UPS pilots union leaders defend contract agreement

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retired1

Guest
"a deal that increases average captain pay to about $300,000"

What exactly does a captian do that is worth $300,000?
 
A

Airline Pilot

Guest
retired1 said:
"a deal that increases average captain pay to about $300,000"

What exactly does a captian do that is worth $300,000?

Response to: Anonymous Coward. Tell you what: 1. Go to college and earn a degree. 2. Join the military and get through pilot training and the subsequent service obligation, or buy your pilot training -- very expensive! 3. Spend 5 to 10 years flying little airplanes (at tiny salary and great risk) in order to gain experience and log flight hours. 4. Compete against huge odds to finally land a job flying big airplanes. 5. Fly those aircraft as a First Officer for several years, earning about 60 percent of Captain pay. 6. Finally move up to Captain and accept the enormous responsibility that goes with it. THEN you'll know what a Captain does in order to earn a big salary. OR, you can try to follow this anology: A medical doctor invests about the same amount of time, energy and money achieving his position in life. If the MD makes a mistake, usually only one person is in jeopardy. If an Airline Captain makes a mistake, ALL occupants of the airplane are at risk and any people on the ground, near the mishap, are in jeopardy as well. The salary is commensurate to the responsibility and investment. Who has a greater responsibility? Does a MD have to do his job in thunderstorms? Are terrorists a general threat to MD's? Engine failures? Drunk and unruley passangers? Old equipment? I don't think so. Still think Airline Captains are over paid? Most MD's (especially surgeons) earn many times more money than Captains. Time and money invested in training and gaining experience; effort, risk, and sometimes overwhelming responsibilty. These are the reasons that Captains (AND Doctors) earn their high salary. And it's also the reason that not everyone can or wants to do it -- just like becoming a doctor. It's not easy!
 
R

rudy 45

Guest
SOOOO, I understand that the pilots have waited a long time for the TA and now that it's finally here....what's the word on the street? Are they going to fight some more or accept?
 
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In awe

Guest
Air Line Pilot..........Please

Folks, there you see it. An airline pilot comparing himself to a doctor. Hang on while I throw up. Let's see-UPS pilot.........no passengers......drunk or unruly or terrorists; some of the newest equipment available; overwhelming responsibility to get the plane off of the ground and then sleep while auto pilot does the work until it is time to wake up and land the plane; the same flight and route everyday.
If you want to be arrogant you can portray yourself as an upscale engineer. A medical doctor.......please.
This is the reason that UPS pilots are regarded as arrogant little princesses who think that the company can't live without them. I'm pretty sure that the last time there were 800 pilot's jobs available UPS received around 14k resumes. What does that tell you?
Just some thoughts from one of the people the pilots don't realize contribute to UPS's success.
 
Y

yard boss

Guest
Re: Air Line Pilot..........Please

In awe said:
Folks, there you see it. An airline pilot comparing himself to a doctor. Hang on while I throw up. Let's see-UPS pilot.........no passengers......drunk or unruly or terrorists; some of the newest equipment available; overwhelming responsibility to get the plane off of the ground and then sleep while auto pilot does the work until it is time to wake up and land the plane; the same flight and route everyday.
If you want to be arrogant you can portray yourself as an upscale engineer. A medical doctor.......please.
This is the reason that UPS pilots are regarded as arrogant little princesses who think that the company can't live without them. I'm pretty sure that the last time there were 800 pilot's jobs available UPS received around 14k resumes. What does that tell you?
Just some thoughts from one of the people the pilots don't realize contribute to UPS's success.
that a boy how about the drivers that had horse hair seats no heat frost bit toes 14 to 15 assinged hours a day and 11 hours to do it in and now have bad back knees arm elbow feet and so on that the new management thhnk up new ploys daily to try and get rid of you now that they have used you up. These are the heros the guys who bilt this co on their backs in spite of all the screw ups and mis management by the stupivisors. Our wives are the ones who deserve the big money and regonition for raising our families and puting up with their missing husbands! Who do pilots think gets the frieght to the modern airport during ice and snown in the worn out under powered leaking freezing recapped loud piece of cra- package car on icy roads that every other co except UPS has called their drivers off road. Only to find that the air didnt make service becouse the weather is too bad for the air op
 
