We have a legal right to a fair and informed vote on our national contracts. But our rights have not come without Teamsters for a Democratic Union taking on big battles.  Here is a summary of some key legal – and membership – victories involving our rights in national Teamster contracts.

We Won the Right to a Fair and Informed Vote

Bauman v Presser.  This case set a precedent for a “fair and informed” vote.  We obtained an injunction stopping a UPS national contract vote and requiring a do-over on fair terms.  As Bill Bauman (who was a steward in St Louis Local 688) stated at the time: “We won a democratic voice in collective bargaining for Teamster members.”   Without this victory, Hoffa-Hall could mail out proposed contracts or supplements for a vote without any prior information available or adequate time for debate among members.

We Won the Right to Vote on Supplements and Riders

Davey v Fitzimmons.  In this case we claimed that some supplements to the National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA) were so different, they required separate membership votes. We lost; the court gave the IBT leadership wide latitude to interpret the IBT constitution, and said we had to change the constitution if we wanted separate votes on supplements and riders. TDU Organizer Ken Paff was one of six plaintiffs.

We then built a movement to do just that, and succeeded at the 1991 IBT Convention; working closely with a good Teamster leader, then Harrisburg Local 776 president Tom Griffith, and with some fine work by reform delegates to the Convention to overcome the opposition of the IBT officials. That victory gave members more power to win better contracts.

Without this victory, the UPS contract would have been all over back in June.

We Won the Right to Observers at the Contract Vote Count

McCuiston v Hoffa. A consent order coming out of this carhaul contract case gave us the right to have rank and file observers at contract vote counts. Prior to this, the Hoffa administration handpicked a few observers – and not from all supplements and riders – who were not independent and kept secret from members what happened at the count.  This is a crucial step for transparency and fair contract votes.

We Won Majority Rule on Contracts

In the Harmon case, we challenged a national contract vote where 64% voted no, but the union imposed the “2/3 to reject a contract” rule.  We argued some members had been denied ballots, enough to possibly make it 2/3 No. Pressure built on the issue, and finally the IBT leadership conceded, and granted Teamster members majority rule, which is written into the IBT Constitution. This was a huge victory – UPS knew they only had to get 1/3 of voters to approve a contract. TDU fought to win majority rule for years, and it was finally won.

We Won the Right to Access all Proposed Supplements and Riders

In the Braxton case we won the right to get all tentative agreements for all supplements and riders, at the time of the “two-man” meeting, so that we can make them available to all members before voting. Prior to this victory, members only had access to their own supplement to the national contract and “highlights” or IBT PR. John Braxton was a UPS worker in Philadelphia who also worked for Teamster president Ron Carey. Now you can find the supplements and riders posted on www.TDU.org, and the IBT (in response to TDU) posts them as well.

We Won the Right to Quarterly Central States Fund Financials

When the Central States Pension and Health and Welfare Funds refused to give members access to quarterly financial and special-counsel reports which were filed with the court, we intervened and won in court. (The lead plaintiff, Tommy Burke, is a retired UPS driver in North Carolina.) The quarterly financial and analytical reports are available to members only on www.TDU.org.

Members of TDU are proud of this history. We believe these victories have made our union stronger, and given members a seat at the table. We thank the members who made this possible through their support, and we thank our great legal team.

You can help us make a lot more history with your support of Teamsters for a Democratic Union, the national network of Teamster reformers working together for a strong and democratic Teamsters Union.

August 9, 2013: A 69% No Vote and a company that made billions in profits adds up to a strong bargaining position for our Teamster negotiating committee.

But after the members did the heavy lifting in the coast-to-coast rejection of the first offer, Hoffa and Hall went missing.

Hall sent a short memo to local officials saying the Negotiating Committee had met, but reports from that meeting indicate not much happened.

Hoffa and Hall hired a telemarketing firm to survey members, but the issues have been clear all along. And they are even more clear following the rejection of management's first offer.

UPS Freight Teamsters need:

• Language banning subcontracting of Teamster work, and no substandard LHD board.
   
