IBT Organizers Unionize; Hoffa Tries for a Do-over
June 12, 2012: Organizers employed by the International union have voted to unionize, in order to bargain with the Hoffa administration. On May 29 the vote count was 18-16 in favor of FAIR, the Federation of Agents and International Representatives. The International union has filed exceptions to the vote with the NLRB, claiming that five ballots were not received in the mail. However, it was the Hoffa administration which insisted on a strict ballot deadline....
Hoffa Slaps Trusteeship on Local 2010
June 1, 2012: Our newest Teamster local has been put into trusteeship. Local 2010 is the Coalition of University Employees, which affiliated with the Teamsters in 2010. CUE represents nearly 14,000 employees throughout ten campuses of the University of California. The problems with the union are long standing. Active members have repeatedly informed the International union that the union is dysfunctional. The question is, why did Hoffa wait two years to take action? The trusteeship...
Locked Out Teamsters Reach Agreement
June 1, 2012: Local 814 Teamsters at Sotheby’s Auction House have ratified a contract and are returning to work after a hard-fought 10-month lockout. Sotheby’s is a world-wide auction house for the super-rich. The 42 Teamsters employed there handle some of the most valuable art pieces in the world. Sotheby’s recently sold a painting for $120 million, but they locked out Teamster members for trying to negotiate job security language to protect union jobs that...
Download UPS National Grievance Panel Cases
May 25, 2012: Union officers representing UPS and UPS Freight Teamsters will meet with company officials for the second national grievance panel of the year, June 4-8 in Providence. TDU makes the case dockets available to help Teamster members track contract enforcement issues. The national grievance panel settles disputes and other grievances that have been deadlocked at both the local and regional levels. Click here to download the UPS national grievance panel docket. Click here...
Our Contracts, Our Future
May 22, 2012: Key contract negotiations are coming up and the International Union is gearing up for early bargaining. Members who want good contracts need to gear up too. A quarter of our 1.3 million Teamsters are covered by national contracts which will be bargained in the coming year at UPS, UPS Freight, and the freight industry. These contracts set Teamster standards, especially on health benefits and pensions, for hundreds of thousands of other Teamsters....
New IBT-UPS Plan Delivers Substandard Pension
May 22, 2012: Teamsters in the IBT-UPS plan get the lowest pensions of any UPSers in the country. The next contract is our chance to win the higher pensions we deserve. The cost of living is going up. But pensions for UPS Teamsters in the IBT-UPS plan are falling behind. The IBT-UPS Pension Plan was established under the new contract when UPS pulled out of the Central States Pension Fund. The new plan covers more...
Make UPS Deliver Higher Pensions
May 22, 2012: Teamsters in the Central Region, the South and the Carolinas are uniting to make UPS deliver higher pensions. The bad news is that the IBT-UPS Pension Plan has locked 48,000 Teamsters into the lowest pension benefits of any UPSers in the country. The good news is that the upcoming contract negotiations provide a direct route to winning a pension increase. For most UPS Teamsters, the contract only defines how much money the...
UPS Pension Viewpoint: Bargaining Improved Pensions
June 22, 2012: UPS always advised drivers with the safety tip to "keep their eyes on the big picture." I've learned that's really important when it comes to our pension and retirement. Everybody talks about retiring after 30 years with a monthly pension check of $3,000. It's important to remember that federal and state taxes will come out of that. Then there's medical coverage including dental and vision if you need it (which most of...
UPS Teamsters Speak Out
May 22, 2012: The International Union and UPS will start contract negotiations this fall. UPS Teamsters say if the company wants an early deal, they need to address the problems in the current contract. Our union contract with UPS does not expire until July 31, 2013. But the International Union and UPS will start early negotiations on a new agreement this fall. The last time the Hoffa administration settled early with UPS, they also settled...
UPS Profits Up Again
May 22, 2012: UPS made just under a billion dollars in the first quarter of 2012. Brown reported profits of $970 million for the first three months of the year, up 6 percent from last year. Who delivered most of these profits? Working Teamsters, that's who. UPS's domestic revenue was up 6.1 percent. UPS's International operations grew at a slow pace, just 2.3 percent, disappointing analysts. UPS made $4.2 billion in profits after taxes in...