July 31, 2008: A tentative agreement has just been reached between Chicago Local 705 and UPS on a new contract covering some 11,000 Chicagoland Teamsters.

The union bargained down to the wire, negotiating to the last day before expiration. Management was forced to start diverting packages away from Chicago, and major shippers were near to canceling shipping contracts.

The union also put nearly 200 deadlocked grievances on the table, to end management stonewalling.

On the last day of negotiations, the company dropped its hard-line approach and agreed to some key union demands.

Details on the tentative agreement are still sketchy. The union reportedly won an extra personal day off each year, and an extra week vacation (8 weeks total) at 30 years seniority. The union also won a large number of new feeder shuttle jobs.

A priority union goal was to win stronger contract language, and Local 705 reportedly won improvements on such issues as seniority and bidding rights, air operation and an improved grievance procedure.

Local 705 retained the right of package car drivers to limit workdays to 9.5 hours, without the language in the national contract that requires a driver to opt in or opt out of excessive overtime protections for five-month periods.

Chicago Local 705 is not party to the national contract and bargains separately. Generally the economic package has been the same, but there are serious differences in contract language.

Local 705 did not settle early when the International Union did but used the contract expiration deadline to maximize their bargaining leverage. Thousands of members wore T-shirts printed with “8-1 We’re Done” and on July 20 over 3,000 members turned out to vote by 93 percent to give the union strike authorization.

One steward told us that the fact that the union put the union and company proposals on the union website helped educate and unite the membership.

We expect the details of the agreement to be available soon. Check www.tdu.org for information.

July 29, 2008: In the quote of the week, a CNBC host told viewers that UPS “pantsed” and “pummeled” the Teamsters in the new contract.

Here is what Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money on CNBC, had to say:

“The company got a new labor agreement with the Teamsters, effective August 1, that will let UPS pay new drivers less than it does veterans. This is a classic example of a union hosing people who aren’t members yet, and one that could save UPS $640 million over the next five years.

“I cannot overemphasize the importance of this contract to UPS. Personally, of course, I love unions. But professionally, I love companies that have crushed unions. And UPS, you know what they just did? They pantsed the Teamsters! Jimmy Hoffa must be rolling over in his Giants Stadium grave!’”

Click here to watch the video of Cramer on Mad Money. Fast forward to the six-minute mark to hear Cramer go off on the givebacks negotiated by Jim Hoffa and Ken Hall.

Click here to read the full story at www.MakeUPSDeliver.org

Members of Local 705 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the Chicago area have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike against parcel delivery giant UPS.

Officials with Local 705 told BNA July 24 that negotiations toward a new five-year agreement are continuing with UPS, but rank and file Teamsters voted to strike beginning Aug. 1 if no resolution is reached.

Local 705 Secretary-Treasurer Steve Pocztowski was in negotiations and could not be reached for comment. However, a message on the local's Web site stated that a strike authorization vote held July 20 won support from 93 percent of the members voting. The full tally was 2,993 in favor of a strike and 232 opposed. In total, Local 705 represents 11,000 UPS drivers in the Chicago area.

UPS representatives were not available for comment.

The vast majority of UPS employees represented by the Teamsters are covered under a five-year national agreement which members ratified last November (224 DLR A-10, 11/21/07) a0b5k3n8d5 . Local 705, however, has historically operated under a separate carve-out agreement.

The Teamsters' national agreement with UPS, covering 240,000 workers, becomes effective Aug. 1 and expires July 31, 2013. The ratified contract provides wage increases and other features fortifying the union's health and benefit plans. The agreement provides full- and part-time employees with wage increases totaling $4 an hour over term. Full-time UPS workers currently earn an average of $28 an hour.

Local 705 provided a contract proposal to UPS June 9.

Text of the UPS proposal was posted on the Local 705 Web site and can be accessed at: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/teamstersforademocraticunion/pages/6514/attachments/original/1434139087/UPS705CBAPpl_1_080609.pdf?1434139087

July 21, 2008: More than three thousand Local 705 members turned out to the union hall on Sunday to participate in a vote to authorize a strike against UPS.

Five hundred members were lined up at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday when the doors opened to start the voting. Balloting continued until 5 p.m. Members voted to authorize a strike should one be necessary by an overwhelming margin of 2,993 to 232.

Bargaining will resume on Tuesday and Thursday this week. The Local 705 UPS contract is independent of the national agreement and covers more than 10,000 UPS Teamsters in the Chicago area. The contract expires at midnight on July 31.

Watch a video about the Local 705 strike vote:

July 17, 2008: Are new sensors appearing on your package car? UPS is expanding its use of new technology to monitor vehicles, and drivers, like never before.

