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Aug. 11, 1997 - Art Bell

42:39

Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell - UPS strike (hour 1)

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art bell ▲ ● ▼		Mahai Desert as a great American Southwest.
		I bid you all good evening, or good morning, as the case may be, across all these many, many time zones from the Hawaiian and Tahitian Island chains, out west to the Caribbean, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Cuba, and soon Puerto Rico east, south into South America, north all the way to Santa Country as a whole, and of course worldwide on the internet.
		This is Coast Coast AM with Artel.
		And here it is, a brand new week, and boy, do I have a lot to talk about with you.
		I want to remind everybody, particularly those of you who do not have a computer or Web TV or internet capability yet, the program that ran Sunday is about to repeat in, as a matter of fact, at 1050.
		Since I'm talking to so many time zones, put another way at 50 minutes past this hour.
		The program is on WTBS or TBS, depending on how you list it, Ted Turner's super station from Atlanta.
		And the program is called Topics.
		And it's all about conspiracies.
		As a matter of fact, the number one movie right now, actually displacing Air Force One, is the new Mel Gibson conspiracy movie.
		And about two months ago, I guess, CMN came out here and did a bunch of filming.
		And as a matter of fact, a lot of you made calls during that program.
		It was about America and about the distrust of institutions.
		And you will see me and you will see, this is very interesting.
		You will see a picture of my radio tower.
		A radio tower here at home.
		And you will see several pictures of that.
		And you will see about, oh, I don't know, probably a total of five or six minutes of me and you on this program.
		So if you're able to get, most cable has it.
		Almost everybody with cable gets WTBS.
		It'll be on at 50 minutes past this hour.
		In other words, in less than an hour.
		So go set your VCR and record it.
		It's a one-hour program and it's called Topics TOPX.
		It's all about conspiracies, new and old.
		And if you have not had a chance to see me, this will certainly give you that opportunity.
		Now, before I launch into what I've got on hand, what I want to do this evening, the first part of the evening, well, let me give you kind of an outline.
		I've got a lot to say about UPS and about the strike.
		And that's what we're going to begin with.
		Then we are going to talk about the weather.
		There was an extended NBC report on our changing weather.
		We're going to talk a little bit about tap water in the Middle West and the deteriorating environment and politics.
unidentified		Politics.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		That is how it relates to matters environmental.
		So I've got a lot to do.
		But first, I've got late today, I think shortly just before 5 o'clock in the afternoon, a telephone call from the program director of KOH in Reno, and I told you I would share these things with you as they came in.
		And I have been.
		And in the spring survey, KOH Reno, of course, is a monster affiliate in Reno on 780, 50,000 watt affiliate up there.
		The survey is in, and I don't know if you understand shares.
		The general public doesn't really understand shares, average quarter-hour shares.
		But these are ridiculous shares.
		If you look at all persons 12 plus, we probably average about a 50%, 45% or 50% share.
		Now, that's outrageous.
		I mean to tell you that is outrageously high.
		That means all persons, 12 plus, just about every other person is listening to this program.
		Every other person.
		If you look at persons in the 25 to 54 age group in some hours, as high as better than 60%, actually 62.5% of all the people are listening to this program.
		That's unbelievable.
		I mean, that's not just, or if you look at the 35 to 64 age group, same deal.
		Actually, it starts to go down in the mid-40s, I would say, percent.
		I mean, these are unbelievable ratings.
		These are not just number one ratings.
		These are number one and everybody else sort of doesn't exist ratings.
		So needless to say, his call was a happy one, and I have yet to talk to him.
		He laid that on my answering machine and sent me the survey results by facts.
		So there you are, and that typically is what is occurring around the country.
		And I want to thank all of you once again.
		Surveys are going on nearly all the time, but there are four major survey points in each broadcast Year and 50 and 60 shares are just absolutely astounding, even for me, astounding.
		All right, if you're contemplating calling me tonight, hang up because the first thing that I'm going to do, I mean it, don't call, you waste your money.
		The first thing I'm going to do is to take calls from people who work for UPS or are in the union.
		And I'm going to tell you right now why I'm going to do it.
		The UPS strike is now going into its second week.
		And I want to talk to you all about this.
		The damage is mounting by the day.
		Just today, yesterday now in that time zone in Nashville, a UBS truck manager was killed.
		Actually, a manager who would not normally be driving a UPS truck was killed when his truck overturned on a highway over ramp.
		But the real story, tragic as that is, is the rest of the nation, UPS, the company, is being damaged financially, and eventually it could be damaged fatally.
