February 2, 2012: A bad economy. A presidential election. All eyes are on good jobs and how to create them.

The Teamsters Union can stand up for good jobs—starting right in our own contracts.

It’s a presidential year and all eyes are on the economy, good jobs and how to create them.

February 2, 2012: Every UPS Teamster is covered by at least two contracts: the national UPS agreement and their regional supplement.

February 2, 2012: UPS wants early contract negotiations. But what will the company give up in return?

February 10, 2012: UPS predicts package volume in the U.S. will grow two to three percent in 2012. Will growing volume mean more jobs—or just more production harassment?

February 2, 2012: Three years after the company’s elimination of 22.3 jobs was exposed, the International Union still doesn’t know how many 22.3 jobs UPS owes Teamster members.

Before Hoffa and Hall negotiate a new contract, shouldn’t they enforce the old one?

February 1, 2012: UPS executives report the company hauled in more than $4.2 billion in profits after taxes in 2011. Management predicts higher volume and higher profits in 2012.

January 20, 2012: Hearings on subcontracting at UPS Freight are delayed again—till April 25. That’s according to a memo from Ken Hall released today.

December 16, 2011: Hoffa and Hall have promised UPS will curb production harassment, hire more package drivers and respect members’ 9.5 rights.

It’s up to Teamster members to hold Hoffa and Hall to their pledge and to Make UPS Deliver on these commitments.

December 9, 2011: Jokes about bubble gum and bailing wire, band-aids and duct tape are commonly used to describe shoddy workmanship or slapstick repair in every workplace.

October 25, 2011: The economy may be down but UPS’s profits continue to go up.

October 13, 2011: The decisions from the UPS National Grievance Panel are now available. So is the new schedule of golf resort meetings set by Hoffa and Hall.

September 20, 2011: After years of ignoring runaway production harassment and 9.5 violations, the Hoffa administration is launching a desperate effort to save face with UPS Teamsters before the ballots go out on Oct. 6.

September 15, 2011: The Hoffa administration has looked the other way while UPS has accelerated its SurePost program—a new service that allows UPS to deliver some residential shipments through the post office instead of package car Teamsters.

September 15, 2011: Letter to Package Division Director Ken Hall from Local 243 Package Car Driver Martin Labut. Report on how SurePost is affecting Teamsters in your area here.

September 15, 2011: The “safety first” mantra at UPS is a daily ritual. Our phones are often answered “safety first.” Safety first has become as common as hello or good morning, and rightly so because the safety of our people and the general public should be our first and far most concern, as stated in the UPS Policy Book.

September 15, 2011: Nearly 240,000 Teamsters work at UPS. Our votes can elect the next General President—but only if we’re organized.

September 15, 2011: “We need a President that will stand up to UPS. Hoffa is letting the company walk all over the contract.

September 8, 2011: UPS management has told the press they want to negotiate the next contract with Hoffa. Is the company planning an October surprise to boost Hoffa’s chances?

August 30, 2011: The dockets are now available for the second UPS national panel of the year, September 12-15 at the Mission Bay Hyatt Regency in San Diego.

August 17, 2011: On August 12, Ken Hall came to the Earth City hub near St. Louis to campaign, and so UPS management tidied the place up for him.

July 26, 2011: UPS made $1.06 Billion in profits after taxes from April to June this year. That’s an increase of 26 percent (or more than $150 million) over the $845 million in profits the company made during the same period last year.

July 21, 2011: If 55 package handlers at the FedEx Ground warehouse in Brockton, Massachusetts, win the union election scheduled for August 3, it will be the first time ever for package handlers at the giant non-union shipper. They’re facing a fierce anti-union campaign.

July 15, 2011: With all of the violations happening at UPS, you would think our union’s biggest contract would have been a hot topic at the recent Teamster Convention.

July 15, 2011: UPS management is so confident of their cozy relationship with IBT President James Hoffa that they are crowing about it to industry executives.

August 3, 2011: The minimum wage in Washington State is now $8.67 an hour according to Washington State Labor and Industries. That is 17 cents more than the starting rate for part-timers in the UPS contract.

June 24, 2011: Because inflation over the past year has jumped to 4.2%, the highest rate in several years, UPS Teamsters will get an extra 12c per hour raise on August 1.

June 16, 2011: Joe Balkis, a Local 705 UPS inside steward, stood by the contract and insisted that UPS management wear proper name tag identification.

June 1, 2011: UPS is constantly trying to counter increasing fuel prices. This is likely true with every company in transportation, but UPS recently announced and demo’d its mostly plastic delivery truck that’s 40% more fuel efficient than the current.

May 20, 2011: UPS management says workers who don’t follow the proper methods are to blame for most accidents and injuries.

May 20, 2011: UPS is coming under fire for unfair production standards and the company’s blame-the-worker approach to safety.

May 27, 2011: Six full-time drivers broke free from their lower tier scale at the UPS-CSI terminal in Oak Creek, Wisc. when they won a back pay settlement totaling $21,695.

May 20, 2011: UPS executives announced that the company hauled in $885 million in profits after taxes in the first quarter of 2011. That’s a 66 percent increase from the $533 million in profits Brown made in the first quarter of 2010.

May 20, 2011: The UPS National Grievance Panel originally scheduled for June has been postponed until September. UPS Teamsters will have to go six months between panels to have their grievances heard.

May 20, 2011: The pension plan covering UPSers in the Central and Southern regions has a $1 billion shortfall and pays the lowest benefits in the country.

May 13, 2011: UPS is coming under fire for unfair production standards and the company’s blame-the-worker approach to safety. Some Teamsters are taking action.

May 10, 2011: The UPS National Grievance Panel was held more than two months ago. So why haven’t the decisions been issued yet?

May 10, 2011: Joe Korziuk has spent 23 years working for U.P.S. washing trucks, delivering packages and driving tractor trailers. Though he loves the job, it has a downside: At 45, he has had surgery on both knees and a shoulder, developed bulging disks in his back and sustained a concussion when boxes fell on him.

May 5, 2011: The new UPS-IBT Pension Plan, which covers UPS full-timers in 25 states, was only 60.7% funded as of 2010, according to its Annual Funding Notice and its Annual Report.

April 29, 2011: UPS loves logistics. But does it care about its workforce?

An EF-4 tornado touched down dangerously close to the Earth City UPS hub in Missouri on April 22.

April 28, 2011: UPS executives announced that the company hauled in $885 million in profits after taxes in the first quarter of 2011. That’s a 66 percent increase from the $533 million in profits Brown made in the first quarter of 2010.

April 27, 2011: United Parcel Service Inc.’s next- day package shipments rose in the first quarter as business customers refilled stockpiles to meet higher demand from the recovering economy, Chief Financial Officer Kurt Kuehn said.

April 4, 2011: Local 804 Teamsters rallied in front of UPS in Manhattan today to say NO to the War on Workers from Wisconsin to UPS.

March 25, 2011: While members wait for action, the company is still driving load after load through the subcontracting loophole.

March 25, 2011: For three years 44,000 full-time UPS workers in the Central and Southern regions and the Carolinas have been in a pension plan which is so secretive that it didn’t even have a website. Now it does.

April 6, 2011: UPS is expanding its use of keyless package cars.

March 25, 2011: UPS CEO Scott Davis made $10.7 million last year, a 72 percent hike over his total compensation for 2009.

March 25, 2011: UPS announced that profits soared to $5.8 billion after taxes in 2010. Brown’s profits hit $1.8 billion for the fourth quarter, including peak.

