I would be willing to give up something financially to lessen the progression period for part timers after they have proved themselves. My local officials say increasing the starting wage will lead to higher wages for all, but I can't see how that's going to work. Before all you PT's jump on me, remember this is about people not employed by UPS yet, not current workers.

 

[bsmart]

wow!??

 

[PiedmontSteward]

Can someone explain to me why raising the starting wage for NEW Hire part timers is so important? I'm not willing to give up 1 penny to increase the wage for these people. I would be willing to give up something financially to lessen the progression period for part timers after they have proved themselves. My local officials say increasing the starting wage will lead to higher wages for all, but I can't see how that's going to work. Before all you PT's jump on me, remember this is about people not employed by UPS yet, not current workers.

Starting wages haven't risen since 1980 -- new hires were making the modern-day equivalent of ~$17/hr in the early '80's. Now, many states have higher minimum wages than UPS starting pay. That's disgraceful for a union shop -- even for a PT job, no matter how you spin it. Quite frankly, this was a necessary move for long term survival as RTW rolls on in former strongholds of organized labor. As a steward in a RTW state, it's difficult to get new hires to sign a card or demonstrate what the Teamsters do for them when they're making only a bit more an hour than they would at McDonald's while working far harder without benefits for a year.

We still don't know for sure if a $1/hr "catch-up" raise was included or not. And we won't know until we see the tentative agreement in writing.

 

[Grumpy Steward]

PS -Makes sense. I'm in a non RTW state. Our PT turnover is over 60%. I think I would view this differently if I was in RTW state. Sometimes we forget that there are different rules for different states.

 

[PiedmontSteward]

PS -Makes sense. I'm in a non RTW state. Our PT turnover is over 60%. I think I would view this differently if I was in RTW state. Sometimes we forget that there are different rules for different states.

And to get straight down to brass tacks..

In my experience, if you don't get someone to sign a card within their first year, your chances of getting them to sign a union card after that time period plummets. I've signed up the occasional 5 or 7 year PT'er, but that's the exception rather than the rule. There are more toxic long-term scabs in my building than I care to admit and while many of them have legitimate gripes (the extremely lengthy period of time to go FT, the apathetic attitude of former business agents, etc.) they're typically full of ****: "The union has to protect you no matter what, even if you're not a member," "You get the same thing, it doesn't matter," "The union doesn't do anything for you," "Your dues money just goes to the Democrats," "The union only protects lazy people," "These shop stewards are crooked but I won't file a grievance because I don't want to get messed with," etc, etc.