		Small business from coast to coast and beyond is beginning to be damaged severely.
		A lot of small business in America operates on a very narrow margin, very narrow profit margin, and when they cannot get deliveries or ship out their product, frankly, a lot of them are going to soon be going out of business, and I'm not exaggerating here, folks.
		A lot of jobs, a lot of businesses are at risk.
		This is serious stuff.
		For the employees, prospects are rather bleak.
		And I refer now to the employees of the UPS.
		They're presently drawing, I believe, about $55 a week in strike benefits.
		I have heard, I'm not sure, that the union has about one week that they can pay these, and then even those may stop.
		I'm not sure if that's true.
		Either way, somebody who's been earning probably $17 an hour has obligations that exceed $55 a week by a whole lot.
		Mortgage, car payments, loan payments, food, you know, the basics.
		So there's a lot of damage going on.
		I find it ironic that the President of the United States, the man who had the government step in to stop the baseball strike, finds it not worthy of a Taft-Hartley trigger to step in and stop this one.
		This one is doing real damage.
		I'm telling you, a lot of companies, that means people, companies are not disconnected non-human entities.
		Companies are people.
		And this is real, and this is now, and these people are being damaged.
		The Teamsters gave heavily to the president's campaign.
		Is that why he is not stepping in?
		I don't know.
		I know this.
		If something doesn't happen pretty soon, this country is in trouble financially.
		And I don't know what it takes for the President of the United States to step in and say enough.
		But Mr. Clinton, you're already reelected.
		You're a lame duck now.
		You have no allegiance that supersedes the national need to be unions.
		And don't get me wrong.
		I'm not on the unions case here, and I'm not on the company's case.
		What I do want to know is what the employees feel, and what UPS management feels, and what the union feels.
		So here's what I want to do.
	If you're in the union, the Teamsters, and you're a member of UPS, I want to talk to you.
	If you're a member of UPS management, I want to talk to you.
	If you're somebody who has information that bears directly on this strike, I want to talk to you.
	And that's it.
	For the first hour, that's all I want to do.
	I don't frequently, as you know, tackle this sort of topic, but this is very, very important to a lot of people, including my sponsors, a lot of the companies that are sponsors for this program, hell for every program.
	Small companies across this whole country have become dependent on UPS.
	And even companies that have found other ways to ship their product out soon are going to be crippled financially because they're not going to get products in.
	Now, it's like a great food chain, and the food has stopped.
	So I want to talk to UPS drivers.
	I want to talk to union guys.
	And I want to talk to UPS management.
	And that's all I want to talk to right now.
	Something's got to give here, folks.
	I'm telling you, this is very serious.
	And the president, I think, is making a very large mistake by not stepping in.
	A lot of the employees want the president to step in and stop the strike and allow the employees to vote on the contract that is being offered.
	That to me seems reasonable.
	I understand the arguments on both sides.
	I know the union is very upset about the fact that UPS is creating many, many part-time jobs where benefits are not paid.
	But a lot of the UPS drivers will tell you that they're very happy, very glad to have their high-paying job, part or full-time.
	UPS pays well.
	UPS, of all companies, is pretty much an employee-owned company.
	That means really they are UPS.
	And so in this specific incidence, I would think it logical that the employees should vote.
	I'm sure the Teamsters aren't real wild about that idea.
	Anyway, I want to try to remain objective and really not on anybody's case here.
	I just want to make the case that we're in real economic difficulty.
	And if this continues, if it continues, we're in trouble.
	Really, in trouble.
	So, if you're in any of the categories that I just mentioned, call me, please, and let us have a bit of a discussion about this.
	How many of you UPS employees sitting out there, probably a lot of you, because you're sure not working, very few crossing picket lines, how many of you would like to vote on whether or not to accept the package offered by management?
	How long do you think it's going to be that UPS can take this without itself beginning to get in danger?
	And a more operative question is, all of these small companies that are out there right now, how long do you think they can survive before a lot of them begin going under?
	So that's what I want to talk about here in the first hour or so.
	I'm going to repeat a report by Linda Maltenhow, probably around midnight or so.
	I don't know.
	We'll see how it goes.
	And we've got to talk about the weather.
	The weather, I have been arguing now for years, is changing.
	NBC did a big report on just that last night.
	Hallelujah.
unidentified		Finally.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Dan Rather talked about fiscaria and how serious that is.
		Finally.
		So we'll talk about those things.
		But right now, this hour, what we're going to talk about is UPS.
