CSUDH News

The primary source of news and information about California State University, Dominguez Hills, its students, faculty, and staff.

Transportation

TIME: UPS Is Failing Part-Time Workers Like Me

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Stack of boxes on concrete

Source: TIME (authored by CSUDH alumnus Cesar Castro)

Like many working-class people of color living in Los Angeles County, I work to support myself and my family. This includes my four younger siblings and single mother.

I work hard at UPS part time and just completed my degree in labor studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills. I’m a proud member of Teamsters Local 396, which represents transportation and sanitation workers in Southern California. As a shop steward, I apply my knowledge to help my co-workers at UPS advocate for themselves.

Every worker should be able to sit directly across from their employer to negotiate the working conditions they deserve. I’m honored to do that, serving on the UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee as we bargain our new five-year union contract covering more than 340,000 workers at UPS. We have had enough and we are ready for the contract we deserve at UPS.

Unfortunately, when we got to the part of negotiations where we bargain over wages, we hit a big roadblock. UPS walked away from the table on July 5, refusing to give the Teamsters a last, best, and final offer. It was disheartening to hear that from the employer I work so hard for, an employer that made a record-setting $100 billion last year. Part-time employees work extremely hard to make this company its profits, and we deserve to share in that success.

As thousands of UPS Teamsters practice picketed, rallied, and mobilized across the country, UPS bowed to the pressure, and on July 19, reached out to the union to resume negotiations next week. UPS needs to deliver a fair contract with the wages we deserve.

As a part-time worker at the UPS Compton hub, I make $18.85 an hour. UPS advertises that their jobs pay an average of $95,000 a year, but that’s not what I’m making. My co-workers and I struggle to make ends meet on low wages, especially in a state like California, which has among the highest living costs in the U.S.

Inflation is rising, and necessities like rent and food are becoming increasingly difficult to afford. Housing is a major expense for individuals and families. According to a recent National Low Income Housing Coalition report, a worker must earn an hourly wage of $42.25 and work full-time to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Southern California. For cities like Los Angeles, Berkeley, and San Diego, a single person must make more than $76,000 to “live comfortably,” according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Living Wage Calculator.

Income inequality in the United States has grown dramatically for decades. The wealthiest Americans are getting richer while the rest of us struggle to keep up. Prices for goods and services are increasing, but paychecks are not keeping pace. The result is a growing number of workers who are forced to choose between paying for rent or groceries, and that’s simply not acceptable.

This trend is reflected in the wages of part-time workers at UPS. UPS Teamsters are united around negotiating wages that respect the vital role we play in the company and the economy. The starting rate for a part-time UPS worker is $15.50 an hour. We do important work and are essential to the company’s success, but we are not paid accordingly. This is a multibillion-dollar corporation that can afford to do better by its workers.

Raising wages for part-time workers is the right thing to do. It’s also good for the economy. When workers have more money to spend, they put it back into their communities, supporting local businesses and creating jobs. This boosts economic growth and benefits everyone, continuing a cycle of shared progress.

UPS needs to raise wages, so this company’s workers can live with dignity and security. Part-timers at UPS, like myself, overwhelmingly want full-time jobs. We often have to wait years for that opportunity and, in the meantime, work for wages that cannot sustain an individual, let alone a family.

The best way for UPS to retain dependable workers is by paying us enough to live and creating opportunity. The system that currently exists at UPS means workers have to cobble together multiple jobs to make ends meet. This is not good for us, and it is not good for the company. It’s time for UPS to recognize the important role that part-time workers play in the company’s success and make some serious investments in our labor for the long-haul.

Daily Breeze: South Bay Economic Forecast Predicts Mixed Bag of Financial Fortunes

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Panelists at the Economic Forecast
Left to right: Professor of Economics Jose Martinez, Assistant Professor of Finance Jennifer Brodmann, Associate Professor of Public Administration Fynnwin Prager, and Ralina Shaw of RSPR.

Source: Daily Breeze

The South Bay economic forecast has neither ominous storm clouds nor clear skies ahead – but predicts, rather, a moderately sunny future, with some mildly concerning clouds looming.

That’s according to the authors of the eighth annual South Bay Economic Forecast and Industry Outlook.

The clouds – inflation, supply chain disruption, slowing growth of the gross domestic product – are the same ones hovering across the rest of the country, as many experts predict some form of a recession on the way. But there is reason to believe that the South Bay is poised to weather the future financial storm with resilience, experts said earlier this week.

A key part of that, according to the recently published report, is the region’s diverse, profitable and growing industries, as well as strong labor productivity and an enviable housing market.

