Rumor spread of MN starting top scale pay of next contract

Whither

Scofflaw
I could be wrong on this, but are most of these new 22.4 driving positions filled by off the street hires. Back in the day most of us full timers had at least 5 years part time prior, the advantage for UPS was that they were well oriented and trained on the work requirements demanded, physically and mentally, they weeded out the ones who couldn’t cut it (hourly and management). Now we are scrapping the bottom of the barrel in order to get and keep new younger employees, so much easier and better paying jobs out there.

Recently I observed two PVD’s, God bless them ... but both had to be way pass 60 and one was walking with a cane. These center managers are not dumb, how are the going to make their bricks without straw with the retention rate so low. I guess they have to lower the standards to qualify for these driving positions or live with not hitting their numbers.

Another factor is today’s generation will not have the work ethic or the patience to continue with working with a Company that does not provide any advancement in a certain time frame. No one is going to hang around for 5 to 10 years to get into a full time position, it is simply not worth it. They are not dumb they see the old timers limping to the time clocks and being treated like cattle by the Company and the Union and they want no part of ending up the same way.
Maybe I'm misreading but it seems like your post is at cross-purposes with itself. I think you're correct -- in my building most 22.4s have been off the street. I've seen most hang on to become RPCDs, though there have also been several who quit, not least due to constant hectoring to work 6 days a week right up to their 60 hr limit. But in the last paragraph you write as if it would still take 5-10 years to get a FT job?

There may be many "easier" jobs out there, but last I checked there aren't a lot of better paying ones.

I don't put a lot of confidence in stereotypes about "generations." It seems like you're knocking younger drivers as "bottom of the barrel," deeming them generally unprepared because they didn't spend years working inside the building. Then you throw me for a loop by adding the bit re: "old timers limping to the time clocks and being treated like cattle by the Company and the Union"?
 

DELACROIX

In the Spirit of Honore' Daumier
Maybe I'm misreading but it seems like your post is at cross-purposes with itself. I think you're correct -- in my building most 22.4s have been off the street. I've seen most hang on to become RPCDs, though there have also been several who quit, not least due to constant hectoring to work 6 days a week right up to their 60 hr limit. But in the last paragraph you write as if it would still take 5-10 years to get a FT job?

There may be many "easier" jobs out there, but last I checked there aren't a lot of better paying ones.

I don't put a lot of confidence in stereotypes about "generations." It seems like you're knocking younger drivers as "bottom of the barrel," deeming them generally unprepared because they didn't spend years working inside the building. Then you throw me for a loop by adding the bit re: "old timers limping to the time clocks and being treated like cattle by the Company and the Union"?

It was not meant to be a slam on our younger 22.4’s, they are the ones who are making a commitment to a career. My criticism is directed toward our younger part time members who for the most part are not involved with the Union and will likely be gone within a year. Their Retention rates and Absenteeism only adds more problems and additional stress to the full timers that show up on time and plan on staying for the duration.

These excessive hours will take their toll eventually thru early disability and forced retirement, we have a driver in our building who has to work over 55 hours and brags about what he cleared during the week. Over the last couple years I observed him walking with a limp, each year it is getting worst, he only has less than 20 full time years in, he will not make it to 30.

I believe that the entry level for full timers off the street is somewhere at 21 an hour...somebody on this site recently posted a photo where McDonald’s was offering their new hires 20 an hour, probably on the West Coast. It is correct that if you can get in and stay this job does pay better that most US companies, it would be comparable to professional sports you are selling your physical strength in a very tight window of endurance, that is why all of us need a decent retirement package with the ability to retire at any age with 25 years.
 

Whither

Scofflaw
I do but I think it will be a battle that will fought outside of the NMA which may make it harder to take on. Too many "I got mine" attitudes out there.
Re: forced 6 punches, I still think it's been a powerful (albeit risky, but hey, the two go hand-in-hand when you're on the losing side) tactic for the majority of drivers in a center to simply refuse to let the company painlessly turn this into a 6 day a week job and carry on calling-in week after week. It turns out that we're not so easily replaced, not under any circumstances, but certainly not since the pandemic began. We do a disservice to ourselves to underrate our skill. Being able to safely operate a commercial vehicle and safely handle hundreds of packages day in and day out, while juggling the pressure of numerous service commitments (and often a poorly-scripted plan) is no simple feat.

Since I've been consistently outspoken against forced 6 punches, numerous coworkers have come to me this past year with questions. I tell them, the truth is, our language blows. We don't have a slam dunk case and, if anything, the company's is probably stronger. I add: but remember, if we stick together, it's not hard to imagine how firing us (even just a couple, trying to "make an example") could (and likely would) backfire on the company. I remind them, just like reminded my center manager in a meeting with 10 fellow drivers where he solicited Saturday volunteers, that it's obscene for the company to shatter its profit records every quarter and then demand, on threat of our jobs, that we sacrifice the health of our bodies and our overall quality of life by working 6 days a week.

There has been plenty of cowardice in my center, but there have also been several who have held the line. And we're all still working. I've gotten my center manager to strike alleged "occurrences" leading to discipline off the books on the spot by showing him my time card (See, the system shows I was on time as usual, there's no late punch) and in one case, laughing at him as he tried to justify an "occurrence" I had been charged on a day the dispatcher instructed me to stay home until I got a negative covid test result. I said, wait, you guys effectively locked me out of the workplace due to the company's covid policy, and after you denied me my 8 hr guarantee you're trying to count that day as occurrence? No way LOOOOOOOOL!
 

35years

Gravy route
If you are at $41 an hour at the end of the current contract, and inflation is currently 6.81%...

3 annual raises to keep with inflation is $50 an hour.

5 annual raises to keep up with inflation is $57 an hour.

Right now our current annual raises do not keep pace with inflation. So we will be making less in inflation adjusted dollars at the contract end date than we are now.

I will most likely be retired so pension increases are #1 for me. Or the pipe dream....paid healthcare coverage in retirement.

But don't look at $57 as anything more than just keeping pace.
 

Its_a_me

Well-Known Member
I predict tough talk and many givebacks with nominal raises that the company would have to have done anyways just to stay market rate with competitors especially among the PT'ers. All the while the union pats itself on the back.....sound familiar.
 

upser2020

Well-Known Member
Lots of companies do mandatory overtime. In theory if they had mandatory overtime during peak they might be able to eliminate pvds and seasonal hires.

Just a thought
 

upser2020

Well-Known Member
Where I'm at it's not. The 6th day isn't and neither is the early start time. Must be a local or regional thing. Couple Sundays might have gone a little better if it was mandatory but eh. I pretty much accept that peak will be 3 weeks of hell.
 

Coldworld

60 months and counting
I predict tough talk and many givebacks with nominal raises that the company would have to have done anyways just to stay market rate with competitors especially among the PT'ers. All the while the union pats itself on the back.....sound familiar.
I wouldn’t be so sure about that this time around…
 

nWo

Well-Known Member
Lots of companies do mandatory overtime. In theory if they had mandatory overtime during peak they might be able to eliminate pvds and seasonal hires.

Just a thought

Half of the drivers throw a complete tantrum if there's an extra 10 stops on their route. There's no way UPS will be able to eliminate seasonals.
 
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