LETTERS: UPS STRIKE IS FOR TEAMSTERS PENSION

To the editor:

I want to express my concern over the recent UPS strike which is adversly affecting millions of businesses, both large and small.

Mr. Clinton needs to intervene in this senseless strike and put an end to this situation. This strike is not about wages. The average full-time UPS employee makes $50,000 per year with another $20,000 in benefits, while the average part-time employee makes $11 an hour plus health and retirement benefits. The final offer that UPS made to the Teamsters included an increase in pay and benefits for both full and part-time employees.

The Teamsters' problem with the UPS proposal has to do with the union-controlled pension plan. The union leadership thinks that UPS should remain a part of the multi-employer, Teamster-controlled pension. UPS has proposed a single plan that would benefit their employees only, not several thousand Teamster retirees who never even worked for UPS.

DRU C. REEVES

Cape Girardeau