February 17, 2009: UPS is denying thousands of Teamsters full-time job opportunities—in violation of our union contract. Now, working Teamsters are getting together to do something about it.

UPS Teamsters from across the country are launching a national petition drive to make UPS deliver more full-time jobs.

UPS is violating Article 22.3 of our contract, which requires the company to maintain 20,000 combo jobs nationally as of August 1, 2008. The company is thousands of jobs short of the 20,000 quota—and is eliminating more full-time combo jobs every day.

In a national conference call organized by Teamsters for a Democratic Union, concerned UPS Teamsters launched a petition drive to make UPS create all 20,000 full-time combo jobs required by the contract.

Click here to download the petition.

Click here to download an informational leaflet to pass out to other Teamsters.

The petition calls on the International Union to file a national grievance to make UPS create all 20,000 full-time jobs that members are owed under the contract and to win back pay for all Teamsters who have been improperly denied full-time work—because their job has been eliminated, or because they are eligible for full-time combo positions that have not been created.

International Union Can Make the Difference

Members in local unions across the country have filed grievances. (Click here to download sample grievance language.) These local grievances, and more of them, need to be filed. But local grievances by themselves are not enough.

The company has used the grievance procedure to stall and buy time while they eliminate more jobs. The company “dissolved” 120 full-time combo jobs in Dallas-Fort Worth this week alone.

Management is playing a shell game, claiming that they are moving jobs to other locations or assigning jobs “to corporate.” In fact, thousands of jobs have been eliminated all together.

Local unions do not have all the information they need to prove this violation. The International Union does. And it's time for for the International to step up and enforce the contract.

National Grievance, National Audit

The International Union has the tools to bring an end to management’s stall tactics and shell game.

Instead of letting UPS drag individual grievants and local unions through step after step of the grievance procedure, the International Union can cut to the chase by filing a national grievance on the company’s violation of Article 22.3.

The International Union can end the company’s shell game by conducting a national audit of all 20,000 full-time combo jobs and documenting once and for all exactly how many more full-time combo jobs UPS needs to create.

Article 22.3 of the contract requires UPS to provide the International Union with a list of the 20,000 jobs it will maintain under Article 22.3 of the contract. The petition calls for the International Union to provide every local union with a copy of this list so that Teamster members will have the information they need to monitor violations and enforce the contract.

Make UPS Deliver More Full-Time Jobs

Members are getting organized to win more full-time jobs, and you can help. UPS Teamsters from coast-to-coast are getting involved in this effort.

Help do your part by passing out leaflets to members so they are informed and collecting petition signatures so our International Union gets the message that it is time to enforce our contract.

Part-Time America Won’t Work—but Teamster Unity will. Let’s work together to enforce our rights and make UPS create more full-time jobs.

Click here to download a leaflet to inform working Teamsters about the petition drive and the campaign to win more full-time jobs.

Click here to download the petition and collect signatures from concerned Teamsters.

Click here to let us know that you can help out with the petition drive.

Click here to send us a question or comment about 22.3 violations and our contract enforcement campaign.

Note: You have a legal right to distribute this leaflet and collect signatures on UPS property as long as you do it in non-work areas (the parking lot, the locker room, the break room) and at non-work times (while you and the person signing are off the clock).

If anyone from the company or the union interferes with your right to distribute this information, contact Teamsters for a Democratic Union. Click here to send a message or call 313-842-2600.

January 29, 2009: Our union’s failure to enforce the Article 22.3 full-time jobs provision of the contract has forced Seattle Local 174 members to make a devil’s choice: your money or your jobs.

When UPS laid off dozens of Article 22.3 Teamsters, Local 174 filed a grievance and promised to win back the jobs.

Now local officials have cut a deal that would give back a separate grievance victory worth $1 million or more. In exchange, UPS would put laid off 22.3 Teamsters back to work and guarantee a minimum number of 22.3 positions in Local 174's jurisdiction.

The proposed deal has divided members. The jobs at stake belong to 22.3 full-time employees. Most of the $1 million or more in back wages is owed to part-timers.

“We’re more or less being blackmailed into this,” said Merritt Miller, a Local 174 steward on the night sort in the Redmond Building. “The company is playing a shell game with the 20,000 22.3 jobs and the union doesn’t seem to want to do anything about it.”

Million Dollar Grievance Giveback

The Joint Council 28 Rider to the national contract has specific language that requires the company to double-shift part-timers when Article 22.3 or 40 combo workers are on an excused absence (vacation, holiday, personal day, etc.).

UPS agreed to this language in the 2002 negotiations, but never complied with it. Local 174 grieved the violation and ultimately won the case in arbitration, including back pay for some 150 part-timers. UPS refused to pay. Interest on the back pay piled up while management stalled.

