Category Archives: Retirement
The New Retirement
I’m Baaaaack
I’ve been away from the computer for awhile.
I’ve been trying to capture that idyllic life of a retired UPS driver with nothing pressing to do and nowhere I have to be. A quieter world away from electronics and the internet and even the computer.
Well, it didn’t work.
It seems that everywhere I went as a mellow, retired person, I ran into UPS drivers. Most of them I knew. Some of them I had represented as a Steward. Naturally, I had to stop and talk a minute.
It seems that while my life has changed dramatically since my retirement, not much change has occured at UPS. One guy told me that a driver in his center had to have both knees replaced and he claimed it as a comp injury. The division manager, with whom he was close, had supported his claim but comp denied it. When push came to shove, the division mgr told the driver ( a scab in the ’97 strike ) not to worry, he would be there for him. But on the day of the hearing, the DM was nowhere to be found and the driver’s claim was denied. So instead of receiving 2/3 of his salary and having all his medical expenses covered on comp, the driver went out on disability and received about 1/3 of his 40hr a week pay and paid 20% of the cost of the surgery and rehab.
Same old UPS.
It’s so good to be back.
Your Legacy?
Your Legacy?…. You’ve had a good career. You’ve worked your heiny off for a union company. You raised your two kids on a union wage and benefits. You’ve retired from that company, and get to sit back and watch your children, and their families live in the world out there.
Will the opportunity for a decent living, and a retirement, be there for your kids? Not with the way most Teamster members take it for granted. Your children are faced with a life of little or no healthcare. They are faced with a life of corporate giants, who will sell out their employee’s health and well being for their bottom line. These same corporate giants do not care if your granddaughter survives at birth. They don’t care that your sons or daughters cannot afford housing. They don’t care if your kids have a decent standard of living.
It’s you, and your vote that has given your kids that lifestyle. It’s time for you as a union member to hang your head in shame. You did not pass on your legacy to your children. You have denied them the same opportunity that you had. They will work till they die. They will suffer under oppressive management because you either couldn’t be bothered to vote, or you felt you had some other agenda that was more important. Making that mistake is a legacy of suffering for the future.
You are responsible for that legacy!
The “you”, that is, the uninformed, inattentive, “only cares about themselves”, you.
If “you” don’t need to wake up, wake up the guy or gal next to you. The future depends on it!
You Seem Surprised
In the 30’s people died to bring the Power of the Unions into existence. Massive physical, and financial abuse by the Companies of the time, motivated people to rise up and demand they be represented by Unions.
These workers were not interested in getting something for nothing. They simply wanted to be treated fairly in the workplace. They simply wanted to be compensated at a fair rate for the work that they did.
The corporate abuses of the day were so bad that many workers banded together to create what have become today’s Unions. Unfortunately many of our own Union members have listened to the media lies about our Union’s motivations in the workplace. People have been led to believe that the Unions are simply there to protect the lazy worker. The Unions are there for workers to get “something for nothing”.
With the gradual weakening of the Unions the Corporations are again rearing their ugly heads. Politically the Corporate “powers that be” continue to attack the existence of the NLRB, (National Labor Relations Board), and also attack worker protections such as Unemployment, Workers Compensation, and OSHA. The continued weakening of these organizations is systematically putting workers at greater risk in their jobs, and causing the wage levels in this country to decrease.
To their defense, the Corporations, have convinced many of the average Union workers, that they are going to somehow improve the life of that worker when the regulatory agencies are gone. The Corporations didn’t do that before, and they are making it clear that they are not going to do that now.
Look at your life within Big Brown. Are they treating you better today? Are they more concerned about your safety on the job? Do they act appreciative of your efforts to move, and improve the company?
Keep in mind that you are all looking at it from within a solid Union company. Can you imagine what it looks like inside the non-union companies?
The day is here for the working people of this country to step up. A solid workforce cannot be defeated, or ignored. How much abuse will you endure before you will say something. No one is going to do it for you.
Our Unions have been so successful, that they have created a “lazy, complacent” membership. The facts of today are, our Unions will not survive if we don’t stand up along with them.
Our next contract negotiation begins in 2013. Prior to that will be International Officer elections, and many Locals will elect their officers also. Many people do not even vote in those elections. They have the complacent attitude that their vote doesn’t mean anything. The fact is they simply are too lazy to educate themselves, and formulate an opinion. It takes a certain amount of effort to formulate an opinion, and many simply find it hard to do.
Some of the things you can expect to see in the negotiations are listed below. These are the speculations I have come up with based on many different sites, and discussions.
1. Two Tiered wage scales for newly hired drivers. (What that means is that any new driver hired after a certain date will be payed at a lower wage level, and will have a lower maximum wage. What it can do is give the company the incentive to attack, and drive out the older drivers working under the old wage rate.)