• Pension improvements: raise the accrual to keep pace with inflation.
   
• No premiums for health insurance: Why is our contract the only Teamster trucking contract that forces members to pay premiums?
   
• Raises of $1/hour each year—or at least match the UPS package raises, as we did in the first contract.

If Hoffa and Hall think the silent treatment will put the members to sleep, they are mistaken. Members are showing visible solidarity and are taking pride in building unity to win a good contract.

"Our officers say they don't know a thing but members aren't waiting around for more bad news," commented Kurt Kronemberg, a city driver in Local 707 in New York. "We're wearing Vote NO stickers and sending management a clear message. We expect a decent contract with substantial improvements and we won't vote it up until we get it."

UPS Freight Teamsters control their own destiny. The path to winning a strong contract leads through member activity. Keep talking up the issues. Keep building solidarity. Keep the pressure on.

Members Aren't Waiting Around

"Our officers say they don't know a thing but members aren't waiting around for more bad news.

"We're wearing Vote NO stickers and sending management a clear message. We expect a decent contract with substantial improvements and we won't vote it up until we get it."

Kurt Kronemberg, Local 707, New York

Stay Informed. Win a better contract. UPSFreightTalk.org: The national discussion board for rank-and-file UPS Freight Teamsters.

TDU is looking for concerned UPS Freight Teamsters who want to work together to win contract improvements. Click here to contact TDU with your questions or to get involved today.

Hoffa waives Ken Hall's "surprise" neutrality agreement with UPS Freight while Hall celebrates in the background.

August 26, 2013: This is not the first time Ken Hall has played politics with members' contracts and turned contract negotiations into a scripted performance.

In the last bargaining round, Hall made a surprise announcement at the Teamster Convention that he had just reached a neutrality agreement to unionize UPS Freight.

Hoffa-Hall supporters immediately said the announcement proved there shouldn't be an election for International Union officers and called on opposition candidates to drop out.

When the smoke cleared, members learned that Hall's agreement only applied to one UPS Freight terminal in Indianapolis and it only went into effect after Hall had ratified a concessionary contract at UPS.

It all went according to plan. UPSers got concessions and UPS Freight Teamsters got a weak first contract.

This time, UPS and UPS Freight Teamsters didn't follow the script.

"We're not paying $90. We're not paying $9. We're not paying 9¢. We're not paying premiums for health insurance for a company that made $4.389 billion." — Ken Hall, Conference Call with UPS Shop Stewards, Feb. 2, 2013

"What we need to be doing is sending a message and making sure that our members understand that we're not going to be talking about concessions, we're going to be talking about improvements." — Ken Hall Speech on UPS Contract IBT Convention June 30, 2011

August 9, 2013: The UPS and UPS Freight contract negotiations were supposed to be the opening act in Ken Hall’s bid to succeed Hoffa as Teamster General President. But the show did not go according to script.

Hall started out talking tough. He vowed, "We're not going to be talking about concessions." Hall added that he hoped UPS made $10 billion in profits because, "the more they make, the more we take."

Members were ready to follow his lead. They turned out in huge numbers at contract rallies across the country to oppose healthcare concessions where Hall led chants of, "No way, we won't pay."

How did all the tough talk turn to contract concessions so fast?

Smoke and Mirrors

From the beginning, both UPS management and the Hoffa administration knew that Teamster members were never going to accept paying healthcare premiums—not when UPS is making nearly $4.5 billion a year.

But the company wanted to cut healthcare costs and control them for the future—and Hall wanted a contract that he could use to run for General President.

So Ken Hall scripted a UPS contract campaign designed to make him come out looking like the hero who stopped co-pays by "forcing UPS" to put members into a union health plan: Teamcare.

But when Teamster members realized the deal would hike their healthcare costs, they refused to follow the script—voting to reject a record 18 contract supplements and nearly overturning the national contract.

Since then, Hall has gone from talking tough about management to getting tough on Teamster members—telling members that healthcare is a done deal and making a full-court press to push through the rejected supplements.

