May 1, 2008: Local 804 has a proud history as one of the most powerful locals in our union. Local 804 members were pioneers in the fight for strong Teamster pensions—winning 25 & Out pensions before the rest of the country. The Local 804 supplement is one of the strongest at UPS.

“Brown can’t move a package in New York City without a Local 804 Teamster. That gives us power, and our local used to use it to win top contracts and pensions,” says Tim Sylvester, a 29-year Teamster and Local 804 shop steward in Queens.

“Local 804 members used to feel that power,” Sylvester said. “We want to bring the pride and the power back.”

Local 804 has faced a series of setbacks since the historic UPS strike.

The local’s legendary president Ron Carey, the first democratically-elected General President of the Teamsters, stepped down shortly after the strike after an illegal fundraising scheme by his campaign aides was revealed. Carey was later barred from the union even though he was found not guilty in court of any role in the scandal.

After Carey’s removal, Local 804 officers threw their allegiance behind Hoffa and have gone along with his closed-door bargaining style.

“That was a big blow,” said Pete Mastrandrea, a feeder driver and 33-year Teamster. “Local 804 had always been about standing up. But our Executive Board started to take the path of least resistance.”

Pension Cuts, Concessions

“We went from a local where information was power to members basically being kept in the dark,” said Jim Reynolds, an alternate steward.

In November 2006, members were completely blindsided when the Local 804 Pension Fund announced a 30 percent cut in pension accruals. One year later, Local 804 officials negotiated a concessionary contract with UPS.

“That’s when it really hit the fan,” Reynolds said. He and other Teamsters started holding meetings of concerned members from across the local. They launched a Vote No campaign and helped defeat the contract by a three to one vote.

Local 804 negotiators and UPS were forced to return to the bargaining table. UPS agreed to reverse the 2006 pension cuts, and took other concessions off the table, including its demand to eliminate 25 & Out pensions for new Teamsters.

Bylaws Campaign

After the contract vote, leaders of the Vote No campaign got together to propose positive changes.

“We wanted to get to the root of the problem, one of which is the lack of information members were getting from our union,” Reynolds said.

Volunteers circulated petitions to change the Local 804 bylaws to require officers to keep members informed during bargaining and to report on the pension and welfare funds at every membership meeting. Two thousand members signed each petition.

Last month, the bylaw changes were approved by more than 90 percent. Even Local 804 president Howard Redmond endorsed the proposals.

“After such an overwhelming number of members signed, the changes were pretty impossible to oppose,” said Mark Cohen, a package car driver from Brooklyn.

“There’s a lot of frustration. Not everybody is ready to take the next step and get involved. But more and more people are saying things have got to change,” said Cohen.

“The good thing about the petition was that members got over the fear of putting their name on something, the fear that if you speak out then somehow you’re going against the union. We’re behind our union and we want to make it better.”

Pension Watchdogs

Local 804 members once enjoyed the best pensions at UPS. But not anymore. Many UPS Teamsters now have superior pensions, especially for 30 & Out. Most UPSers will see their pension accrual climb over the life of this contract. The 804 pension accrual is frozen at the 2002 level of $144 a year.

Members are using their rights under the Pension Protection Act to request information from the pension plan to look at why the fund developed funding problems and investigate what can be done to improve benefits in the future.

“The last couple of years have been a real wake-up call as far as our pension is concerned,” said Bill Reynolds, a package car driver on Long Island and one of the members who has pressed the fund to release the documents.

“I was told by an Executive Board member that I could sleep sound at night knowing that my pension is safe—and one month later the fund announced a pension cut,” Reynolds said. “Members are realizing we have to be better informed and more vigilant about protecting our benefits.”

Other Teamster pension funds have complied with these information requests—but the Local 804 fund has refused to turn over the documents. Members are now working with TDU pension attorney Ann Curry Thompson to get the information they are entitled to.

Enforcing Rights

Local 804 members are also working together on the shop floor—where strong unionism starts.

