After members Voted No, UPS issued a statement that the contract was rejected and the company would return to the bargaining table. But in a new letter, Hoffa's legal counsel claims the contract had to be ratified and that the union plans “future discussions with the company” to negotiate “additional provisions” in the national UPS agreement.

This latest statement comes in a November 7 letter to members of the General Executive Board (GEB). Seven members of the GEB have demanded a response from Hoffa to their call for a GEB meeting to interpret the IBT Constitution on the bogus “ratification” by the Hoffa administration. Since Hoffa is apparently incapable of speaking for himself, he had the IBT Legal Department issue a nine-page memorandum.

The letter reasserts the position that the national contract has been ratified and there will not be another vote on whatever the “additional provisions” are, if any. This memo, which tries to blame Fred Zuckerman for everything, but global warming, ignores one stark fact: it was Denis Taylor, not UPS management, who claimed that the contract was ratified.

The letter admits that in 2013 supplements rejected by a simple majority were renegotiated and re-voted, but makes the unsubstantiated claim that it was UPS management which insisted this time (unlike 2013) that they get to interpret the Teamster constitution.

In fact, management initially stated publicly and to the media that it was not ratified and that they would return to bargaining. They prepared a PCM to announce to all employees that UPSers “voted no to ratifying” the contract. They changed it after Denis Taylor gave away our bargaining leverage.

Seven members of the GEB continue to demand a meeting to vote on this situation. Vice President Sean O’Brien wrote to each GEB member asking them to take a stand, but most have chosen to be cowards.

The seven who stand with the members are Central VPs Bill Frisky, Tony Jones, Bob Kopystynsky, and Avral Thompson, Southern VPs John Palmer and Kim Schultz, and Eastern VP Sean O’Brien.

As for the upcoming discussions with the company, which the letter claims will happen after UPS Freight is settled, the members have made their issues very clear.