Lessons for the Future

Winning good contracts takes more than a scripted contract campaign. It takes a plan to mobilize the union's power and pressure the employer. 

UPS is no pushover. But they depend on Teamsters to deliver their packages. They worry mightily about their public image and the threat of shippers bolting to nonunion competitors.

That gives UPSers leverage to win better contracts. But only if our union is willing to use it.

The UPS and UPS Freight contracts exposed the empty talk of Hoffa-Hall and other top Teamster leaders.

But the contract has also taught us something about ourselves.

Teamster members have shown we are ready to stand up to
contract concessions—more ready than the IBT.

Teamster members have shown the power of grassroots organizing—using leaflets, petitions, rallies, meetings, Facebook and the internet to share information and mobilize against givebacks.

And Teamster members have shown the power of linking up nationally. If we had voted down one or two supplements, this would all have been swept under the rug. Teaming up across the country gave members leverage and power.

That's why Hoffa-Hall are working so hard now to convince members they are powerless.

Rebuilding Union Power at UPS

Hoffa-Hall and UPS management want to put the contract behind them and get back to business-as-usual—big profits for UPS, and production harassment and weak contract enforcement for us.

UPS Teamsters can rebuild union power at UPS and the Vote No fight against concessions has shown us how.

TDU gives UPS Teamsters the tools to get organized locally and coordinate with concerned Teamsters across North America.

We don't have to be bystanders in our own union while Ken Hall performs his smoke and mirrors routine.

We can move to center stage and rebuild union power for the members.

TDU is looking for concerned Teamsters who want to work together to win contract improvements. Get involved today. Click here to contact the UPS Network. Contact the UPS Freight Network by clicking here.

July 23, 2013: Today, UPS announced after-tax profits of $1.07 billion for the second quarter. The money is there for a better contract.

In the first six months of the year, UPS made $2.11 billion. UPS expect profits to grow in the second half of the year by as much as 13 percent.

Wall Street is crying that UPS profits are slightly down from the same period last year. The dip in earnings will cost stockholders 2 cents a share.

Only at UPS do they complain when profits are "only" a billion dollars a quarter.

Management blames the dip in profits on the shift away from Next Day Air to lower-priced services and slow international freight forwarding business.

But in the U.S., revenue was up both in package and at UPS Freight.

A few other figures that Wall Street is not reporting on this morning: Under the tentative agreement, 140,000 Teamsters and their families will pay more out of their pockets for healthcare after Hoffa and Hall toured the country and told Teamsters, "No way, we won't pay!"

With UPS's profits for 2013 projected to be $4.5 billion again, the money is there to maintain members' health benefits and improve the 18 supplements that were voted down by UPS Teamsters.

UPDATED July 23, 2013: A month after UPS Freight Teamsters said NO to the first offer, Hoffa and Hall have given zero information to Teamsters. Now they have signed a contract extension, which requires 30-day notice to cancel it. Meanwhile they remain MIA.

Members from New York to Atlanta to California report that local officers say they don't know a thing. The worst part is they are telling the truth! Hall is even hiding from officers.

Meanwhile, management issued "talking points" this week which ends with this statement: "The uncertainty surrounding the contract has cost UPS Freight significant numbers of shipments already, and more customers are in danger of diverting every day."

We know from IBT insiders that a contract extension will be in place prior to the end of July, and management is telling shippers the same thing.

The only contact from the International union has been that some members got a survey call from telemarketers hired by the union. Is that really the best they can do? Pathetic.

Members have made the issues clear:

• Language banning subcontracting of Teamster work, and no substandard LHD board.
   
• Pension improvements: raise the accrual to keep pace with inflation.
   
• No premiums for health insurance: Why is our contract the only Teamster trucking contract that forces members to pay premiums?
   
• Raises of $1/hour each year—or at least match the UPS package raises, as we did in the first contract.

