Tampa, FL – United Parcel Service released their fourth quarter earnings last month, beating Wall Street’s expectations with almost $5 billion in profit for 2018. Through a combination of opening new automated sorting facilities, purchasing more air cargo planes, and exploiting employees with low pay and long hours, UPS had an extremely profitable holiday season. The company is optimistic for profits in 2019 and moving into the future. For workers, however, the future does not look so bright.

In October 2018, UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) successfully pushed an incredibly unpopular contract onto workers. UPS Teamsters overwhelmingly rejected the contract because of its many concessions, however despite historic voter turnout and over 50% voting ‘no’, the IBT ratified the master agreement using the ‘2/3rds’ article in the constitution.

The IBT had a number of proposals going into negotiations that would have benefitted UPS workers, including: financial penalties for harassment, $15 per hour starting wage for part-timers with catch up raises for current employees, and limits on excessive overtime. Instead, UPS Teamsters discovered that a number of the contract proposals had been outright rejected and the union itself was proposing a new ‘22.4 Hybrid Driver’ position.

Hybrid drivers, when compared with regular full-time drivers, will be paid less, have no overtime protections, and be forced to work weekends, all while performing the same work as other drivers. Commonly known as a two-tier system, this tactic is used by companies looking to lower wages across the board. There is a current limit for the number of 22.4 jobs that can be created by the company, 25%, but it’s not hard to imagine UPS looking to increase that limit in future contract negotiations.

Another key issue for UPS Teamsters was part-time wages. The IBT’s proposed starting wage was $15 an hour for all new part-time hires and equal catch up raises for all existing part-timers. Instead, UPS part-time workers got $13 an hour for new hires and unequal raises for existing part-timers. Regardless of seniority, current part-time workers will receive a raise either bringing their wage up to $13 an hour or an extra $0.70, whichever results in a higher amount. UPS was again able to cut wages for a significant section of employees.

The contract’s weak language on overtime lets UPS get away with intentionally understaffing operations. By pushing drivers to deliver more packages and stay out later, the company is able to maximize its profit margins. Additionally, when there are not enough drivers to deliver packages the company will force members of management to work. With weak overtime contract language, UPS is able to weasel out of creating more jobs for Teamsters.

What will UPS do with the almost $5 billion they made in 2018? As the new contract has made clear, the company has no intention of sharing it with the Teamsters who did the work. Instead the company will continue spending money on developing technological systems like ORION, vehicles like package cars and airplanes, as well as automated sorting facilities like the one recently built in Atlanta. UPS has already spent $7 billion on capital investments, including automation, in 2018 alone, in previous years the company was spending about $1 billion annually. These capital investments will make it easier for the company to further exploit its workforce and eliminate jobs.

The Atlanta UPS SMART hub is totally automated. Packages are unloaded from trailers by employees, scanned by a six sided camera and then automatically routed to their destination where an employee then loads the package. The hub processes over 100,000 packages an hour without a human ever touching a box. By replacing Teamsters with automated equipment, UPS is able to make more money on each package delivered. UPS has plans to open similar facilities in Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Indianapolis.

Automation in the logistics industry is not just limited to inside the warehouse. UPS is currently developing and testing a new technology, known as platooning, which would allow driverless trucking. Platooning technology creates a link of three or more tractor trailers behind one another, which then follow a lead driver. If platooning was implemented at UPS, feeder driver jobs would be cut drastically. The IBT has released statements against this technology, but the new UPS contract does nothing to prohibit it. In fact, this year UPS attempted to begin testing the technology in Texas, but Local 767 stopped it for now.

As UPS continues to make more and more money, aided by a concessionary contract and investments in automation, conditions for UPS workers will only get worse. The only thing that will improve workers’ conditions is a fighting Teamsters union, one only needs to look at the 1997 UPS strike to see the gains that were made for working people.

#TampaFL #CapitalismAndEconomy #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #UPS #UPSContract #VoteNoOnUPSContract

Chicago, IL – Negotiations are set to resume Monday, November 12, between Teamsters Local 705 and UPS over a tentative five-year contract for over 10,000 UPS workers in the Chicago area.

One of the last contracts to settle, Local 705 Teamsters are pushing back against concessions passed under the national master contract by Hoffa and Small Package Division negotiator Dennis Taylor that affect over 240,000 Teamsters. Local 705 remains one of the last independent Teamster/UPS contracts in the country.

Local 705 gave UPS a 30-day notice on October 31 to end a contract extension, raising the possibility of a strike. Preparations have been underway to for members to conduct a strike vote.

