August 16, 2010: For two years, the Hoffa administration looked the other way while UPS eliminated full-time jobs.

Now Hoffa and Ken Hall are kicking the problem back down to the locals.

For two years, the Hoffa administration has looked the other way while UPS has eliminated thousands of full-time combo jobs in violation of Article 22.3, which requires the company to maintain 20,000 combo positions.

The International refused to hear a single grievance on the issue at the national panel. Ken Hall, who as Package Division Director is in charge of our union’s contract enforcement at UPS, explained his inaction by saying it “wasn’t the right time” to enforce the contract.

Changing His Tune

Now that Hall has been named Hoffa’s running mate for the 2011 election, he is changing his tune. On a recent national conference call, Hall announced that the IBT is taking action.

His solution? Hall is taking all the Article 22.3 grievances that have wound their way to the national panel back and kicking them back down to the locals.

Hall said local unions are to meet with the company. If the full-time jobs aren’t filled, Hall claims the IBT will move forward nationally.

The International Union has not provided any guidelines to UPS locals. It has just dropped the issue in their lap.

Under an arbitration decision, UPS must maintain a minimum number of 22.3 jobs, but the company gets to decide where to put these jobs. Under this system, only the International, not any one local, has the power to monitor UPS and make sure the company is maintaining all 20,000 positions nationwide.

Progress?

Hall claimed that, “Many locals report progress is being made and jobs are being restored.” But he declined to mention any locals where this is actually happening. Teamster Voice contacted shop stewards in UPS locals large and small across the country.

None of them reported that their eliminated full-time jobs have been restored.

The one exception is Local 63 in Los Angeles, where the company has reportedly agreed to fill 80 vacant 22.3 positions at the Ontario Air Hub. The actual results remain to be seen. So far, jobs are only being posted a few at a time—and the bids are being filled by members who are already working in 22.3 positions.

Part-timers who have been waiting to bid on these vacant jobs will apparently just have to keep waiting.

If Article 22.3 jobs have been eliminated in your local—through layoffs or unfilled vacancies—now is the time to act. Teamsters at the local level need to do what Hoffa and Hall have failed to do: meet with UPS to demand that 22.3 vacancies be filled.

Hoffa and Hall have kicked this national crisis down to the locals. For now, enforcing the contract and winning full-time combo jobs is up to us.

“Ken Hall says we’re making progress on 22.3 jobs—that’s a joke.

“We have at least ten vacancies that haven’t been filled in Greensboro and the same problem in other buildings in my local.

“Our union and our contract are supposed to be about giving us a better life. We have plenty of members who are willing to do something to make that happen.”

Mark O’Neal, 22.3, Local 391, North Carolina

August 11, 2010: Hoffa and Hall surrender one of the biggest gains of the 1997 strike.

Teamster members united to win labor’s biggest victory in decades in the 1997 UPS Strike. But Hoffa and Hall have surrendered one of the biggest gains of that strike: full-time combo jobs.

Uniting under the slogan Part-Time America Won’t Work, members demanded that the company create good-paying full-time jobs by combining low-wage part-time jobs. We won and UPS was required to create 20,000 full-time combo jobs from 1998-2008.

Surrender

Hoffa and Hall surrendered this victory in the last contract by allowing UPS to erase the full-time job creation language from Article 22.3. UPS is still required to maintain the 20,000 jobs we won as a result of our strike. But they are no longer required to increase that number each year.

Weak Enforcement

Even worse, Hoffa and Hall are not enforcing the contract language that requires UPS to maintain the 20,000 full-time jobs. UPS has eliminated thousands of these full-time jobs by forcing combo Teamsters back to part-time and refusing to fill many 22.3 positions when they go vacant.

Thousands of UPS Teamsters signed petitions to Hoffa and Hall. Members across the country filed grievances. Not a single one has even been heard at the national panel.

Ken Hall told a national conference call of concerned Teamster members that it’s “not the right time” to enforce Article 22.3.

UPS holds us to the contract in good economic times and in bad. Is it too much to expect Hoffa and Hall to do the same?

Laid-Off for a Year and a Half

“I took a $3 an hour pay cut when UPS eliminated my 22.3 job. I’ve been working a split shift at part-time wages ever since.

“When my union asked me to strike in 1997, I didn’t ask if it was the right time. I picked up a picket sign and I hit the street.

“Hoffa and Hall have left us hanging out to dry for more than a year and a half.”

Karen Berry, Local 767 Laid off 22.3, Dallas

July 22, 2010: Profits are skyrocketing at UPS while working conditions continue to bottom out.

