UPS' Last Best and Final Offer July 22 1997

104Feeder

Phoenix Feeder
Article 40 continued...

Section 3- Air Hub and Gateway Operations

Employees presently working in or hired into existing air hubs and/or gateways shall continue to work under the present agreements covering the air hub and gateway operations. If no agreement exists, Article 40 Sec 3 shall apply. However, if Sec 3 is silent, the appropriate Supplement, Rider or Addendum, if it addresses that subject, will apply. Supplemental language applicable to ground operations shall not apply to air hub or gateway operations unless the parties specifically agree. In order for the Employer to remain competitive and to meet service it may use air sorts to process ground packages moved by air and other time definite package and move such packages in air loads. Ground packages processed in air sorts may not be delivered by air drivers as air packages. When air facilities are otherwise utilized to process ground packages the terms of the Supplemental Agreements will apply. Part-time Air hub employees (skilled and unskilled both still payd $8.00/hr) will not be allowed to process ground packages at air facilities. Say goodbye to part-time and full time higher paying jobs at current ground hub facilites.

a. Workweek
1. The workweek for air hub and gateway employees may be any combination of days in a work week up to five days *Removed Language* "shall consist of any 5 days in a 7 day period"*Removed Language. Split work week, any combination of these imaginable
2. *Removed Language*" Air hub and gateway employees hired prior to August 1st 1997 shall have the right to maintain the work week in existence at that time if such workweek exists."*Removed Language*

b. Daily guarantees unchanged
c. Holidays unchanged
d. rest periods unchange
e Newly expanded hubs and Gateways unchanged
friend. Seniority minor change fixing grammar in a sentence
g. Start times unchanged
h. rain gear unchanged

Section 4 Start Times for Air Shuttle and Air Feeder Drivers

Because of the nature of *removed language*"the"*removed language* its air and time definite business, regular air shuttle and *removed language*"air feed"*removed language* feeder drivers may have flexible start times *removed language*"on Monday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and/or Holidays *Removed Language* to coincide with the needs of the Employers air and time definite operations. Feeder work is done under part-time air guidelines

Section 5 Grievance Procedure
a. unchanged
b. All grievances, controversies and/or disputes concerning the Air Operation shall be subject to the regular grievance procedure. Any decision rendered by a local, state, or area panel which interprets Article 40 shall not be precedent setting in any other *removed language*"factual"*removed language* case
c. Any dispute concerning the interpretation or applicability of this Article including cases which have been deadlocked at the lower level shall be submitted to the Joint National Air Committee for resolution. *Removed Language*"If the case cannot be decided by the Air Committee it shall be referred directly to the Parcel rest of -page is missing-*Removed Language*

Section 6 Wages

All hourly wages for employees covered under Article 40 will be determined entirely by this Section. However, these employees shall be entitled to the profit share agreed upon in Article 22 or Article 41 as applicable.

a. Part-time Air Drivers on the payroll as of August 1st 1997
Start... $10.00
Seniority ... 55% of the prevailing pkg driver rate
Seniority Date plus 12 months.... 60% of the prevailing pkg driver rate
Seniority Date plus 18 months....65% of the prevailing pkg driver rate
Seniority Date plus 24 months... 70% of the prevailing pkg driver rate

b. Part-time employees hired or bidding into part-time air driver or less than 8 hour combination jobs after August 1st 1997
Start... $10.00
Seniority... $10.50
Seniority Date plus 12 months ... 55% of the prevailing pkg driver rate
Seniority Date plus 24 months ... 60% of the prevailing pkg driver rate
Seniority Date plus 36 months .... 65% of the prevailing pkg driver rate
Seniority Date plus 48 months ... 70% of the prevailing pkg driver rate

No base wage rate increase and the two year progression to reach top rate of pay is now increased to 4 years. (Above and Below)

c. Full-time Air Drivers
Start.... $10.00
Seniority... 60% of the prevailing pkg driver rate
Seniority Date plus 12 months .... 65% of the prevailing pkg driver rate
Seniority Date plus 18 months .... 70% of the prevailing pkg driver rate
Seniority Date plus 24 months .... 75% of the prevailing pkg driver rate

d. Employees who are scheduled full or part-time air drivers as of August 1, 1997 will be placed into the progression in paragraph 6a or 6c above as applicable based on their seniority as an air driver unless paragraph 6g below applies.

