No noise from retirees about the New Contract and how it affects you

The Milkman

Well-Known Member
Well I got my new benefits guide. Costs up across the board. Deductible now (none before), 20% copay on doctor visits (10% of approved rate before), 20% copay for drugs ($0 mail order or generic at local drugstore and $5.00 name brand) now everything 20%.......should add up to quite a few thousand dollars over the next 3 yrs for me as I approach 65. I guess retirees still on the UPS plan are neither upset or vocal( does not matter anyhow, our Brothers and Sisters voted yes) about getting the shaft after leaving with a good idea of benefits told they were to expect while in retirement. I am not being shoved into Teamcare, local 177 in Jersey Plan spared me that. We are the forgotten ones who have just witnessed hard earned benefits taken away, Time bonus gone, a lot of jobs red circled over the years......... Sad to say, the way I see it, When I started back in 81 our benefits pkg was second to none, but soon the benefits of this once great company may be no better than working at Home Depot or Mcdonald's. Just my 2 cents
 

oldngray

nowhere special
Well I got my new benefits guide. Costs up across the board. Deductible now (none before), 20% copay on doctor visits (10% of approved rate before), 20% copay for drugs ($0 mail order or generic at local drugstore and $5.00 name brand) now everything 20%.......should add up to quite a few thousand dollars over the next 3 yrs for me as I approach 65. I guess retirees still on the UPS plan are neither upset or vocal( does not matter anyhow, our Brothers and Sisters voted yes) about getting the shaft after leaving with a good idea of benefits told they were to expect while in retirement. I am not being shoved into Teamcare, local 177 in Jersey Plan spared me that. We are the forgotten ones who have just witnessed hard earned benefits taken away, Time bonus gone, a lot of jobs red circled over the years......... Sad to say, the way I see it, When I started back in 81 our benefits pkg was second to none, but soon the benefits of this once great company may be no better than working at Home Depot or Mcdonald's. Just my 2 cents

I have same benefits as you and posted on another thread. Besides the increase in monthly premium the big hit was definitely the increase in prescription costs which can be significant if you need an expensive maintenance drug. The other benefits didn't get too much worse at least. I am still in Aetna instead of Blue Cross Blue shield and none of the new paperwork mentions Teamcare and it does look like we remained on UPS plan. It would be nice if UPS would keep us informed but they haven't done anything since I retired so I really didn't expect that to change now.
 

The Milkman

Well-Known Member
I have same benefits as you and posted on another thread. Besides the increase in monthly premium the big hit was definitely the increase in prescription costs which can be significant if you need an expensive maintenance drug. The other benefits didn't get too much worse at least. I am still in Aetna instead of Blue Cross Blue shield and none of the new paperwork mentions Teamcare and it does look like we remained on UPS plan. It would be nice if UPS would keep us informed but they haven't done anything since I retired so I really didn't expect that to change now.

Yeah..would be nice ..keep us wondering? With UPS behind the wheel this does not surprise me.....
 

raceanoncr

Well-Known Member
Me not commenting or getting upset? Well, for one thing, we, as retirees can't VOTE on a single thing.

Another, at 65, I was forced into Medicare and forced out of UPS Plan.

Wife has only a few months to go before she's forced to go on Medicare.

I'm not knocking anything or anybody here, it's just that I didn't have any say in it and haven't been in it for a couple years and wife won't be in it soon.
 

oldupsman

Well-Known Member
Not much to say or do Milkman. I'm still with Blue Cross on the UPS plan. But like you alot of things
went from 0 cost to 20%. It was my understanding nothing would change at all. So much for that deal.

We have no say in the matter and I guess I'm grateful things didn't get worse.
Same age as you so I'm just riding it out until 65. Still a better deal than most folks I guess but they just have no clue
how much they gave away. Maybe they'll wake up when the pension reductions kick in.
 

najarian7

Member
Thank the teamsters for the switch...according to the Wall Street Journal

This week the International Brotherhood of Teamsters overrode several of its local bargaining units to approve a five-year national contract. The company said in a securities filing it currently owes about $325 million in back pay and other expenses to about 253,000 unionized employees retroactive to the contract's start date, also to be paid in the second quarter.
 

