September 19, 2008: UPS is cheating thousands of Teamsters out of full-time jobs.
Our contract gives us the right—and the power—to make UPS create these jobs.
It’s time for our International Union to enforce the contract with a national audit of Article 22.3 jobs.
Last month, Convoy Dispatch reported that UPS is violating the contract when it comes to full-time job creation. Since then, UPSers across the country have filed grievances to demand that UPS create more full-time Article 22.3 jobs.
The International Union needs to back members up by conducting a nationwide audit of Article 22.3 jobs to enforce our right to all of the combo jobs we went on strike to win in 1997.
Under Article 22.3 of the national contract, UPS is obligated to create and maintain 20,000 full-time combo positions. The deadline for creating all of these jobs was Aug. 1.
UPS is thousands of positions short of the 20,000 jobs required by the contract.
Reports from business agents and stewards from across the country reveal that not only has UPS virtually stopped creating new Article 22.3 full-time jobs, the company has eliminated full-time jobs in many areas by failing to fill positions when they become vacant.
In other areas, UPS is even laying off Article 22.3 employees and reducing them to part-time. UPS is not allowed to lay off any combo employees if the layoffs bring the total number of Article 22.3 jobs nationally to less than 20,000. There is no exception for “loss of volume.”
New Enforcement Tool
Our contract gives our union a powerful tool for enforcing our right to 20,000 full-time combo jobs. Article 22.3 requires the company to give the International Union a list that details and identifies all 20,000 combo jobs the company will maintain.
But the International Union has not provided this list to local unions, making contract enforcement much more difficult. When stewards and business agents do file grievances, management often claims that these jobs have moved to other areas.
The International Union has the means to put an end to this shell game. The Parcel Division should provide every local union with a list of the Article 22.3 jobs that UPS claims it is maintaining. Business agents and shop stewards could then compare the company’s list with the full-time jobs that are actually filled in the local.
Our International Union could then file a national grievance demanding that UPS create all 20,000 jobs with full backpay for Teamster members who should have been in these full-time jobs.
What Members Can Do
You can help protect full-time jobs.
Go to www.MakeUPSdeliver.org or call TDU to report contract violations in your area and get sample grievance language. You can also download or request leaflets so you can inform other UPS Teamsters in your local and put a spotlight on this issue.
Concerned Teamsters can also contact the Parcel Division at 202-624-8755. Tell them about the problem in your area and that you are ready to help our union conduct a national audit to enforce the contract and make UPS deliver all 20,000 full-time jobs the company owes us.