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Thebrowntruth

Guest
Pilots comparing themselves to doctors, etc.. The school work, the time invested. Just curious if the pilots realize the time required for a driver to get a "good" bid route. Hmmm just so you can share this with each other in between naps (in the little offices with the beds you are provided) and before you eat in your nice lunchrooms....a UPS driver can wait oh 5 to 10 years slugging it out as a P/T employee to become a swing driver and cover the worst routes in the worst neighborhoods and then MAYBE after 20 years of employment settle into a decent route. Now that is dedication! Dangers, Risks???? How many crack houses do the pilots have to stop at to attempt a delivery? Airlines everywhere cutting jobs, cutting salaries and the only ones not to learn from the mistakes of others? Oh the pain.....
 

Braveheart

Well-Known Member
The pilots stood by our side during the strike risking their jobs. I dont compare myself to a pilot, only other delivery drivers. We are the best paid and benefit rewarded in the industry, and if they supported us we should support them. Dont forget they worked 3 YEARS WITHOUT A CONTRACT! They fly in the middle of the night or extremely early in the morning too. The hours suck. I have friends that were flying for as little as $25,000 per year while I made $55,000 to $65,000 per year. Lets not forget our company made $3,900,000,000 last year and our CEO made over $1,500,000 plus stock bonuses that are out of this world. I say good for the pilots. Make UPS share the wealth.
 
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Thebrowntruth

Guest
The pilots stood by our side during the strike risking their jobs. I dont compare myself to a pilot, only other delivery drivers. We are the best paid and benefit rewarded in the industry, and if they supported us we should support them. Dont forget they worked 3 YEARS WITHOUT A CONTRACT! They fly in the middle of the night or extremely early in the morning too. The hours suck. I have friends that were flying for as little as $25,000 per year while I made $55,000 to $65,000 per year. Lets not forget our company made $3,900,000,000 last year and our CEO made over $1,500,000 plus stock bonuses that are out of this world. I say good for the pilots. Make UPS share the wealth.

Brave,
With all due respect did you consider what your were posting as you typed? UPS made 3.9 billion last year, great, last time i checked companies were supposed to turn a profit. Share the wealth? Divide the profits by how many of us making $70,000 plus another 30k in benefits and you will see UPS made around 10 or 20k per employee? If i shared 80% plus with my employees who in the world would consider me selfish?
Finally, dont be so naive to the real world. Do you honestly think the pilots union would do anything else BUT stick with the drivers? UPS can replace a few hundred pilots a LOT easier than tens of thousands of drivers. They made their "stand" to line their own wallets and for the safety the hard working drivers would provide them.
Oh and by the way, did you know pilots can fly only about 25 hours per week. Thats about 2 and a half paid days for the drivers. Weather? Safety? I was not aware that the pilots were flying with the windows open on zero degree days and stopping to deliver in ghetto neighborhoods. Any way you look at it the pilots are pampered and OVER compensated to those in the planes next to them!
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
Guys our pilots are the lowest paid in the industry, while we are the highest paid. I was on that strike line in 97 and every day those pilots were out there supporting us. i say good for them1111
 
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BrowntailDriver

Guest
I feel a few things need to be set straight here. For one thing, our average captain salary will be nowhere near that $300,000 mark. The media loves to run with a story-even with bad information. The details of our recently ratified contract will be a matter of public information for anyone who prefers the truth vs. rumor. Life is about choices. I chose to become a pilot, but it was a long, difficult road. Not everyone who chooses to be a pilot realizes that dream.

To In Awe-for each one of us on the line, there are at least 10 out there who want our jobs. I know I'm lucky to have this job. FYI, not all of our airplanes are the "newest equipment", I happen to fly on what is humorously referred to as the "Classic Fleet"-yep, it is my choice to do so. Even in our most advanced airplanes, the autopilot does not do all the work. The autopilot does not sign the flight release or review the hazmat paperwork. The autopilot does not think or make decisions, does not know the regulations, does not know how to react to an inflight emergency. It also does not go to the FAA medical doctor every six months and get an EKG every year to keep its job. It also does not have a 4 year degree (a UPS minimum). The autopilot does not go to annual recurrent training as required by the FAA, and the FAA does not grade an autopilot on a line check.