UPS Freight Teamsters control their own destiny. Keep building unity and solidarity.  Keep spreading the word and passing along leaflets. Order and distribute "We'll Vote No Until UPS Gets it Right" stickers. When management tells you the delay is going to hurt business, suggest that they tell Atlanta to offer a reasonable contract, and we will all get back to doing our good jobs as Teamsters.

You can download a leaflet on the issues to distribute at your terminal and on the road.

Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) is looking for concerned UPS Freight Teamsters who want to work together to win contract improvements. Click here to contact TDU with your questions or to get involved today.

We can and will win—if we keep building solidarity.

See more at: IBT to UPS Freight Teamsters: The Sound of Silence

July 3, 2013: The IBT, when soliciting members at US Air and American Airlines, advertises that they have rank-and-file negotiating committees for national contracts. How about at UPS and UPS Freight?!

Not a single UPS Freight or Package Teamster is on the national committee, and some supplemental committees shut them out, too.

The Teamster advertising, called “Teamster Bargaining Structure and Process”, is available here.

It is worth reading to see the details in this good bargaining structure.

And it is true: the national bargaining committee at United Airlines consists mainly of rank-and-file mechanics, and is diverse politically.  

It is worth noting that Ron Carey had a diverse UPS national bargaining committee with rank-and-file Teamsters included. And in 1997 we won a historic victory over UPS, giving the entire labor movement a huge boost.

To Hoffa and Hall, suppressing and controlling the rank and file is more important than empowering the rank and file to win.

Not so with TDU. TDU is run by rank and file members like you. Click here to join and get more involved.

June 28, 2013: Thousands of UPS and UPS Freight Teamsters were denied their right to vote on the contract because they did not receive a ballot. Don't let this happen again!

Teamsters for a Democratic Union has produced an address correction form that any UPS or UPS Freight Teamster can use to make sure their Local Union mails a contract ballot and other union information to the right address.

Protect your right to vote and help other members protect their right to vote. Download the Address Correction Form today.

June 27, 2013: Following the big contract rejection, over 300 UPS Freight Teamsters joined a national conference call on issues and strategy going forward.

With a resounding NO vote, UPS Freight Teamsters sent Ken Hall and UPS back to the bargaining table. But there is still work to do.

The company needs to see that members are informed, organized and ready to Vote No again if necessary.

Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) is looking for concerned UPS Freight Teamsters who want to work together to win contract improvements. Click here to contact TDU with your questions or to get involved today.

On the call, active members and stewards from across the country raised some big areas for improvement: wages; the line haul division concession; insurance; harassment and enforcement; and pension improvements.

One brother stated that his local officials alleged the only change will be on the line haul division language. We expect more low-ball comments, and even threats, such "you can pound the pavement and you still won't get anything better."

Members need to build on the momentum of the No vote, to keep building solidarity to demand improved language and a far better contract.

We can make changes if we work together.

UPS Freight stewards and activists continue to discuss, as well as organize. Join the conversation. Click here to send a message and to sign up for contract updates.

You can see the local-by-local chart of votes here.

Teamster union member employees of the freight operation UPS Freight have overwhelmingly rejected a new contract.

The vote of 4,244 to 1,897 follows negotiators from both the union and the company ironing out a tentative five-year deal in April. The decision sends both sides back to the negotiating table.

The current pact expires on July 31.

The vote is separate from the one covering workers at UPS’ parcel operation. Votes for it are still being counted. However, so far it appears to be headed for approval, though some supplemental agreements have been or are heading toward being rejected.

The contact that was voted down is only the second for workers at UPS Freight. The first was ratified in 2008, when workers voted to join the Teamsters after UPS purchased what used to be Overnite Transportation in 2005.

Neither side has commented on the results. However, the Teamsters dissident group, Teamsters for a Democratic Union, describes the vote at UPS Freight as “an important step by standing together in solidarity.”

It said the contract had “a two-tier deal to create ‘Line Haul’ drivers at essential nonunion wages" and described improvements in wage and pension benefits as “inadequate.”

The new contact for UPS Freight offered a $2.50 per hour wage hike over five years, while those at the UPS parcel operations are voting on a $3.90 per hour wage increase over the same time period.