UPS now owes Local 174 members $1 million or more in back pay. Local 174 officials have cut a deal to give up this grievance victory and to allow management to rewrite the contract to eliminate the language that requires the company to pay part-timers overtime to fill in for absent Article 22.3 workers.

In exchange, the company would guarantee a minimum of 160 full-time Article 22.3 jobs in Local 174. Before UPS started eliminating combo jobs, Local 174 had some 200 Article 22.3 positions.

The company would also create enough Article 22.3 jobs on a temporary basis to make sure that all Article 22.3 Teamsters who have currently been reduced to part-time will be returned to full-time status. But when those Teamsters move on, their Article 22.3 jobs can disappear too.

Of the millions in unpaid wages, the company will pay only $100,000. Local 174 officials made sure the deal includes up to $40,000 in legal fees for the local. Local 174 officials have justified the deal by saying it is the best they can do and told members that they are on their own if they vote it down.

"Local 174 officials have allowed the company to keep them on their heels through the entire process and have resorted to Old Guard fear tactics to sell a flawed deal," said Local 174 steward Dan Scott.

“If that wasn't enough, they see fit to wrench almost 30 percent of the final monetary agreement from the affected members' pockets and keep it for themselves," Scott said.

Where is the International Union?

Click here to download a bulletin on the UPS Full-Time Jobs Massacre.

The attack on full-time jobs reveals a glaring weakness in the contract. Article 22.3 has no language that prohibits the company from reducing the number of full-time jobs in any one location. The clause only requires 20,000 jobs nationally. This gives the company a weapon to punish locals that enforce the contract or win arbitration decisions the company doesn't like.

But the biggest weakness that is being revealed is in our International Union. Our contract requires UPS to maintain 20,000 full-time Article 22.3 jobs. They're not doing it. The Hoffa administration knows it but has taken no coordinated action to stop the company and save these full-time jobs.

Not every local has a multi-million dollar grievance to trade away to get UPS to stop eliminating Article 22.3 jobs in their jurisdiction. Local 174 members wouldn't have to be voting on this devil's bargain at all if our International Union would use its leverage to make UPS maintain the 20,000 full-time jobs they owe members under the contract.

Instead, members are being forced to choose between unpaid wages and full-time jobs when the contract says we have the right to both. Their ballots must be returned by the end of January.

Download the proposed change to the Joint Council 28 Rider.

What do you think? Click here to send your comments to the TDU UPS Committee.

What’s going on in your area? Click here to report problems with 22.3 job elimination where you work.

Stay in the loop. Click here to sign up for email updates from TDU.org

January 29, 2008: UPS management is moving to eliminate every Article 22.3 job at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport—the single largest cut since UPS started slashing full-time jobs last year.

In all, the company is planning to eliminate 120 Article 22.3 positions at DFW.

“I was on the picket line every day in 1997 holding a sign that said 'Part Time America Won't Work.' I never dreamed the company would try to force me back to part-time. “We have stood up for our union. Now we need our union to have our back.” Sandy Gustafson, Local 767 Steward, UPS, Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport

Members report that the company is making all Article 22.3 employees bid on two part-time positions and reducing them to part-time wages. This will mean a pay cut of $5 an hour or more for many Teamsters. Members are also being forced to work split shifts.

UPS is eliminating the night sort at DFW on Feb. 12. But the company is eliminating the Article 22.3 jobs on every shift, not just the night sort.

"UPS is trying to get rid of 22.3 jobs all together and put everyone back to part-time. That's what they really want," said Jacqueline Jones, a Local 767 steward.

The contract requires UPS to maintain a minimum of 20,000 Article 22.3 full-time jobs nationwide at all times. The company is thousands of jobs short of the required number but the International Union has taken no action to enforce the contract.

"UPS owes us a minimum of 20,000 jobs and they're in clear violation of the contract," says Local 767 steward Sandy Gustafson. "I was at the picket line every day in 1997 holding a sign that said 'Part Time America Won't Work.' I never dreamed the company would try to force me back to part-time. We have stood up for our union. Now we need our union to have our back.”

The next national grievance panel is scheduled for Feb. 2-5.

Click here to download a bulletin on the UPS Full-Time Jobs Massacre.

Will the International Union take up a national grievance? Or will Hoffa and Hall continue to leave local unions and working Teamsters holding the bag while the company steals our jobs and shreds our contract?

What’s going on in your area? Click here to report problems with 22.3 job elimination where you work.

Stay in the loop. Click here to sign up for email updates from TDU.org

January 10, 2009: UPS will shut down the night sort operations at Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) in February—a move that could eliminate 70 or more full-time Article 22.3 jobs. The midnight sort at the Columbia, S.C., air hub will be shut down around the same time. UPS previously eliminated more than 30 Article 22.3 jobs in Seattle at Boeing Field.