Earlier today, November 11, a vote count revealed that Teamsters Local 705 UPS Freight drivers voted down a second contract proposal, 125 to 34, showing their willingness to strike in the face of massive threats by the employer. UPS Freight, a division of UPS that handles “less-than-truckload” shipments (typically medium-sized shipments of objects over 150lbs), employs approximately 12,000 nationwide, hundreds of whom work in the Chicago area.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #TeamstersLocal705 #Strikes #VoteNoOnUPSContract #UPSFreight

While signing multiple agreements on issues including stronger contract language on production harassment, technology, and supervisors working, the company and union remain far apart on other issues, including but not limited to part-time wages, a new classification of driver that would receive less pay and benefits, and retiree health care and pensions.

It's likely that Teamster 705 members will be taking a strike vote in the days ahead in order to grant the bargaining committee the leverage of a strike should it be necessary.

“We are ready to draw the line in the sand regarding how we get treated and how much we get paid,” commented Ben Cline, a 12-year 705 Teamster. “Authorizing a strike means giving the bargaining committee the leverage they need to get what we deserve, so vote ‘yes’.”

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #UPS #TeamstersLocal705 #Strikes #VoteNoOnUPSContract

In an October 25 memorandum sent to all UPSF Teamster members, the negotiating committee said, “the LBFO does not sufficiently address the issues raised by the members.” However, “because of the company’s insistence that there is no more money to be had...the negotiating committee decided to submit the LBFO for acceptance or rejection.”

The claim that there is “no more money to be had” is ridiculous. UPS announced on October 24 that profits are up: $250 million higher than this time last year and a projected annual profit of $6.1 to $6.4 billion. Despite these record profits, the Teamsters negotiating committees are parroting the company’s talking points rather than calling them out.

A strike could occur as early as November 12 if the LBFO is rejected by the membership.

#WashingtonDC #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #Strikes #VoteNoOnUPSContract #UPSFreight

In their open letters the vice presidents raised numerous issues including: the one-sided interpretation of Article XII, the historical precedent of the 2013 contract vote, UPS’s initial willingness to engage in further negotiations, lack of communication with the Central and Southern region VPs and the duty of Teamsters leadership to serve the rank and file.

In all of their letters, the vice presidents also demanded the UPS contract not be ratified, and that an emergency General Executive Board meeting be held. Article IX, Section 5 requires Hoffa to hold a General Executive Board meeting if over half of the board requests one.

#WashingtonDC #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #UPSContract #VoteNoOnUPSContract

Tampa, FL – Rank-and-file trade union activists from Teamsters Local 79 hit the gates, Oct. 8, getting petition signatures and handing out call-in information to pressure the IBT National Negotiating Committee into further negotiations with UPS. This comes after Denis Taylor and the Hoffa administration announced the ratification of the contract, despite it being rejected by the membership.

“The fact of the matter is we had a majority no vote and historic turnout. Rank-and-file Teamsters don’t want this contract.” said Gage LaCharite, a trade union activist. “I feel like we haven’t been represented. What’s the point of even having a vote if they’re just going to push it through?” continued LaCharite.

#TampaFL #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #VoteNoOnUPSContract #TeamstersLocal79

Jacksonville, FL – Just hours after UPS Teamsters voted down their tentative agreement in record numbers, union chief negotiator Denis Taylor announced he would ratify the contract anyway.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) announced on an October 5 teleconference that a 54% majority of UPS members had rejected the contract proposal: 50,248 no-votes to 42,356 yes-votes. The UPS contract is the single largest private sector collective bargaining agreement in the United States, representing well-over 230,000 Teamsters.

“Taylor and Hoffa’s move is a disgrace to organized labor,” said Dustin Ponder, union steward for Teamsters Local 512 out of Jacksonville, Florida. “It’s a slap in the face of every UPS Teamster, whether they voted yes or no. They made perfectly clear that they care more about the interests of UPS and Wall Street shareholders than they do about the workers they claim to represent.”

In the week leading up to the results, rumors circulated that Taylor had plans to shove the contract through in the event of a majority voting no. By following through on these threats, Taylor and IBT General President Jim Hoffa Jr. have angered thousands of UPS Teamsters across the country.

“Frankly, I’m furious,” said Bill Aiman, a UPS part-timer and active member of Teamsters Local 79 in Tampa, Florida. “We spent untold hours standing outside the warehouse gates handing out literature to our coworkers about the contract. We spent our own hard-earned money printing ‘Vote No’ flyers. Hundreds of rank-and-file Teamsters across the country took a stand because this contract would hurt us and we deserve better.”

Record member participation in the vote fueled this historic victory for the ‘Vote No on the UPS Contract’ movement. Voter turnout skyrocketed from 27% in 2013 to 44% in 2018, driven in large part by rank-and-file activists in the Teamsters United group and the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) reform caucus.

