The IBT has instructed all local unions to gather UPS contract proposals from their members and to submit them for review to the National Negotiating Committee. Members are pressing for contract changes to address problems that have spun out of control.
Healthcare
Over 100,000 Teamsters took healthcare cuts in the last contract. Members want these cuts reversed.
Pensions
Teamster pensions need to be protected and improved, including for the 50,000 Teamsters in the Central and Southern Regions who have substandard pensions under the IBT-UPS plan.
Excessive Overtime / 9.5
The 9.5 language is broken and drivers are being harassed and over dispatched. Members have submitted proposals to rewrite Article 37 to fix the problem:
- All package drivers shall be eligible to be on the 9.5 list
- All drivers shall be placed on the 9.5 list—with an opt-out option for drivers who want more overtime.
- All hours worked over 9.5 should automatically appear in the next paycheck at the double time rate of pay.
- Any package delivery work after 10 hours in a day shall be strictly voluntary.
Harassment
Article 37 says management shall not “intimidate, harass, coerce or overly supervise any employee,” but there is no penalty when management violates the contract. Members have submitted proposals to impose escalating monetary penalties when management violates Article 37 or other contract articles that do not spell out a penalty.
Subcontracting
Members have given local unions proposals for stronger language to stop UPS from using subcontracting feeder work to nonunion carries, including through Coyote Logistics.
Supervisors Working
Supervisors working eliminates jobs and takes money from members’ pockets.
Local 177 has contract language that imposes escalating penalties when the same supervisor is caught doing our work—with a minimum penalty of four hours paid at double time when the supervisor is caught a third time.
Members are submitting proposals to put a similar system of escalating penalties into the national contract.
No Split Raises / Reduce the Progression
The last contract lengthened the progression to top pay to four years. Members submitted proposals to shorten the progression and flatten it so that members get bigger increases sooner and reach top pay faster. Members have also submitted proposals to eliminate split wage increases.
Inside Workers Push For Contract Changes
Raise Part-time Wages
In 1982, the part-time starting wage was $8 an hour. If part-time wages kept pace with inflation, the starting rate would be $20.62 an hour today.
Members are pushing to fight for $15 an hour starting wages— and catch-up increases to raise the pay of all current and long-time part-timers.
More Full-Time Jobs
Members want UPS to create 15,000 full-time 22.3 jobs. Part-time America won’t work.
Fair Pay for Combo Workers
A loophole in Article 40 needs to be closed so that combo Teamsters who deliver air and work inside are paid the 22.3 rate, not a split rate of pay.
More Guaranteed Hours
Half a job is not enough—but 3½ hours is not even half a job. Part-timers have submitted proposals to increase the daily guarantee to four hours.
Vacation
Part-timers have submitted proposals so their vacation pay is paid based on average hours worked. A part-timer who averages 30 hours a week should not get 17½ hours in their vacation check.
Fighting Bogus Terminations—Central Supplement
“In the Central Region, management abuses the loopholes in Article 17i to fire members for “other serious offenses” and trumped-up charges of “dishonesty.” It’s time to close these loopholes and restore Innocent Until Proven Guilty.”
Ross Thompson, Local 41, Kansas City
End 2nd-Class Treatment—Southern Supplement
“In the South, the company abuses the language that lets them use part-timers as Temporary Cover Drivers and pay them just 85% what a full-timer makes. After 90 days, TCDs should make the full rate of pay. We need full-time jobs, and fewer members who are treated as second-class Teamsters.”
Thomas Ware, Local 519, Knoxville, Tenn.