1y ago

Tech workers react to UPS drivers landing a $170,000 a year package with a mixture of anger and admiration

www.businessinsider.com Tech workers react to UPS drivers landing a $170,000 a year package with a mixture of anger and admiration

Some tech workers questioned whether UPS drivers deserved high pay — others jumped in to note the importance of the jobs and harsh working conditions.

Tech workers react to UPS drivers landing a $170,000 a year package with a mixture of anger and admiration::Some tech workers questioned whether UPS drivers deserved high pay — others jumped in to note the importance of the jobs and harsh working conditions.

Work Reform @lemmy.world

Tech workers react to UPS drivers landing a $170,000-a-year package with a mixture of anger and admiration

www.businessinsider.com /tech-workers-comments-170k-ups-driver-deal-anger-admiration-2023-8

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Antiwork @lemmy.ml

Tech workers react to UPS drivers landing a $170,000 a year package with a mixture of anger and admiration

www.businessinsider.com /tech-workers-comments-170k-ups-driver-deal-anger-admiration-2023-8

90 33

Work Reform @lemmy.world

Tech workers react to UPS drivers landing a $170,000 a year package with a mixture of anger and admiration

www.businessinsider.com /tech-workers-comments-170k-ups-driver-deal-anger-admiration-2023-8

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172 comments

tech workers: i'm underpaid and everyone else should be too!
fucking unionize already. tired of this crabs-in-a-bucket mentality
- Or, perhaps this article is just trying to sow discord between workers.
  One of the old tricks in the books to make people despise unions is to take the very best union deals and sensationalize them, so that others hate the union out of jealousy.
  Make it appear like the UPS driver is getting paid $170K for 32 hours of work, in a fully A/C'd vehicle on a short, easy route, starting pay, right out of college without a degree, four weeks of vacation yada yada.
  When in reality, the $170K probably only kicks in if you take the absolute worst routes, worst shifts (weekend/night) with max overtime and even then, a third of it is retirement, insurance and health care contributions. And you only get the max after 10 or 20 years of service, if they didn't fire you as you increased.
  
  During an earnings call on Tuesday, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said that by the end of its five-year contract with the Teamsters union, the average full-time UPS driver would make about $170,000 in annual pay and benefits, such as healthcare and pension benefits.
  The headline is sensationalized for sure. But the article itself actually makes the point that the tech workers are misunderstanding that the $170k figure includes both salary and benefits.
  "This is disappointing, how is possible that a driver makes much more than average Engineer in R&D?" a worker at the autonomous trucking company TuSimple wrote on Blind, an anonymous jop-posting site that verifies users' employment using their company email. "To get a base salary of $170k you know you need to work hard as an Engineer, this sucks."
  It is important to note that the $170,000 figure represents the entire value of the UPS package, including benefits and does not represent the base salary. Currently, UPS drivers make an average of around $95,000 per year with an additional $50,000 in benefits, according to the company. The average median salary for an engineer in the US is $103,845 with a base pay of about $91,958, according to Glassdoor. And TuSimple research engineers can make between $161,000 to $250,000 in compensation, Glassdoor data shows.
  On the whole though this is a useless article covering drama on Blind, wrapped up with a ragebait headline.
  
  On the whole though this is a useless article covering drama on Blind, wrapped up with a ragebait headline.
  This is the buried lead. Blind is a negative echo chamber where your posts gets no value if you don't mention your TC (total compensation). Opinions from there should be taken with a grain of salt.
  
  The phrase is "bury the lede", but most autocorrect doesn't like that.
  Your point is absolutely valid, nonetheless.
  
  My guy at work is amazing. He's almost always on time somehow, gets in and out, knows the answer to stupid questions people ask him and has classic rock from a bluetooth speaker in his truck. He deserves every penny, and some damn air conditioning.
  
  What strange math. My healthcare costs are DEDUCTED from my salary
  
  Most places I’ve worked at say “it would cost you 5,000 / month for healthcare, but we’re only charging you $500 / month, so that’s $4,500 / month we’re paying you”
  
  Highly likely.
- I think people just don't realize how underpaid they are. They think that because they make six figures, that means they're getting paid what they're worth.
  
  Actually what people don’t realize is what the above poster means between the lines, this is an article by big corp to make the general public angry at unionized organizations.
  
  Bingo. A greedy neoliberal company putting out articles to help greedy neoliberals companies.
  They might tolerate competition and superficial disagreements, but the moment something is a threat to profits they have incredible class solidarity.
  
  Companies are not liberal or conservative... They are all capitalist.
  
  They all push neoliberalism because it's constant failure to deliver on it's promises makes them rich.
  
  If you were paid what you were worth the company wouldn't make any money.
  Corporations exist by the excess value of their workers' labor, by definition.
  
  Eh that's a paradox though. If the company makes no money, there's no job for you in the first place making you worth nothing.
  
  No you are misunderstanding the roles of labor and capital. If I withhold my labor, then the owners have nothing to sell. If they withhold pay to me, I go to another company with my labor. Capital cannot create value, only labor can.
  
  You can go to another company, but they too wouldn’t exist if they didn’t make money.
  
  It’s not a paradox. The money the company makes is profit. Profit is what’s left of revenue after costs are subtracted. People’s pay is a cost.
- They're quoting Blind users though, Blind is a cesspool of silicon Valley tech bros. It's often just a dick measuring contest between FAANG workers about who makes more money.
- Some tech workers. This is just a stupid ragebait piece.

172 comments