		So in a moment, that's what's coming up.
		Now, this is one of the easier ads I have ever done.
		And I'm so glad to have them back.
		It has to do with quality.
		And I'm talking here about military grade binoculars made by IOR, established in Europe back in 1936.
		The best binoculars I've ever seen in my whole life.
		Razor-sharp pictures.
		And amazingly bright viewing at night.
		The secret multi-layered, multi-coated anti-reflex treated lenses with glass manufactured by the world-famous shock company in Germany.
		And BAK-4 oversized pearl prism block design.
		Now, all of that sounds like something that would cause your eyes to glaze over, but I'm telling you right now, I use mine every day.
		Took my binox to Scandinavia, and they'll be with me on my trip to Alaska and Egypt coming up.
		If you have ever laid hands on something, you know right away you have in your hand quality.
		That is the case.
		I chased this company.
		Their name is Valdada Manu.
		And I chased them to advertise because I had never seen a product, never, never, never.
		And I love optics with this kind of quality.
		And by the way, if you're looking for a rifle scope for hunting or for tactical reasons, you can get the same impeccable quality and brilliant optics from a full line of IOR and Swaruski, I believe it is, at about half the price.
		I've got one on one of my rifles, and they are astounding.
		So the binoculars, the rifle scopes, they're the best made.
		Valdata Menu.
		You've got a 10-day money-back guarantee.
		So if what I'm telling you right now is not true, you get your money back.
		And by the way, you get a free military-grade compass with each purchase.
		Prices begin as low as $349, and it's worth a lot more.
unidentified		Call them.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		1-800-569-6268.
		That's 1-800-569-6268.
		Valdata Manu.
		The highest quality optics I have ever seen.
		All right.
		Once again, I want to say this.
		I am only allowing the following calls.
		UPS drivers, UPS workers, UPS union representatives.
		You get the idea.
		I want to get some of the issues out on the table.
		I understand people are hesitant to talk.
		You can do it anonymously here.
		Relatively anonymously.
		We really need to get this one on the table, folks.
		If this doesn't get settled, small business across America shortly is going to begin giving up the ghost.
		So let me give you the numbers, and those are the rules until I say otherwise.
		So everybody else, please just hold off.
		I want current UPS employees on strike.
		I want union folks, and I want UPS management.
		That's it.
		First time callers at area code 702-727-1222.
		Wildcard line, area code 702-727-1295.
		West of the Rockies, it's 1-800-618-8255.
		1-800-618-8255.
		East of the Rockies, it's 1-800-825-5033.
		And I guess I'm being clear here.
		I hope I am.
		I want only those categories of people.
		And we may have some sort of little group discussion here.
		I don't know what's going to get going.
		I just know that's what I want to talk about.
		Because I do know when a situation is really serious.
		And folks, this one is really serious for UPS, for the people who work for UPS, for small companies, for all of us, actually.
		This is Sirius, and this is CBC.
		CBC.
unidentified		May I sing for the fool's regime, and...
		Hey, hey, holy Art Bell is taking calls on the wildcard line at 702-727-1295.
		That's 702-727-1295.
		First-time callers can reach Art Bell at 702-727-1222.
		702-727-1222.
		Now, here again, Art Bell.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, everybody.
		In about 15 minutes, TBS WTBS will run a program called Topics.
		Don't miss it.
		Set your VCR.
		It's a one-hour program, and you'll see me in it at least three or four times during the course of that program.
		So if you've never had a chance to see me or the studio, and by the way, that little tower they show, that's my tower.
		Not so little, actually.
		All right, I'm going to say this one more time.
		UPS management personnel, UPS employees, and union reps.
		And by the way, it's going to be hard to get a union rep. So if somebody from the Teamsters involved in this particular action would like to fax me at area code 702-727-8499.
		702-727-8499.
		I will see to it that I get you on the air.
		In the meantime, let us go east of the Rockies first and say good morning.
		You're on the air.
unidentified		Good morning.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, sir.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		I take it you work for UPS?
unidentified		That's correct.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		What kind of work do you do?
unidentified		I'm a management personnel.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Management.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		What is it that you feel, where are we right now with this strike?
unidentified		Well, basically, I think the two sticking points are the pension plan and the part-time.
		And I believe the press has unfairly brought UPS in the part-time issue in this area right here where we offer great benefits for our part-time employees.
		For example, when someone is hired as a part-time employee, they are never told that they will go full-time.
		Also, once they reach their seniority, they receive full benefits and arrays according to the contract.
