The whole work environment has changed, part timers are not what they used to be for the most part they were college students, young , healthy, single and male. Might not sound today as politically correct but that were the kids that UPS only hired in the 70's, 80's and 90's. The Health coverage was basically not needed, because alot of these college kids were covered also with their parents benefits. Today the only and I mean only advantage to work for UPS would be health coverage for a married or aging workforce, it just isn't worth it for the average college kid to maintain the standards of employment that UPS is committed too. This 8.50 per hour deal to start out with minus the union dues, lousy start times and a pretty physical warehouse workload kills any ambition for the new employee to hang around. The tutition reimbursement offered only helps with you are capable of maintaining a full college schedule and grade average and still find the time to show up five days a week, working physically harder than most average employees do in a 12 hour shift.
This whole pension fiasco and the possibility of the average full timer hanging around till 65 or older is also taking affect. The long term employee is basically pissed off with the answers that we are getting about any future retirement with our bodies still in working order, the smart ones are working at a pace to prevent any injury that may prevent them from collected that pension, working smarter not harder would be the term. Any kind of standards are a thing of the past, if they really ever existed. Also the long term employee generally has a history of past offenses and some pretty abusive treatment by bad management practices and we really never trust the company to do the right thing, they created the monster now they have to live with it.
Now on the management level, that carrot of UPS stock is being prolonged and is not as tasty as it once was. The old time management is still hanging around, most are multi-millionaires and resentment is building with the younger management types. The will never be in the situation with the UPS stock that occured when it went public in the early 90's, that promise of living comfortable and having the ability to retire in the mid 50's is disappearing. Anybody who has worked for UPS has noticed the "pecking order concept" management works under, the control that upper management has over the lower types is pretty frightening. This creates alot of enuchs who cower to the whims of those in charge of their careers, any creative thought out there is suppressed by the system in place.
Anybody remember the dire straits song "Industrial disease", guessing we are not alone in this, go to any major corporation and probadly find the same situation.