UPS executives announced that Brown hauled in more than $854 million in the second quarter. Brown’s profits increased by 90 percent compared to the second quarter last year. That’s $400 million more in profits.

In all, UPS made nearly $1.4 billion in profits after taxes in the first six months of this year alone. Package volume continues to increase. UPS Freight revenue is up by 10 percent.

Chief Financial Officer Kuert Kuehn told analysts that he expects profits to increase even more over the rest of the year despite the slow economic recovery.

Profits are up and going higher. Same with volume. But working conditions and contract enforcement are moving backwards.

Production harassment and excessive overtime/9.5 violations are skyrocketing and UPS has eliminated thousands of full-time 22.3 positions required by the contract.

Teamster Package Car Director Ken Hall admitted the union was giving the company a free pass to eliminate full-time 22.3 jobs because of the economy. That never made any sense and makes even less now that the company is poised to make more than $4 billion in profits this year.

UPS has delivered good profit and revenue news. It’s time for the Hoffa administration to deliver some good news for UPS Teamsters.

Click here to read a press report on UPS’s profits.

June 23, 2010: The decisions from the June National Grievance Panel, June 7-100 are out. Hoffa and Hall continue to give up our full-time 22.3 jobs without a fight.

The most common grievance on the docket for the June National Grievance Panel dealt with Article 22.3 and UPS’s elimination of full-time combo jobs we won in the 1997 strike.

But once again the International Union did not hear a single Article 22.3 grievance at the National Panel in June. The panel has ignored this issue going on three years.

Click here to download the June National Grievance Panel decisions.

Full-Time Jobs Giveaway

The contract requires UPS to maintain 20,000 full-time 22.3 jobs, but thousands of these positions are vacant or were never created in the first place. The Article 22.3 language is clear and makes no exception for falling volume. In fact, the language with that exception was negotiated out of the contract in 2002.

Members across the country have filed hundreds of 22.3 grievances to save these jobs. But the International Union has refused to hear any of them at the national level.

Ken Hall, Hoffa’s point man at UPS, told a national conference call of UPS stewards that “2009 was not the right time” to enforce Article 22.3. Hall promised action would come when the economy turned around.

That was in March. Since then, UPS announced that it made more half a billion in profits in the first three months of this year alone—a 33 percent hike in First Quarter profits.

But Hoffa and Hall continue to sit on their hands. Could it be they are more interested in collecting money from the big Brown dues machine than in enforcing our contract?

Download the Decisions

TDU is the only source that makes the docket and decisions UPS grievance panels available to the rank and file.

Click here to download the June National Grievance Panel decisions.

Click here to download the National Air Committee decisions.

The minutes from the March National Grievance Panel have been revised. Click here to download the revised March decisions.

April 2, 2010: The Hoffa administration says it’s “Not the right time” to enforce the UPS contract.

Hoffa administration officials offered plenty of excuses, but no action plans for contract enforcement, during a national conference call for UPS shop stewards.

Ken Hall, Hoffa’s point man at UPS, told stewards the IBT was doing a good job standing up to UPS at the national grievance panels. He blamed contract enforcement problems on members for failing to file good grievances—and on local officials for bringing cases with “no facts.”

On the critical issue of defending full-time 22.3 jobs, Hall said it’s “not the right time” to enforce the contract.

Hall addressed a series of issues where the International Union has come under fire for failing to stand up to UPS, including 22.3 full-time job elimination, 9.5 violations, and supervisors working.

Full-Time Job Elimination

The National Grievance Panel has not heard a single one of the hundreds of grievances filed on UPS’s elimination of 22.3 jobs. The contract requires UPS to maintain 20,000 full-time 22.3 jobs, but thousands of these positions are vacant or were never created in the first place.

Hall was unapologetic about the International Union’s inaction, saying “Quite frankly, 2009 was not the right time” to enforce Article 22.3. Apparently, 2010 is not the right time either. Our union didn’t take up any of the 22.3 grievances at the national panel in March.

Article 22.3 clearly requires UPS to maintain 20,000 full-time 22.3 jobs, and makes no exception for falling volume.

After the 1997 strike, the company refused to create 22.3 jobs. Our union took the issue to arbitration where the company relied on a sentence in the contract that declared the company’s obligations under Article 22.3 would be “null and void” if “there is a reduction in volume causing layoffs.”

UPS lost that arbitration. And the language about volume was eliminated from the contract in 2002. But Hall said the International Union won’t take action to protect 22.3 jobs until the economy turns around.

“Even though we think we’re right,” Hall said, “We don’t want to roll the dice” with an arbitrator. Meanwhile UPS continues to destroy full-time combo jobs.

