The proposed numbers APWA has been putting up does at the very least make you think about what their offering vs. the IBT. Some of the numbers seem on the verge of " too good to be true". Whether they are, or not, would have to played out with time. The only thing I would have reservations about is the pension. Everything thing else i have no problem with.
My big sticking point about APWA is this and to me This is a major sticking point. and wkmac touched on it. Hypothetically speaking at this point in time. There are a large number of UPSers that do in fact have 10 yrs and up of time invested with the IBT. To switch now to APWA right in the middle of their careers, it is in essence, starting over on building your years of service til retirement, just to get the 20 yr pension.
The people that have 10+ yrs of service accrued would be hit the hardest, they would be in a catch22, so to speak. not enough time acrued to get full retirement from the IBT( not to mention if UPS were to pull out of the IBT at this point, the cash flow would all but stop.then there would be nothing left.) and would be under the proposed retirement guidelines for APWA to collect a meaningful pension.
The incentive is there with people under 10 yrs of service to change. For those over 10+ yrs, The incentive to switch at this point is not very attractive.
Until this is addressed in great detail how to handle the problem of seniority already established, I don't see how it would benefit to change from the IBT to APWA at this point.
For the new employee coming in now and in the future, yes APWA looks like the way to go with the proposed numbers. But there is going to be sacrifice from the older members if a switch was made and I don't think it would be fair to the older people.
From my thinking, somewhere along the line, if in fact a switch was made in unions, somebody is going to have to take one for the team, and it will not just be a couple people affected. If APWA has already addressed this potential problem, I just haven't seen it yet, and that could very well be the case, that i haven't heard about it yet.
I can't help but think there are others with 10+ yrs invested wondering the same thing about there future.