DHL Pushes for Concessions, Members Push Back
October 17, 2007: National negotiations between the International Union and DHL opened in October in Arizona. Apparently management reacted badly when the union presented demands based on the National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA), which is what members across the country demanded. At the same time, DHL management sent a letter to their Teamster employees repeating their intent to get a UPS-style contract. What they mean by that is increasing the use of part-timers, a company-dominated...
Teamster Freight Proposals
October 4, 2007: Negotiations for the National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA), and all the regional supplements have begun in Arizona. If you want to see a copy of the union's initial national proposals and for the supplements, click here. These proposals were prepared by the Freight Division and have been given to Trucking Management Inc (TMI), which represents Yellow Roadway and its subsidiary companies. Freight Director Tyson Johnson told local union officers on September 13...
Freight Division: Different Strategy from UPS Talks
October 17, 2007: The Freight Division is taking two very different strategies from others in the Hoffa administration. First, Freight Director Tyson Johnson has said that the union will not allow any carrier to split from any Teamster pension plan. This is the opposite of what Hoffa and Ken Hall are trying to do at UPS, where they gave in to the company’s demand to pull out of the Central States Pension Fund in return...
UPS Tentative Agreement: Monetary Package
October 17, 2007: When the proposed UPS tentative agreement was presented to Local Union officials, the big selling point was “$9 an hour,” which sounds like a big increase in wages and benefits. Five dollars out of this goes to full-timers’ benefits. That should be enough to maintain health and welfare, and in some areas, pension accruals will go up. That’s the most positive part of the monetary deal. Here are other facts to consider...
Givebacks Hurt Part-Timers, Union’s Power
In a contract riddled with givebacks, no one was hit harder then UPS part-timers. The proposed tentative agreement offers a wage package that is substantially inferior to the “Best Contract Ever,” opens the door to healthcare cuts for current and future part-timers, and eliminates the 10,000 new combo jobs that offer part-timers a shot at a better future. These concessions don’t just hurt part-timers—the lowest-paid and most exploited Teamsters at UPS. They undermine the strength...
Did We Win the New Protections That We Need?
October 17, 2007: In addition to wage and benefit improvements, UPS Teamsters are looking to the new contract to provide new language to protect Teamster members and their job security and to improve our quality-of-life on the job. Here is a summary of some key changes in the proposed agreement The complete text of the national language as well as many supplements is available online at www.makeupsdeliver.org. TDU urges all UPS Teamsters to review the...
Central States Pull-Out: The Proposed New UPS Pension Plan
October 17, 2007: The proposed tentative agreement would pull 44,000 full-timers out of the Central States Pension Plan and put them into a new UPS Plan. That was the company’s number one goal in bargaining. If this agreement is approved, how will it affect the benefits of UPS Teamsters in the Central States Fund, now and in the future? Benefit Levels The new plan would begin in January 2008. Under the new plan, Normal Retirement...
The Future Under a UPS Plan: A Smaller Pension
October 17, 2007: Management and some union officials are selling the UPS Pension Plan in the Central States areas on the basis that it offers unreduced 25- and 30-and-out benefits of $2,000 and $3,000 respectively. That’s true, but also a very short term gain. Looking into the future, this pension will pay less than Central States will pay, and far less than the Western Conference will pay. These are the two largest Teamster plans and...
Pension Grab Affects All Teamsters
October 17, 2007: By late November, we will know if UPS has succeeded in breaking out of the Teamster Central States Pension Plan. Big Brown’s pension grab affects hundreds of thousands of Teamsters at UPS and in at other Teamster employers, in the Central States and beyond. If UPS succeeds, 44,000 UPSers will be pulled out of the Central States and the historic union plan will be down to just 100,000 remaining active Teamsters, and...
The Facts About the Pension Protection Act
October 17, 2007: Rumors are flying about the Pension Protection Act, the pension legislation that starts to take effect on Jan. 1. Does the UPS contract have to be settled by Jan. 1 to head off benefit cuts and win pension improvements? Is a new round of pension cuts on the way? The answer is NO. TDU consulted with actuaries, attorneys and fund managers to cut through the rumors and provide members with the facts....