We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
  • INDUSTRY PRESS ROOM
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • MEDIA FILE
  • Create Account
  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Free Newsletters
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Podcast
    • Webcasts
    • Blogs
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Global Logistics and Risk
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • Parcel Forum 2022
    • MODEX 2022
    • Upload Your Video
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Podcast
    • Webcasts
    • Blogs
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Global Logistics and Risk
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • Parcel Forum 2022
    • MODEX 2022
    • Upload Your Video
Home » Teamster leadership enforces UPS small-package contract over objections of several locals
newsworthy

Teamster leadership enforces UPS small-package contract over objections of several locals

April 24, 2014
Mark B. Solomon
No Comments

The Teamsters Union has imposed the UPS Inc. small-package contract on all 235,000 unionized UPS employees despite repeated objections by several Teamster locals, including the largest in the UPS system.

The move, disclosed in a memo dated yesterday, is considered unprecedented in the 111-year history of the Teamsters, according to Ken Paff, national organizer of the Teamsters For a Democratic Union (TDU), a Teamster dissident group. Never before have Teamster leaders overridden the sentiments of some of its rank and file and agreed to impose a collective-bargaining agreement, Paff said.

In late March, DC Velocity reported comments from TDU that union leaders were mulling a plan to impose the five-year contract by effectively stripping members of the recalcitrant locals of the right to vote on supplements and riders to the UPS master contract. Although a five-year contract was ratified last June, it has not taken effect because all locals had not ratified their respective riders and supplements. Supplements cover such issues as health care benefits, part-time wages, and the number of new jobs that can be created.

The union won the right in its 1991 contract with UPS to vote on all supplements and riders. Prior to that, the master contract and all supplements and riders were voted on at one time nationwide.

Yesterday's move came almost two weeks after members of Local 89 in Louisville, Ky., which represents workers at UPS global air hub known as "Worldport," rejected its contract supplement by a vote of 2,804 to 185. The local had already overwhelmingly rejected the master contract, and the April 10 vote marked the second time it rejected its supplement. With about 9,300 members, the local is the largest in the UPS system.

Besides Louisville, locals in Philadelphia and western Pennsylvania have rejected their respective supplements.

About 95 percent of UPS' unionized small-package workers have voted to approve their supplemental agreements, the Teamsters National Negotiating Committee said in the memo. The actions by the three locals are holding up the payment of about $300 million in unpaid wages and benefit contributions from UPS, the committee said.

In its memo, the committee said it could declare a contract to be in force if members are repeatedly rejecting a supplement or rider based on language already ratified as part of the national agreement. According to the committee, the main sticking point has been a shift in UPS' health insurance, an issue that had already been voted on and ratified as part of the master contract.

The three supplements take effect tomorrow, while the switch to the new health insurance becomes effective June 1, the committee said. The supplements represent UPS' best and final offers to the locals, the committee said.

However, in a statement last night, Local 89 officials said "many unresolved issues" remain besides the concerns over health coverage. Those issues include how many full-time jobs can be created, employee disability, and UPS' subcontracting policies, among others.

The statement blasted Ken Hall, the Teamsters' vice chairman and head of the committee negotiating the small-package agreement, for "selling out thousands of [his] fellow Teamsters" and for groveling "for table scraps of [his] corporate master, UPS." The local, which has been vocal in its displeasure over Hall's efforts, said he has "catastrophically failed in his duty to the membership" by mishandling contract negotiations and for failing to protect the members' right to strike.

Teamster officials declined comment. UPS, which at the time labeled the late March story in DC Velocity as "speculative," was unavailable to comment.

In March, Local 89 filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against UPS for unfair labor practices and "regressive" bargaining. The local said that UPS has reneged on contract provisions that both sides had already agreed upon.

Besides the locals in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, contracts covering 15,000 UPS Teamsters at two locals in Chicago and northern Indiana remain open. These contracts are separate from the national agreement, TDU said.

Transportation Parcel & Postal Carriers
KEYWORDS International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) UPS
  • Related Articles

    Teamster leadership hatching plan to impose UPS contract on various locals, TDU says

    UPS seeks to create integrated over-the-road network manned by drivers from several units, Teamster group says

    Schedule tentatively set for voting on UPS-Teamster package contract

Marksolomon
Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.

Recent Articles by Mark Solomon

Coming together for road safety: interview with Joshua Girard

Off the rails

Freight rate spikes shaking up the C-suite

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Most Popular Articles

  • Schneider welcomes first battery-electric truck

  • Fred Smith is not worried about Amazon

  • Outlook 2023: What’s in store for logistics/supply chain?

  • Ports, maritime operators see tide turning as ocean freight tsunami subsides

  • In Person: Steve Beverly of Penske

Now Playing on DCV-TV

Eeafd0c7 0569 4a63 8b31 fdbc5322c7cd

Crown’s DualMode Automated Forklifts Revolutionize the Warehouse

DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
As part of the company’s ongoing digitization efforts, DHL Supply Chain has deployed Crown’s DualMode automated reach trucks to help ensure resiliency in the supply chain, with reach trucks available 24/7/365. “AGVs provide a better quality of life for our associates on the floor,” says Gordon Hanthorn, Senior...

FEATURED WHITE PAPERS

  • The five best applications for robotic lift trucks in warehouse environments

  • Fulfillment Facility Improved Efficiencies by 4x

  • 3PLs: Complete Orders Faster with Flexible Automation

  • Reusable Packaging for the New Wave of Supply Chain Automation

View More

Subscribe to DC Velocity Magazine

GET YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • NEWSLETTERS
  • ADVERTISING
  • CUSTOMER CARE
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
  • STAFF
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright ©2023. All Rights ReservedDesign, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing