December 5, 2007: The national UPS contract may soon be settled if the rejected supplements gain approval after being improved. But nearly 20,000 UPSers work under local contracts that are independent of the national agreement—and far from settled.

UPS Teamsters throughout Indiana, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa are covered by the Local 705 contract (Chicago area) or the Local 710 contract (covering the rest of Illinois, much of Indiana, and Davenport).

Neither of these contracts is near settlement. Local 705 has not begun bargaining as Convoy goes to press. Many Chicago UPS Teamsters have made it clear they are not happy with the concessions in the national agreement—including no new full-time combo jobs, various two-tier concessions, and weak language on excessive overtime, supervisors working and other problems.

Their goal is to avoid these givebacks in their contract.

At recent Local 705 meetings, local leaders have reported that they are negotiating with UPS over major grievances, after threatening to strike over the company’s failure to comply with past grievance decisions and assignment of work outside the bargaining unit.

The local has passed out bulletins to UPS Teamsters notifying them of a potential strike and copy of the strike notice given to management.

Under the Local 705 contract, the union can strike if management fails to comply with grievance decisions.