March 25, 2011: UPS paid $1.3 million to settle legal charges that the company knowingly put package cars in “serious disrepair” on the roads in New York State.

March 22, 2011: Meeting in Ft. Lauderdale March 9-11, the Teamsters National UPS Freight Grievance Panel addressed 31 grievances.

March 15, 2011: UPS CEO Scott Davis made $10.7 million last year, a 72 percent hike over his total compensation for 2009.

March 7, 2011: Attorney General Eric Schneiderman today announced a $1.3 million settlement with United Parcel Service, Inc. dealing with allegations that their delivery trucks are in “serious despair” but knowingly permitted on the roads in New York.

UPDATED February 17, 2011: The docket is now available for the first UPS national panel of the year, March 7-9 at the Westin Beach Resort in Ft. Lauderdale.

February 1, 2011: UPS profits soared to $5.8 billion after taxes in 2010, the company announced on Feb. 1. Brown’s profits hit $1.8 billion for the fourth quarter, including peak. In all, the company had $49.8 billion of revenue for the year.

January 24, 2011: With the help of an inflatable rat, Local 804 members are blowing the whistle on UPS management.

January 24, 2011: Under fire for weak contract enforcement at UPS, Hoffa and Ken Hall convened a national conference call last summer to brief shop stewards and promise International Union action.

January 24, 2011: Teamsters at UPS Freight continue to shake their heads and wonder what happened to the union power they were promised when they joined up.

January 18, 2011: We Would Never Do That, Swore Hoffa and Hall.

December 20, 2010: Many UPS Teamsters are fed up with a grievance procedure that is stacked in favor of management.

UPS Teamsters in Kansas City are not just grumbling–they’re doing something about it.

December 20, 2010: Members in some locals make headway on getting UPS to fill vacant 22.3 jobs—while Hoffa and Hall duck the issue.

December 20, 2010: The dates and locations for the UPS National Grievance Committee meetings have been set.

December 22, 2010: The UPS National Grievance Committee settles national disputes and other grievances that have been deadlocked at both the local and regional levels. It’s also where some Teamster officials go to golf with management.

November 16, 2010: The decisions from the October National Grievance Panel in San Diego are now available online.

November 8, 2010: The presumed new chairman of the U.S. House Transportation Committee said a provision sought by UPS and the Teamsters that would make unionizing FedEx easier is effectively dead.

October 21, 2010: United Parcel Service Inc. reported an 81% surge in third-quarter profit and raised its 2010 financial forecast amid what the shipping giant called a lethargic economic recovery.

Excessive overtime is out of control at UPS. January is the month to get on the Opt-In list and enforce your rights.

October 5, 2010: UPS Inc. said it has purchased 130 hybrid electric vehicles, which the package carrier will launch into service next year.

October 4, 2010: UPS Freight will raise its non-contract rates 5.9 percent Oct. 18, becoming the fourth major less-than-truckload carrier to ask shippers for a general rate increase.

September 30, 2010: The third UPS national panel of the year will meet October 11-14 in San Diego.

September 28, 2010: Teamsters at the UPS hub in Syracuse knew they needed a show of unity to counter all the grief they get daily from UPS management.

September 28, 2010: Local 2727 members are getting back their holiday turkeys, thanks to a grievance their local just won.

September 28, 2010: UPS said it is preparing to follow its ban on driver texting with a broader policy on use of cell and smart phones while its employees are behind the wheel.

September 28, 2010: Diverting feeder work to nonunion carriers (via Logistics or Supply Chain Solutions) costs jobs and hurts our union: if not stopped it could eventually destroy the feeder department and weaken our union. Here’s one example reported by Local 688 members in St. Louis.

September 22, 2010: UPS said it is preparing to follow its ban on driver texting with a broader policy on use of cell and smart phones while its employees are behind the wheel, in support of federal policies to combat distracted driving.

September 16, 2010: FedEx Corp., the second-largest U.S. package-shipping company, forecast earnings for the current quarter that fell short of analysts’ estimates, and said it will eliminate 1,700 jobs.

September 14, 2010: UPS Teamsters in Local 2727 will get a turkey this Christmas season, and they will get their annual safety and length-of-service awards, thanks to a grievance their local just won.

But will all the rest of us get the same benefits?

September 13, 2010: Package-delivery giant United Parcel Service Inc. is launching a global ad campaign to promote its expanding logistics business to small and medium-sized businesses that want to sell their wares globally.

September 3, 2010: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters extends its deepest condolences to the families of the crewmembers that lost their lives in today’s crash of a UPS 747 in Dubai.

September 3, 2010: DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- A UPS cargo plane with two crew members on board crashed shortly after takeoff Friday outside Dubai, officials said.

September 1, 2010: Transport workers across the world are holding a day of action to ram home the message to UPS managers that the sacking of 157 workers in Turkey will not go unnoticed.

August 19, 2010: The battle over the employment status of drivers at FedEx Ground moved to Massachusetts this week as 31 current and former drivers sued the carrier, alleging improper classification.

August 16, 2010: For two years, the Hoffa administration looked the other way while UPS eliminated full-time jobs.

August 11, 2010: A package car driver has filed a class action lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court accusing the company of violating labor law by requiring drivers who wear shorts to buy socks with the UPS logo from the company.

August 11, 2010: Profits are skyrocketing at UPS while working conditions continue to bottom out.

August 11, 2010: Do you want them negotiating another UPS contract?

August 11, 2010: Hoffa and Hall surrender one of the biggest gains of the 1997 strike.

August 11, 2010: When Hoffa and Hall inked the current contract with UPS, the company was making record profits of more than $6 billion a year.

August 11, 2010: Hoffa and Hall’s decision to let UPS pull out of Central States saved the company billions. It also locked tens of thousands of Teamsters into a substandard pension.

August 11, 2010: Drivers are paying the cost for another Hoffa-Hall surrender in bargaining—this time over the language on technology and discipline.

August 11, 2010: Are long days, production harassment and 9.5 violations a problem? Not to Hoffa and Ken Hall.

July 28, 2010: The Package Division is holding a telephone Conference Call on Thursday night, July 29 to update UPS Teamsters.

July 23, 2010: FedEx Corp., trying to defeat legislation that would make it easier for its employees to unionize, almost doubled its lobbying spending in the first six months of this year compared with the same period a year ago.

July 22, 2010: Profits are skyrocketing at UPS while working conditions continue to bottom out.

July 12, 2010: Why is our union holding a conference call for UPSers when they’ll still be on the truck?

July 6, 2010: For more than a year, FedEx and its bitter shipping rival, United Parcel Service, have been engaged in one of the fiercest lobbying battles in recent memory, with millions of dollars spent on advertising, Web sites, grass-roots organizing and other tactics more commonly seen in political campaigns.

July 1, 2010: TDU has produced a new tool to help package car drivers protect themselves.

June 10, 2010: Imagine being aloft at 30,000 feet without a pilot in the cockpit. Scary?

It could be the airplane of the future.

June 1, 2010: Teamster representatives will meet with UPS Freight management in Providence, Rhode Island for the quarterly national panel on June 9-11.

Dear Teamster Troublemaker:

I’m a package driver, and I’m often in areas where there aren’t adequate bathroom facilities.

June 1, 2010: UPS announced that the company hauled in $533 million in profits after taxes in the first quarter of 2010. Brown’s profits are up by 33 percent or $132 million compared to the first quarter last year.

