March 27, 2008: The IBT leadership argues that we need to give DHL concessions to help the company compete in the future with UPS and with FedEx.

But many Teamsters are asking what these concessions will mean for our future and our union’s. The proposed contract will let DHL convert over time to a company where the majority of the jobs are low-wage, dead-end jobs.

History has shown that these concessions will increase company profits. But they will also undermine our benefit funds and union power.

As DHL Teamsters debate how to vote on the proposed contract, we need to ask ourselves: is our union on a road that will build power for Teamsters in trucking?

Devil’s Pact with UPS

In 1982, our union made the part-time devil’s pact with UPS—and allowed the company to create $8/hour part-time jobs. By 1997, nearly two-thirds of UPS Teamsters were part-timers stuck in low-wage, dead-end jobs.

The wage and benefit divide weakened Teamster unity. The 1997 UPS strike victory was about reversing the slide to a weaker Teamsters union. Over the last ten years, that victory eliminated 42,000 low-wage part-time jobs and combined them into 21,000 new full-time jobs. (20,000 in the national agreement plus more in the Local 705 and 710 agreements.)

That clause has brought UPS back from being majority part-time to approximately 50-50 full-time and part-time.

Hoffa’s UPS Giveaway Set the Stage for DHL

If the full-time job clause had been maintained in the new UPS contract, a total of 64,000 part-time jobs would have been replaced with 32,000 new full-time jobs, and the balance would have been tipped to a clear majority of full-time jobs.

Instead Hoffa surrendered our 1997 strike victory and gave UPS a five-year deal where they don’t have to create a single full-time job by combining part-time jobs. That set the stage for DHL.

The union officials who argue that DHL has to compete with UPS by converting all inside operations to part-time should look in the mirror. Many are the same who supported the UPS give-away.

Wrong Direction

When evaluating a contract we have to ask: what does it deliver now and what does it position us to win in the future?

The part-time giveaway in the proposed DHL contract will boost the company’s profits and it will boost our union treasury with part-timer’s dues and initiation fees. But these gains will come at the expense of union power—and of Teamster benefit funds.

One highlight of the proposed deal is higher pension contributions, but that alone will not strengthen our pension funds if our employers are allowed to convert to a majority part-time operation with most employees locked out of Teamster pension funds.

We’re on the wrong road. Many Teamsters know it—including tens of thousands of Teamsters at UPS, in freight and at DHL who have not supported the sweeping concessions in the contracts negotiated by the Hoffa administration this year and last.

TDU is about uniting us together to rebuild Teamster Power—by fighting for contracts that deliver improvements for working Teamsters today and a stronger union tomorrow.

Why did TDU get involved with this DHL contract?

Like many Teamsters, the members of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) are concerned about the decline in our national contracts that we are seeing in the 2008 bargaining round.

Many times when contracts have been negotiated, including some previous DHL and Airborne contracts, TDU has not taken a position one way or the other. But the 2008 national bargaining round is very different: the Teamster leadership is giving back decades of Teamster gains.

Against the wishes of the IBT Freight Division, DHL bargaining was taken from the Division and handed over to Brad Slawson to give the corporation major concessions.

It’s not just DHL. At UPS, the International gave up the key gains of the historic 1997 strike victory when our union won new full-time jobs, stopped a company takeover of Teamster pensions and won record pension increases. This year, our negotiators let UPS eliminate the language that made the company create 10,000 full-time jobs every contract by combining part-time jobs—and they let UPS split apart the Central States Pension Plan which covered 44,000 UPSers in 25 states.

The union did all the giving—settling early and short. In freight, the Hoffa administration agreed to the most concessionary NMFA in Teamster history. In carhaul, the top union officials helped billionaire Ron Burkle take over the largest carhaul carrier and slash Teamster wages by 17.5 percent, breaking up the national agreement.

TDU members believe that our union needs to defend the national agreements that are at the heart of Teamster power.

So when TDU obtained Slawson’s first secret sell-out deal with DHL last summer, we immediately made it available to the members. TDU members at DHL began to spread the word, and a network of DHL Teamsters sprang up. Hundreds of DHLers have contacted TDU to get on our DHL e-list, share info, and make their voice heard. Since then, a growing number of DHLers have joined TDU.

How does TDU work with DHL Teamsters?