“Management is always pushing people to work faster. I don’t like the intimidation tactics or the harassment,” said Rob Glovitz, an inside worker and steward.

“We want things to be done right—to stop supervisors from working as much as possible, to eliminate favoritism, to make people feel comfortable that they can come to work without being harassed,” said Glovitz.

“The union is about more than the union hall. We’re the union—the ones who move the packages. If we want to make things better, it’s up to us.”

Restoring the Power

“We all have a responsibility to leave our union stronger than it was when we got here. That’s what Local 804 Members United is all about,” says Tim Sylvester.

“This board takes the position that if you speak out, you’re trying to divide the union. It’s totally the opposite,” Mastrandrea says. “When members voice their opinion, it strengthens the union because we’re setting our course together. What the membership is saying now is we want to see our local stand up and take action on the problems we face.”

“You hear so many stories about how it used to be, how the company used to fear our local. I don’t see that anymore,” said Mark Cohen. “No one wants a fight at work everyday—but we do want respect. We’ve got to work together and act like a union in the center. That’s where it all starts.”

“It’s up to all of us to take the next step, to hand out information, come to a meeting, to get involved.”

April 23, 2008: UPS Inc., the world's largest shipping carrier, said Wednesday its profit rose 7.5 percent in the first quarter, though it was affected by the weakening U.S. economy. The company lowered its earnings guidance for the year.

Click here to read more at yahoo.com.

April 21, 2008: UPS Teamsters in New York have overwhelmingly voted for changes that will put more pension and contract information in the hands of the members.

At a meeting on April 20, New York Local 804 members approved two changes to their local union bylaws by more than 90 percent.

By a 208 to 12 margin, members voted to require the Executive Board to give a report on the pension and health and welfare funds at each quarterly membership meeting.

By a 207 to 19 vote, members voted to require the local to establish a contract committee to keep members informed and united whenever a contract is being negotiated.

The bylaws campaign grew out of a rank-and-file mobilization against pension cuts and contract concessions at UPS—including a 30 percent cut in pension accruals in 2006.

Last year, members voted by nearly 3 to 1 to reject contact givebacks negotiated with UPS by Local 804 officials.

As a result, members won a better contract offer that both reversed the 2006 pension cuts and defeated new demands by UPS to cut pension benefits for new hires and divert part of members’ wages to pay for their pensions.

But Local 804 Teamsters didn’t stop after they defeated the givebacks. They formed a network called 804 Members United and launched a campaign to reform their local union bylaws.

Members fanned out across the local, distributing leaflets, talking Teamster-to-Teamster and collecting signatures. Two thousand members signed petitions supporting changes to the local union bylaws.

At the last membership meeting, Local 804 President Howard Redmond denounced members “who are handing out papers and dividing the local.”

But Redmond changed his tune yesterday—endorsing the bylaws proposals from the podium. Redmond also pledged to help members obtain pension documents that the Local 804 fund has failed to turn over to members in violation of the Pension Protection Act.

For more information, visit www.804membersunited.org.

April 7, 2008: The Teamsters union said on Monday that 9,900 workers at United Parcel Service Inc trucking unit UPS Freight have ratified a five-year contract with UPS that also makes them members of the union.

Click here to read more at Reuters.com.

March 20, 2008: A Teamster mechanic is a quarter million dollars richer after settling an OSHA whistle-blower complaint at UPS.

Teamster Local 687 member Dan Petersen was fired by UPS after he reported trucks in its Watertown, NY building were unsafe.

Petersen successfully won his job back through his local union and then took on the company for violating federal whistle-blower protections.

According to OSHA, UPS has paid Petersen $254,000 and pledged “not in any way interfere with, coerce or restrain its employees from exercising their rights…”

UPS admitted no wrong-doing, showing it’s easier to get Brown to pay up then to come clean.

Whistle-blower protections protect workers’ rights to report safety and health problems without fear of termination or retaliation.

Want to learn more about your health and safety rights?

Click here to send TDU a health and safety question.

Click here to buy the STAA Handbook, a guide on how to use federal law to enforce truck safety and protect your job.