June 11, 2010: Across the country, UPS is disciplining drivers for failing to maintain their SPOHR or maintain their “demonstrated work performance.”

May 21, 2010: The second UPS national panel of the year will meet June 7–10 in Providence, Rhode Island.

May 20, 2010: UPS Airlines, a division of United Parcel Service Inc., will furlough 54 pilots Sunday, the first of 300 pilots slated to be grounded in an attempt by the shipper to cut costs and streamline its operations.

May 18, 2010: As they continue to wage a high-dollar and nasty lobbying campaign, archrivals FedEx and UPS are awaiting final delivery of legislation that will determine whether they must abide by the same union organizing rules.

April 30, 2010: John Youngermann, a TDU member and UPS feeder driver out of the Earth City, Missouri, hub won an important OSHA ruling that supported a driver’s right to refuse to drive unsafe equipment.

April 28, 2010: Watch the new Teamster video and take action to win organizing rights and level the playing field at FedEx.

April 27, 2010: UPS executives announced that the company hauled in $533 million in profits after taxes in the first quarter of 2010. Brown’s profits are up by 33 percent or $132 million compared to the first quarter last year.

April 9, 2010: The Wall Street Journal reports on a UPS training facility, "Integrad," where drivers get hooked into a contraption that simulates walking on ice and learn to "bond with their keys."

April 2, 2010: The Hoffa administration says it’s “Not the right time” to enforce the UPS contract.

April 2, 2010: The Teamsters Union and UPS are backing legislation that would make it easier for FedEx workers to join our union.

April 5, 2010: IBT Vice President and Package Division Director Ken Hall says local officers and members are to blame for weak contract enforcement because they bring cases “with no facts.”

April 15, 2010: Sensors and spyware are either on your package car or coming soon. How do you protect yourself?

March 30, 2010: United Parcel Service (UPS) will make about US$1 billion in technology investments this year to improve the efficiency of its operations, with the goal of cutting billions more from its costs over t

March 26, 2010: President Hoffa and Ken Hall responded to TDU’s calls for stronger contract enforcement in a conference call with UPS shop stewards.

March 26, 2010: Hoffa and Hall told UPS shop stewards via conference call to “be ready” for a push to win passage of a law that will make it easier for FedEx workers to join our union.

March 23, 2010: The Senate passed the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill yesterday, but excluded a provision that would make it easier for FedEx workers to unionize.

March 19, 2010: The decisions from the first meeting of the National Grievance panel of 2010 are now available from TDU.

March 8, 2010: Senator Bob Corker, who represents FedEx Corp.’s home state of Tennessee, said he will block legislation funding the Federal Aviation Administration because a provision may be added later making it easier for workers at the company to join unions.

March 4, 2010: United Parcel Service has agreed to pay a $53,931 civil penalty to EPA Region 7 to settle a series of alleged violations of federal laws regarding the management of hazardous wastes at its freight facility in Lenexa, Kan.

March 2, 2010: United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) said the total compensation paid to Chief Executive Scott Davis fell about 0.6% last year, to $6.24 million.

February 26, 2010: UPS is fighting a grievance all the way to the national panel over a supervisor who urinated in the back of a package car during a driver’s OJS.

February 26, 2010: UPS raked in $757 million in profits in the Fourth Quarter—nearly tripling its profits over the same period last year. Overall, Brown made $2.15 billion in profits in 2009. That’s after taxes.

February 24, 2010: The first National Grievance Panel of 2010 runs March 1-5 in Ft Lauderdale.

February 24, 2010: Dean Henderson’s career with FedEx ended abruptly when a reckless driver plowed into his company truck and mangled his leg. His doctor will decide this week if it needs to be amputated. No longer able to drive, stripped of value in our commodity culture, he was tossed aside by the company.

February 15, 2010: United Parcel Service of America Inc.

February 3, 2010: UPS raked in $757 million in profits in the Fourth Quarter—nearly tripling its profits over the same period last year. Overall, Brown made $2.15 billion in profits in 2009.

January 18, 2010: Reform leaders have taken office in Teamsters Local 804 and are setting a new direction for one of the largest UPS locals in the country.

January 18, 2010: The first UPS national panel will be in Ft. Lauderdale, March 1-3, at the Westin Beach Resort. The other panels are scheduled for June 7-9 and Oct.

January 18, 2010: Management spent last year crying that the company was losing money.

January 18, 2010: UPS will start field-testing its latest DIAD later this year. The DIAD V is about half the size and weight of the current version.

January 18, 2010: Management is squeezing package drivers more than ever. TDU arms UPS Teamsters with the information we need to protect ourselves.

December 28, 2009: The International Union has set the dates for the national grievance panels for UPS and UPS Freight in 2010.

The panels will meet three times the coming year.

December 23, 2009: The International Union has set the dates for the national grievance panels for UPS and UPS Freight in 2010.

The panels will meet three times the coming year.

December 22, 2009: UPS Teamsters in the former Central States have more questions than answers about the new UPS pension plan.

December 11, 2009: UPS management is cranking down the thermostat, taking a page from one of the worst bosses ever: Ebenezer Scrooge.

December 7, 2009: Teamster airplane mechanics who have gone three years without a contract are taking their fight to the public—right in UPS’s backyard.

December 7, 2009: Have you heard managers claiming the company is losing money?

December 7, 2009: The Hoffa administration may be silent while the company walks all over the contract. But some locals are making themselves heard.

December 7, 2009: Seventeen locals brought cases to the last national grievance panel charging UPS with violating Article 22.3 of the contract which requires UPS to maintain a minimum of 20,000 full-time combo jobs.

December 7, 2009: Sixty-five 9.5 violation cases were brought to the last national grievance panel. Outside of Oakland Local 70, the panel ruled in favor of working Teamsters on a 9.5 issue in just one case.

December 4, 2009: UPS Freight drivers and dockworkers had high hopes when they signed on with the Teamsters. Now, a couple years later, they’re looking at what needs to be improved.

November 12, 2009: Anticipating a visit by CEO Scott Davis, Local 177 booked a plane to circle UPS’s Edison hub with a banner: “UPS Stop Mistreating Your Employees.”

November 5, 2009: The decisions from the October meeting of the UPS National Grievance panel in San Diego are now available online.

October 30, 2009: The decisions from the October meeting of the National Grievance panel in San Diego are now available online.

October 22, 2009: The states of New York, New Jersey and Montana intend to sue FedEx Ground Package System Inc. (FedEx) over its policy of classifying drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, the attorneys general of the three states said Oct. 20.

October 22, 2009: UPS announced after-tax profits of $549 million for the third quarter of 2009 (July-Sept), up from $445 million in the second quarter.

October 1, 2009: The next UPS National Grievance Panel will be held October 12-15 in San Diego. TDU is making the complete list of the cases to be heard at the panel available to concerned Teamster members.

September 16, 2009: Teamsters Canada, an affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, has launched a full-scale campaign to organize Federal Express Canada Ltd.

September 16, 2009: The 1,400 U.S. mechanics who maintain United Parcel Service Inc's (UPS.N) worldwide fleet of 263 aircraft have authorized a strike, union officials said on Tuesday, but contract talks will continue later this month.

September 11, 2009: UPS Teamsters are increasingly getting just dimes on the dollar for 9.5 violations—when they get anything at all.

September 11, 2009: As we go to press, Teamsters Local 2727 is scheduling a strike vote of 1,400 UPS plane mechanics.

