At Ups, Part Time Work Is A Full Time Issue

United Parcel Service of America Inc. is a powerhouse of a company. In recent years, it has racked up record profits and enjoys the delivery industry's highest margins. It is invading the turf of rivals such as Federal Express Corp. in air deliveries. The Atlanta company also pays top dollar to its 190,000 Teamsters employees: Delivery drivers earn $20 an hour, while part-time sorters and loaders start at $8 and hit $10 after two years.

The pretty picture stems in part from an aggressive growth strategy based on hiring scads of part-timers to keep labor costs low. True, UPS has created 46,000 new unionized jobs since 1993, a stunning 27% increase. But more than 80% of the newcomers are part-timers, whose pay rates haven't changed since 1982. With few full-time jobs opening up, many part-timers feel they have no prospects of jumping up to the better posts and that their work is demanding and dangerous: UPS has twice the injury rate of other delivery companies. UPS says the union exaggerates the safety problems. Turnover among part-timers exceeds 400% a year.