The report was prepared by researchers and economists of the South Bay Economics Institute at Cal State Dominguez Hills, with the key findings presented during a Thursday, Oct. 13, conference.

The economy is currently in an odd situation, with the Federal Reserve increasing interest rates in an effort to bring down inflation, an effort that has so far been unsuccessful – as consumer spending has grown during the first two quarters of 2022. Nevertheless, the South Bay Economics Institute experts have predicted spending will eventually slow and that some sort of recession is inevitable, although the severity of it is tough to predict.

“As of today, demand remains very, very strong, so that’s why it’s weird for economists, because how do you predict a recession when the economy’s doing so well?” institute co-Director Jose Martinez said at the conference. “It seems like the Fed will eventually get what they want, which is basically controlling inflation and that will most likely lead to a mild recession, at least.”

At a national level, GDP growth has been negative for the last two quarters.

The South Bay Economic Forecast Model estimates that the GDP of the regional economy will grow by 1.4% in 2022 before slowing to 0.5% growth next year – and then picking up again, reaching 1.7% in 2024 . The model also predicts a minor uptick in unemployment in 2023 – from 5% to 5.6% – before dropping back down to 5.1% in 2024.

The anticipated drop in consumer spending is already showing up in the South Bay’s housing market.

While prices increased by 14.6% from July 2020 to July 2021, this rate of increase slowed to 9.9% from July 2021 to July this year. Still, institute experts predicted that the local market will remain strong, given that demand for houses far outstrips supply.

“I think it’s (interest rates) going to have an effect, a real effect, but if you were expecting a correction, like a 10-to-20% decline, I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Martinez said. “The area remains very, very competitive and people love to live here.”

The South Bay, like the nation, is also contending with uncontrollable variables that are keeping the price of goods high, including supply chain disruptions from the war in Ukraine and China’s zero-COVID-19 policy, the report adds.

But when it comes to the economic fundamentals of the South Bay, the experts said, the region is in a solid place.

In California and the South Bay, for example, labor productivity remains high.

“The labor productivity for California has grown at a faster rate than any other state except Washington over the last 10 years,” said institute co-Director Fynnwin Prager, “and that’s a really remarkable story given that we already had a really highly educated workforce.”

On a regional level, industries are thriving and attracting high levels of investment.

The top private companies in the South Bay region are in aerospace, tech, banking, real estate and e-commerce, which boast a combined valuation of more than $200 billion, according to the report.

The biggest is SpaceX, valued at $125 billion; but the South Bay also has Miro, a remote work-focused tech company, with a $17.5 billion valuation, Bank of the West with $16.30 billion valuation, Cloudkitchens with $15 billion and Discord with $14.70 billion.

“Many years ago, we were seen as very aerospace focused and while that’s still a major industry, we also have a huge gaming sector and we’re seeing massive growth in robotics,” Prager said. “It’s a really innovative space, and that innovative culture, I think, there really is something in the air here.”

Innovation is happening and money is flowing.

The top 10 emerging South Bay industries have total capital of more than $56 billion invested and the top six investors in the region have collectively completed more than 1,700 deals in the South Bay, the report says.

“The large amount of venture capital that’s here, it’s a really exciting place to watch, to be a part of, to engage with,” Prager said. “We’re really excited for the future of this region.”

The report also identifies the cannabis industry as a potential source of economic growth for the South Bay, pointing to the more than $1 billion in retail sales made in LA. While most of the South Bay has yet to legalize any dispensaries, there are local measures to do so on the Nov. 8 ballot, including in Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach.

Another new industry that, the report says, is poised for growth in the South Bay is green technology, especially as California already leads the nation in electric vehicle development and adoption. Recently, there has been a push for more of the South Bay’s warehouse businesses to adopt electric trucks.

Overall, the diversity of the South Bay’s industries, the institute’s experts have predicted, will be one of the region’s greatest strengths when it comes to facing the uncertain economy ahead.

“Our new South Bay Economic Forecast model incorporates this diversity, such that when some sectors are facing choppy waters, others are plain sailing,” the report says. “Our regional economy is clearly resilient, competitive, and innovative, and these qualities will allow us to navigate challenging times.”

Innovative Research Earns Students Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship

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(left to right) Recipients of the Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Ian Scott (finance major), Khalil Awad (computer science), and Alejandro Soberanes (business administration). Sociology major Matthew Taylor is not pictured.

For their innovative research on the transportation industry, four California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) students have been named to the Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) 2021 Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program (DDETFP).

The merit-based DDETFP awards 150 to 200 fellowships annually to students across the nation to help strengthen the national workforce in the field through education and research. CSUDH received $35,000 through DDETFP’s local grant competition for Hispanic-serving institutions to offer the fellowship to its students through a competitive application process.