Teamsters for a Democratic Union has worked to provide information, a national network, legal resources and organizational help to DHL Teamsters who care about our contract and our union’s future. In February, for example, we obtained and made available the language of Slawson’s proposed deal that would allow DHL in the future to become a majority low-wage part-time operation. We have provided informational leaflets: some were issued by TDU, some were prepared by DHL members and then TDU helped design them and make them more widely available.

TDU has held educational meetings, defended DHLers who have been harassed by the company, and protected the right to a fair and informed vote on the contract. DHL Teamsters have access to see all the various supplements because of a court case won by TDU.

TDU is a resource for active and concerned Teamsters.

What about all those charges: TDU is communist, employer funded, etc.

Some Teamster officials have been saying those things for 30 years, and never once have they been backed up by fact.

Take one lie for example: “TDU is employer funded.” Accepting employer funding would be highly illegal, and the Teamsters Union has a large stable of attorneys to go after any such wrong-doing. They have made this bogus charge each and every election cycle from 1991 to 2006. What has been the result?

Each and every Election Officer—after thorough investigations with forensic accountants—has dismissed the charge in its entirety. The Labor Department has done the same.

It is not TDU leaders who golf with employers! In fact, in over 30 years of existence, TDU has never been implicated in any corruption. Our proud record stands in contrast to our detractors—many of whom ended up being charged with corruption, banned from the union, and/or indicted.

Some of the lies are just plain wacky. In February a DHL business agent in California posted this one: “TDU's true mission: to take control of the Teamsters and hand control over to the Flag Burning, Criminal Rights NOT Victims' Rights, Socialist/Communist wing of the Democratic party and ultimately merge the Teamsters into a larger Communist Labor group.” Wow. Was TDU behind the 9-11 attacks and global warming, too?!

Why do they fear TDU so much?

Because without TDU, Teamster members would have nowhere to turn for help. You could complain, but without a national network, organization, and legal resources, you would never be effective.

The DHL contract negotiations are a perfect example. Without TDU, DHL Teamsters would have never been made aware of the concessionary deal that Brad Slawson secretly negotiated behind the backs of the membership and even local union officials. TDU armed DHL Teamsters with the facts, helped members spread information across the country, secured the right for observers at the vote count, and more. In short, we secured a fair and informed vote—something that is not popular with the top officials who were trying to sneak through secret concessions.

TDU has a proven track record of uniting Teamsters to win positive changes—including the Right to Vote for International Union officers, majority rule on contracts and the Right to Vote on contract supplements, among many other reforms. We’ve organized Teamsters to win strong contracts and defeat givebacks, vote down pension cuts and win improvements, run for union office and oust corrupt officials.

Teamster officials who lie about TDU do it to avoid debating the issues and they try to demonize TDU because they want to keep rank-and-file Teamsters from joining together to push for changes in our union.

TDU is 100 percent pro-union and committed to winning strong contracts and building Teamster Power by informing and uniting the membership. Union officials have nothing to fear from a pro-union rank-and-file watchdog unless they have something to hide.

What does it mean to Join Teamsters for a Democratic Union?

It means you are willing to donate $40 to help sustain and build a movement of Teamsters for the future of our union. That is what it costs for a one-year membership. If later you don’t feel it was worth it, you didn’t lose much. But the vast majority who join renew the next year and the year after, because they see the need for an independent watchdog and information source in our union.

There is a reason TDU is the most durable rank and file movement in the history of US labor. We stand on principle and we’re non-corruptible.

TDU membership is confidential. We never reveal who is a member. Even some of Hoffa’s International Reps have quietly joined. Some of them see a direction they don’t like; and some of them just want to be sure to get TDU materials sent to them.

Most TDU members help spread the word where they work. That choice is yours.

To Join TDU, click here.

To find out more about TDU, click here and a TDU organizer will contact you.

March 20, 2008: Our Union needs to be constantly on guard to protect what Teamsters have fought for decades to win. First and foremost, we need to protect good Teamster jobs, maintain our contracts, and look toward the future.

The proposed DHL deal fails the test, because over time it would allow DHL management to convert the operation into a majority of low-wage part-timers.

• It means you will lose thousands of dollars in overtime work.
• It means all growth of the company will go to low-wage dead-end jobs, not good Teamster jobs.
• It means our union will be weaker.

No Limit on Part-timers

There is no limit or ratio (such as 1:5) in the P&D supplement on the use of part-timers. If this deal is approved, DHL will move to convert close to 100 percent of sorting, loading and unloading to low-wage, part-time labor.