The company’s new “telematics program” uses computer technology to combine data UPS gathers through GPS, the DIAD board and new sensors that are being mounted on package cars in pilot areas.

More than 200 new sensors are being mounted on select package cars to gather information on everything from vehicle speeds and oil pressure to the number of times a truck goes in reverse, what doors are open and when, the time the truck spends idling, and how and if you are wearing your seatbelt.

At the end of each driver’s shift, all the information is uploaded to a data center in Mahwah, N.J. There it is evaluated by UPS “data miners.” Automotive personnel are looking for ways to save the company on maintenance.

But operations personnel are looking for “safety trends” and “efficiency patterns.” The company’s new technology opens the door to more monitoring, more harassment and more speed-up. As always, following UPS’s rules—instead of rushing to boost your production—is the best way to protect ourselves.

UPS first tested piloted this program in Roswell and Athens, Georgia. This year, they are expanding the program by mounting sensors in 10 more areas in the United States and one in Canada. And press reports say, UPS managers can see eventually expanding the program to tractor trailers.

Has UPS introduced the new sensors in your area? Click here to tell us about your experiences with these sensors and how the company’s new spy technology is being used by UPS management.

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

Click here to read more on this issue at Make UPS Deliver.

July 9, 2008: Check the label on your UPS uniform. Odds are it's manufactured outside the USA. And you can bet it comes from a nonunion manufacturer.

The National Master Freight Agreement requires that all uniforms "shall be made in the United States by union vendors if possible." DHL meets this standard. Why doesn't the UPS contract?

Many UPS Teamsters used to wear uniforms produced in the U.S. by Riverside. Some still do. But increasingly, our uniforms are made in China, Cambodia, Egypt and elsewhere.

One common supplier is Cintas, a multi-national that has fought Teamster organizing drives. Cintas filed a RICO lawsuit against the Teamsters and other unions to try stop workers’ effort to form to organize.

The Hoffa administration talks a good game about fair trade and protecting U.S. manufacturing jobs.

UPS talks a good game about being an ethical company, while they save a few pennies by using vendors who pay workers sweatshop wages to make our uniforms.

The bargaining table is a place we can back up that talk with action—by requiring that our union's largest employer, UPS, provide uniforms that are made in the USA by union labor.

June 23, 2008: If you think that filling up your car is expensive, just be glad you don't have a 240-gallon tank and a vehicle that gets five miles to the gallon.

With diesel prices at record highs, Miami-based Ryder System is offering a new high-tech tool to help its customers save fuel.

The product, called RydeSmart, is one of several on the market that enables customers to instantly track the fuel consumption, idle time, speed and other vital statistics of every truck in their fleets.

Read the full story from the Miami Herald at TradingMarkets.com.

June 20, 2008: UPS recently sent a mailing to Teamster members to try to get us to donate to UPSPAC, the political arm of the corporation.

Before you give any of your hard-earned cash, you should know that UPSPAC will use that money to undermine your pension security, health and safety rights, and other worker protections.

Here are just a few lowlights from UPS’s recent political action priorities.

Attacking Our Pensions

UPS was one of the main forces behind the misnamed Pension Protection Act. UPS failed in its effort to win the right to cut the pensions of employees who have already retired!

But the company did succeed in passing the law as a whole. The result has been pension freezes and benefit cuts for Teamsters across the country. (See Pension Protection Act: Delivered by UPS on page 7.)

Undermining Worker Safety

Experts credit UPS and its PAC money with killing the most important new worker safety regulations in decades.

UPS led the charge against an initiative by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that would have required companies to reduce back, shoulder and knee injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders.

OSHA’s ergonomics standard would have required companies like UPS to reduce hazards that cause injuries.

UPS complained that reducing injuries would be too costly. In a filing with the SEC, UPS admitted that, “Our competitor would have incurred proportionately comparable costs.” But the company opposed the rule anyway, saying that to reduce injuries UPS would have to “hire additional full-time and part-time employees.”

President Bush subsequently repealed the ergonomics standard.

Buying the Right to Not Pay Teamsters

In the summer of 2006, UPS tried to change California wage and hour laws to avoid a lawsuit over the company’s practice of forcing employees to work off the clock.

The company successfully got the legislature to pass a bill—specifically designed for UPS— that gave unionized transportation companies an exemption from the state’s pro-worker laws governing breaks.

Fortunately, UPS’s bill was vetoed by the Governor. California drivers subsequently won an $87 million wage and hour settlement against UPS for violations committed under the law the company was trying to gut.

All Evil All the Time?

UPSPAC does support a few legislative changes that working Teamsters can get behind—and of course those are the ones the company highlights in its propaganda aimed at members.