Click here to watch 7 News reports on Dan Petersen’s efforts to ensure truck safety at UPS in Watertown, N.Y.

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.

February 21, 2008: DHL and UPS are launching new attacks on Teamster full-time jobs.

Members are uniting to say Part-Time America Won’t Work.

Good full-time jobs are under attack. Employers are replacing full-time jobs with part-time positions that don’t pay a living wage—even under our top Teamster contracts.

DHL is ground zero for the latest attack on Teamster full-time jobs. UPS also has a new scheme to undermine full-time jobs.

The good news is Teamster members are fighting back. If we stick together, we can win.

As we go to press, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) has obtained the details of a yet-to-be-released contract at DHL that would destroy thousands of full-time Teamster jobs over time.

The secret deal would let DHL hire an unlimited number of part-timers to load, unload, sort and work the ramp. These part-timers would be guaranteed just three hours work and can be scheduled to work any five days.

Wages and other contract details are still being worked out. But DHL Teamsters are not waiting for the other shoe to drop. They are already spreading the word and preparing to vote down the proposed contract concessions.

UPS pioneered the attack on good full-time jobs in our union, and they’re at it again. This month Brown launched a new initiative that uses part-time drivers to pick up ground packages.

The scheme violates contract language that exists precisely to stop the company from undermining full-time driving jobs by exploiting lower-paid part-time drivers.

Contact TDU for advice on enforcing the contract.

We Can Turn the Tide

Our union has already allowed too many full-time jobs to be converted into underpaid part-time positions—and not just at UPS.

The new freight agreement allows employers to hire part-time dock workers. And the International Union is behind the new part-time scheme at DHL.

Part-Time American Won’t Work. That was the slogan that united our union to win 20,000 new full-time jobs at UPS.

In 2008, we face new attacks. United, we can win again.

February 21, 2008: Two times in the last 18 months, UPS has blindsided Teamsters in New York City by demanding pension cuts. Now Local 804 Teamster members are organizing to get the information they need to defend their pensions.

Two thousand members have signed a petition to propose changes to the Local 804 bylaws that will put more contract and pension information in the hands of the Local 804 membership.

In November 2006, UPS forced through a 30 percent cut in pension accruals in Local 804. Management claimed that without the cuts the Local 804 fund would fall into “Critical Status” (the “Red Zone”) when the Pension Protection Act went into effect.

An actuarial report was leaked that revealed that the Local 804 pension fund had earned dramatically substandard returns on its investments for a decade. AON Consulting reported that, “The average investment returns over the past five years have been a little more than 3%; over the past 10 years the average return has been just 6%.”

Substandard Returns

Local 804’s pension investment returns were worse than the Central States Pension Fund over the same five and ten-year periods—and worse than other funds managed by AON Consulting.

“For comparison purposes, we looked at another substantial fund we work with and the average returns over similar periods were 6% over the last 5 years and nearly 10% over the past 10 years,” AON reported.

According to AON, the Local 804 pension fund had a $378 million shortfall—and approximately $100 million of this was due to poor investment performance.

“Members were shocked. We had always been told that our pension fund was in great shape,” said feeder driver Pete Mastrandrea.

“By mandating that our union include a report on our pension fund’s performance at every general membership meeting, we can make sure that the membership is never blindsided like this again,” Mastrandrea said.

Information Brownout

The second attack on Local 804 pensions came during UPS contract negotiations.

After months of secretive negotiations, UPS and Local 804 agreed to a new contract that would eliminate 25-and-out pensions for all new employees—a deal that was unanimously endorsed by the Local 804 Executive Board.

UPS sent every Local 804 member a letter saying that if the contract was not approved then it would be illegal for the fund to restore their pensions.

Members voted the contract down by 3 to 1 anyway.

As a result of their united stand, Local 804 members saved 25-and-out, defeated other givebacks and reversed the 2007 pension cuts.

Information is Power

The Local 804 Make UPS Deliver network showed that members can make a difference when they are informed and involved.

