This post has bothered me all day so I have some criticisms 1) When a Part Timer profiles that a Full Time package driver's work is menial, I will take offense. We don't exactly deliver pizzas brother. Since the arrival of PAS/EDD, GPS, and Telematics, I can honestly say that not one driver would consider that 10 hour shift "MENIAL". Before the digital depositories and public traded UPS stock, there were plenty of easy days and getting out early for drivers. Those days have gone the way of beepers, 1800 Collect commercials, and a MTV channel that still showed music videos.
By definition, your job is menial; hence why tens of thousands of off-the-street seasonal hires are able to perform the same job as you (after a learning curve). ANY job is going to require some level of skill. At UPS, I'd argue that it's the corporate culture - not the job itself - that causes most people to fail. Not to mention that most Americans, even though capable of manual labor, prefer not to do it... why is why we hire people to mow out lawns and clean our homes. What separates me from the average driver is that I know that if I were to leave UPS today, I would not find another job paying anything close to $21/hour + no-cost health & welfare benefits for my current skill set. OTOH, many drivers are convinced that they could walk away from UPS and earn $32+ with no-cost health & welfare benefits. What's FedEx Ground hiring at again...?
2) Your mind has been poisoned by all the contract BS on this website. Full time UPSERS didn't subsidize part timers for a penny !!!! All full timers and part timers GOT THE SAME RAISE, ON THE SAME DAY, FOR THE SAME AMOUNT OF YEARS. Current full timers didn't get more than every one else. PERIOD Progression grew by a year but now no more outside hires, just more fellow Teamsters delivering which is a good thing
In a union shop that pays FT employees $32/hour, PT employees are starting below minimum wage in many areas. The new contract moves the bar just enough so that isn't so. The reality is that UPS isn't an endless pot of money -- there's only so much to go around, and the FTers continue to take more than their share (PTers can blame themselves for not voting). Hall has acknowledged that he felt PTers deserved a bigger piece of the pie, but made it clear that he needed to present a contract that would pass. PT wages are kept low, casual/temporary/seasonal/cover wages are kept low (and statement - you make the same regardless of how many years you've performed the work), the number of casual/temporary/seasonal/cover drivers has increased, the "free period" has increased, the wage progression has increased, etc. to keep FTers earning record wages. IN other words, these employee groups are subsidizing your wages.
3) When you leave high school and walk into the real world, you have 3 choices A) go to school 4 years plus with student loans to get a degree then try to find a high paying job B) find a trade (electrician, carpenter, UPS), join the Union and get hands-on experience and a career or C) Join the School of Hard Knocks and hope to make it My benefit package is fantastic but I know a lot of tradesman that make pretty close to my Top Rate. Nothing baffling about it !!!
I don't disagree with you at all here. But UPS is not a trade. A trade is a marketable skill (e.g. not menial work). If I were a plumber or electrician, I could work independently or shop my skills to the highest employer. But a delivery driver? Who else is paying $32+/hour with no-cost benefits? The average wage for a FT delivery driver, per the BLS, is in the $30K range -- about a third of what the average UPS driver will earn at the end of the new contract, and that doesn't even take into consideration benefits.
Nonetheless, I agree that after high-school, you have the option of attending college, acquiring a tradesman skill, joining the School of Hard Knocks or seeking a union job. But I'll also point out that it takes about 10 years in much of the country to go FT at UPS. Yes, I'm aware many incumbent FTers had to wait 5-10 years. And I'm aware they were earning $9/hour as well. But not in 2013. They were earning $8/hour when $1 bought a gallon of gas, not $4 as it is today. Not to mention that the average number of hours PTer work has plummeted, especially over the past 5 years. The reality is that in 2013, if you're a PTer hoping to go FT, you have to start young, make even more scarifies than the previous generation, and delay your future (e.g. wait starting a family, etc.) Of course, it'll pay off. But it shouldn't be this way, and it doesn't have to be.