9.5 & Sups Working

Addressing 9.5 violations, Hall blamed the lack of contract enforcement on Teamster members, saying “One of the problems that we’ve had with 9.5 is that while our members say the company is abusing it, we see very few grievances that make it to the national level.”

First, Hoffa and Hall watered down the 9.5 language to make it harder for members to file grievances. Now, they blame the lack of 9.5 grievances on the members.

Hall gave a similar response on supervisors working violations. He admitted the violations go “on all over the country,” but pinned responsibility on members for failing to file and properly document grievances. “In many cases sups work on a daily basis in a particular location and no one files a grievance about it,” Hall said.

No doubt this is a real problem. But what about the thousands of good grievances that are filed and are settled for dimes on the dollar?

Apparently it’s not Hall’s job to enforce the contract. It’s to pass the buck and blame the members!

Fewer Excuses, More Enforcement

Our contract can’t be enforced unless stewards and members document violations and file grievances. TDU publishes materials to help members do just that. From there, it’s up to our union leadership to take action.

It’s hard for members to enforce the contract when our officials are wringing their hands and passing the buck.

Management is walking all over our contract. UPS Teamsters need fewer excuses and more enforcement.

When Is the Right Time?

“Ken Hall says it’s not the right time to enforce Article 22.3 and save our full-time jobs. That’s easy for him to say.

“I took a $3 an hour pay cut when UPS eliminated my 22.3 job. Now I’m working a split shift at part-time wages.

“When my union asked me to strike in 1997, I didn’t ask if it was the right time. I picked up a picket sign and I hit the street.

“We need action, from the IBT, not excuses.”

Karen Berry, UPS, Local 767, Dallas

April 5, 2010: IBT Vice President and Package Division Director Ken Hall says local officers and members are to blame for weak contract enforcement because they bring cases “with no facts.”

Here are five changes the International Union could adopt today to increase contract enforcement.

1. Stop Golfing with UPS management. Treat contract enforcement as work, not a vacation. Stop holding grievance panels at resorts. Ban golf outings between UPS brass and union representatives at the panels. You wouldn’t believe how much this still goes on.

2. Conduct a National Audit of 22.3 Jobs Elimination. The International Union doesn’t know how many of the 20,000 full-time 22.3 positions required by the contract are actually filled—or where the existing jobs are. Stop preaching about documenting violations and start doing it. Conduct a national audit of full-time 22.3 jobs by having every UPS local document the 22.3 jobs in their jurisdiction. Then use the evidence to take a national grievance to arbitration. Thousands of jobs have been lost. We can’t wait any longer.

3. Bargain Stronger 9.5 Protections. Instead of blaming members, make it easier to document and grieve 9.5 violations. Article 37 allows the 9.5 committee “to adopt guidelines to balance” the company’s needs with “an employee’s legitimate need to avoid excessive overtime.” UPS used this loophole to water down the 9.5 rules. It’s time to get some fair balance here.

4. Provide Enforcement Guidelines & Training. Print clear guidelines on how to document winning grievances. Launch a nationwide program with trainings for stewards and members in every UPS local.

5. Create an online database of grievance decisions for stewards and local officers. National and regional panel decisions should be available to local officers and stewards with case summaries and explanations for the decisions so we know how to document, prepare and win future cases.

March 26, 2010: President Hoffa and Ken Hall responded to TDU’s calls for stronger contract enforcement in a conference call with UPS shop stewards.

The Teamsters Package Division held a conference call last night for UPS shop stewards on legislative and contract enforcement issues.

Much of the call focused on a report on an upcoming fight over legislation that would make it easier for FedEx employees to exercise their right to join our union. Click here to read more about this important issue.

But IBT Vice President and Package Division Director Ken Hall also addressed issues like 22.3 full-time job elimination, 9.5 violations, supervisors working and other problems where the union has come under fire for failing to stand up to UPS and enforce the contract.

Hall blamed these problems on members for failing to file and document grievances that can be won in arbitration—and local officials and members for bringing cases with “no facts.”

Hall Blames Members, Not UPS for Violations

Hall addressed a series of issues pressed by TDU where the IBT has failed to enforce the contract and look out for the members.

Full-Time Combo Job Elimination: The National Grievance Panel has not heard a single one of the hundreds of grievances filed on UPS’s elimination of 22.3 jobs. Hall said,”Quite frankly 2009 was not the right time” to go to an arbitrator to enforce Article 22.3. Hall should try telling that to one of the thousands of UPS Teamsters who have lost their full-time jobs.

