ONLINE VERSION	VOLUME 106 - NUMBER 8 - SEPTEMBER 1997

Secretary-Treasurer's Overview

The Teamsters strike against the United Parcel Service has been a long time coming. Americans used to get a decent job and keep it for life. Then it became successive jobs--usually each an improvement over the prior one. Next, it was successive jobs, only this time headed back down the wage ladder. Now it can be three or four jobs all at the same time, with none by itself paying a livable wage or benefits. Today one-fourth of the workforce--or about 20 million workers--is in a part-time job. Up to another 18 million work in temporary or contingent jobs, or as independent contractors. A study to be released next month by the Economic Policy Institute will show that this latter group is growing in size. The exact number of part-timers is a little hard to pin down because federal government surveys only define part-time work as 35 hours a week or less. Thus, workers, like those at UPS, who are forced to work full-time hours, don't show up in the government tallies. Sure, they may be paid overtime, but that isn't based on a full-time wage, nor are their benefits increased to those of full-timers. And, of course, workers who hold more than one job--all of which are part time--aren't counted either. Nonetheless, it is telling that Manpower, a temp service, is the country's largest employer and growing. Right now, part-timers are concentrated in health care and other service industries. Nearly 12 percent of the transportation industry, including UPS is part time. But pockets can be found across industries, at every skill and education level. Big corporations love these throw-away jobs. Forget the claims by UPS and other employers that workers want it this way: few of them do. About 7 million Americans--or about a third of all part-timers--say they would prefer a full-time position. These workers are forced to take part-time work with low wages and few benefits because that's all employers are offering. According to one researcher, involuntary part-timers live, on the average, on incomes at least $17,000 below those who want to work part-time. That means the part-time life is great for those who want it--students, parents of young children and the semi-retired--but for the rest it's tough luck. And make no mistake about it, employers, in general, aren't trying to accommodate the family and other needs of their employees in creating or scheduling part-time jobs. Instead, they are simply trying to cut costs and increase profits. According to the Labor Department, the average hourly wage for full-time workers was $10.85, compared with $7.54 for part-time workers. Companies may be saving money up front, but they are creating a restless and non-loyal workforce. One study found that turnover at UPS was 150 percent--with many citing the lack of full-time openings as the reason for quitting. It costs money to hire and train people, regardless of how "unskilled" employers consider some positions. Full-timers can't count themselves blessed in this quicksand of secure incomes. Besides wage erosion, their benefits are also slowly slipping away. In the past four years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that coverage for defined-benefit pension plans, paid holidays, paid sick leave and health care is steadily dropping. Of those who get health care, many are being forced into health maintenance organizations. The UPS may be the first major strike around the issue of part-time workers. But we all have already grappled with the problem. We fight against the "competitiveness" claim in each round of negotiations we enter as union employers want to drop costs to the wages and benefits of this new labor pool. This may be the most visible stand yet, but it won't last. You can count on it.