Why would I vote yes on a contract that leaves me with a blank check payable to a medical provider? A check that could be written in the amount of 10% of services, or could be 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%,,,,,,,,,. A check that MAY require me to cover ALL of my eye care. A check that may need to be written to cover ALL of X. This is not what I want. I want to know exactly what my expenses would be for all medical treatment during the life of the contract.
At this point I think I would of rather paid X amount and keep the plan I had. At least that way I knew what my cost would be. As it stands now, that cost is unknown for the next 5 Years.
On behalf of all part-time employees, I simply do not like seeing "us" pay any form of deductibles considering the pay discrepancies between full-time and part-time employees. Part-time employees have been taking concessions with each and every contract....and that trend continues today.
The $1.50 starting "pay increase" which turns out to actually be $0.50 is just another example of the "skullduggery" that our company and union insults us with. More than anything, it is an insult to our intelligence and a form of deception which I detest. The wage increases gained for the part-time will be quickly spent on increased healthcare costs AND increased Union Dues. If our Union is TRULY looking out after the interests of the part-time, then they should make an across the board CUT/Decrease in all Union Dues AND Initiation Fees for these part-time employees. As a Union Steward, it absolutely turns my stomach to watch new employees as they open their first set of paychecks and see what their take home (net) pay is. The initiation fees should be eliminated altogether IMHO...
We have a huge divide in our full-time and part-time work force at UPS. One group complains of harassment and long hours while the other group waits for 10+ years to get those very same jobs. One group enjoys and posts that they are receiving total compensation in excess of $100,000 while the other group is fortunate to bring home $10,000 to $15,000. The healthcare benefits was the primary reason for the latter group to work.....and now even that benefit has been reduced. I find it ironic that in an organization that stands for equality, fairness, etc.. there is such a discrepancy between "the working class".
The creation of full-time jobs would have eliminated much of the frustration that exists today in the part-time work force. Our Union promised 10,000 new full time jobs in 1997.....and that promise was never delivered. SurePost has been devastating in terms creating additional full-time jobs. Our centers lost over 20 routes in the past 5 years. I get tired of hearing about the need of SurePost in order to compete with FedEx....especially since most of these SurePost packages are often at the same stop or next door to the stop that we are already delivering to. I also get tired of hearing about how bad our economy is.....especially when I see yesterday that we hit record levels in the stock market.. The bottom line is that UPS as a publicly traded company, has joined the
era of corporate greed...
that puts profits before service and many other Casey founding principles.
Part-time employees have been the "sacrificial lambs" long enough IMHO. I don't expect any full-time employee to vote on behalf of the part-time woes...I only hope that they can pause for a moment and feel what it must be like to wait 15 to 20 years at a job before they get to make what they do in wages. Although I expect this contract to pass, I will personally urge my fellow part-time employees to vote in a manner that best reflects how they were represented in this contract.