Taylor claims that the IBT constitution forces him to ratify the tentative agreement, regardless of the results, because voter turnout did not reach 50% and less than 2/3 voted it down. In a nasty e-mail sent to UPS Teamsters through the IBT’s UPS Rising app, an obviously distraught Taylor attacked rank-and-file members for not voting. Taylor claims that the IBT bent over backwards to engage members in the contract process and encourage voter turnout.

“But not enough members covered by the National Master UPS Agreement exercised their right to vote,” wrote Taylor. He added, absurdly, “And as we saw in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, winning the popular vote does not necessarily win the election when the Constitution requires you to win the Electoral College vote. As Teamsters, we too must abide by the rules in our Constitution. Thus, the National Master UPS Agreement has been ratified.”

But Taylor’s blame-the-members strategy is fake news. For one, voter turnout was the highest on-record for a UPS contract in the last two decades, rising dramatically from 2013. Of course, Hoffa Jr. and Taylor didn’t give low voter turnout a second thought in the 2013 yes-vote since it went their way. Some members complained about not receiving ballot information in the mail or having difficulties with the new, online voting system.

Taylor’s bigger claim – that he constitutionally must ratify the contract – is also bogus. The IBT constitution says that officials “can” ratify a rejected agreement if it’s a “final offer” from the employer. The UPS contract was a “tentative agreement,” and at no point did either the company or the union present the deal as a “final offer.”

Rank-and-file activists and reform-minded Teamster local presidents, like Sean O’Brien of Local 25 out of Boston, and Fred Zuckerman of Local 89 in Louisville, Kentucky, warned Taylor not to ratify the agreement against the members’ will.

“The winds are in our favor,” said O’Brien in a statement after hearing the vote results. “Teamsters at UPS are willing to fight. The economy is strong, UPS is profitable and we are approaching peak so real leverage is at our fingertips. The contract goals are reasonable and achievable. But only if Hoffa doesn’t follow through on his threat to implement the contract. Hoffa has set the table to argue he is required to implement the contract under the Teamster Constitution. THIS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE. It is time for our General President to stand with the members, not the company.”

Indeed, Hoffa Jr. and Taylor’s move to force through the UPS contract against the will of the members will hurt the Teamsters as a union along with the entire labor movement. By their actions, these sellout union bureaucrats have signaled to UPS their willingness to take any deal presented by the company, no matter how harmful it is to the workers they claim to represent.

But in an even broader sense, Hoffa Jr. and Taylor have played right into the hands of right-wing corporate lawyers and lobbyists pushing anti-union laws, like ‘right to work,’ in states across the country. Groups like the Center for Union Facts and the National Right to Work Foundation argue that unions only enrich union officials at the expense of the rank-and-file members. By trampling union democracy, Hoffa Jr. and Taylor outdid even the worst stereotypes of ‘fat-cat union bosses.’

Vote-No Teamsters are turning their outrage into action. They say the IBT should accept the results and resume a new round of negotiations with UPS for a better contract.

“There’s only one right thing to do here,” said Nick Godfrey, a UPSer out of Local 222 in Salt Lake City, Utah. “The IBT needs to respect the will of the members and go back to the bargaining table. We knew that contract they brought us was rotten, and that’s why we voted it down. UPS made $6 billion last year. There’s no reason we can’t win $15 per hour for part-timers, $5 catch-up raises and more full-time jobs.”

Several rank-and-file workers active on the Vote NO on the UPS Contract Facebook group have already pledged to start gathering petitions at their warehouses next week.

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #UPSContract #VoteNoOnUPSContract #DenisTaylor

Jacksonville, FL – Just hours after UPS Teamsters voted down their tentative agreement in record numbers, union chief negotiator Denis Taylor announced he would ratify the contract anyway.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) announced on an October 5 teleconference that a 54% majority of UPS members had rejected the contract proposal: 50,248 no-votes to 42,356 yes-votes. The UPS contract is the single largest private sector collective bargaining agreement in the United States, representing well-over 230,000 Teamsters.

“Taylor and Hoffa’s move is a disgrace to organized labor,” said Dustin Ponder, union steward for Teamsters Local 512 out of Jacksonville, Florida. “It’s a slap in the face of every UPS Teamster, whether they voted yes or no. They made perfectly clear that they care more about the interests of UPS and Wall Street shareholders than they do about the workers they claim to represent.”

In the week leading up to the results, rumors circulated that Taylor had plans to shove the contract through in the event of a majority voting no. By following through on these threats, Taylor and IBT General President Jim Hoffa Jr. have angered thousands of UPS Teamsters across the country.

