In the summer, the Teamsters union reached an agreement with UPS to help eliminate the threat of a walkout from workers who were demanding more pay and heat safety safeguards.
The agreement means that current full- and part-time union workers earned a $2.75 hourly wage raise this year, for a total of a $7.50 hourly increase over the course of the contract.
Pay for current and new part-time workers increased as well, rising to at least $21 per hour before rising to $23 per hour.
After the agreement was reached, one UPS driver took to Reddit to demonstrate the benefits of unionizing.
They posted a picture of their paycheck, dated from August 27 to September 2, during which time they claimed to have worked 49 hours.
The driver got more than $2,400 before taxes for the seven days of labor, according to the slip.
“I’m a UPS delivery driver,” the Redditor said beside the post. My only qualification is a high school diploma.
“If you’re a college graduate with experience in your field making less than I do, you’re screwed.” That is only my viewpoint.
“I couldn’t believe it when one of my PhD customers told me I make more money than he does.” What makes this possible?
“The Teamsters are my union. Organize or risk being abused.”
The article elicited mixed reactions from Reddit users, with many praising the union’s achievement in negotiating the agreement and others calling for more salary transparency.
“The working world could use more transparency like this,” said one. “I wouldn’t have realized manufacturing jobs in the Phoenix region were recruiting at $45+/hour for lower-level maintenance work unless a buddy told me and showed me the offer letter…
“The more wage and salary information out there for the public to see, the more fair the market will be.”
Another Reddit user who works in social work responded to the post, saying she has ‘two master’s degrees, the highest level of a professional license, an additional national certification in my specialty, and another certification that distinguishes me from the competition,’ but ‘doesn’t break six figures’.
Meanwhile, her husband, a construction worker with “barely a high school diploma,” earns “double” what she does.
“If young people consider learning a trade (construction, electrician, plumber, iron worker, millwork, tile work, stonework, etc.), you will make more money than you could ever make in a generic ‘profession’,” the individual wrote.
The UPS driver commented under the initial post, saying they’d been a driver for five years and a package handler for two before that.
They further stated that, despite the decent income, they are ‘exhausted’ every night.