-page missing-

J. Full-time employees bidding into an air driver job with more than two years seniority shall be slotted at the 24 month rate in Section 6c and full time employees with less than 2 years seniority shall be slotted into the appropriate progression rate in Section 6c above.

k. Air hub and gateway employees shall be paid at the "All Others" rate of pay as shown in Article 22 of this Agreement
All Air Hub Employees are still paid at the pathetic $8.00 per hour rate of pay that has been in effect since the Air Operation was created in 1987. That rate applies to both skilled and un-skilled Employees. Skilled Employees in Ground Hub operations start at $9.00/hr. What's wrong with this picture?

l. Air operation employees who are covered by a daily guarantee shall receive the same rest period provisions as outlined in the appropriate Supplement, Rider of Addendum.

Proposed July 22, 1997
 

104Feeder

Phoenix Feeder
Article 43 Feeder Services

Preamble

In Order to enable UPS employees to have an opportunity to perform as much of the feeder work that is currently being subcontracted as possible, and enable the Employer's feeder network to provide competitive services, the following Article shall supersede language on the same subjects in the Supplements, Riders and Addenda unless specifically stated otherwise in this Article
Have better language/protections in your local Feeder Work Rules? Not anymore!

Section 1 Feeder Scheduling

A.) The Employer will utilize 4 types of feeder drivers for feeder work:

1. Hourly Driver- hourly work is normally all work that is under 375 total miles daily unless mutually agreed upon at the local level

2. Turn-around mileage driver- normally consisting of movements in excess of 375 miles round trip (unless mutually agreed upon at the local level) and will normally have a start and finish at the same domicile. Their work week shall be any 4 or 5 consecutive days in a 7 day work week.

3. Mileage layover driver- Normally has a work week consisting of any 4 consecutive days in a 7 day work week with feeder movements of over 450 miles one way. Such driver will normally make 2 round trips per week and generally start with the same time each day where practical.

4. Sleeper Teams- the Employer may utilize two person sleeper teams to complete feeder movements under the following conditions:

a) the runs must be planned bid runs which consist of at least a 40 hour equivalent work week for each driver with loaded trailers and provide for regular return to domicile. In order to make sleeper teams more feasible, reasonable efforts will be made by the Employer to develop return work for one way moves.

b)These runs will be bid to existing feeder drivers of the origin Feeder center. If no qualified feeder driver a the origin Feeder center elects to bid on a posted sleeper team run, the run will be bid in succession to the qualified list and package drivers in the origin location until a successful bidder is found. If no one bids the Employer will have the right to hire from the outside. Pay rates for new hires will be outlined in Section 6.

c) Work rules (vacation coverage, bidding, work week etc) will be developed by the Joint Feeder Services Committee as outlined in Section 3 of this Article. The work rules will supersede any language in the Supplements, Riders, or Addenda.

d) An employee who successfully bids a sleeper run may select his partner without regard to seniority, provided the driver selected meets all the necessary requirements and qualifications. Successful bidders must remain working in the sleeper classification for a minimum of one year.

e) Non-qualified full-time employees will be given the opportunity to qualify as outlined in the respective Supplemental Agreement.

B.) The planning and scheduling for these 4 types of feeder drivers will be the sole responsibility of the Employer.

Section 2 Alternate Accomodations

The Employer agrees that it will make all reasonable efforts to accomplish its feeder needs by using UPS feeder drivers and feeder qualified employees.

the last contract had one loophole which allowed subcontracting. this proposal gives UPS total control and allows subcontracting for 8 reasons. This is unacceptable.