2. Forcing drivers to pay all, or a portion of their benefit package. (What this does is effectively reduce the current benefit package, and put a financial hardship on the worker to keep his or her healthcare and pension paid. Many workers will simply opt out for financial reasons, and the costs to the workers still paying will increase. )
3. Wage reductions, and/or raise freezes. (The consequences are obvious. No keeping up with inflation. Increasing company profits at the expense of the worker. Reducing the future ability to stay with the costs of goods and services.)
4. Reduction in Contractual Language to reduce the power of the employee to work within a safe, non-harassing environment. (Basically the company will attempt to take away the workers ability to grieve an unsafe, or an intimidating situation. Basically the company wants a “Like it, or Lump it” contract.)
5. Attacks on seniority. (When all else fails, that is what you have. It is what keeps you on the route you like. It’s what keeps you working ahead of the junior guy. It’s what prevents you from being laid off, when the business drops off. Without seniority the choices are made at the whim of the company.)
6. Pension benefit reductions. (In this day and age, the company controls the pension. Without contractual agreement, the company will be able to do as they please up to and including dissolving the pension. The pension has remained the “light at the end of the tunnel” for so many. As the time passes, it becomes the only hope for life outside of the Company.)
The obvious conclusion is that you, and your co-workers had better get involved. The Union functions because of you, not in spite of you. Today’ politics make it clear that you are under attack. If you don’t fight back, you will lose what you have.
Retirement
A Mercedes Benz Modell 600 at the Oldtimermarkt Bockhorn.
This van was formerly used by UPS in germany, chassis and engine are Mercedes Benz.
The coachwork was done by Kässbohrer.
Originally these vans have no Mercedes Benz emblems on them, they were added by the current private owner on this one.
Mechanicman
A Look at Your Pension in 2013
April 10, 2009: On January 1, 2008, UPS transferred some 44,000 full-time Teamsters out of the Central States Pension Fund, and into a new UPS-only pension plan.
Many members have questions about their benefits in the new fund. TDU consulted pension attorneys and experts to answer some of the most frequently asked questions.
Do you have a question or concern about your benefits in the new UPS plan? Call TDU at (313) 842-2600, or email us at info@tdu.org.
Q: If I retire and Central States fails to pay me their portion of my pension, will UPS guarantee me the difference?
Yes and No. If you retire by July 31, 2013, yes. If Central States fails to be able to pay its full portion, UPS will make up the difference to guarantee your pension.
But if you retire after that, all bets are off. It all depends on what is bargained in the 2013 contract. This illustrates a major problem: the UPS pull-out weakened the Central States Plan, but UPS Teamsters are still dependent on it for a large portion of their pension benefits.
You can be sure UPS management will make good use of this hammer in bargaining, to try to extract more concessions from the Teamster leadership.
Fortunately there is an IBT election in November 2011. Teamsters have a chance to vote out Hoffa and elect leaders who will protect the pensions of all Teamsters.
Q: When I retire, will I get two checks?
UPS pays your full pension until age 65. Once you are 65, you will get two checks. Central States and the UPS Plan will each pay a share, based on how many years you have in each plan. Your years prior to 2008 will be paid by Central States; your years beginning with 2008 will be paid by UPS.
Q: Can you count your part-time years toward early retirement?
Your part-time years can be counted in order to qualify for a 25 or 30 year early retirement, but will not count toward your benefit amount. For example, a Teamster with 25 full-time years and five part-time years qualifies for 30-and-out, but will get $2625 instead of $3,000 per month because the part-time pension pays very low benefits. (This is the same rule as previously, under Central States.) If you qualify for a part-time pension and a full-time pension, you will receive two checks, and three checks after you reach age 65.
Q: How do the benefits under the new UPS plan compare to other Teamster plans?
They compare unfavorably, and that situation is going to get worse by 2013. Benefits in the UPS plan are frozen for the life of the contract, whereas those in most other plans are increasing. For more information, see The Teamster Pension Divide at www.tdu.org/pensiondivide.
The UPS Plan also has no reciprocity with other pension plans. This means if you transfer into the plan from the West or East, you cannot add your pension credits together from the UPS Plan and another plan. It also means if you leave UPS and take a job at another Teamster company, you cannot add your years together in the two plans.
Q: Can UPS take over other Teamster plans?
UPS gave the International Union a letter agreeing not to try to take over more pension plans until the contract after next. However, that is no solid guarantee. If they see a weak leadership at the International Union, they may seek to take over more pensions.
We Do the Same Work But We Get Less
“Our pension is the lowest for any UPSers in the country. We do the same job, but in the end we get less.
“You can bet that if we can ask to improve our pensions in our next contract, UPS is going to put a steep price tag on it.
“I’m helping to put together a TDU meeting in Florence so that we can educate other members. UPS is already planning for the next contract. We should too.”
James McLeod,
UPS Local 71, Florence, S.C.
We’re Not in Kansas Anymore
The world seems to be spinning in a “Wizard of Oz” like tornado and, when we land, I don’t think we’re going to be in Kansas anymore. It’s a wierd world when your home is no longer an investment.