Many Local 804 members were still disappointed with the final contract and felt more could have been won if the membership had been better informed—about both contract negotiations and the real story with the Local 804 pension and the Pension Protection Act.

That’s when members decided to propose two changes to the Local 804 bylaws.

The first change will require the Executive Board to include a report on the Local 804 benefit funds at every general membership meeting.

The second bylaws change will mandate Local 804 to set up a Contract Committee to inform and mobilize Local 804 members whenever a new contract is being negotiated.

“This bylaws vote is about what kind of contracts and benefits we’re going to have in the future,” said shop steward Tim Sylvester. “Local 804 has always had some of the highest retirement benefits in the country. But we’ve fallen behind other funds like Washington D.C., Upstate New York, and the Western Conference.

“Local 804 has won top contracts and benefits by leveling with the members and getting people involved. We did that to win 25-and-out before the rest of the country. We did it in 1997. We can do it again,” Sylvester said.

Mandate for Change

Two hundred signatures are required to introduce bylaws changes in Local 804. As Convoy Dispatch goes to press, 2,000 members have signed each bylaws petition.

“Winning strong contracts and pensions by informing and mobilizing the membership is something that every Local 804 Teamster can unite behind,” said Jim Reynolds, an alternate steward and one of the leaders of the bylaws reform campaigns.

“Members proved that by signing these petitions in such huge numbers. This is really a mandate for positive change,” Reynolds said.

The proposed changes will be voted on at the next Local 804 membership meeting on April 20.

February 21, 2008: For two years, UPS management has been violating drivers’ seniority rights in Virginia—and getting away with it.
Now drivers have turned the tables on the company to stop the violations.

For the last two years in the Staunton, Va. center, UPS management has been getting away with rearranging feeder runs in violation of the normal bidding process—and feeder drivers’ seniority rights.

Now Local 29 drivers have taken action to put a stop to the violation, and they’ve won a commitment from management that the changes won’t happen again.

Right after peak season last year, UPS management announced that they were changing the schedule for over half the feeder runs in the Staunton center.

According to the Atlantic Supplement, feeder drivers are supposed to bid on their runs in March and September.

This was the second December in a row that management had made big changes in feeder runs outside of the semi-annual bid in the contract. Both times the company ignored the bumping procedure outlined in the contract.

Phone Off the Hook

“Members started calling the hall to complain about the change in the runs, but the BA took the phone off the hook,” explained Doug Carpenter, a 30-year feeder driver in Local 29.

“We decided to hold a rank-and-file meeting to discuss how we could make the local enforce our agreement,” Carpenter said. “We brought in a TDU organizer, and we put together a plan to make UPS honor our contract.”

Members wrote a letter to their business agent, asking him to sit down with stewards and resolve the situation. Out of the 74 feeder drivers in Staunton, 63 signed the letter.

When feeder drivers showed up as a group at the union meeting on Feb. 10, the business agent announced that UPS management has promised to stop making major changes to runs in between bids.

“Our BA has done more in the last three weeks than he’s done in the last three years,” said Mark Painter, a feeder steward in Local 29.

But members are not letting their guard down, Painter said: “Right now we’ve just got a promise that management will enforce the contract. We’re going to keep working to nail them down and get their word in writing.”

February 21, 2008: UPS has wrapped up a new national contract—but the company’s contract headaches may just be beginning.

This week, Chicago Local 705 kicked off a contract campaign with T-shirts that tell UPS management: “8/1, We’re Done!” August 1 is the day after the Local 705 contract expires with UPS.

The Local 705 contract is independent of the national agreement and covers thousands of UPS Teamsters in the Chicago area.

“Members are determined to improve the contract. If push comes to shove, we’re ready to do what we need to do,” said Mark Day, a package car shop steward out of the Northbrook building. “That’s the message we’re sending with these T-shirts.”

Local 710 Teamsters are also covered by a local contract with UPS that is separate from the national agreement. The Local 710 contract covers UPSers in the rest of Illinois, much of Indiana and Davenport, Iowa.