Exceptions to this rule are: during peak season as outllined in Section 5 of this Article; sleeper team runs or mileage runs that cannot be combined with other feeder work to make a full work week; volume spikes; emergencies for which there are no qualified feeder drivers and/or equipment available. In addition the Employer has the right to use alternate accommodations in start-up periods for custom contracts and new sleeper runs or until agreed upon work rules for sleeper teams are in place.

That's not a loophole, it's a Black Hole!

No feeder driver shall be laid off as a result of subcontracting

Openings created by attrition, retirement, termination, and any new positions would be filled by subcontracting. Package car drivers can forget about any promotions to Feeder.

Planned subcontracting for permanent accommodations will be reviewed and approved by the Joint Feeder Services Committee. Such approval will not be unreasonably withheld. The wages and other economic terms of employment for such carriers shall be no less than those being generally used in the freight industry in the region for which the accommodation will be operating.

For those existing subcontracted feeder runs which may be replaced with new UPS sleeper teams the Employer may continue these runs for a reasonable transitional period.

Section 3 Joint Feeder Services Committee

The Employer and the Union agree to establish a Joint Feeder Services Committee consisting of a minimum of 4 Employer representatives and a minimum of 4 Union representatives. This Committee shall meet 4 times a year as needed or upon request of either party.

Section 4 Grievance Procedure

Disputes arising from the application of this Article will be referred immediately to the Joint Feeder Services Committee for resolution. This decision of the Committee shall be final and binding unless the Committee deadlocks in which case either party may submit the grievance to arbitration as outlined in accordance with Article 8, Sections 4-7

Proposed July 22, 1997
 

104Feeder

Phoenix Feeder
New Article 44- Expanded Service Package Handling

No employee shall be required to handle over 70 lb packages alone, if it is the employees good faith belief that such handling would be a safety hazard to herself or himself. In such cases the Employer shall provide one or more of the following as reasonably requested by the employee in handling over 70 lb packages.

1. another bargaining unit employee for assistance
2. appropriate lifting/handling devices
3. another bargaining unit employee and an appropriate lifting/handling device for handling, pickup or delivery circumstances that require both bargaining unit help and an appropriate lifting/handling device.

Employees will not be required to solicit or accept customer assistance if they have a good faith belief that the customer is not qualified to help or that such assistance would be a safety hazard to themselves or the customer.

For the purpose of inside handling, all over 70lb packages shall be considered to be irregular shipments and will not be co-mingled with under 70lb regular packages. No over 70lb packages will be placed onto the belt, box line or slide systems used for under 70lb package operations, except as provided in the Employers standard irregular handling practices and in accordance with safe package handling procedures.

(The current Over 70 interim agreement allows the Employee to choose help from lifting device, another bargaining unit employee, and/or both. This proposal takes that away and allows the Company to choose for you. A definite step backwards for the Employees. )

Proposed July 22, 1997
 

104Feeder

Phoenix Feeder
That's most of what I have. I took the time to type it, I hope you will take the time to read it and compare to your current contracts. As you may have guessed, the bold type is the proposed language, removed language is noted by *removed language* on either side, and comments are in red. Some of the comments are mine, some are from a member of our negotiation team that will be retiring any year and will be a great loss for our Union when he does.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás

I hope these current negotiations go well and are settled early. I would like to see a modest wage and pension increase, continued paid healthcare benefits, but most of all stronger subcontracting protections and anti-harassment language for all. The 1997 strike was devastating to our business and few customers use UPS exclusively anymore. While a strike would be undesirable, we absolutely should not fear exercising our power to do so. I, for one, do not want to work at a UPS without any less of a Union presence and strength than we have today. I firmly believe that Ron Carey made the right decision to reject this insulting offer and take us out on Strike in 1997.