This is worse than the UPS agreement, in which there is a guarantee of 20,000 full-time sorting and loading jobs. This deal has no such limit.

There is a 15 percent limit on part-time drivers. The International Union claims this is better than the UPS contract. But the fact of the matter is, find any UPS building with 200 full-time drivers, and you will not find 30 (15 percent) part-time drivers! This could be worse than UPS.

What's the Future?

With all the managerial problems the company has right now, it's easy to forget a big fact: DHL aims to grow, and must grow to succeed. A "red circle by name" will constantly shrink as Teamsters quit or retire, coupled with constant growth in the part-time force. That's a recipe for a weaker future.

What happens as the number of high-turnover part-timers grows? Who will vote in the next contract to defend your job, wages, benefits and conditions if the majority has no benefits, McWages, and a three-hour guarantee? Where will our Teamster power be then?

As DHL "interprets" the contract as they see fit, what's our protection? A grievance procedure that's being gutted—and we are being asked to give up the right to strike.

Where are the Protections?

If we are asked in this first offer to give such huge concessions, what do we get in return? Damn little.

There is no ratio limit on part-timers (such as 1:5).

There is only a “red circle by name” (not number) for our jobs.

There is no solid guarantee against full-time layoffs, while part-timers are being hired. (And then, you will be offered to work two part-time shifts: split up.)

We would have all the worst of the UPS contract, but with wages $7 per hour lower than UPS workers and the loss of our overtime work.

We Can Win Protections—Vote No

We can win reasonable protections to safeguard our future at DHL. A No Vote can put them on the bargaining table.

Help spread the word. Click here to download a leaflet you can post and distribute to other DHL Teamsters.

Stay in the loop. Click here to sign up for email updates from TDU’s DHL Network.

DHL Teamsters and TDU

How and why have DHL Teamsters gotten involved with Teamsters for a Democratic Union? Click here for the answers.

March 14, 2008: The UPS, freight and carhaul national contracts all have a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) clause, to help protect against inflation eating away our wages. Teamsters are asking, with gas prices heading toward $4, will we get a COLA raise?

For UPS Teamsters the answer is No.

For freight Teamsters, the answer is apparently No.

For carhaulers, it is Maybe.

For DHL Teamsters, it is Yes, according to the proposed tentative agreement.

What’s up?

As prices for essentials like gas and milk go sky high, why no cost of living raise for UPS Teamsters? Because the UPS contract has language specifying no COLA for 2008. The next time any adjustment is possible is August 2009.

The freight contract language, as posted on the IBT website (Article 33), seems to indicate that Teamsters should get a COLA increase on April 1. However, other language received from the IBT states regarding COLA “No change except change dates to make effective in new agreement.” Apparently this language means No.

The proposed DHL tentative agreement states that COLA will be paid on April 1, 2008 (Article 21, Section 2 of proposed deal). We have calculated that it will be 16¢ per hour. Not enough to fill your tank, but certainly some help.

That same 16¢ is what freight Teamsters would have gotten this April 1, with language requiring it.

Carhaulers should get a COLA increase of 32¢ on June, assuming that the same clause in the existing contract is retained (the contract expires May 30) with a COLA pay out for this year. That remains to be bargained. Unfortunately Teamsters at Allied will get nothing, because of concessions signed last year.

Why twice as much for carhaul? Because the carhaul COLA formula pays exactly twice as much as the freight clause does. The mileage pay increase for carhaul (assuming the clause is in effect this year) will be 0.8¢ per running mile (1.6¢ per loaded mile).

The Devil in the Details

UPS and freight Teamsters get zero, DHL Teamsters get 16¢ (at least according to the language of the proposed deal), carhaulers will get 32¢ if the present clause is retained for this year.

This shows that when it comes to a cost of living clause, the details really count. Waiving the clause in this year of high inflation was costly to Teamsters.

Our national contracts have some protection against runaway inflation, but few local contracts do. It’s not an easy item to bargain with most employers. But with inflation heating up, it may be time to put it on the bargaining agenda wherever possible.

March 14, 2008: The proposed deal with DHL delivers for management, but what does it deliver for DHL Teamsters in return?

That’s the question DHL Teamsters are faced with.

Help keep other DHL Teamsters informed. Click here to download a new leaflet on the proposed contract deal.

