September 28, 2010: Local 2727 members are getting back their holiday turkeys, thanks to a grievance their local just won.

Is this the only turkey our union can deliver at UPS?UPS Teamsters in Local 2727 will get a turkey this Christmas season, and they will get their annual safety and length-of-service awards, thanks to a grievance their local just won.

But will the rest of us get our benefits back? That question can only be answered by Hoffa and Ken Hall.

When UPS management took away these established benefits in 2009, Local 2727 filed a grievance and has now won the arbitration. Why is it that one local can win what Hoffa and Hall can’t with the whole power of the International Union?

Local 2727 represents 1,200 aircraft mechanics who service UPS planes. They are under a separate contract covering just their local, and it does have different contract language.

But our contract has a “maintenance of standards” clause in the supplemental language that reads: “The employer agrees that all conditions of employment relating to wages, hours of work, overtime differential and general working conditions shall be maintained at not less than the highest standards in effect at the signing of this Agreement…”

Local 2727 members will get their benefits restored, and be made whole for the past year, when UPS stripped away this established past practice in violation of the contract.

The same should happen for all UPS Teamsters.