The CSUDH DDETFP fellows are graduate students Matthew Taylor (sociology) and Ian Scott (finance), and undergraduates Alejandro Soberanes (business administration) and Khalil Awad (computer science). Each student will receive a monthly stipend during the fellowship to support them in their research efforts. The students also received a stipend to attend the 2021 Annual Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, the world’s largest gathering of transportation professionals, which was held virtually in January.

“The fellowship helps students enhance their research, establish professional connections, and pursue their careers in transportation,” said Mahmoud Salari, assistant professor of economics at CSUDH and principal investigator of the grant. “This is the first time that CSUDH students have won this award. Now that we have been recognized by the FHWA, we hope to continue our success in securing this grant in the coming years.”

CSU Transportation Consortium Grant

Two of the DDETFP student fellows are currently working with Jian-Yu (Fisher) Ke, associate professor of information systems and operations management, Jose Martinez, professor of economics, and Fynwinn Prager, associate professor of public administration, on the research project “Achieving Excellence for California’s Freight System.” The project was funded last year with a $69,489 grant from the CSU Transportation Consortium at the Mineta Transportation Institute.

The study seeks to determine performance metrics that contribute to a competitive freight system, which consists of ports, highways, rail service, distribution centers, and warehouses. Through evaluating the current position of California’s freight system in comparison with other states, policy recommendation can be offered to increase the competitiveness of California’s freight system.

“This fellowship is an incredible opportunity for our outstanding students to receive funding to continue their transportation-related research efforts and other related endeavors, including their work on critical projects around freight competitiveness and telework,” said Prager.

The CSUDH Student Fellows

Matthew TaylorMatthew Taylor, a second-year graduate student completing a master’s in sociology, serves as a student fellow for the “Achieving Excellence for California’s Freight System: Developing Competitiveness.” His faculty adviser is Prager.

Taylor is drawn to the human elements of the transportation industry. His work seeks to discover what workforce development and training programs can be created to support improved opportunities for local residents and marginalized groups in the freight workforce.

“The DDETFP is important because it provides significant monetary support, allowing me to place meaningful time into my research without the worry of considering other work to ensure financial security,” says Taylor. “It has also confirmed my ability to present research to large bodies of both academics and professionals through my participation in a poster session at the 2021 TRB Annual Meeting. It’s just another example of how CSUDH provides its students a thoroughly enriched educational experience.”

 

Alejandro SoberanesAlejandro Soberanes will complete his bachelor’s degree in business administration in spring 2021 with a specialization in global logistics and supply chain. Fisher is his faculty adviser.

Titled “Why the U.S. has an Aviation Pilots Shortage,” Soberanes refers to his research as an “investigation” with a focus on such topics as pilot labor conditions and pay rates. He has interviewed pilots and has conducted research on the FAA, ALPHA, and AEROMEXICO. His goal is to apply his evidence-based research to help the aviation industry become a more accommodating place for pilots to work.

“I am a student pilot. It is my dream and I’m doing whatever it takes to get there,” Soberanes shares. “I was an illegal immigrant living in the U.S. for many years, so the opportunity to fly – a 747, a A380, or any plane – is so satisfying to me. To be free to go everywhere and experience unlimited travel for me and my family would be invaluable.”

 

Khalil AwadKhalil Awad is earning his bachelor’s degree in computer science. He is also on the “Achieving Excellence for California’s Freight System: Developing Competitiveness” team with Prager as his faculty adviser.

Awad fled Syria’s decade-long war in 2014 and came to the U.S. He has always wanted to help improve transportation and the environment, with a particular interest in “smart cars.” Awad would also like to apply what he learns to help his home country, and the world, become a better place.

“This fellowship is encouraging me to work and learn more, and to understand how valuable is to work with such a great team,” says Awad. “I’m becoming a better person, and that makes education more interesting and valuable.”

 

 

Ian Scott

Ian Scott is an undergraduate majoring in finance who studies macroeconomic trends. His faculty adviser is Meghna Singhvi, associate professor of accounting and finance.

Scott and Singhvi have worked on a number of research papers together, including such topics as corporate management effectiveness, Covid-19 and women in the workplace, hospitality, manufacturing, and the emergence of smart cities. Scott looks forward to researching new and emerging energy sources as they relate to transportation, as he believes the world is on the precipice of a secular change in energy.

“The fellowship gives me the chance to network with like-minded individuals and industry leaders, and it’s nice to work on something that I deem important, alongside my mentor. She’s awesome, and any chance I get to learn more from her is a blessing,” says Scott.