Get the latest DHL updates from TDU. Click here to sign up for email updates.

Do you have a comment or a question? Click here to contact Teamsters for a Democratic Union.

March 12, 2008: The proposed DHL agreement is now available, and unfortunately it contains the same disastrous givebacks previously exposed by TDU—including unlimited low-wage part-timers.

The only new news is bad news. Many Teamsters hoped that regional supplements would provide protections that would stop DHL from converting into a low-wage part-time operation. But the two regional supplements that have been revealed so far—the Central Region and New England supplements—provide no such protections.

So far, the International Union has not provided TDU with the other supplements or posted them on the Teamster website.

Rock-Bottom Part-Time Wages

The tentative agreements include rock bottom wages of $10 for part-timers (if they receive any health or pension benefits) or $12 (if they receive no benefits). The part-time starting rate would be frozen at $10 for the life of the contract. Under this proposed deal, a part-timer could be hired in 2013 for $10 per hour! That’s one hell of an incentive to push the “red-circle” drivers out the door.

A part-time hire would go up a progression, increasing a whole 20¢ after a year, and 22.5¢ more after two years. (How many will stay that long? This could be less than the minimum wage in many states in a few years.)

The same low rate wages apply to part-timers in the clerical units and call centers. Part-timers who make afternoon pick-ups would get $2 an hour more.

Full time red circle wages increases are as expected: 35¢ on April 1; 35¢ on October 1; 40¢ in April 2009; 45¢ in April 2010; 40¢ in April 2011, 45¢ in October 2011; 45¢ in April 2012 and 50¢ in October 2012.

A UPS-Style Operation—Without UPS Wages

If these agreements are ratified, DHL Teamsters would fall farther behind UPS wages, and trail UPS drivers by $7 per hour at the end of the contract.

The proposed National Master and Operational Supplements include all the devastating concessions that would allow DHL to convert to a UPS-style operation without UPS wages.

• The agreements allows DHL to hire an unlimited number of part-timers in the P&D operations. The only limit is that existing full-timers will be red-circled by name. Ninety percent of red-circles will be guaranteed 40-hours. The bottom 10 percent of red-circled full-timers can sit home while $10 per hour part-timers load the trucks.
• Part-timer labor could be used for PM pick-ups, up to 15 percent of the total number of full-timers. Low wage part-timers can be worked up to 32 hours per week.
• DHL management could opt-in to a management-dominated grievance procedure where the company gets half the votes. The right to strike over deadlocked grievances (“the hammer”), currently in the NMFA, would be given away entirely.

Negotiations have not been completed on all of the supplemental agreements. DHL management and the top union officials who are promoting these givebacks want to wrap up bargaining and move to a vote quickly—and we believe they will.

It’s crunch time.

We urge all DHL Teamsters to carefully review the proposed tentative contracts. Talk with your fellow Teamsters.

Click here to send us your thoughts and suggestions for what Teamsters can do to beat these givebacks and win the strongest possible contract.

Download the Tentative Master Agreement and Supplements

Click here to download the National Master DHL Agreement

Click here to download the Pick-Up and Delivery Operational Supplement

Click here to download the Office Clerical Operational Supplement

Click here to download the Central Region Pick-Up and Delivery Supplement.

Click here to download the New England Pick-Up and Delivery Regional Supplement

Click here to download the Call Center Operational Supplement

Click here to download the Hub Operational Supplement

National Master Agreement

Supplements

• Pick Up & Delivery Operational Supplement
• Central Region Pick Up & Delivery Supplement
• New England Pick Up & Delivery Supplement
• Hub Operational Supplement
• Call Center Operational Supplement
• Office Clerical Operational Supplement

March 6, 2008: DHL Teamsters are reacting strongly against the concessionary first offer that will be put out for a vote later in March.

In discussions, meetings, leaflets, and on the DHL Teamsters’ own website, concerned members say: send them back to the bargaining table.

DHL management is going to have to improve their second offer by addressing members’ concerns: protecting jobs and a good union future.

The current offer would hand DHL management its dream: they want a part-time operation. Under the proposed deal, a shrinking percentage of full-time Teamsters would become surrounded by a part-time work force making poverty wages.

No date has been set for the ballots to be mailed, but we expect a "quickie" mailing. No doubt the International Union and management are getting their Vote Yes sales job ready.