September 11, 2009: UPS announced after-tax profits of $445 million for the second quarter of 2009, up from $401 million in the first quarter.

August 14, 2009: Teamsters Local 2727 will take a strike vote of 1,400 UPS plane mechanics by Sept. 14.

July 28, 2009: An International Brotherhood of Teamsters local violated federal labor law when a union steward told a United Parcel Service Inc. employee in the presence of other employees that the union dropped his grievances because he had run against an incumbent in a union election and because the company did not like him, the National Labor Relations Board held July 24 (Teamsters Local 886 (United Parcel Serv. Inc.)

July 24, 2009: UPS announced after-tax profits of $445 million for the second quarter of 2009, up from $401 million in the first quarter.

July 22, 2009: WASHINGTON — The American Conservative Union, which bills itself as the nation’s oldest conservative grass-roots lobbying organization, has found itself fending off charges that

July 21, 2009: Teamsters have a right to discuss union issues and exchange union-related literature at work.

TDU is at work defending and expanding that right.

July 21, 2009: Last month’s National Grievance Committee meeting was the International Union’s opportunity to make UPS create all 20,000 full-time combo jobs that are required by Article 22.3 of the contract.

July 21, 2009: Congress may soon vote on a bill to close the FedEx loophole that makes it harder for FedEx workers to unionize.

July 21, 2009: There will be no cost of living raise this year for UPS Teamsters.

July 17, 2009: The decisions are in from the June meeting of the National Grievance Committee in Philadelphia and the results aren’t pretty. If the National Grievance Committee was a UPS employee it would be fired for poor job performance.

July 2, 2009: Do you think Hoffa will be working on Friday, July 3? Too many Teamsters will—and without premium pay.

June 11, 2009: FedEx’s has launched a multi-million dollar PR campaign to stop federal legislation that would make it easier for drivers and package handlers to unionize.

June 10, 2009: The word bailout has gone from descriptive to derogatory. In a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign introduced Tuesday, FedEx objected to legislation that would make it easier to unionize the company by accusing its rival, United Parcel Service, of taking a government bailout.

June 09, 2009: NEW YORK -- FedEx Corp. is set to launch a multimillion dollar marketing campaign on Tuesday against chief rival UPS Inc., arguing the world's largest shipping carrier is the driving force behind a bill that would make it easier for FedEx workers to unionize.

June 5, 2009: Grievance action by UPS Teamsters across the country has forced the National Grievance Committee to hear almost a dozen cases on the elimination of full-time combo jobs

June 04, 2009: FedEx will take some $1.2 billion in charges against its fiscal fourth quarter earnings, including charges against its purchased Kinko’s and Watkins Motor Lines businesses, the company announced Wednesday.

May 26, 2009: Thousands of UPS Teamsters have signed a petition calling on the International Union to take up a national grievance on the company’s elimination of Article 22.3 full-time jobs at the next national grievance panel in Philadelphia, June 8 to 11.

UPS is implementing new technology that allows management to monitor package car drivers like never before.

May 6, 2009: In 2008, the Baltimore Local 355 Pension Fund dropped over $100 million—but a new law will let the fund stay in the Green Zone for one more year.

April 30, 2009: UPS Teamsters are petitioning the International Union to protect full-time jobs at the national grievance panel in June.

May 1, 2009: If you are a UPS Teamster in the West or the East, then the problems in the Central States Pension Fund won’t affect you, right? Wrong.

April 10, 2009: New Jersey Local 177 bargained groundbreaking contract language on supervisors working in the new contract.

Now that language is being put to the test.

April 10, 2009: Drivers and our families are being hurt by the new Opt-In/Opt-Out guidelines agreed to by the Hoffa administration.

March 25, 2009: FedEx Corp is threatening to cancel the purchase of billions of dollars worth of new Boeing Co cargo planes if Congress passes a law that would make it easier for unions to organize

March 23, 2009: The national petition drive to make UPS create more full-time times is picking up steam.

March 17, 2009: United Parcel Service Inc. boosted Chairman and CEO Scott Davis’ total compensation by 115 percent in 2008. This is the same year that UPS Teamsters got a 35 cent raise.

March 6, 2009: A confidential memo obtained by TDU reveals that a UPS boss in Chicago is apparently drinking too much coffee. Either that, or he thinks he’s General Patton.

March 2, 2009: The decisions from the February meeting of the National Grievance Panel in Ft. Lauderdale are now available online.

March 2, 2009: UPS continues to haul in substantial profits despite the worst economy in 70 years.

March 2, 2009: A new keyless ignition and entry system is being installed on package cars in Georgia. After using Local 728 members as guinea pigs, UPS plans to go national with the system.

February 17, 2009: UPS is denying thousands of Teamsters full-time job opportunities—in violation of our union contract. Now, working Teamsters are getting together to do something about it.

February 13, 2009: Last month UPS dramatically raised the cost of retiree healthcare. Now UPS will have to explain their actions before a judge.

March 2, 2009: The good news is that the starting wage for UPS part-timers in Washington State has gone up.

January 30, 2009: Chicago Local 705 UPS retirees are mad as hell, and they’re doing something about it.

January 29, 2009: Our union’s failure to enforce the Article 22.3 full-time jobs provision of the contract has forced Seattle Local 174 members to make a devil’s choice: your money or your jobs

January 29, 2008: UPS management is moving to eliminate every Article 22.3 job at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport—the single largest cut since UPS started slashing full-time jobs last year.

January 2, 2008: For the first time in its 35-year history, FedEx is getting smaller.

Local 804 members beat concessions and pension cuts, won new rights in their local bylaws, and organized to rebuild union power.

Chicago Local 705 mounted a credible a strike threat—twice—to win new full-time jobs and contract gains for 10,000 Teamsters at UPS.

December 11, 2008: The Central States Pension Fund has lost $9.8 billion in assets during 2008, according to a report from CSPF Director Thomas Nyhan.

November 28, 2008: Under the contract UPS had to give the International a list of the 20,000 Article 22.3 jobs the company claims it will maintain.

November 14, 2008: In its new contract with UPS, Chicago Local 705 won an additional optional day. Teamsters with more than 30 years also won an additional vacation week.

November 14, 2008: UPS profits remain incredibly high—$1.6 billion in the third quarter—but volume is down.

November 14, 2008: UPS uses a two-month lag when adjusting its fuel surcharges.

November 7, 2008: This year isn’t the first time UPS management has tried to avoid creating the full-time jobs they promised.

September 19, 2008: The International Union has a new website design. But the same old information Brownout has continued for UPS Teamsters.

September 30, 2008: Teamsters in several areas report that management is claiming that “high mileage” and “high density” routes are exempt from Article 37 language.

September 19, 2008: The new UPS Pension Fund covering 44,000 Teamsters in the Central States not only offers the lowest benefits; it also has no reciprocal agreements with Teamster pension plans ar

August 21, 2008: The Central States Pension Fund lost $3.1 billion in assets during the first six months of this year—half the $6.1 billion UPS paid to leave the fund in December.

August 19, 2008: The new UPS Pension Fund covering 44,000 Teamsters in the Central States not only offers the lowest benefits.

August 18, 2008: UPS is violating our contract and ducking its obligation to create and maintain 20,000 full-time combo jobs.

August 12, 2008: The Central States Pension giveback may fuel the full-time jobs takeaway at UPS.