Apparently, 2010 is not the right time either. Our union didn’t take up any of the 22.3 greivances at the national panel in March either. The contract is clear and makes no exception for volume. Any reference to volume in Article 22.3 was eliminated from the contract in 2002. “Even though we think we’re right,” Hall said, “We don’t want to roll the dice” with an arbitrator. Meanwhile UPS continues to destroy full-time combo jobs. Click here for more information on this issue.

9.5 Violations: On the call, Hall blamed the lack of 9.5 enforcement on Teamster members, saying “One of the problems that we’ve had with 9.5 is that while our members say the company is abusing it, we see very few grievances that make it to the national level.”

First, Hoffa and Hall water down the 9.5 language and makes it harder for members to file grievances. Then they blame the lack of 9.5 enforcement on the members. Click here for a TDU report on the watering down of 9.5 protections.

Sups Working: Asked about rampant supervisors working violations, Hall admitted that “This is an issue that goes on all over the country,” but pinned responsibility on members for failing to file and properly document grievances. “In many cases sups work on a daily basis in a particular location and no one files a grievance about it,” Hall said.

No doubt these this is a real problem. But what about the thousands of good grievances that are filed and are settled for dimes on the dollar? Apparently it’s not Hall’s job to enforce the contract. It’s to pass the buck and blame the members! Click here for a TDU report on how to document supervisors working grievances.

UPS-IBT Pension Plan: For months, members have struggled to get information from the UPS-IBT Pension Plan that covers UPS Teamsters in the Central and Southern Regions and the Carolinas. On the conference call, Hall addressed the information Brownout—but offered few details and no answers to the specific questions and problem with the plan raised by TDU. Hall claimed only that the “trustees addressed this issue” and that they have a meeting next week to “talk about how information is made more accessible.” Click here to read TDU’s report.

Fewer Excuses, More Enforcement

Our contract can’t be enforced unless stewards and members document violations and file grievances. TDU publishes materials to help members do just that. From there, it’s up to our union leadership to take action.

It’s hard for members to enforce the contract when our officials are wringing their hands and passing the buck.

Management is walking all over our contract. UPS Teamsters need fewer excuses and more enforcement.

Click here to have your say. Send a comment or question to TDU.

March 19, 2010: The decisions from the first meeting of the National Grievance panel of 2010 are now available from TDU.

The most common grievance at the panel dealt with Article 22.3 and the company’s elimination of full-time combo jobs we won in the 1997 strike.

Members across the country have filed grievances to save thousands of full-time combo positions that the company is eliminating in violation of the contract. The national panel did not hear any of these cases in 2009. Hoffa and Hall kept that streak intact at the first panel of 2010.

More than twenty Article 22.3 grievances were put on “committee hold.” None were heard.

Click here to download the minutes of the March national grievance panel.

Click here to read more TDU coverage of full-time combo job elimination.

February 26, 2010: Did the International cut a secret deal to let UPS eliminate thousands of full-time 22.3 jobs?

In a tough economy, good full-time jobs with union benefits are at a premium. But the Hoffa administration has let UPS eliminate thousands of good full-time jobs that they are required to maintain by the contract.

Article 22.3 of the national master agreement requires UPS to maintain the 20,000 full-time combo jobs won as a result of the 1997 strike. Hundreds of grievances have been filed on this issue by members, stewards and local unions. Not a single one has been heard by the national grievance panel.

The complete lack of enforcement—and the information brownout from our union on the issue—has fueled rumors that the Hoffa administration has made a secret “handshake agreement” with UPS not to push the issue until volume increases.

The contract language is crystal clear and it makes no exception for volume. Article 22.3 says: “The number of full-time jobs created under Article 22, Section 3 of the 1997-2002 and the 2002-2008 contracts shall not be reduced.” Period.

After the 1997 strike, the company refused to create the first batch of 22.3 jobs. Our union took the issue to arbitration where the company relied on a sentence in the contract that declared the company’s obligations under Article 22.3 would be “null and void” if “there is a reduction in volume causing layoffs.”

UPS lost that arbitration and was forced to create the jobs and pay back wages. Then that language—and any reference to volume—was eliminated from the 2002 and 2008 contracts. It is hard to see what the company’s argument could be at this point.

The first national grievance panel of the year is scheduled for March 1 to 5 in Fort Lauderdale. Twenty locals have Article 22.3 grievances on the docket—including locals in every region. Many other grievances are being held up while the company stonewalls on the issue.

Thousands of Teamster members have signed a petition calling on the International Union to process a national grievance on the issue that would enforce the rights of every affected Teamster.

The International Union has the power to enforce the contract and make UPS deliver all 20,000 full-time combo jobs, with backpay, that we went on strike to win. It’s time to use it.