“Frankly, I’m furious,” said Bill Aiman, a UPS part-timer and active member of Teamsters Local 79 in Tampa, Florida. “We spent untold hours standing outside the warehouse gates handing out literature to our coworkers about the contract. We spent our own hard-earned money printing ‘Vote No’ flyers. Hundreds of rank-and-file Teamsters across the country took a stand because this contract would hurt us and we deserve better.”

Record member participation in the vote fueled this historic victory for the ‘Vote No on the UPS Contract’ movement. Voter turnout skyrocketed from 27% in 2013 to 44% in 2018, driven in large part by rank-and-file activists in the Teamsters United group and the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) reform caucus.

Taylor claims that the IBT constitution forces him to ratify the tentative agreement, regardless of the results, because voter turnout did not reach 50% and less than 2/3 voted it down. In a nasty e-mail sent to UPS Teamsters through the IBT’s UPS Rising app, an obviously distraught Taylor attacked rank-and-file members for not voting. Taylor claims that the IBT bent over backwards to engage members in the contract process and encourage voter turnout.

“But not enough members covered by the National Master UPS Agreement exercised their right to vote,” wrote Taylor. He added, absurdly, “And as we saw in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, winning the popular vote does not necessarily win the election when the Constitution requires you to win the Electoral College vote. As Teamsters, we too must abide by the rules in our Constitution. Thus, the National Master UPS Agreement has been ratified.”

But Taylor’s blame-the-members strategy is fake news. For one, voter turnout was the highest on-record for a UPS contract in the last two decades, rising dramatically from 2013. Of course, Hoffa Jr. and Taylor didn’t give low voter turnout a second thought in the 2013 yes-vote since it went their way. Some members complained about not receiving ballot information in the mail or having difficulties with the new, online voting system.

Taylor’s bigger claim – that he constitutionally must ratify the contract – is also bogus. The IBT constitution says that officials “can” ratify a rejected agreement if it’s a “final offer” from the employer. The UPS contract was a “tentative agreement,” and at no point did either the company or the union present the deal as a “final offer.”

Rank-and-file activists and reform-minded Teamster local presidents, like Sean O’Brien of Local 25 out of Boston, and Fred Zuckerman of Local 89 in Louisville, Kentucky, warned Taylor not to ratify the agreement against the members’ will.

“The winds are in our favor,” said O’Brien in a statement after hearing the vote results. “Teamsters at UPS are willing to fight. The economy is strong, UPS is profitable and we are approaching peak so real leverage is at our fingertips. The contract goals are reasonable and achievable. But only if Hoffa doesn’t follow through on his threat to implement the contract. Hoffa has set the table to argue he is required to implement the contract under the Teamster Constitution. THIS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE. It is time for our General President to stand with the members, not the company.”

Indeed, Hoffa Jr. and Taylor’s move to force through the UPS contract against the will of the members will hurt the Teamsters as a union along with the entire labor movement. By their actions, these sellout union bureaucrats have signaled to UPS their willingness to take any deal presented by the company, no matter how harmful it is to the workers they claim to represent.

But in an even broader sense, Hoffa Jr. and Taylor have played right into the hands of right-wing corporate lawyers and lobbyists pushing anti-union laws, like ‘right to work,’ in states across the country. Groups like the Center for Union Facts and the National Right to Work Foundation argue that unions only enrich union officials at the expense of the rank-and-file members. By trampling union democracy, Hoffa Jr. and Taylor outdid even the worst stereotypes of ‘fat-cat union bosses.’

Vote-No Teamsters are turning their outrage into action. They say the IBT should accept the results and resume a new round of negotiations with UPS for a better contract.

“There’s only one right thing to do here,” said Nick Godfrey, a UPSer out of Local 222 in Salt Lake City, Utah. “The IBT needs to respect the will of the members and go back to the bargaining table. We knew that contract they brought us was rotten, and that’s why we voted it down. UPS made $6 billion last year. There’s no reason we can’t win $15 per hour for part-timers, $5 catch-up raises and more full-time jobs.”

Several rank-and-file workers active on the Vote NO on the UPS Contract Facebook group have already pledged to start gathering petitions at their warehouses next week.

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #UPSContract #VoteNoOnUPSContract #DenisTaylor

Washington DC – The results are in. The UPS National Master Agreement, which covers approximately 250,000 workers across the country and is the largest private-sector union contract in the United States, has been rejected in a 45.74% to 54.26% vote.