August 11, 2008: Chicago Local 705 has posted a draft of their tentative agreement with UPS for members to review.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

June 30, 2008: UPS is violating the rights of part-timers in Southern California to get breaks in their fourth and fifth hours—or to get paid for unused break time.

June 13, 2008: All UPS Teamsters will be missing something this summer: a cost of living raise of 15¢ per hour.

June 3, 2008: A New York feeder driver who reported a safety problem was rewarded by management with a 72-hour notice. Fortunately, Local 804 Teamster Joe Miller stuck to his guns.

May 28, 2008: DHL unveiled a far-reaching restructuring of its troubled U.S.

May 21, 2008: Stewards and other UPS Teamsters in North Carolina are getting together on conference calls to deal with contract issues and help each other enforce members’ rights on the job.

May 1, 2008: Most of us hired on at UPS for the same reasons. Good pay, good benefits, job security, a chance to make a life for our families.

May 1, 2008: UPS announced its profit rose 7.5 percent in the first quarter, though it was affected by the weakening U.S. economy.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

February 21, 2008: For two years, UPS management has been violating drivers’ seniority rights in Virginia—and getting away with it.

February 21, 2008: UPS Freight workers are joining our union by the thousands.
Our union can win big for them.

February 21, 2008: An “agitator” is the device in your washing machine that stirs things up and gets the dirt out.

Members who have contacted the Parcel Division have been told that our union has made no agreement with UPS to allow the company to use Air Drivers to pick up ground packages from drop boxes.

February 18, 2008: UPS has launched a new contract-busting program to use air drivers to pick up ground packages at a substandard rate of pay.

January 30, 2008: UPS reported a quarterly loss on Wednesday due to its $6.1 billion one-time payment to the Central States Pension fund.

January 10, 2008: Language changes in the new UPS contract are now in effect—even though we won’t get our wage or benefit increases until August.

January 10, 2008: “If you’re a steward always go up to a sup who is working and ask, ‘What’s going on?

December 27, 2007: The Internal Revenue Service is expected to fine FedEx Corp., of Memphis, Tenn., $319 million because the company's delivery drivers should have been classified as employees

December 26, 2007: The UPS national contract has been officially ratified after Teamsters in New York and Pennsylvania voted to approve their supplements.

December 18, 2007: The UPS national contract is moving toward being officially ratified as Teamsters in New York and Pennsylvania have voted to approve their supplements.

December 5, 2007: New York Local 804 members voted by 3 to 1 to reject the national contract and the Local 804 supplement. Now, that No Vote has paid off.

December 5, 2007: UPS Teamsters were not able to defeat givebacks this time. An analysis of voting results shows what it will take for us to succeed in the future.

December 5, 2007: With the new 2008 contract, Hoffa and Hall gave back to UPS the key gains of our historic 1997 strike: strong Teamster pensions, 10,000 full-time jobs, and more.

December 5, 2007: The removal of 44,000 UPS full-time Teamsters from Central States opens the door to lower pensions for all Teamsters down the road—not just in the Central States.

The International Union has announced that negotiators will return to the bargaining table to bargain over the supplements that were rejected.

November 21, 2007: Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ratified by a 65 percent approval rate a new national five-year contract with United Parcel Service that provides wage incre

November 20, 2007: Working Teamsters at UPS can’t depend on top union officials to have our backs, and we can’t wait until there’s a crisis to get organized.

UPS Teamsters rejected three supplemental agreements in the East, putting the ratification of the UPS national contract on hold.

The vote count figures below are preliminary. Some numbers will be adjusted in the final, official tally.

Southern Supplement Results

The UPS contract ratification vote is underway. Click here for more information from Make UPS Deliver.

The UPS contract vote count begins on Friday, November 16. Click here to read more at MakeUPSDeliver.org.

Information and unity build power. TDU is providing both to Teamsters at UPS.

Make UPS put a better offer on the table. Click here to download new flyers from Make UPS Deliver.

October 22, 2007: UPS Teamsters across the country are passing out leaflets and spreading the word to mobilize against the historic givebacks in the proposed UPS contract.

Informative bulletins on the proposed tentative UPS agreement are now available at Make UPS Deliver. Click here to check them out.

October 17, 2007: When the proposed UPS tentative agreement was presented to Local Union officials, the big selling point was “$9 an hour,” which sounds like a big increase in wages and benefit

In a contract riddled with givebacks, no one was hit harder then UPS part-timers.

October 17, 2007: In addition to wage and benefit improvements, UPS Teamsters are looking to the new contract to provide new language to protect Teamster members and their job security and to impro

October 17, 2007: The proposed tentative agreement would pull 44,000 full-timers out of the Central States Pension Plan and put them into a new UPS Plan.

October 17, 2007: Management and some union officials are selling the UPS Pension Plan in the Central States areas on the basis that it offers unreduced 25- and 30-and-out benefits of $2,000 and $3

October 17, 2007: Rumors are flying about the Pension Protection Act, the pension legislation that starts to take effect on Jan. 1.

Make UPS Deliver has posted the entire text of the tentative national deal online. Click here to read more and to download the agreement.

UPS and some Teamster officials are spreading rumors about new pension legislation and our contract. Get the bulletin at MakeUPSDeliver.org.

October 8, 2007: Industry publications are saying UPS management got the agreement they wanted in 1997. Read more at MakeUPSDeliver.org.

October 5, 2007: From the BNA Daily Labor Report: Officers and members of a local Teamsters union must arbitrate with United Parcel Service of America Inc.

October 4, 2007: The proposed UPS deal won't raise the part-time starting rate or create 10,000 new full-time jobs. Read more at MakeUPSDeliver.org.

October 1, 2007: United Parcel Service Inc.'s five-year tentative contract agreement with the Teamsters will allow it to pay $6.1 billion to gain greater control of some pensions and will provi

September 29, 2007: United Parcel Service Inc. and the Teamsters union are closing in on a labor agreement that would restructure and possibly lower the company's pension obligations.

September 28, 2007: Our National Negotiating Committee has promised a tentative agreement on a new UPS contract by Oct 1.

September 17, 2007: National bargaining has been suspended until Sept. 24. Negotiations on more than 30 supplemental agreements and local riders are being held this week.

September 12, 2007: If you liked the “Best Contract Ever” President Hoffa has good news for you.

If management gets its way in contract negotiations, UPS will soon be diverting packages to UPS Freight, the company's nonunion freight carrier.

Ron Carey speaks out in a new book on the 1997 UPS Strike. Read the interview the Hoffa administration did not want you to see.

August 31, 2007: Chief negotiators James Hoffa and Ken Hall announced today they will let UPS break out of the Central States Pension Fund in an early deal to be inked by October.

Hoffa Announces He Will Cut Central States Deal

August 23, 2007: If UPS or ABF or any other corporation says they will do better than a $3,000 pension at 30 years, keep in mind that with the increased funding, that’s not hard to do.

August 23, 2007: In 1997, Teamsters at UPS made history by forcing the company to create 10,000 new full-time jobs by combining 20,000 part-time jobs.

August 23, 2007: As previously reported in Convoy, UPS is preparing to implement new technology that will enable management to monitor drivers like never before.

August 20, 2007: Industry experts say that pension assets are up, but our union’s power will be down if UPS is allowed to break out of Central States.

August 17, 2007: Industry journal Logistics Management reports that the IBT has made "substantial progress on the union’s talks with UPS, its largest employer." But according t

August 3, 2007: by Thomas L.

