On a Teamster podcast, Package Division Director Denis Taylor claims he’s negotiated an agreement for Teamster drivers to get a UPS purchase order so they can buy PPE and critical safety supplies out on their routes. Is this a real agreement or another empty promise from the Hoffa administration?

On a Teamster Nation Podcast to UPSers on the Frontlines, Package Division Direct Denis Taylor claimed: 

"We did negotiate the understanding with the company that, drivers out on route who run into supplies that they know are in critical shortage that the company does not have access to can then call back to the Division Manager or to the supervisor to get a PO (purchase order) to get these things purchased on the spot and bring them back to the facility."

This would be good news. But the IBT has not provided any copy of an agreement to Local Unions. 

If an agreement really exists, Taylor should get it in the hands of the locals and post a copy on the IBT website so that UPS Teamsters can download it and show it to management.

Taylor’s Teamster podcast was issued on April 1. We can only hope that it wasn’t an April Fools’ joke.

Supply Short

Several local unions have taken the initiative to press UPS to buy masks and other supplies located by UPS Teamsters. 

In other cases, local unions have located available sanitizer, gloves, and masks only to be stonewalled by UPS management. 

UPSers in many areas are desperate for basic supplies to protect them while they work in a pandemic. 

If top UPS management has really agreed to do what needs to be done to equip Teamsters with health and safety equipment, not everyone has gotten the memo. 

This DIAD message was sent to UPS Teamsters in Metro Philly yesterday.