A Day Late and $.60 Cents Short

It is that time of the year when FedEx shows us just how much we are worth to them. It was recently announced that the top of scale drivers will be receiving a 1.8% raise. This 43 cent raise will put our hourly wage at $24.93.

Now this is great news until you take a look at the raises that our brothers at UPS will be voting on. Their current hourly wage is $25.70 and their potential contract will assure wage increases for the next 5 years, this is in addition to a 1.95% raise this July that their old contract provided. So let's break down what that is going to look like for them:

 2014: $.50 raise..........................$26.70
 2015: $.50 raise..........................$27.20
 2016: $.50 raise..........................$27.70
 2017: $.50 raise..........................$28.20
 2018: $.50 raise..........................$28.70

 Also, The mileage increase will be .0125 cents per mile each year of the contract payable the first pay period in January of each year, and the last two years shall be split with one half payable every six months(first pay period in January and first pay period after July 1).

 In addition to our measly (though appreciated) raise, my health insurance (Anthem) costs have also gotten a raise. My deductible for my family of 3 has gone from $900 to $1500. My monthly medical benefit deductions have also gone up to about $295 a month.

 So let's take closer look at our raise. A 1.8% raise means about an extra $894.40 a year. $600 of that goes to our increased deductible, which brings our raise to only about $294.40 a year. That is 60 cents short of what I now have to pay a month for medical "benefits".

 So all in all, our little raise obviously leaves us better off than we were before this raise but it still falls short on putting more money in our pockets and keeps us with our heads only barely above the water.

UPS FREIGHT
TENTATIVE AGREEMENT