July 30, 2007: Under pressure from gay rights groups and New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, UPS announced that it will offer spousal health and other benefits to union-represented workers in New Jers

July 27, 2007: Watch the video that shows how our union won 10,000 full-time jobs, record pension increases and labor’s biggest victory in decades.

UPS released its second quarter results today. The company reported a 7.2% increase in earnings per share, and 10.5% jump in LTL revenue.

July 18, 2007: Some defenders of management’s pension proposal claim that a $4 billion withdrawal liability payment from UPS would fix Central States and safeguard members’ benefits.

July 13, 2007: National negotiations with UPS again went nowhere this week, and are now temporarily suspended. Bargaining in some supplemental areas is scheduled for the week of July 16.

July 12, 2007: On June 29, the House Transportation Committee voted to make it easier for FedEx employees to organize by passing an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration bill that would

July 12, 2007: Management has cracked down on the distribution of Convoy Dispatch and Make UPS Deliver contract bulletins at UPS’s Lumberton, N.C. facility.

June 26, 2007: Logistics Management says there is good news for shippers in our union's current round of bargaining with UPS, and in the upcoming NMFA negotiations.

June 20, 2007: Do Hoffa and Hall still believe in the principle that powered our 1997 strike victory?

June 8, 2007: UPS management has been trying to win control over our pensions for years.

June 8, 2007: As negotiators for UPS and our union square off over the pension issue, members in the Eastern Region’s two largest UPS locals want to know whether early bargaining will deliver a r

“That fund is not 100 percent funded. When that fund gets to 100 percent based on their rules, they’ll do the right thing.”

May 23, 2007: The last Teamster UPSDate was dedicated to talking about management’s pension proposal leaving many Teamsters to wonder what is the Union pension proposal?

May 16, 2007: Jim Hoffa and Ken Hall promised that early negotiations would send a message to every Teamster employer not to mess with our pension funds.

May 16, 2007: Ten years after the 1997 UPS strike, former General President Ron Carey spoke in New York about some of the keys to the union's contract victory.

May 9, 2007: See what UPS workers say they want out of contract negotiations.

May 9, 2007: “Teamsters at UPS have been kept in the dark about bargaining. But our right to vote gives us the power to reject an early deal if Hoffa and Hall settle short.

May 2, 2007: Our bargaining team and UPS have only swapped initial economic proposals but Ken Hall is already telling Teamster leaders that negotiations will be over “soon.”

May 1, 2007: Nichele Fulmore has been a package car driver at UPS in Lumberton, North Carolina for over 12 years.

April 12, 2007: More than 20,000 Teamsters in California have won an $87 million victory versus UPS.

April 2, 2007: UPS’s $4 billion profits and new pension fund rules mean the company will pay record contributions toward our benefits in the 2008 contract.

April 2, 2007: After a late-winter blizzard pounded the Midwest, Feeder Drivers in the Kansas City area are asking UPS management to institute an emergency road plan for winter weather conditions.

April 2, 2007: President James Hoffa has been briefed by the different Teamster benefit funds on what we need to win in the UPS and freight contracts to increase our benefits.

March 19, 2007: The attack on our pensions began while the ink was still drying on Hoffa’s promise that our benefits would be secure under the ‘Best Contract Ever.’ First came the pension cut

March 19, 2007: Six months have passed since our union kicked off bargaining with UPS.

March 13, 2007: From MakeUPSDeliver.org—Next Monday will mark six months since our National Negotiating Committee kicked off bargaining with UPS—and the blackout on meaningful information is as ba

In 1997, Teamster members and leaders beat UPS in a two week strike—the biggest victory for labor in the past 20 years.

March 5, 2007: On Jan. 15, Local 728 proudly joined in the Martin Luther King Day march here in Atlanta, Dr. King’s home and also the headquarters of UPS.

February 27, 2007: UPS is preparing to implement new technology that will monitor drivers like never before.

February 27, 2007: Teamsters at UPS are building a national rank-and-file network to share information and unite members to Make UPS Deliver the contract we deserve. You can help.

February 27, 2007: A group of UPS workers, with encouragement from management, is attempting to oust the Teamsters Union on a national scale.

January 26, 2007: In 2002 UPS made record after tax profits of $2.4 billion, the most of any transport corporation in the world.

January 26, 2007: In a recent statement on UPS national contract talks, IBT Parcel Division Director Ken Hall announced he would also continue bargaining with UPS Freight on a contract covering 125

January 26, 2007: Teamster negotiators have given UPS until just March 31 to negotiate an early agreement.

Now is the time to get involved and to stand strong and united.

January 26, 2007: UPS Teamsters have launched a rank-and-file campaign to “Make UPS Deliver” the contract that working Teamsters deserve.

December 6, 2006: Hit by a 30 percent pension cut, many New York Local 804 Teamsters feel it’s time to fight back.

“The union plans to address pensions and healthcare first.”
IBT press release on UPS
early bargaining, Oct. 2, 2006

December 6, 2006: The IBT election is over, and James Hoffa won the power to oversee the union’s bargaining with UPS.

December 5, 2005: In an historic win, our union has organized two FedEx Ground stations near Boston. Workers voted 22-8 for Teamster Local 25 at the two small stations.

December 5, 2006: An academic study by three economists entitled “Corporate Political Contributions and Stock Returns” and reported in the New York Times indicates that in rec

December 5, 2006: UPS’s third-quarter after-tax profits rose to $1.04 billion, with strong growth in domestic and international shipments.

UPS Bargaining Opens

November 4, 2006. Will the present International Union leadership fight for a good contract at UPS?

July 2006. Recently UPS management has quietly expanded a rural route scheme that they launched under the 2002 contract.

Members from North Carolina to California report that UPS is moving the starting locations for certain rural routes from the UPS building to vacant lots 50 or 60 miles away. Drivers are then forced to drive the extra miles on their own dime to get to work—or relocate, or just bid off the routes and let lower seniority drivers take them.

July 25, 2005: In late June the Independent Pilots Association issued UPS an ultimatum: come up with a final contract offer or face a strike.

October 18, 2006. On Aug. 31, UPS’s 2,775 pilots narrowly ratified an eight-year contract which will give them immediate raises of 18 to 26 percent. The contract was ratified with 56 percent voting yes. UPS pilots belong to the Independent Pilots Association. They were in the Teamsters but left in the 1980s to form the IPA.

UPSers Clear on Improvements Needed

October 18, 2006. UPS Teamsters are clear on the improvements we need to win in the next contract on issues like benefits, overtime, fairness for combo workers, part-time wages, and restrictions on subcontracting and supervisors working. What’s less clear is how early bargaining will give us the leverage we need to win these improvements.

July 27, 2005: UPS workers in Germany have launced a website in English as a way to reach out to brother and sister workers in North America.

July 25, 2006: The National Labor Relations Board has charged FedEx Ground with engaging in a pattern of illegal activity against New Jersey drivers.

By George Kieffer, adapted from the www.denverbrown.com website.

October 18, 2006. UPS continues to get good press concerning its PAS system.

October 18, 2006. This summer in California, UPS tried to enlist Teamsters in their effort to undermine litigation over the company’s practice of forcing employees to work off the clock.

October 18, 2006. UPS learned a major lesson in 1997: that working Teamsters can unify and use their power. Then, like now, UPS did everything possible to divide members and keep our union on the defensive. Despite management’s best efforts, members took a strong and clear stand that got the attention of the entire world.