The Milkman

Well-Known Member
Not much to say or do Milkman. I'm still with Blue Cross on the UPS plan. But like you alot of things
went from 0 cost to 20%. It was my understanding nothing would change at all. So much for that deal.

We have no say in the matter and I guess I'm grateful things didn't get worse.
Same age as you so I'm just riding it out until 65. Still a better deal than most folks I guess but they just have no clue
how much they gave away. Maybe they'll wake up when the pension reductions kick in.

I hear ya...we were handcuffed so to speak and had to rely on current employees to do the right thing for us and their futures as well. Let's see....now I have $200 deductibe coming next office visit..and prescriptions?? who knows...Wife turned 65 in Feb. so she is off. I guess I can at least say I got 7 of the 10 years of promised benefits. The guys who retired before Jan. 1st, They have 10 years of increased costs. Bet they did not see this curve ball coming. But UPS being UPS, this shows how much they value or should I say care for the people on the front lines doing th egrunt work we all went through, not in a/c cubicle on their smartphones planning lunch breaks in Atlanta. The future for those who voted this contract along with the givebacks will hopefully see that their actions in 2014 will affect them a lot more than us down the road as future contracts will again have the YES men accepting scraps tossed to them by the higher ups knowing that those hungry enough will settle for them..Sad Sad time for all..R.I.P
 

Pismo Bill

Well-Known Member
Well I got my new benefits guide. Costs up across the board. Deductible now (none before), 20% copay on doctor visits (10% of approved rate before), 20% copay for drugs ($0 mail order or generic at local drugstore and $5.00 name brand) now everything 20%.......should add up to quite a few thousand dollars over the next 3 yrs for me as I approach 65. I guess retirees still on the UPS plan are neither upset or vocal( does not matter anyhow, our Brothers and Sisters voted yes) about getting the shaft after leaving with a good idea of benefits told they were to expect while in retirement. I am not being shoved into Teamcare, local 177 in Jersey Plan spared me that. We are the forgotten ones who have just witnessed hard earned benefits taken away, Time bonus gone, a lot of jobs red circled over the years......... Sad to say, the way I see it, When I started back in 81 our benefits pkg was second to none, but soon the benefits of this once great company may be no better than working at Home Depot or Mcdonald's. Just my 2 cents
 

Pismo Bill

Well-Known Member
i for one have made lots of noise. have sent many e-mails to hoffa, ups, la times, ny post and to my local reps i have made many calls. i have contacted all retirees that i know and asked them to do the same.
 

The Milkman

Well-Known Member
i for one have made lots of noise. have sent many e-mails to hoffa, ups, la times, ny post and to my local reps i have made many calls. i have contacted all retirees that i know and asked them to do the same.

Surprised that many have not done what you have done.......For a while I thought I was the only one affected.........We got the shaft in more ways than one
 

Catatonic

Nine Lives
Surprised that many have not done what you have done.......For a while I thought I was the only one affected.........We got the shaft in more ways than one
I think the last contract was a reflection of previous part-timers now voting.
The part-timers got screwed so many times by active drivers in past contracts, they learned to only be concerned about themselves in the right here and now.

I think a play could be made about this:
The Revenge of the Contracts Past
 

oldngray

nowhere special
I think the last contract was a reflection of previous part-timers now voting.
The part-timers got screwed so many times by active drivers in past contracts, they learned to only be concerned about themselves in the right here and now.

I think a play could be made about this:
The Revenge of the Contracts Past

The part timers have only themselves to blame for past bad contracts. More of them should have voted. They screwed themselves.
 

beentheredonethat

Well-Known Member
But UPS being UPS, this shows how much they value or should I say care for the people on the front lines doing th egrunt work we all went through, not in a/c cubicle on their smartphones planning lunch breaks in Atlanta.

As a contrarian viewpoint, UPS mgmt (and non union) has been doing copays for insurance and paying out of their check for their share of insurance for years now. (Over a decade). The fact that only recently retirees are seeing this, you can look at being a good thing for teamsters in that they delayed the inevitable for well over a decade.
 

