What Brown Did For Me!

[upslocal480]

Funny how UPS is always compared to fast food chains on this board. What gives?

 

[feederdryver]

"Hey guys, isn't about time that us "UPS" workers leave the teamsters and start our ouw union. This is for the birds. Anyone who agrees with this reply to this post with just a "Yes""


Can we just impeach Hoffa and fire hall?

 

[dammor]

"Funny how UPS is always compared to fast food chains on this board. What gives?"

It's pretty simple really. It's called appreciating what you have. Think about it. We have plenty of hand wringing and whining going on at this site. Meanwhile there are too many folks out there working for the minimum wage and trying to feed a family with that wage. They are not working part time either. Full time minimum wage adds up to much less than part/time does at UPS. I have a bigger gripe though with those who don't seem to understand how we got this wage. It's called the union. Bitch all you will about it, but if not for them we would be making much less. Don't even get me started on the benefits that we enjoy. I saw a really old woman working at a fast food place the other day. She was well into her 70's and doing her best, but looked as if every minute of it was hell for her. Do you think she would feel sorry for our plight? My point here is if you think you have it bad, just look around. If you wake up at 70 something and find yourself working at Chuckie Cheese you will surely know you have died and gone to hell.

 

[steelheader69]

I agree with Vette in the "Life" aspect (having more skills). But the more you know at UPS, the more you get abused. When I was a parttimer, I knew how to do every job from smalls sort to fuelers (aka carwash to some of you). Man, I got bounced from job to job since they were all in same pay scale. When I learned to drive package cars. I got quite the route knowledge under my belt. What did that give me? WAY too many route bouncing. So, in UPS, too many skills killed me. But in reallife, has saved me thousands of dollars doing fix it's myself.

 

[upslocal480]

I'd have to disagree that part/timers would be making less if there was no union. We'd probably make more because all the other package delivery companies pay their part/timers more then UPS does. The way it works at UPS though is that the union is primarily geared towards full/timers so wages aren't dispersed fairly and evenly across the board like it should be. Yes, if we didn't have a union full-timers would make a little less and part/timers would be making more like we should be but our union doesn't work that way. You drivers are too quick to compare our part/time work to fast food places because that is any easy comparison. That's like comparing apples to oranges really. It's clear most of us are already aware of the fact that we are better off than a 70 year old fast food employee and that we make more money because if we weren't aware of that then we all wouldn't have made the choice to work at UPS instead. How about comparing us to other package companies who make more than us? Those companies have higher part/time pay and lower drivers pay. If we didn't have a union it would be the drivers that wouldn't be making as much but UPS is so big and profitable (even now while others take our business) that I seriously doubt your drivers pay would be reduced as low as Fed Ex Courier pay. It's easier to tell us to go elsewhere when you are up there getting all the hours and making $23.00/HR and I think most people that are fairly new at UPS normally do go elsewhere but then some of us have put enough time in to where it would be better to just stay and tough it out. I don't exactly think we should be making $23.00/HR like other people seem to think we do but I think we should at least be right up there with other companies since we are the most profitable of all of them. I do have a problem with people that aren't in college and complain constantly about not making enough money just working at UPS alone when all they have to do is get another job. That's what I did. I do think we deserve a little more though and don't think it's fair when comparing us to fast food places when we already know we are working at a better part/time job than that. It's just feels like that us part/timers are just picking up the drivers' loose change in order to get paid...meanwhile....our counterparts over at Fed Ex make more than us with benefits that our just as good as ours. This is the part where we are told to go to Fed Ex then if we don't like UPS, which is the easy way out. You guys have to remember that not everyone can, or wants to, just leave a job like that.

 

[my2cents]

I've posted this several times on this board in the past and it sums up the Economics of Unionism quite nicely. It gets tiresome to hear the same arguments over and over again.

 

[wigman]

Yo steelhead,
I'm with you. I've been with brown just a little longer than you and I have also noticed that it is dumb to display intelligence. Not really. However if you show you can handle it you certainly will be utilized at ups. I have worked every hourly job on every shift in several metro philly buildings. But the last few years I have been forunate enough to just run my bidded route with the exception of covering here and there.

 

[dammor]

Well, I guess now that I have seen Mr. Walter E Williams article from 1997 I should just stop paying my dues and ride on the backs of others. His article is just his opinion to me and we all have them. Mine is different. I'm not just talking about wages either. There are some fortunate companys that need no union because they treat their people with respect and pay them a fair wage. Other companys need some help.

Local, As far as the fast food comparison. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said some of us choose to hang in there and tough it out. You will find that most of the full time people are here because we did hang in there and tough it out. I hope you get there soon.

 

[my2cents]

Walter Williams' article is about cause and effect. In addition to being a syndicated columnist, Mr. Williams is a Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University. He is one of our nation's most highly regarded economists and is best known for his uncanny ability to take a complex subject and break it down in layman terms so anybody can understand it. He is an excellent teacher on the principles of the free market and the rule of law within that context.

The principles of the free market can be learned from three great texts. One is titled Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. A second is The Constitution of Liberty by friend.A. Hayek and the third is Human Action by Ludwig von Mises. Once one understands the principles of the free market and the principles of liberty, one concludes there are no free riders in a forced rider system.

 

[dammor]

I'm quite sure all of these men are extremely intelligent and have spent many years collecting the information that went into those books. I wonder though if even one of them has spent any time in the trenches. It's a different world here. I would love to read an article from a scholar that has actually been in the work force.
That's doubtful though, because we all know a scholar would never dip so low as to be a service provider. Looking in from the outside is very different than being on the inside.

 

[my2cents]

I'm not going to waste any more time with this other than to say friend.A. Hayek wrote the famous book called The Road to Serfdom. This was the book which provided the intellectual amunition for bringing down the Berlin Wall. Mises and Hayek both fled Nazi occupation while they had the chance. All in all, I believe all these men understand what its like to work for a living.

 

[dammor]

What can I say? I'm sure you must be correct, because frankly I have no knowledge regarding these great scholars. I do wonder if we should compare UPS struggles with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the whole disgusting Nazi period.
I assume what you are trying to make me understand is that the union is more hurtful than helpful. As I have said before, I wish we had no need for one. All I can relay to you is my experience. I've been here 23 years. Never filed a grievence. I realy enjoy the management people I am working WITH now. I will, and do anything asked of me if I understand the reason it is being asked. It has not always been this way. I have seen at least 8 center managers and some were doomed from the start. That is when a union is helpful. People skills are important.
Does friend.A.Hayek speak of that?