Legacy of the “Best Contract Ever”

October 18, 2006. Mention the “best ever” contract of 2002 to UPS Teamsters and you’ll probably get a roll of the eyes. But the issues behind the contract are serious.

Aggressive Contract Proposals Needed for UPS Contract

October 18, 2006. We all have high hopes for improvements in our UPS contract, but an over-arching goal

Major IBT Employers Back Hoffa

October 18, 2006. Give UPS management credit. When they decided to back Hoffa, they didn’t go halfway.

April 22, 2006: Feeder driver Henry Gallet could not believe that he was being forced to return to work with less than four hours off-duty by Lenexa feeder manager Steve Mitchell.

April 22, 2006: Members of Local 384 in Philadelphia are telling their local officers in no uncertain terms that a plan by UPS to replace four established full-time

April 22, 2006: UPS reports first-quarter after-tax profits of $975million, up 10.5 percent over last year, and revenue of $11.5 billion, up 16.5 percent. U.S.

You’ve got to give in order to get, at least that’s what some labor leaders say. Local 89 has given UPS a green light to create hundreds more low-paid part-time jobs at the Louisville air facility. The new jobs are part of UPS’ relocation of Menlo/UPS Cartage air operations to Louisville from Dayton.

While the new jobs will be union, as they should be, the agreement does not contain any guarantee that many of the 1,500 positions will be full-time.

The UPS Cartage operation is much more akin to typical freight work with the majority of volume on pallets and handled by fork lift. Through the years the IBT has repeatedly rejected efforts by freight companies to create part-time jobs. Freight members struck in 1994 to stop the “part-timerization” of freight jobs. UPS members struck in 1997 and won the creation of 10,000 full-time jobs at UPS. Local 89 and the IBT appear now to be reversing the trend.

April 22, 2006. Many Teamsters express concern when asked for their reaction to the International Union’s recent statements about early contract talks with UPS.

Broken promises, the benefit cuts, the lack of contract enforcement—these and other concerns are front and center for members.

And if UPS has agreed to the talks, as they most certainly have if the IBT
has floated the idea publicly,what is in it for them? Whatever
else they have up their sleeve, an early contract in 2006 or early 2007 would avoid any potential rancor during UPS’s 100th anniversary in 2007, and would be a major gift to UPS. Member concern may be justified but Teamsters know it won’t bring about change.

We need to be making demands on Hoffa and building pressure for major contract improvements—whether the contract comes around in 2008 or earlier.

Toward that end TDU has asked some veteran UPS Teamsters to speak out on the early contact idea and its ramifications.

Convoy invites you to weigh in on the discussion. Contact tdu@tdu.org or call (313) 842-2600 to share your thoughts on early bargaining.

After five years of record profits at UPS, Teamsters know they deserve a fair share of the company's success. President Hoffa has repeatedly promised "the best contract in Teamster history.

"So why did Hoffa's negotiating committee settle the Central Region contract supplement, the largest in the UPS contract, without any significant gains and even with some give-backs?!

The union put fifty (50) proposals on the bargaining table in the Central Region, but came back empty handed. These proposals included more sick days (some regions have more than the Central), proposals to deal with excessive overtime, to improve the grievance procedure, and lots more.

On May 2, when a mercury spill turned up on the main sort belt in the UPS Sharonville Building near Cincinnati, management failed to respond properly. UPS did not secure the area, isolate the spill, inform employees, nor evacuate workers from the spill area. “I always thought the idea was ‘safety first’,” says Local 100 full time steward Sam Bucalo.

Management appeared more concerned about keeping stewards from investigating the situation than about resolving the serious health risk. Both the full time and part time stewards were “taken out of service” the day following the discovery. Management claimed they had everything under control and there was no reason for the stewards to play a role in the situation.

UPS Teamsters are familiar with the image of managers scurrying to cover logos on UPS trucks to prevent the public and media knowing that a UPS vehicle was involved in an accident.

Could UPS be applying the same secrecy to incidents involving hazardous materials in an effort to skirt federal reporting requirements?

An investigation indicates that UPS in 2004 failed to properly report a number of incidents, including one involving a serious fire:

On June 22, 2004, a mercury spill resulted in the evacuation of 429 workers at the Hunt Valley UPS facility near Baltimore.

UPS purchase of nonunion Overnite Transportation for $1.25 billion marks a new era of industry consolidation and poses a grave threat to UPS and freight Teamsters, and to the security of our pensions. But the purchase also presents the best opportunity in a long time for the Teamsters to reassert ourselves as a major force in the transportation industry. We need to seize that opportunity.

The New Trucking Industry

The UPS-Overnite combination is the face of the new trucking industry. The boundaries are blurring between the small parcel, freight, and logistics sectors. The future belongs to integrated transportation companies that are players in all aspects of the market and can offer shippers a variety of options on a one-stop-shopping basis. That’s why FedEx already has successfully integrated a less-than-truckload carrier, American Freight, and built it into a $3 billion a year company—twice as large as Overnite.

“We are hopeful that UPS long history as a company with Teamster representation will create new opportunities for Overnite workers to achieve their goals in the workplace.”
—James Hoffa, May 16 IBT statement on UPS-Overnite

“The Teamsters will never rest until workplace justice is a reality for our brave brothers and sisters at Overnite.”
—James Hoffa, August 2001 Teamster Magazine

Which is it, Mr. Hoffa: Hoping management will do the right thing, or promising a fight for workplace justice?

How about instead carrying out a plan to make it happen?

Experts agree that UPS needs to integrate a freight company into its operations. At stake is UPS position as the world’s leading transportation company.

Overnite is a $1.65 billion-a-year company. UPS plans to double Overnite’s size to compete with FedEx Freight. UPS has to make this acquisition succeed. This gives our union tremendous leverage, and we’ve got to use it to organize Overnite.

Shippers and stock analysts are closely scrutinizing the UPS-Overnite acquisition. Everyone knows that union representation at Overnite is a major issue. To be successful, we need to turn organizing rights at Overnite from an “issue” into a deal-breaker.

UPS today is not the same company many higher seniority Teamsters went to work for: First air freight, then global reach, technology, logistics. The biggest single change is about to happen: UPS’ conversion to a full-service freight carrier.

In the links below, we examine the consequences of this change, and what we can do to turn it to our advantage. If our union fails to take that step, we could pay a big price.

Consider just some of the challenges. Our feeder jobs are endangered, if not right away, in the long run. We need to monitor the cross-over freight, as parcels are bundled onto pallets and moved by Overnite. Will we have a strong, viable strike threat by 2008, without taking positive action now? Not if UPS has a large and growing nonunion trucking operation.

On October 1, 1998, “UPS told me to get out of here and don’t come back,” relates preloader Paul Stimpson.

The wheels of justice grind slowly, but after seven years the courts have ordered UPS to put Stimpson back to work. The exact details remain to be worked out, but Stimpson will get very considerable back pay.

On May 18, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, “We find substantial evidence that Stimpson was terminated in retaliation for his grievance activity.” Stimpson won at every step with the NLRB, but UPS delayed his final victory with appeals.

In June, officers and BAs attended a meeting in Chicago to discuss the international union’s plans for UPS contract enforcement. Three years into the UPS contract, it is the first such meeting held.Whether the Chicago meeting is the start of something good or just a pre-IBT election chance to politic remains to be seen. But if the IBT says they are setting a new course, we should hold them to it.