The Milkman

Well-Known Member
As a contrarian viewpoint, UPS mgmt (and non union) has been doing copays for insurance and paying out of their check for their share of insurance for years now. (Over a decade). The fact that only recently retirees are seeing this, you can look at being a good thing for teamsters in that they delayed the inevitable for well over a decade.
mgmt had no say or choice in that matter, we bargained for those benefits just to let them slip away. I know they have been paying for many yrs..that was the choice they made going into mgnt. When we are hired, we are told what our benefits will be, thus helping us decide if we want to work for comapany a or b...I am sure UPS has had this on the burner for many yrs..
 

35yrwstpadriver

Pittsburgh Brown
mgmt had no say or choice in that matter, we bargained for those benefits just to let them slip away. I know they have been paying for many yrs..that was the choice they made going into mgnt. When we are hired, we are told what our benefits will be, thus helping us decide if we want to work for comapany a or b...I am sure UPS has had this on the burner for many yrs..
 

35yrwstpadriver

Pittsburgh Brown
Thank you milkman for stating what should be obvious. When I got the opportunity to work for UPS over 30 years ago, I looked at what the job had to offer. Good pay, great benefits, and a solid pension. I took into consideration the position of UPS in their business. It was and is practically a monopoly. the decision was a no-brainer. I thought that as long as the company was profitable we would all be OK. Boy was I wrong. There are two reasons we are now worse off than before. #1, the Teamsters use UPS employees hard work to prop up their failing multi-employer pension plan AND use our union dues to buy Bull:censored2: propaganda that tells us that we WON major improvements. #2, the majority of people that work for UPS are IDIOTS!. I hate to say it, but who would vote FOR a master agreement that has major concessions in it when UPS is and will continue to make record profits. I believe the vote was about 31,000 to 30,000. How many are eligible to vote? About 260,000? The hourly increase don't even keep up with inflation. Here in West PA, we voted both contracts down by a margin of 8-1 and had the contract shoved up our asses. Retirees here have said that they now have to find part time jobs to pay for their insurance. It is without question the most ridiculous and disgusting labor situation I've ever seen.
 

beentheredonethat

Well-Known Member
mgmt had no say or choice in that matter, we bargained for those benefits just to let them slip away. I know they have been paying for many yrs..that was the choice they made going into mgnt. When we are hired, we are told what our benefits will be, thus helping us decide if we want to work for comapany a or b...I am sure UPS has had this on the burner for many yrs..

When I went into mgmt there was no copay or pay for benefits. It was similar to the teamsters. We were forced to take it. Our choice was to quit. Apparently you now have the same choice as we had. So I assume based on what you said about it being a choice.. You now have the same choice I had ten plus years ago.. Quit and go somewhere else, or stay and pay for benefits.
 

The Milkman

Well-Known Member
Thank you milkman for stating what should be obvious. When I got the opportunity to work for UPS over 30 years ago, I looked at what the job had to offer. Good pay, great benefits, and a solid pension. I took into consideration the position of UPS in their business. It was and is practically a monopoly. the decision was a no-brainer. I thought that as long as the company was profitable we would all be OK. Boy was I wrong. There are two reasons we are now worse off than before. #1, the Teamsters use UPS employees hard work to prop up their failing multi-employer pension plan AND use our union dues to buy Bull:censored2: propaganda that tells us that we WON major improvements. #2, the majority of people that work for UPS are IDIOTS!. I hate to say it, but who would vote FOR a master agreement that has major concessions in it when UPS is and will continue to make record profits. I believe the vote was about 31,000 to 30,000. How many are eligible to vote? About 260,000? The hourly increase don't even keep up with inflation. Here in West PA, we voted both contracts down by a margin of 8-1 and had the contract shoved up our asses. Retirees here have said that they now have to find part time jobs to pay for their insurance. It is without question the most ridiculous and disgusting labor situation I've ever seen.

Everything you say is Right on..We are both in the same boat, however we are taking on water. Propaganda.........Blah blah blah yr after yr, contract after contract, same old story. I find it hard to believe that any old timers don't see the pattern. If they won on this contract, I would hate to see if they lost.Glad I only have to deal with this for 3 more yrs, I feel sorry for those who hung it up prior to Jan 1st. I am sure they feel blind sided 1 month later after getting lip service from HR. If they keep stretching out the time to get to top rate, eventually in due time UPS will be profitting more off those in progression. Took me 9 months...Yep.......Vote Yes...They won a good contract! For UPS that is!!!
 
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