		And basically anywhere from 50 to 20% of the part-timers that work at UPS are mainly college students or people who are just looking for a little extra cash.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		All right, I saw a CNN program earlier, I think yesterday, in which the Teamster's representative claimed that the part-timers were getting virtually no benefits at all, zero.
unidentified		That's incorrect.
		Every part-timer that works gets full benefits.
		They get 80-20 benefits.
		Really?
		And when the part-timers work, like I said, they're never guaranteed that they'll get a full-time slot.
		But a full-timer will never go into a part-time slot.
		A part-timer, if there are slots available, will go into a full-time slot.
		That all depends on volume throughout the if there's alum available and if we have work available.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		How do you feel about the president not stepping in on this one?
unidentified		Well, basically, he's a Teamsters.
		He's a labor president.
		Also, too, the Teamsters donated $2.4 million to the campaign.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		I found it rather incredible that the president stepped in and stopped the baseball strike.
unidentified		That's correct.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		But not something that threatens to economically cripple the nation.
		What about UPS itself?
		Since you're in management, the other reports that we're beginning to get are that as this goes on, UPS itself may be getting in trouble.
unidentified		Well, definitely.
		We're losing money.
		I don't know how much today, but it's hurting both the Teamsters and also it's also hurting UPS.
		And the Teamsters, like you said, are only going to get, what, $55 a week, and that's just for the full-time drivers.
		The part-timers get no money.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		No money.
unidentified		No money just.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Do you find that most people like yourself, management, what do they want?
		What do they want to have happen here?
		Do you feel as the employees, you want the strike to end?
		Do you think there ought to be a vote?
		What should happen?
unidentified		Well, basically, we feel there should be a vote.
		Like I said, I'm not talking UPSY.
		I'm not officially exposed for UPSY.
		Through the line is all we want is just for our members, our Teamsters that work for UPS, to have a chance to vote on contract.
		And some of the Teamsters that have spoken with me that I still maintain contact with, they would like the opportunity to vote.
		But for example, in the state that we're from, the Teamsters has threatened their members that if they cross the ticket line, they will be fined $5,000.
		And also, the union card will be taken away.
		And UTS has what he calls a closed union shop.
		Boy.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Are you on the road yourself, some management personnel?
unidentified		You are.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Of course, there was a tragedy.
		I'm sure you know about it already back in Nashville.
		Hopefully, there will not be more of that.
		But in the meantime, how much business, percentage-wise, are you managers able to take care of?
unidentified		10 to 15%.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		10 to 15%.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		You're very well aware, I'm sure, that small business across America is really, seriously beginning to suffer.
unidentified		Well, the businesses that we do deliver to, they do want this to stop.
		But also, too, a big thing, too, is when the strike is over and the contract is signed, we're not going to get a certain percentage.
		I don't know what the estimation is, back.
		And the big problem with that is a lot of Teamsters are going to be laid off, especially the part-timers, because we have obligations to the contract that we must employ work for the full-timers.
		They are guaranteed work before the part-timers are.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		The other strange thing that I've heard is that UPS is more or less owned by the employees.
unidentified		That's correct.
		I think, I believe, two, three years ago we made, or two years ago, I'm not sure, we made the option that they have the option to buy stock into the company.
		So we are owner operators.
		Management owner operators now.
		The Teamsters, if they choose to buy stock in the company, are also owner operators in the company.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		So in effect, you're striking against yourself.
unidentified		That's correct.
		The Teamsters are.
		For those who have contributed to the stock plan.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		I sincerely appreciate your call, and you're in favor then of a vote?
unidentified		Yes, we're all in favor.
		All men's in favor just to get this over and done with.
		All we want is just have the opportunity, like the Teamsters, let Ron Kerry, which he won't, give the Teamsters the opportunity to vote.
		I don't know what he's afraid of.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Maybe he's afraid of a vote?
unidentified		I think you're correct.
unidentified		I think he's also afraid that if they do vote, that this plan would be accepted by the Teamsters.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		All right, sir.
		I absolutely appreciate your call.
		Thank you.
		And I'm not even going to be asking these people where they are from for obvious reasons.
		I just want to try to get a picture of where everybody is in this.
		Because if we can, maybe we can begin moving in a direction toward a resolution.
		Not that radio programs resolve labor disputes, but maybe a public airing of it.
		What's really going on will move somebody toward resolving this.
		Maybe political pressure is needed.
		I really don't know.
		2.4 million or not, this president has an obligation to the country.