After the details of the contract were released earlier this summer, rank-and-file UPS Teamsters from across the country waged an unprecedented campaign to vote no and reject the agreement. At UPS centers from the smallest town to the largest city, and effort began to prevent concessions and fight for living wages for part-timers.

“Teamsters across the country gave the full effort to reject concessions and prevailed,” said Gabriella Killpack, package car driver and steward from Local 222 in Salt Lake City. “Despite an all-out effort by both the National Negotiating Committee and UPS management, members saw through the propaganda and made their voices heard.”

#WashingtonDC #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #UPS #UPSContract #VoteNoOnUPSContract

The negotiating committee would be able to do this by using an interpretation of Article XII, Section 2 (d)(2) of the Teamsters constitution. The article gives the negotiating committee the ability to either ratify or renegotiate the contract in the event less than 50% of the membership casts votes and less than a two-thirds majority votes the contract down.

The International used this article in 2013 to push through the Local 89 Air Rider despite the overwhelming disapproval from Local 89’s members. “”At the that time, I never imagined a day would come wherein the IBT would expand upon that travesty and strip every IBT member employed at UPS of his/her right to the democratic process.” said Fred Zuckerman.

Zuckerman also raised questions over the threat from Denis Taylor, “ 'why would Denis Taylor and the IBT choose to implement a substandard agreement(s) instead of continuing negotiations for improvements?' Why would anyone in their right mind settle on a clearly unpopular final offer, when they have the authority to negotiate for a better one? “

The vote count will take place Friday, Oct. 5th at 8 P.M. Eastern Standard Time. Voting results will be broadcasted live by teleconference, dial 866-767-0669, or online, visit http://ibt.io/UPSvotecount

Here is the Teamsters United petition for the IBT to resume negations in the event of a no vote: http://www.upsteamstersunited.org/majority-rules

#WashingtonDC #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #UPSContract #FredZuckerman #VoteNoOnUPSContract

Tampa, FL – With the vote count a little less than two weeks out, west Florida UPSers will be voting ‘no’ on the tentative agreement. Despite retaliation from the company, rank-and-file militants have been informing the membership of Local 79 throughout the contract negotiation process. Now that balloting information has been mailed out and the vote is underway they are making sure UPS Teamsters have received their ballots and voted.

“Between the efforts of the company and the union to push this contract through, we need to inform the rank and file and get them to vote this deal down,” said Jerrica Hoey, one of the lead organizers for the education campaign. Local 79’s executive board, which represents UPS employees in nine counties of western Florida, has neither endorsed a ‘yes’ vote nor a ‘no’ vote on the tentative agreement. For the 2013 contract, then-president Kenneth Wood and Local 79 leadership urged the membership to vote yes.

Although the vote count will not be until Oct. 5, Jerrica Hoey is confident in a ‘no’ vote from her building. “I work at the Acline building in Tampa and we are definitely going to be a solid ‘no’ vote.” she said. Chris Lovins, a temporary cover driver in Tampa, feels the contract is bad for UPSers. “I’m voting no because of two-tier drivers and the 70-hour work week during Christmas.”

Part-timers inside the warehouse are also voting no. K.C. Hernandez, a sorter with 19 years seniority, is tired of concessionary contracts. “This is my fourth contract and every time we have conceded more while they continue to have record profits.” UPS made over $6 billion in profits last year.

If you have not yet received your balloting information in the mail or need new materials, call your local union as soon as possible. Voting will end Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time and the count will take place later that day at 8 p.m.

#TampaFL #Teamsters #VoteNo #VoteNoOnUPSContract #TeamstersLocal79

But unlike previous years, the outcome of this contract vote is anything but certain. UPS Teamster militants across the country have hit the gates of their warehouses and urged coworkers to vote no on the contract. Both the Teamsters United movement and the Teamsters for a Democratic Union reform caucus have spearheaded these efforts, along with Fred Zuckerman, president of Local 89, and Sean O’Brien, president of Local 25 and the Teamsters United candidate for general president in 2021.

Citing the introduction of a two-tier, lesser-paid package driver scheme – the so-called 22.4 drivers – pitiful and insulting raises for part-timers, and more, the Vote No movement has brought together rank-and-file militants and reform-minded local union leaders fighting for a better contract.

“We’ve flyered at our building, as well as most buildings in western Florida,” said Bill Aiman, a UPS Teamster in Local 79 out of Tampa, Florida. “By and large, Teamsters here feel this is a bad contract. And we deserve a whole lot better.”

UPS made $4.9 billion in profit in 2017 and received an extra $1 billion in the tax bill passed by President Donald Trump and the Republican-dominated Congress. UPS Teamsters, whose labor created these profits, went into contract negotiations hungry for a better contract.

Negotiations between the companies and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT