August 7, 2012: The International Union will hold a "two-person" meeting of officers from every Local to finalize the Union's bargaining proposals to UPS on Sept. 21 in Chicago.  

A two-person meeting for UPS Freight locals will be held later the same day at the same Chicago hotel. 

Now is the time for members to get your proposal ideas to their Local Unions about what you want to see negotiated in the contract.  Many Local Unions are holding proposal meetings for that purpose.

Contract talks haven't even started but management already sounds confident.

CEO Scott Davis predicted in Transport Topics that contract talks will go smoothly, saying "All the issues impacting the Teamsters are on the table already."

That must be a big table to include the issues members say are impacting Teamsters, including: production harassment, excessive overtime, "dishonesty," management abuse of GPS and telematics technology, Surepost, subcontracting, and 22.3 job elimination. 

Other top issues raised by members at proposal meetings include pension increases, higher wages (especially for part-timers), and the need to increase penalties and put teeth in the grievance procedure so management has some incentive to respect the contract.

Click here to read the IBT notice about the National Negotiating Committee two-person meetings.

No Need for Grievance Hearings in October?

UPS Teamsters know that contract violations are up. So why are union officials talking about cutting the next national grievance panel short or skipping it altogether?

Package Division Director Ken Hall sent a memo to Local Unions announcing that the October national grievance panel will be cut to just one day, Oct. 9 to cover all cases from both UPS and UPS Freight. The national grievance panel normally lasts five days.

Hall reports that Teamster officers from a number of Supplemental Negotiating committees have said they will not attend the Grievance Panel at all.  If you have a grievance that you are hoping will be heard at the panel, you better check with your Local.

National negotiations will be held with UPS Freight on October 10-11. Negotiations on UPS regional and local supplements may be scheduled for that time as well. 

Click here to read the IBT notice about the National Grievance Panel schedule.