February 2, 2012: Three years after the company’s elimination of 22.3 jobs was exposed, the International Union still doesn’t know how many 22.3 jobs UPS owes Teamster members.
Before Hoffa and Hall negotiate a new contract, shouldn’t they enforce the old one?
In 1997, UPS Teamsters united under the slogan Part-Time America Won’t Work.
Our successful strike made UPS combine 40,000 part-time jobs into 20,000 full-time 22.3 jobs over the next 10 years.
In the last contract, Hoffa and Hall gave away the language that makes UPS create more full-time jobs. But the company is still required to maintain 20,000 full-time 22.3 jobs nationally.
Where are these jobs? And how many full-time 22.3 positions has the company eliminated? The International Union has no idea.
Article 22.3 of the contract requires UPS to provide the company with a list of all of the full-time 22.3 jobs the company is maintaining. But the International Union admits that the list is hopelessly out of date and that the Package Division doesn’t track how many 22.3 jobs there are or where they are.
The IBT’s blind eye lets UPS play a shell game—and claim they’ve moved 22.3 jobs when in reality they’ve eliminated them.
Member Action Can Win Jobs
Teamster members and TDU have blown the whistle on the Full-Time Jobs Takeaway and we will keep up the heat. We’ve run articles and website stories, collected thousands of petition signatures, and held organizing meetings of concerned Teamsters and filed hundreds of grievances.
Membership action has started to pay off. After stonewalling, the IBT and UPS finally started settling grievances and creating 22.3 jobs in some locals.
But the IBT still can’t say how many Article 22.3 jobs are filled nationally—and how many UPS still has to create to be in compliance with the contract.
In this technology age, this is an easy problem to fix. The International Union can easily have UPS provide a list of every 22.3 position, who fills it, and the jobs performed.
This information should be posted on a website that can be accessed by Local Unions and stewards so that the information can be monitored and vacant positions can be filled.
The next contract needs to include stronger language to protect 22.3 jobs from being eliminated and to guarantee penalty pay when UPS violates the contract and stalls on creating 22.3 positions.
But there shouldn’t be any negotiations on a new contract until UPS is respecting the current one—including filling every 22.3 job that Teamster members are owed.
TDU’s Make UPS Deliver network continues to work with UPS Teamsters to audit 22.3 jobs in their local and file and win grievances to create more full-time jobs. Want to join the fight for more 22.3 jobs? Contact TDU to find out more.