The new 9.5 deal tentatively agreed to in contract negotiationst is so weak that UPSers don’t even get back what Hoffa-Hall gave up ten years ago.

Last week, Hoffa’s lead negotiator at UPS, Denis Taylor, reached a tentative agreement on 9.5 rules that are supposed to protect drivers from over-dispatch and excessive overtime.

Hoffa’s PR team at UPS Rising bragged that Taylor had negotiated “significant improvements” to 9.5. That’s just not true.  

Taylor’s deal on 9.5 is so weak that UPS Teamsters still haven’t won back what Hoffa-Hall gave up ten years ago.

The 9.5 Giveaway of 2008

In the 2008 contract, UPSers won the right for every package driver to go on the 9.5 list.

Regardless of your seniority or whether you had a bid route, every driver had the right to get on the 9.5 list in January or June.

That was the 9.5 language that was agreed to in the 2008 contract. But UPS never complied with it and Hoffa-Hall never enforced it. Instead, they let UPS change the 9.5 rules in a contract they had already signed.

Mid-contract, Hoffa-Hall and management issued new, weaker 9.5 rules that required drivers to work more than 9.5 hours three times in a week before you can get on the 9.5 list.

That’s how we ended up with the weak system where management gets to violate your rights before you can go on the 9.5 list, and then go through the same thing a few months later.

Settling Short on 9.5 Again

Fast forward to the present. Hoffa’s lead negotiator announced he has a tentative agreement on new 9.5 language with the company.

Under the tentative deal, drivers would be able to opt-in to the 9.5 list in January or June. But all that does is reverse one part of the Hoffa-Hall mid-contract giveback from ten years ago. It's not an improvement! 

Drivers who have not completed the progression are still not eligible for 9.5; neither are cover drivers who don’t cover the same bid route for an entire week or more.

In other words, we are not even back to the rights that Hoffa-Hall gave away from the contract we had ten years ago—let alone winning new improvements like we were promised.

Left Out of the 9.5 Deal

The weak, new 9.5 deal doesn’t include any of the other improvements that were promised to UPSers, including:

• automatic opt-in all drivers to 9.5 (with an opt-out option for drivers who want the extra overtime)
• higher penalties for 9.5 violations
• automatic payment of 9.5 penalties so that UPS can’t stonewall grievances and settle violations for dimes on the dollar
• requiring UPS to adjust driver’s loads. (Drivers don’t just want penalty pay; they want to stop over-dispatch and excessive overtime over 9.5.)

The International Union had many strong demands on excessive overtime. But Hoffa’s Package Division is trying to surrender them without a fight.

UPSers Have the Final Say

Denis Taylor’s weak 9.5 deal is only a tentative agreement. It can still be renegotiated before a contract is brought to the members.

The national contract cannot go into effect until it has been voted on by the members and approved by majority vote.

It’s up to the members to insist on a contract that addresses our issues, including excessive overtime.