.....or more here in the Phoenix, Arizona area as the starting wage has been $14 an hour for a few months now.
HOPEFULLY I'm wrong about this here in the valley as I don't know for sure what our contract is going to look like until Sunday morning when we're having our town hall meeting to learn what was negotiated. I'll post an update if our Southwest Rider has GWI higher than the tentative Master Agreement.
The GWI (General Wage Increases) proposed are not high enough and here are the facts to support my opinion :
The 2018 GWI proposed is $0.70 while the lowest starting wage in the country is $13.00.
Let’s look at past contracts, in 2008 the starting wage was $8.50 and the GWI was $0.70. In 2013 the starting wage was $10.00 an hour and the GWI was $0.70. Here we are 10 years later with the starting wage in that time going from $8.50 all the way up to $13.00 (or more) and our first wage is going to be the same as it was 10 years ago? Percentage wise it’s a significant drop! Once again, supposedly union negotiators were going to hold strong for $1.00 a year and didn’t. I find it peculiar both sides agreed to $1 increases in the pension yet most of us would rather have a $1 pay increase and a $0.70 pension increase. We’ve all heard the tax parables about how the poor and rich don’t pay taxes, just the middle class. This contract proposal is similar, the new hires and top-rate employees make out great in this contract, the senior part-timers in the middle are the ones losing out.
I'm heading to work early while on vacation to hand out flyers encouraging the part-timers on my shift to head down to the meeting Sunday morning and let our concerns be heard!
HOPEFULLY I'm wrong about this here in the valley as I don't know for sure what our contract is going to look like until Sunday morning when we're having our town hall meeting to learn what was negotiated. I'll post an update if our Southwest Rider has GWI higher than the tentative Master Agreement.
The GWI (General Wage Increases) proposed are not high enough and here are the facts to support my opinion :
The 2018 GWI proposed is $0.70 while the lowest starting wage in the country is $13.00.
Let’s look at past contracts, in 2008 the starting wage was $8.50 and the GWI was $0.70. In 2013 the starting wage was $10.00 an hour and the GWI was $0.70. Here we are 10 years later with the starting wage in that time going from $8.50 all the way up to $13.00 (or more) and our first wage is going to be the same as it was 10 years ago? Percentage wise it’s a significant drop! Once again, supposedly union negotiators were going to hold strong for $1.00 a year and didn’t. I find it peculiar both sides agreed to $1 increases in the pension yet most of us would rather have a $1 pay increase and a $0.70 pension increase. We’ve all heard the tax parables about how the poor and rich don’t pay taxes, just the middle class. This contract proposal is similar, the new hires and top-rate employees make out great in this contract, the senior part-timers in the middle are the ones losing out.
I'm heading to work early while on vacation to hand out flyers encouraging the part-timers on my shift to head down to the meeting Sunday morning and let our concerns be heard!