To Yard Boss, I can respect the long hours you put up with. We as pilots must be prepared each and every night to be on duty for 16 hours. The FAA says that's safe, even on the back side of the clock. Just FYI, even our so-called modern airports become an ice skating rink with minimal traction in the winter. Keeping a heavy jet on the pavement even in rain, not to mention ice, is tricky-try it sometime. The ramifications of a runway or taxiway excursion are not good. Speaking of your frozen toes, I have personally suffered frostbite flying airplanes in -20 degrees friend with broken heaters on the path to the big UPS job. I agree it's not fun. I've also dealt with that same airplane trying to fall out of the sky when encountering unforecast icing conditions enroute. That's even less fun-ranks right up there with flying through thunderstorms with no radar. Inflight fires (think of the February incident in PHL), engine failures (yes, I've lost the engine in a single-engine plane at night full of cargo in the clouds-that wasn't fun, either), flying in all the weather are all just some of the dangers we accept in our line of work. There's an old aviation truism: "I'd rather be on the ground wishing I were in the air instead of in the air wishing I were on the ground".

To Thebrowntruth, I'm in my 16th year and am not able to bid a "good" schedule. I am away from my family 3 weeks a month and I can count on being in strange hotel rooms on holidays with no place to go. By the way, I'd sure like to know where all those beds you speak of are...nope, they don't exist.

Thank you to Roadking and Braveheart for your support. I was there in 1997 in Chicago and got to know several of the gound folks. I made a lot of new friends. I'll be there again for you in the future.
 

Braveheart

Well-Known Member
First, 25 hours a week is in the fantasy world. Second are you management with the overpaid comment. Sorters make more than unloaders. Air drivers make more than loaders. Full time drivers make more than air drivers. Feeders make more than package drivers. Pilots make more than Feeders. The more responsibility, the better the pay. Third, please read one of several websites, the pilots average salary is about $175,000 not $300,000. Forth, the pilots are one failed heart ailment or eye ailment from being out of a job. Fifth, the pilots went like 3 years without a contract or raise for that matter. Oh yeah, the company does not spend 80% on its employees. There are things like overhead, advertising, A/C in the offices for managers, power bills, insurance, fuel, repairs, marketing, and so forth. They paid Dale $15,000,000 for one year of Nascar advertising. The CEO has UPS stock worth $25,000,000 and I have seen many managers retire as millionaires. We employees deserve the money we make. We make millionaires out of many managers and stock holders. The managers get 401K matching funds yet the employees get zip, nil, nada, nothing. Every investment advisor I have talked to says that is the only company they have seen do that with a 401K. The managers get large stock bonuses, like $10,000-$50,000 per year or more. I do not play with numbers to get my money. We are not the reason for the lawsuit after lawsuit hammering UPS. They did the whole OPL scam, the whole discrimination problems, IRS lawsuits, overcharged insurance scam, and wrongful terminations! Talk to the middle east about rising fuel costs. The rising insurance problems are profit driven and negative effect of the stock market. I see the people in my center win over 90% of the grievances they file about managers selfeshly stealing money out of their paychecks.
 

STLFeeder

Need LS7 powered PKG car
I still say we all need eachother to have any of the jobs we do. Congrats to our pilots for finally getting a contract.
 

KRAM

Member
Buddy of mine is a pilot, has been in it for about the same amount of years as I have been with UPS (20 years) and Top Scale Drivers make more money than he does as a Captian right around $43k a year and he has to hump the loads in and out of his plane on top of flying it. I think that is a joke for what they have to do. I have flown with him and I am amazed at what it takes to fly a plane. He flys a twin turbo prop MU2. Not a big plane, but it's not like jumping in a UPS truck and turning a key releasing a parking break, throwing it in gear and hitting the gas. It is a very highly skilled job. He used to fly for Fed-Ex until they cut his flight route out about 2 1/2 years ago. 911 did pilots no favors and good paying jobs are hard for them to come by. I too remember pilots standing at the picket lines with us and thought it was a great for them to be there with us.

Good for the pilots and getting a contract, I hope them all the best and that $300k a year if they can get it. :thumbup1:
 
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