DHL Teamsters will each get to cast three votes: on the master language, the national operational supplements (with Pick Up and Delivery being the largest), and the regional supplements.

DHL Teamsters have produced an informational bulletin, which is already circulating at some stations.

You can download it here to make sure every DHL Teamster gets the facts and not just the company’s and the IBT’s propaganda.

What You Can Do To Get a Better Contract

DHL Teamsters have been talking, sharing views and networking for eight months to have a voice in this national contract. Now, it’s crunch time.

Management and some Teamster officials are pushing fear and lies. It’s up to members like us to spread hope and solidarity. We hold the power, if we vote NO on both the national master and on the operational Pick Up and Delivery Supplement.

A No vote does not mean a strike—it will send our negotiators back to the table to produce a more acceptable second offer.

Here’s how you can help:

Download the leaflet, and be sure each member at your station gets a copy. Talk with your fellow Teamsters about the issues.

Attend your local union meeting that will be set up to discuss the contract. Attend together and speak out, let your brothers and sisters know that a better offer is coming, and Teamsters across the country are uniting to make it happen.

Contact Teamsters for a Democratic Union to share what’s happening in your area, pass along an idea to build the Vote No movement, or to set up an informational meeting for your coworkers. Call (313) 842-2600, or click here to send a message, a question, or a comment.

February 27, 2008: The IBT has announced that they reached a tentative agreement with DHL, and will soon hold a meeting for local officials to get a copy of the proposed deal.

While we have heard reports about the wage increases for full-timers and the new cut-rate wage for part-timers, we do have the facts in hand. On the day of the “two-person” meeting of local officials, we will make available the full language of the master and all supplements.

The power will soon be in the members’ hands. We encourage DHL Teamsters to get informed, get involved and make your voice heard.

Concessions Revealed

While we do not have the tentative agreement, we do have important elements of it that were agreed to last October and contain massive concessions.

The tentative agreement presented here is only partially completed. But it shows that in October, Slawson agreed to disastrous contract language to convert DHL to a part-timer driven operation, like UPS—but without $28.50 UPS wages. It guts our grievance procedure, which would weaken our union and ruin our solidarity.

Click here for a leaflet that summarizes the proposed deal. Please distribute this information to DHL Teamsters.

Click here for National Agreement Status and Tentative Agreements. Warning: Large file - may take a while to download. Please be patient.

Click here for Pick Up & Delivery Operational Supplement Status and Tentative Agreements. Warning: Large file - may take a while to download. Please be patient.

Click here to tell us what you think or to let us know that you want to be help defeat the proposed contract givebacks.

February 22, 2008: TDU has obtained the details of new givebacks proposed at DHL.

Seven months ago, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) exposed a secret sell-out negotiated by International Rep. Brad Slawson with DHL. Members got organized, opposed the givebacks, and the deal was shelved.

But now it is back off the shelf, and remains as dangerous as ever.

TDU has obtained a copy of the new agreement that our negotiators are finalizing. The Hoffa administration claims it is negotiating the “Strongest Contract Ever” for DHL Teamsters. But their secret deal contains givebacks that will destroy full-time jobs, eliminate overtime, and gut our rights.

This is your contract and you should not be kept in the dark. That’s why TDU is making a leaked copy of the new tentative agreement available to all DHL Teamsters.

We urge you to read the contract, discuss it with other DHL Teamsters and decide for yourselves.

We have a choice to make. We can lie down and watch decades of Teamster progress disappear, or we can stand together to protect our jobs, our contract, and our future.

The tentative agreement presented here is only partially completed. But it shows that chief negotiator Brad Slawson, Sr. has once again agreed to language that will let DHL use part-timers to drive, load, unload and work the ramp.

DHL wants a UPS operation—but without UPS’s $28.50 wages—and the Hoffa administration is ready to give it to them.

Our jobs, overtime and rights are on the line. It’s time to get informed and take a stand. United, we can defend our contract and our future.

Click here for a leaflet that summarizes the proposed deal. Please distribute this information to DHL Teamsters.

Click here for National Agreement Status and Tentative Agreements. Warning: Large file - may take a while to download. Please be patient.

Click here for Pick Up & Delivery Operational Supplement Status and Tentative Agreements. Warning: Large file - may take a while to download. Please be patient.

Click here to tell us what you think or to let us know that you want to be help defeat the proposed contract givebacks.