Michael P asked: > 1. The Wall Street Journal says that part time jobs are not increasing? > Any thoughts. Last time I looked at the numbers, part-time jobs were marginally decreasing. BUT, if you compare figures for part-time jobs today to that during the early 1980's then you see that there has been a dramatic increase in part-time employment in the US during that period. Actually, I believe the trend started in the late 1970's but was dramatically increased during the 1980's "concessions movement." Part-time employment was, after all, frequently part of the "flexibility" that so many corporations sought in order to maintain "competitiveness" (to use two buzzwords from the '80's in one sentence). > 2. If a person has 2 part time jobs, does that count as a single part > time worker or 2? If you are referring to employment and unemployment calculations, then a person is counted as being employed regardless of whether they are employed full-time or employed part-time at 1, 2, 3, or more jobs. That is an interesting question, though, since many part-timers -- of necessity -- must be employed at more than one part-time job (although, many part-timers have another *full-time* job with another employer). > 3. I thought that I heard on KPFA [Berkeley Pacifica station] that UPS > part timers did get reasonable benefits, even though their wages were > lower. The benefits accorded to part-time workers vary very much by sector. In auto, for instance, they receive full medical benefits but no pension or job security. In academia, most part-timers don't have any benefits to speak of. These differential benefits vary greatly depending, in part, on the specific unions, the percentage of union members who are part-timers, and the militancy of the part-time workers. > 4. Could UPS hire enough scabs [replacement workers]to operate w/o the > unionized workers? They could *hire* enough scabs, although there was an announcement I heard on the radio today that UPS mgt. said that they weren't planning on hiring "replacement workers" at this time. Of course, that could change. But, even if they hire scabs that doesn't mean that they will be able to "operate." Jerry
