If the union employees treated part timers more fairly around contract time, getting laid off to part time wouldn't be as bad as it is. Just reminding everyone.
This is the "special Grandma that lives in the attic that nobody speaks of" around UPS. No wonder you have a bad rep here
UPS preaches advancement from within, then treats the lower tier employees like disposable diapers. Those in part-time, loaders, unloaders, etc., have had the same starting pay for 15 years. Inflation adjusted, starting pay has gone down from 35 years ago. But hey, thats ok, because we gave them benefits - that now take a year to kick in instead of 90 days.
Loaders / unloaders have a much more physically demanding job than ANYONE at UPS, and are paid less than starting wage at McDonalds. It is a harder job BY FAR (in my opinion) than driving a PC, by orders of magnitude. Anyone who argues that it is not the most physically demanding job at UPS has either forgotten what it is like, or is delusional. For PC drivers to make 4X what a loader/unloader does is criminal, a travesty.
To then have UPS management wonder why there is so much turnover and unrest in the ranks is nothing less than stupidity. As my daughter would say, "DUH!"
Us drivers here have swallowed hook, line and sinker the story we heard that we are worth it, we make more because we have gone thru the ranks, earned our stripes, we deserve it. Bullspit. If we were to be honest with ourselves, look inside ourselves, we know that we are paid a stupid-good wage for a job that is, let's face it, unskilled. We are lucky. We hit the lottery. We are like those who show disdain for those that sue for 10 billion bucks for spilling hot coffee on thier crotch, but are on the phone with 10 lawyers the moment it happens to them to try & cash in.
We cannot admit publicly the complete and total unfairness at UPS - that we are overpaid, and those that work just as hard, harder, are underpaid.
5 seconds after a particular member on this site reads this post, he will respond. He won't be able to help himself. He will say "well, everyone had a chance to vote on the contract, this is the contract you voted for", and to that I would say shame on you, and here is why;
When I started here, I knew it was a Union job. That is the extent of my understanding of unions. I knew I had to pay some of my paycheck to the unions to be employed by UPS. That is what I knew. I'm not stupid, and I'm not saying anyone just starting out at UPS is unintelligent (regarding Unions anyway). I'm saying if there is going to be a union, then the union has a duty, an absolute and complete obligation to represent ALL union brothers & sisters, MOST ESPECIALLY those that need the most help with a union contract, the new guy.
It is no secret that the starting wage is stupidly low, and driver wage is stupidly high. If the uniopn were to accomplish what they state thier mission is, this would not be the case.