Ever since UPS announced it would buy Overnite Transportation, the Hoffa administration has been promising to unveil a “comprehensive plan to both organize Overnite and win a good contract.” Teamster members and officers are still waiting. Nine months have passed. During that time, Hoffa has issued six press releases trumpeting plans, meetings, and the union’s “renewed commitment to organizing Overnite.” Last June, the IBT called Teamster leaders from every UPS local to Chicago for a national meeting where Overnite was to be at the top of the agenda. No organizing plans were announced at the meeting, and no plans have been put in motion since—just four more press releases. In the meantime, UPS management is moving ahead with plans of its own—and those plans do not include Teamster representation at Overnite. “We believe it is important to stay nonunion,” said CEO Leo Suggs. UPS management is backing up its plans with actions—buying Overnite, changing its name, purchasing new equipment, cross-training its sales force, and integrating nonunion operations into the Teamsters’ largest employer. This threat to Teamsters at UPS and freight—and to our union’s benefit plans—needs to be met with more than press releases. It’s time for less talk and more action.

Six months after buying Overnite Transportation, UPS unveiled its plan on Feb. 28 to change Overnite’s name to UPS Freight. The company’s equipment will sport a new logo that combines Overnite’s with the UPS brown. “Overnite Goes Brown” screamed the headlines in the trucking press. But this change is about a lot more than looks and a logo. The launching of UPS Freight is part of a long-term plan by UPS management to wed a nonunion freight company with its existing Teamster parcel delivery operations. The goal is to bring customers a “single-source provider for any transportation need,” says Overnite CEO Leo Suggs. The sales force for UPS and UPS Freight will cross-sell a combined “transportation package” of both freight and package services. UPS Freight drivers will soon start using the UPS DIAD, the Delivery Information Acquisition Device that Big Brown is famous for. But that synergy stops at the union hall door, say industry analysts. “UPS Freight’s key competitors are nonunion companies,” Suggs told Traffic World. “So, we believe it is important to stay nonunion.” Allowing UPS Freight to remain nonunion could mean the end of Teamster power in the trucking industry. We can’t maintain union standards in the freight industry if the most profitable transportation company in the world, UPS, is bankrolling and growing a major nonunion carrier. And we can’t maintain our bargaining power at UPS if management can use a nonunion division to undercut us. Management is clear about its plans to keep UPS Freight nonunion and integrate it into the core of the UPS operation. Our International needs to be just as clear with an action plan to organize UPS wall-to-wall. The Hoffa administration has been promising to unveil its plans for months. In the meantime, UPS management is charging ahead. Overnite has gone brown. It’s time for our union to go after Overnite. Click Here: The Road Ahead Runs Through UPS Freight Click Here: PR Won't Organize UPS Freight