Joe Rauch
BofA CEO: Owners shouldn’t look at home as an asset
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Homeowners may need to look elsewhere for long-term investment returns as housing prices in some areas may not rebound long-term, Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan said on Tuesday.
Moynihan, CEO of the largest U.S. bank, said at a state attorneys general summit that low population growth in some regions of the country indicated that prices might not rise in the wake of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
“It’s sobering to think, but some people shouldn’t be thinking of (their home) as an asset,” Moynihan said at the 2011 National Association of Attorneys General conference. “They should be thinking of it as a great place to live.”
Moynihan said the long-term average annual rise in post-war U.S. home prices of 4 percent owed much to the explosion in domestic population and, in more recent times, the relaxation of credit standards across the mortgage industry.
“The reality is that the population is not expected to grow the way it did post World War I and World War II,” he said.
Moynihan noted an Ohio customers’ complaint that his 100-year-old home was valued at $50,000. The home, Moynihan said, would be valued as “some multiples of that figure” if it were located elsewhere, but stagnant population levels in the state are driving demand and home prices lower.
The conference included many of the state attorneys general currently engaged in negotiations with BofA and other lenders about a broad settlement to allegations that the industry cut corners on foreclosures.
Moynihan said during his prepared remarks that he had spoken with the attorneys general about industry issues, but declined to comment further about the discussions.
The Banksters Strike Again
The foreclosure mess isn’t going away
We’ve told you before about how big banks cut corners on paperwork over the last few years in order to speed struggling homeowners into foreclosure. And a “60 Minutes” report that aired last night offers fresh anecdotal reporting on just how irresponsible–and potentially fraudulent–the banks’ practices were. Meanwhile, compelling video of a grandmother being evicted from her home by a SWAT team last week suggests the banks aren’t slowing down their rush to foreclosure and eviction.
Banks profit by processing a vast number of homes into foreclosure as quickly as possible. But as “60 Minutes” details, many of the mortgages at issue were bundled and sold from one Wall Street investor to another during the housing boom, with scant attention paid among financial players to the actual underlying ownership documents. And as the foreclosures unwind in a slew of court proceedings nationwide, many banks have produced dubiously rendered legal documents that seek to shore up the ownership paperwork long after the original mortgage transactions were on the books. In some cases, financial institutions paid contract companies who employed an army of “robo-signers”—office workers who forged signatures on mortgage documents that were then used to initiate foreclosures.
Scott Pelley of “60 Minutes” spoke with one former robo-signer, Chris Pendley, a man who had been paid to sign the name “Linda Green” thousands of times over the course of an average workday on mortgage documents.
“When you came in to Docx on your first day, what did they tell you your job was gonna be?” Pelley asked.
“They told me that I was gonna be signing documents for using someone else’s name,” Pendley remembered.
“Did you think there was something strange about that in the beginning?” Pelley asked.
Yeah, it seemed a little strange. But they told us and they repeatedly told us that everything was above board and it was legal,” Pendley said.
Pendley told Pelley he had no previous experience in banking, in legal documents, and that there were no requirements for the job.
“You had to be able to hold a pen?” Pelley remarked.
“Hold a pen,” he agreed.
Asked if he understood what these documents were, Pendley said, “Not really” . . . .
Pendley showed us how he signed mortgage documents as “Linda Green.” He told us Docx employees had to sign at least 350 an hour. Pendley estimates that he alone did 4,000 a day.
There was an actual Linda Green, Pendley discovered, but she was no bank president either; she is a former shipping clerk for an auto parts store who was also hired on as a robo-signer at Docx. One plaintiff in a pending lawsuit discovered that Green is named as a vice president for 20 different banks in different mortgage documents, all bearing strikingly different renditions of her signature. She didn’t agree to an on-camera interview, but she told Pelley that the company selected her name because it was short and easy to sign rapidly on the doctored ownership documents.
All 50 state attorneys general are currently conducting an investigation into the foreclosure mess–including cases that involve forged documents like these. And Shelia Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, told CBS she thinks the banks should have to pay billions to set up a compensation fund for those who are being forced to accept foreclosure without proper documentation.
But if you thought all this might have chilled the banks’ zeal to push struggling borrowers from their homes, think again.
The footage below from a local news station shows Catherine Lennon, a grandmother from Rochester, New York being forcibly evicted from her home by a SWAT team.
Lennon has said that though she missed some mortgage payments after her husband died in 2008, she subsequently began making payments again. But because it was her husband’s name, not hers, on the official mortgage documents, Fannie Mae wouldn’t accept her money, and moved her house into foreclosure.
Federal lawmakers intervened, and Lennon may soon get her house back–she’s been staying in a homeless shelter lately. But countless other Americans who are in similar positions may not be as lucky.
(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Social Security FYI
Here’s a good article about Social Security,