		And if the baseball strike meets the Taft Hartley trigger requirements, then something that's out there killing small businesses across America sure as hell does.
		First time caller line, you're on the air.
		Hello.
unidentified		Hi.
unidentified		Is this Art?
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Yes, it is.
unidentified		Hi.
		Yeah, this is Jeff.
		And I've worked for UPS for 18 years, and I like being part-timer.
		I like it.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		You're a part-timer?
unidentified		Yes.
unidentified		Yes, I've been a part-timer for 18 years.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		How many hours a week do you put in, generally?
unidentified		25.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		25?
unidentified		Yeah.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		What kind of pay scale?
unidentified		I got in on the old contract back in 79.
unidentified		Presently, I'm making $17.89 an hour.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		$1,789 an hour.
unidentified		Right.
		And, you know, I agree with the previous gentleman in management that we do get good benefits, you know.
		Dental vision.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Wait a minute.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		You get dental and vision as a part-timer?
unidentified		Oh, yeah.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Then what in the world is the union talking about when they say the fight is over this part-time business and what percentage of people have part-time jobs if they're getting these kinds of benefits?
art bell ▲ ● ▼		What is the union talking about?
unidentified		I don't know because I'm kept in the dark.
		You know, it's very frustrating.
		It's all being done, it seems, behind closed doors in Washington.
		And, you know, we're left out in the dark.
		We have a hotline that we can call periodically, you know, for an update approximately every 12 hours.
		And it's just general information that's just given out.
		We don't really know what's going on.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		If you had your choice, you wouldn't be on strike.
unidentified		That's correct.
		It's not about wages per se, although from what I understand, the part-time wages, the base rate has not gone up since 1982.
		Believe me, I'm no authority on this.
		I'm just saying I like being a part-timer.
		And there have been quite a few openings.
		If I wanted to, if I so chose, I could go full-time.
		I could do that.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		But you actually chosen not to?
unidentified		No, because I, like I say, I enjoy the lifestyle that a part-time job affords.
unidentified		I do other businesses on the side.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		What kind of work do you actually do?
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Are you a driver?
unidentified		Well, I'm a rare breed.
unidentified		I mean, I'm in the feeder department, okay?
art bell ▲ ● ▼		The other?
unidentified		The feeders, yeah.
unidentified		Over-the-road type thing.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Okay, that feeder means taking packages over a long-haul route.
unidentified		Exactly.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Not delivering on the daily basis to businesses and picking up that kind of thing.
unidentified		Right.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		Well, there's quite a few on feeder routes.
		I get an awful lot of messages and email and faxes from people doing theater work because I think they're the guys who get to hear my show.
unidentified		Right.
		Yeah.
		Yes.
		For, you know, the graveyard shift.
		Oh, you're very popular.
		Very popular with the drivers.
		I hear them discussing your shows all the time.
		There is a concern is that independent outside contractors have been taking runs, feeder runs.
		And also, this is more of a concern, is that the part-timers would actually be taking full-time feeder runs from drivers, thereby eliminating, number one, higher wage scale.
		It's very minimal, but the overtime, overtime, too, is totally being eliminated, which I guess, you know, looking at it independent, I mean, from an outside thing, is a good business decision.
		Time and a half is certainly more expensive.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		If you had an opportunity to vote today, to stay out and wait for all this to come true, how would you vote?
		How would I vote?
		How would you vote, yeah, if you were given that opportunity?
unidentified		Okay, well, I just received today, as a matter of fact, a big package from UPS, overnighted, no priority mail from the post office, from the postal service, a really thick package, and it outlines UPS's final best offer and stuff.
		And I would have to see the other offer from the Teamsters.
		It's like a one-sided thing, it seems to be.
		It's like a dancing with a gorilla almost.
		Oh, I don't know.
		But UPS's offer looks good.
		It looks good.
		But like I say, I haven't seen the Teamsters offer.
		So I think they should try to work out something that the whole rank and file can vote on.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Well, if this goes on a whole lot longer, we all lose.
unidentified		Absolutely.
		I hear you.
		I really feel for the small business owners that are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
		What can they do?
		We're in the same position, you know.
		I mean, we're just pawns.
		We are just pawns in the big top few players game.
		The Fat Cats are controlling this whole thing.
		I think it's political, too.
		With Clinton and I don't know.
		I've heard any rumors about Kerry and the political contributions, but we're just kept in the dark.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Well, at this point, I almost refuse to believe that $2.4 million or not, that's really not, in the larger scheme of things, a hell of a lot of money, was given to the president from the union's fine.