One point addressed at the meeting was the need for the grievance panels to standardize decisions and stop undercutting contract language. What mechanism will the IBT put in place to make this happen? The horse-trading of grievances and other nonsense will only stop if the International provides strong and clear leadership. At the meeting, James Hoffa and others laid the blame on local leaders, but the problems are national in scope and the key grievance panels are run by International appointees.

Information gathering was stressed as key to the IBT’s plan. They distributed a packet consisting of four sheets that locals can use to gather information from members on 9.5 (excessive overtime) grievances, supervisors working, and subcontracting. These are important problems across the country. If you don’t see this material from your local in the near future, you may want to ask about it.

The meeting was advertised as the place where plans would be put forward to deal with the issue of UPS’ growing nonunion divisions: Overnite, Logistics, feeder work subcontractors, and SCS. No such plan was put forward.
There may be more meetings and more mailings to UPS members as the campaign for IBT president heats up.

Why No Fizz in the UPS COLA?The UPS contract has a cost of living allowance (COLA), which was played up in selling the contract as the “best ever.” Why then do we never get anything out of this clause?

An examination of the details of Article 33 shows why. There are three fine-print facts to know about the clause. First, before the COLA kicks in, the inflation rate has to exceed 3 percent on a May to May yearly basis. From May 2004 to May 2005 that rate was 2.9 percent, so no COLA. Second, even if it got a little over three percent, it would still pay zero, because the formula has to get to a five cent raise or it doesn’t count. This means inflation has to exceed about 3.5 percent to get that five cent wage adjustment.

When Mary Plagman's doctor put her on a 25-pound weight restriction because of her pregnancy, UPS management informed her that they had no work available for her. As they have done with many other women in her position, UPS forced her off the job and onto leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Anticipating the end of her FMLA leave Plagman-Markham planned to go onto disability leave, but now UPS is challenging her ability to get even that limited protection.

Doctor’s Orders

Markham’s doctor put her on restricted work on Dec.

Every day I walk to the time clock to punch in. On the way, I say “hey” to a handful of loaders, sorters, and a few clerks, but rarely a driver. At my shop, solidarity between UPS drivers and part-timers is the biggest and most overlooked issue. Management deserves credit for dividing us. In response, Teamsters must do an even better job of coming together on the shop floor. We may all work at the same hub, and be covered under the same Master Agreement, but UPS has driven a wedge between part-timers and drivers. That wedge is production standards, understaffing and the company’s daily violation of our union contract.

The $1.25 billion acquisition of Overnite Transportation by UPS marks a turning point in the transportation industry and for our Teamsters union.

The largest employer of Teamsters will soon operate an enormous nonunion freight division. And the Teamsters’ worst nemesis in the freight industry, Overnite, will be financially backed by the most profitable transportation company in the world.

UPS-Overnite is the face of the new trucking industry in which all the big players—Yellow-Roadway, FedEx, DHL—are consolidating and positioning themselves to compete as integrated transportation companies.

A long hot summer has been even longer and hotter for the thousands of UPS package car drivers who contend with constant and excessive overtime.

The short-term impact of this problem on Teamsters is tremendous. Weekday family life is nonexistent. Weekends are for recovery. The long-term effects include more injuries, more accidents and difficulty making it to retirement age. TDU spoke with a number of stewards and business agents about this issue and what can be done to protect members.

"Everyone is upset,” according to Des Moines Local 90 steward Todd Hartsell. “We are seeing people who have never filed a grievance filing them now. Standards are being cut, stop counts and overtime are up.”

UPS management’s compliance with the law protecting workers serving in the military has had its ups and downs. The law is the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994. It offers a number of protections, such as the mandate that employers continue to provide medical coverage and that they contribute to pension plans for the period of leave.

USERRA also says that employers must make employees whole upon their return to work in terms of seniority rights they would have exercised during their period of leave.

Cases have come to light showing that UPS management sometimes violates the intent of the law. In a Florida case, management has refused to let an employee exercise his proper seniority rights (which would have put him in the feeder classification). They have also stonewalled on pension credits.

In a Virginia case, management has taken an opposite track on seniority rights – claiming that an employee currently on leave has the right to bid during semi-annual bids, even though he will continue to be on leave and not available to actually fill positions. Neither the USERRA law or the contract provide for this, with USERRA stating that employees can exercise their seniority rights upon return to work.

There have also been reports of UPS delaying payment of pension contributions to pension funds.

If you have information on how UPS is mis-applying the USERRA law, please contact TDU. If you need information on USERRA rights, go to the fact sheet on the TDU website or to <a href+"http://www.esgr.com">www.esgr.com</a>

The UPS contract contains a strong clause to prevent management from undercutting the contract. Article 2, Section 2 states that any changes to regional supplements, rider or addendum are “null and void” if they are not approved by the Joint National Negotiating Committee. But a recent ruling by New England Joint Council 10 officials declares that it is “not possible” to enforce this protection.

Joint Council 10 officials dismissed charges against five New England locals for violating this clause and members’ right to vote. Local 25 members filed charges against locals 25, 42, 191, 340 and 677 after these locals allowed UPS management to establish a Sunday to Thursday work week without premium pay—in direct violation of the New England supplement.

Pressure tactics and intimidation are part of UPS management’s tool kit. The pressure may be turned on or off, or be directed at a select few, but it is rarely out of the picture altogether.

In 2006 we will be just one year away from the campaign needed to win a new UPS contract. It is not too early to start discussing plans for contract 2008.

In the past several years UPS has mounted an unprecedented attack on working conditions, job security and benefits.

Work hours, stop counts—and injuries—continue to rise. UPS ignores 9.5 contract language that was meant to protect package car drivers. Subcontracting chips away at feeder jobs and the epidemic of supervisors working must be dealt with forcefully.

At the same time, UPS is growing its nonunion divisions, creating a sphere of operations that threatens the security of good Teamster jobs.

When UPS bought Menlo Forwarding it gave our union the chance to bring hundreds of Teamsters under the protection of the UPS Master Agreement. Menlo was a stepchild of the freight contract. Though doing essentially the same work as freight Teamsters, Menlo workers made significantly less and were scattered under local agreements.

Local Agreements Leave Many With Low Wages & Poor Benefits
The good news is that all Menlo (now called CSI) contracts will expire at the same time as the 2002-2008 UPS contract, enhancing bargaining power.

The less than good news is although Menlo/CSI Teamsters now work for highly-profitable United Parcel Service, their wages and conditions will continue to be set by the inferior local contracts.

“Over 2,000 new jobs created” the Teamster magazine cover trumpets. Read on and we learn that these jobs came about as a result of the IBT “turning up the heat” on UPS over subcontracting and other violations.

Turning up the heat could be welcome, but is that really the case or is this just because of the International Union election this year? The contract has been in effect for three and a half years, so why has it taken so long?

Members, stewards and officers on the ground know the real story.

“FedEx is kicking UPS’ butt in some corridors,” Kansas City feeder driver Michael Savwoir explained. “This is about improved time in transit, that is where feeder jobs are coming from.”

Gold! Rumors of gold! It was said to be everywhere! According to Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune, “Fortune lies upon the surface of the earth as plentiful as the mud in our streets.”

So began the historic California Gold Rush of the late 1840s and 1850s. Most came away with nothing more than fool’s gold.

History repeats itself.

This time the promise of gold has hit UPS facilities in the form of a rogue group called APWA (The Association of Parcel Workers of America). This group intends to be a “UPS Only” union that promises equal or better pensions and better health coverage than what we currently have.

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.

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.