Dan Minette wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John D. Giorgis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Friday, September 17, 2004 10:56 PM > Subject: Re: What are the real rules? and a bit on unions > > > > > Also, I went back and looked at David's statement..to make sure I > didn't have to write a major retraction after contradicting him. He > wrote: > > "The chains that have union contracts pay living wages with basic > benefits and decent conditions, lifting their workers out of poverty > in fair recompense > for a hard day's work." > > Kroger's has a union contract and pays worse than HEB, which does > not...to the best of my knowledge. This is, basically, independent > of the fact that highly unionized industries like steel, auto, > shipping, etc. pay far more than the average retail job. There may > be exceptions with some localized highly unionized areas with > relatively high salaries for retail, but overall...retail just does > not pay front line employees very well at all. >
Dan, I don't think you can compare Kroger to HEB *only* by comparing wages these days. If I understand things correctly, one has to compare the dollar value of the "total package" that a worker receives. My questions would be: 1 Who and what does insurance cover and what are the terms of the policy? (There is immense variance in the kinds of coverage employers supply for their workers, which in turn means a great variation in cost per employee.) 2 Is there a retirement plan, and what are the specifics? 3 Do other incentives exist? (Employee discounts, bonuses....etc) ************************* Frex: My employer provided insurance (Humana) covers everyone living in my home *and* any dependents I am responsible for (My son who lives with my ex-wife, and during my divorce - my ex-wife and her daughter from a previous marriage.) This coverage continues even after I am laid off or fired or quit, until my "bank hours" are depleted. Most open shop people I run into tell me that with their companies only the employee is covered and fees must be payed to cover additional family members, and those fees are substantial. I get an annuity, a 401A, and we have a pension fund, most non-union people are lucky if they have any plan at all (most don't). Then there are less tangible benefits. Any work I do outside the hours of 7AM to 330PM are overtime hours at the timeandahalf rate except for Saturday midnight til Sunday midnight which pays at doubletime. Holidays pay doubletime and Laborday pays tripletime. We get a quarterly safety incentive and certain targetted projects get a larger cashforsafety incentive. We get no paid holidays, no paid vacation, no sick days. *************************** It is almost impossible to compare union vs open shop without knowing what the total package of compensation is. xponent TMI Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