The contract requires UPS to maintain a minimum of 20,000 Article 22.3 full-time jobs nationwide at all times. The company is thousands of jobs short of the required number because positions were never created or have been allowed to go vacant.

No Article 22.3 Teamsters should be laid off unless the company is meeting its obligation to maintain 20,000 full-time combo jobs.

Members have filed grievances demanding that UPS create all 20,000 jobs and pay full backpay to Teamsters who have been laid off or unfairly denied the opportunity to go full-time because of the company’s nationwide violations of Article 22.3.

The next National Grievance panel will be held Feb. 2-5 in Ft. Lauderdale.

Is UPS eliminating 22.3 jobs in your area? Click here to send a confidential report to the TDU UPS Committee.

November 14, 2008: Mary Seumaala went on strike in 1997 to win a full-time job at UPS. Now UPS has taken her full-time job away.

It’s time to make UPS deliver for thousands of Teamsters who are being denied full-time jobs in violation of the contract.

Until recently, Mary Seumaala was working full-time at Boeing Field in Seattle. Today, this 18-year Teamster is working four hours or less a day.

With her son in the hospital, Mary was moved to an inferior company medical plan for part-timers.

And Mary is not alone. UPS has laid off forty Article 22.3 Teamsters in Seattle—and hundreds more across the country. In all, UPS is short-changing thousands of Teamsters out of full-time jobs.

Under the contract, UPS is required to maintain a minimum of 20,000 Article 22.3 full-time jobs nationwide. But many of these jobs were never created. Other positions were never posted or filled after they went vacant.

This nationwide contract violation requires a nationally coordinated response. Instead the many grievances that have been filed on this issue are being treated on a case by case basis—and getting bogged down in grievance panels.

As usual the company is using the grievance procedure to stall and delay—rather than resolve the problem.

Hoffa Has the Hammer to Nail Down Full-Time Jobs

Fortunately our International Union has a major weapon that can break through company stonewalling and make UPS deliver the 20,000 full-time jobs guaranteed by our contract.

In the Central Region, the union has the right to strike over deadlocked grievances. When a grievance in the Central Region is deadlocked, the union has the right to strike—and to extend picket lines across the country. (Article 5, Section 3 of the Central Region Supplement.)

President Hoffa has rightly said that the right to strike on grievances gives our union a “Hammer” when the company is violating the contract and deadlocking grievances to avoid resolving the problem. That is exactly what is happening now.

Earlier this year, Chicago Local 705 invoked a similar right in its contract—and put the company on a 72-hour strike notice. UPS immediately came to the table and agreed to create 200 package car jobs and curb future violations of supervisors working.

No strike was necessary. What mattered was that the company knew that Local 705 was prepared to take strike action if necessary. With thousands of Teamsters being denied full-time jobs, our International Union needs to send UPS the same message.

None of us wants to strike. Fortunately, it is extremely doubtful that strike action would be necessary. UPS is not going to provoke a strike at peak season. But management will continue to drag their feet on grievances and deny thousands of Teamsters full-time work—if our union lets them get away with it.

Deliver Justice for the Holidays

UPS is not just refusing to create full-time jobs; they are rubbing the issue in our union’s face.

Under the contract, the company had until February 2008 to give the International Union a complete list of the 20,000 Article 22.3 full-time jobs. It is almost 2009 and the list that UPS has given to the Package Division is incomplete and includes many full-time jobs that do not exist.

Meanwhile the company is laying off long-time Article 22.3 full-timers and forcing them back to part-time. Under the contract, UPS is prohibited from laying off combo Teamsters unless the company is maintaining 20,000 Article 22.3 full-time jobs nationally.

The holidays are here. A recession is on. And our union’s largest employer is denying full-time job opportunities to thousands of Teamsters who have a contractual right to a full-time job.

It’s time to remind top UPS management that we’ve got the hammer and we’re ready to use it.

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I Need a Full-Time Job

“I’m a single mom with five kids. I need a full-time job.

“Under the contract, UPS has to maintain 20,000 full-time Article 22.3 jobs and they’re not doing it. In my hub alone, there are dozens of vacant full-time jobs that UPS refuses to fill.

“All we want is for the company to live up to the contract and create the full-time jobs we’re entitled to.

“UPS treats this like a game. But this is no game. These are our lives we’re talking about.”

Nicole Halliday, Local 150, Sacramento

November 28, 2008: Under the contract UPS had to give the International a list of the 20,000 Article 22.3 jobs the company claims it will maintain.

Our local union got a copy of that list from the IBT Package Division. My Steward Alternate and I found 11 jobs on the list that exist only on paper. That list includes workers that have moved to package car or feeder jobs. That list even includes workers that have quit or been fired.

