Its an interesting situation. There is a certain arrogance with these locals negotiating seperately from the national contract. The members will expect to do better then the national everytime. Yet the economy has seriously tanked since the national was negotiated. So if the chicago locals do walk what then. Do they expect the rest of the country to show unity when chicago never showed unity by being part of the national negotiations?
705 and 710 have always negotiated seperate from the national. Not only ups, freight, rails, tankers etc. Im speaking for myself here and i do not believe im any any better than any other upser across the country or the world.
Its no different than other supplements that other locals receive.
705 is big enough to negotiate seperate because its condensed in a smaller area with over 12,000 upsers. Other locals with upsers are alot smaller in comparison and have to combine in order bargain and do not have the resources or funds to do it alone. We have 4 seperate buildings each with more than 1000 members and one that has roughly 6000. Its not arrogance its the way it has been.
What i can tell you is different here now from the rest of the nation, and its contract enforcement. All we want to do is come to work and give a fair days work for a fair days pay. Now if ups would allow us to do this without violating our seniority, over dispatching 9.5 guys, not honoring 8 hour requets, not send people home for being a minute or 2 late, not firing people for filling up water bottles on the clock in hot weather, not allowing medically dq drivers to work inside, i mean the list goes on. This is what people get frustrated with and this is how the union gets members involved. We dont run around recruiting good union drivers in the workplace ups creates them!
We could have kept working in 97, we walked out to support our brothers and sisters across the nation and then held out several more days after they went back to work.