For example, UPS is working in Congress to stop FedEx’s abuses of independent contractors and to strip FedEx of its special status under the Railway Act—which, among other things, makes FedEx more difficult for the Teamsters to organize.

But UPS Teamsters who want to help take on FedEx don’t have to give money to UPSPAC. The Teamster political action committee, DRIVE, is active on these same issues.

A recent study reported in the New York Times found that UPS donates PAC money to more Congressional candidates than any other corporation. The same study found that corporations that spread their money around to many Congressional candidates get the most benefit.

That’s good news for UPS’s corporate agenda and bad news for our pensions and workplace rights.

June 26, 2008: When it comes to safety audits, some UPS managers are not following proper methods.

By now, most drivers are familiar with UPS’s pop quizzes on the 10-Point Commentary and other company safety-speak.

The company has decided it’s not enough for drivers to work safely and follow proper methods.

They want us to recite their methods word-for-word like Big Brown parrots.

The company can make us play the game, but there are limits. And some managers are stepping over the line.

Heavy-Handed Tactics

A supervisor at a north Georgia center recently told package car drivers at a PCM that it is a “condition of employment” to know the company’s safety tips by heart. The supervisor said it was a member’s responsibility to study the rules on their own time.

Atlanta Local 728 shop steward Matt Higdon correctly pointed out that while the rules may be good to know, they are not a condition of employment. UPS can’t make us study them on our own time and UPS is not permitted to discipline drivers for their performance on a safety quiz.

Later, when Higdon couldn’t answer a question during a safety audit, management threatened to discipline him on false charges of refusing to answer the question. No disciplinary action was taken, but Higdon was scheduled for daily “tutoring” sessions on the clock.

Instead of filing a grievance for being singled out, Higdon got other members involved.

A group of drivers started talking up the issue and prepared to tell management they wanted the same opportunity to get paid safety training.

Management abruptly cut off Higdon’s classes. But the drivers in his center are prepared to request equal access to safety training at overtime pay if other members are singled out in the future.

“Management should know that these kinds of heavy-handed tactics turn people off,” Higdon said. “Sticking together as a group is the best way to send them that message.”

Know Your Rights

Promoting safety is one thing. Using safety quizzes as a cover to harass drivers is another.

In a few cases, UPS has even tried to take drivers out of service without pay based on their performance on a safety quiz. This is completely against the contract. To make sure our managers don’t cross the line, we need to know our rights—and spread the word to other UPS Teamsters.

The company can require you to participate in safety audits, complete quizzes, and even study their safety tips. Do not refuse to answer questions. Do not tell management that you refuse to learn the rules.

UPS cannot force you to study safety materials or answer safety quizzes on your own time. You have the right to be paid for any time you are directed to review materials or answer tests. Insist on your right to be paid and back it up with a grievance if necessary.

Under the contract, UPS does not have the right to discipline you for answering questions incorrectly. In the unlikely event that this happens, file a grievance immediately for discipline without just cause.

Our contract is on our side on this issue. It’s up to us to use it.

Contact Teamsters for a Democratic Union for more information or assistance in enforcing your rights.

June 20, 2008: All UPS Teamsters will be missing something this summer: a cost of living raise of 15¢ per hour.

Gasoline and food prices are skyrocketing. Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W), went up 4.5 percent from May 2007 to May 2008. This is the period used in Article 33 of our contract.

When that index goes over three percent, we are supposed to get a cost of living adjustment (COLA).

Calculations by Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) show that the Article 33 formula should give us a 15¢ additional raise, due to the high cost of living.

Instead, our negotiators left this year’s COLA out of the early contract deal. It will be in effect for 2009, if inflation continues to run high.

Curiously, DHL Teamsters did get a COLA raise this year.

While 15¢ is not a lot, look at this way. For a full-timer who averages 46.6 hours per week, that would be $390 this year, and $1,950 over the life of the contract. That would fill your tank a few times.

Look at it another way: a full-time UPSer who gets a 70¢ raise (with half of it delayed until February 2009) will be getting a 2.5 percent raise, but prices have gone up 4.5 percent. Thus we lost two percent, or 57¢ per hour, in buying power. A 15¢ COLA raise would have at least softened that loss to our standard of living.

Most of us don’t think about how important a cost of living clause is until inflation bites us in the wallet. We need to plan ahead and get a much better cost of living clause in our next contract.

Who has such a clause? Our International Union officials do! They get a full 4.5 percent COLA raise this July. James Hoffa’s salary of $277,777 will go up $12,500 due to that COLA adjustment. And he gets a “housing allowance” and other bonuses and perks which add $135,457 to that amount, putting him well over $400,000 a year.

Maybe that’s why he forgot to take care of that 15¢ COLA for us.