These 11 jobs are in my work area alone. I expect that other stewards will identify another dozen or more unfilled Article 22.3 jobs in other shifts and buildings. These are full-time jobs that belong to working Teamsters.

Some of these full-time jobs have been vacant for more than a year. During the same period, UPS has double shifted about 30 part-time workers to help cover the vacant jobs.

UPS Teamsters across the country should be asking our locals to contact the International Union and get the list of full-time Article 22.3 jobs the company claims it has created in your area so we can document all the missing jobs.

We’ve got to push our locals and the International Union to make UPS deliver every one of the 20,000 full-time jobs we are owed under the contract.

Sam Bucalo, Elected Steward Local 100, Cincinnati

November 14, 2008: UPS profits remain incredibly high—$1.6 billion in the third quarter—but volume is down. Ground package volume is down just 2.8 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Next Day Air volume in the third quarter fell by 9.8 percent.

Management is using the drop in Next Day Air volume as an excuse for eliminating Article 22.3 full-time jobs. Many of the positions that have been eliminated involve the air operation. But the company doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

The company tried to use the “loss of volume” argument to weasel out of creating full-time Article 22.3 jobs after the 1997 strike. Our union won that issue at arbitration and UPS not only had to create the jobs, they had to pay backpay too.

At that time, film director Michael Moore sent a debt collector to UPS to collect the full-time jobs on behalf of working Teamsters. Watch the video from The Awful Truth at www.makeUPSdeliver.org

November 7, 2008: This year isn’t the first time UPS management has tried to avoid creating the full-time jobs they promised.

When UPS refused to create the full-time jobs we won in the 1997 strike, filmmaker Michael Moore sent Sal Piro to collect on behalf of working Teamsters.

Today, UPS is at it again. UPS is violating the contract which requires the company to maintain 20,000 Article 22.3 full-time jobs. The company is thousands of jobs short of that figure. UPS is even laying Article 22.3 Teamsters and forcing them back to part-time.

Maybe it’s time for another visit to UPS from Sal! Even better, the International Union should be conducting a national audit of Article 22.3 jobs and forcing the company to create the thousands of missing jobs now!

Click here to send us a message or question about what’s happening with Article 22.3 jobs in your area.

Click here to download sample grievance language on this issue.

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.

August 18, 2008: UPS is violating our contract and ducking its obligation to create and maintain 20,000 full-time combo jobs.

It's time for union action to make UPS deliver all 20,000 full-time combo jobs that we are owed and that working Teamsters have been waiting for.

You can help make it happen by downloading the Make UPS Deliver grievance action packet.

Across the country, members are filing grievances and distributing informational leaflets. We need your help to put pressure on UPS and top Teamster officials to deliver the 20,000 full-time combo jobs the company owes us.

Click here to download an informational leaflet.

Click here to download sample grievance language.

Click here to tell us what is happening with Article 22.3 jobs in your local.



UPS Violates Obligation to Create Full-Time Jobs

Under the contract, UPS was required to create 20,000 full-time combo jobs as of August 1, including 2,500 new full-time combo positions since August 2007.

The company has NOT created these jobs. In fact, UPS is thousands of jobs short of the 20,000 minimum number of combo jobs. As a result, thousands of UPS part-timers are being denied full-time jobs.

Full-Time Positions Being Destroyed

UPS should be creating thousands of full-time combo jobs until it creates the 20,000 required by Article 22.3. Instead, the company is destroying existing 22.3 positions.

Some local unions report that management has refused to fill Article 22.3 positions that are vacant. In some areas, the company has even started laying off Article 22.3 employees and forcing them to go back to part-time.

No one reports that significant numbers of Article 22.3 jobs have been created in the last year as required by the contract.

National Grievance Campaign

Members are calling on our International Union to conduct a nationwide audit and take national grievance action.

Through the Make UPS Deliver network, members are filing grievances to make UPS and our International Union deliver all 20,000 full-time combo jobs we are owed under the contract.

Will you participate by filing a grievance or collecting signatures on a group grievance? Across the country, members are filing similar grievances demanding that UPS:

* Create and fill all 20,000 full-time Article 22.3 jobs nationally.

* Post and fill all vacant Article 22.3 jobs. UPS has no right to lay off any Article 22.3 workers or keep any 22.3 jobs vacant as long as they are not maintaining 20,000 combo jobs nationally.

* Pay full backpay to members who were unfairly denied the opportunity to go full-time because UPS did not create and maintain the 20,000 full-time jobs they owe us. Part-Time America Won't Work, but union action can. Let's work together to win and protect full-time jobs.

Click here to download an informational leaflet.

Click here to download sample grievance language.

Click here to tell us what is happening with Article 22.3 jobs in your local.