		The president's a lamed up.
		The president doesn't owe anybody anything.
		And it seems to me this is becoming enough of a national emergency that if this does not trigger Capt Hartley, I can't imagine what would.
unidentified		You know, it's a very serious situation.
		And I think that, like I say, just a few people are, it's almost like a personal vendetta, it seems like.
		You know, there's personalities involved, and it's a shame that everybody in the whole United States is having to, you know, watch what's going on between a few people.
		And I guess that's the way it's always been.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		All right.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		How much longer before this begins to really harm you personally, financially?
unidentified		Well, like I say, I've been doing other things on the side, so I'm sort of insulated.
		But, oh, I can imagine it's been, what, the second week now.
		Most people, most of the drivers, the rank, the teamsters, and even management, too, to be honest, we're maybe one or two paychecks away from being in a big, big trouble.
		People like their toys.
		They like their boats and new automobiles and stuff.
		And, you know, face it, you're looking at a younger set that, you know, it's really starting to really hurt a lot of people.
		And I'd like to see it brought to a conclusion.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		So would I. And shortly.
		Thank you very, very much for the call.
		We will continue with this.
		Only calls, please, from UPS employees, management, and union.
		I want to hear from the union.
		And the union, you know, all the lines are full, obviously.
		So if you're a union out there, a union rep, and you want to have a word about this, why this strike is important.
		So far I've heard from a management person and a feeder driver, and they don't sound so convinced.
		So if you're a union type person, you can fax me and I'll get you on the air if you want your point of view heard.
		My fax number is area code 702-727-8499.
		702-727-8499.
		Would like to have all sides heard from.
		9.
		On the wildcard line, you're on the air.
		Hello.
unidentified		Hi.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Hi.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		What do you do, sir?
unidentified		I'm a preloader slash airdriver, and I've worked for UPS for like approximately 18 years.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Preloader slash air driver.
		Air driver.
		What does that mean?
unidentified		I deliver next-day air packages.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Oh, I see.
		I see.
		All right.
		What's your feeling about this horrid strike?
unidentified		My feeling is I think what the killer issue is, is the pension.
		And I'm a little upset with the company for even asking the union to give that up because I think that that's a no-win situation.
		And the union will never give up the pension.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		They're asking the company to give up the entire pension?
unidentified		Yes.
		I guess they are.
		They're asking the union to give up the pension.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		The union to give up the pension entirely?
unidentified		Yes.
unidentified		Well, they say that the union will still be involved, but I don't know the fine details.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		What is the company pension program like, say, for you?
art bell ▲ ● ▼		What does it mean to you?
unidentified		Well, actually, as a part-timer, I can retire.
unidentified		There is a formula that does have to be met underneath the Teamsters, and I can retire at age 52 with about a $1,200 benefit.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Per month?
unidentified		Yes.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		That's a big benefit.
unidentified		Yes.
		And listening to your program, your previous caller did state about the part-timers do have benefits and good wages, and that is true.
		I have excellent medical and dental benefits, and I have an excellent wage.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		How long do you think that UPS effectively can hold out?
		I could ask you about your own personal situation, how long you can hold out, but how long do you think UPS can hold out?
		I'm beginning to get word that millions and millions of dollars per day are going down the drain, and eventually UPS itself is going to be in trouble, and then there's not going to be much left for anybody.
unidentified		Well, I think the company can hold out a long time.
		I think the company has a lot of money.
		We grossed, if this is correct, I'm not quite sure, but we grossed approximately $24 billion last year, and our net profit after everything is paid was approximately $1.2 billion.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		I think that's right.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		I think you're about right.
unidentified		And I think the company has a lot of money.
		But like I said, the two issues about the part-timers and the pension, well, I think the part-time issue can be resolved.
		I think the company can make a few more full-time jobs.
		I think they can raise the pay, and that wouldn't be the problem.
		But I think the main issue is the pension, and I just think the Teamsters will never give that up.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		And from your own personal point of view, you would be willing to stay out and fight on strike for the pension part of the issue?
unidentified		Yes, I believe so.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		given an opportunity to vote on the offer that's on the table now, would you vote?
unidentified		Well, I'm glad you brought that up because I would do...
		This is one point where I do disagree with the union.
		I believe we ought to have a vote on the proposal, because if you understand about...
art bell ▲ ● ▼		Do you want to hold?
unidentified		Sure.
art bell ▲ ● ▼		All right, then holding you are.
		I'm Art Bell from the high desert.
		This is CBC.

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