UPS Teamsters are using their 9.5 rights to make management pay for unsafe staffing levels and to add routes and create jobs. Local 639 steward Chris Paiva in Washington, DC explains how.
Four years ago, only four or five of the 100 drivers in my building filed on 9.5 regularly. I was one of the few. Little by little, me and the other stewards and contract enforcers talked to members about enforcing 9.5.
We explained that management only cares about money, and that we can use our 9.5 rights to hold management accountable the way they hold us accountable.
Three years later, 71 out of 100 filed on 9.5 violations. Twenty-one of us were eligible for quadruple pay by summer. We call ourselves the “Quad Squad.”
We held a parking lot meeting and gave out “Quad Squad” T-shirts to everyone who enforced 9.5 and got up to quadruple time.
Even more people started enforcing 9.5. Everyone was taking their breaks.
Management put more routes in. Some of us had our routes reduced from 150-200 to 120 stops.
All of us enforcing our 9.5 rights together helped create jobs, reduce discipline, and make it possible for us to work safely and get home to our families.
This year, the company did everything they could to avoid paying out our 9.5s. But we finally got some settled. We got over $100k in penalties paid out and we have a whole bunch of us going up to the panel for compliance meetings.
Members who haven't even gotten their penalty checks are already talking to other drivers in their loop about filing.
Management is putting in more routes. Our coordinated contract enforcement strategy is working. The company will stonewall. It takes persistence. But it’s worth it.
Hold management accountable. Join the Quad Squad. Be a job creator.
Get Help!
TDU and UPS Teamsters United can help you enforce your contract, including the heat safety language in Article 18.
Click here to send us a message and order heat safety enforcement materials or call 313-842-2600 to talk to a TDU organizer.