There will be lots of opportunities for us out there, many that are waiting in the wings (more than 30 Amazon Sleeper teams that are currently being subcontracted) and opportunities to recapture business as the Post Office implodes. If you aren't saving, start now. Curtail all unnecessary expenses until this is settled. If we have a Strike Authorization Vote you know things are not going well. I would urge everyone to participate if we do as that says to the Company that --% of us are ready and willing to walk out if necessary. Carey pulled off a great victory in 1997 and Hoffa has negotiated us some excellent contracts following in his footsteps. No contract is perfect and they all have had their flaws but overall our negotiating team has done very well for Teamsters at UPS.

If you are a part-timer at UPS, please get involved in the process. Your vote counts more than you realize. Reach out to your fellow workers and urge that they join the Union so they may have a voice. Talk to Senior members from both the Package Operations and Feeder Operations about the issues concerning you and you may find they went through the same things in their time. Apathy hurts us all.
 

UnconTROLLed

perfection
Actually you had the choice to say, "that is bullsh%t, here is our counter proposal, we will not accept anything near what you are offering but will work under the current contract as we have in the past until we can come to a worthwhile agreement..."

Your leadership never produced a comprehensive counter offer, even when UPS was naive enough to try to force one with its last best final. Your leadership wanted a strike, and nothing less.

To recognize a proposal such as UPS's in 1997 would be counter-intuitive. It was a fairy-tale, hoping for a "bite" or a "blink".
 

brownmonster

Man of Great Wisdom
Sady, if the last, best and final offer would have been put to a vote like the company kept insisting, it would have more than likely passed. Scary thought.
 

brownIEman

Well-Known Member
But really, from the standpoint of the strike, this L,B,friend offer from 7-22 is irrelevant. What would be more telling is the offer that was on the table the night of 8-3 when the IBT negotiators walked out and called the strike.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
Actually you had the choice to say, "that is bullsh%t, here is our counter proposal, we will not accept anything near what you are offering but will work under the current contract as we have in the past until we can come to a worthwhile agreement..."

Your leadership never produced a comprehensive counter offer, even when UPS was naive enough to try to force one with its last best final. Your leadership wanted a strike, and nothing less.

Your leadership wanted to break the union, and nothing less.

You did not start actually bargaining until about 3 weeks into the strike. You issued a "last best and final offer"on July 31st that was nothing more than a blatant attempt to destroy the union and implement unlimited subcontracting. You never intended to bargain in good faith in the first place, so dont get all butt-hurt about the fact that we called your bluff and told you exactly where you could stick that "last best and final" offer.
 

brownIEman

Well-Known Member
Your leadership wanted to break the union, and nothing less.

You did not start actually bargaining until about 3 weeks into the strike. You issued a "last best and final offer"on July 31st that was nothing more than a blatant attempt to destroy the union and implement unlimited subcontracting. You never intended to bargain in good faith in the first place, so dont get all butt-hurt about the fact that we called your bluff and told you exactly where you could stick that "last best and final" offer.

Check the timeline again. The last best final was July 22nd. The strike only lasted 2 weeks, so that really would have been late bargaining on UPS' Part.
If the UPS wanted to break the union, they would have started hiring replacement workers as soon as the strike started. That is how you break unions.
Your statements are simply not supported by events.

And for the record, I had a blast and kept getting paid during the strike, so I was not really butt hurt by what you did with the offer. I was neither in a bargaining unit job nor in management at the time. I simply think had the union continued to negotiate and drag out the process without calling a work stoppage, they could likely have won everything they eventually acquired without you having to miss a paycheck.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
Check the timeline again. The last best final was July 22nd. The strike only lasted 2 weeks, so that really would have been late bargaining on UPS' Part.
If the UPS wanted to break the union, they would have started hiring replacement workers as soon as the strike started. That is how you break unions.
Your statements are simply not supported by events.

.

The contract expired at midnight on Thursday, July 31st 1997. Prior to that UPS had requested, and was granted, a one-day extension. On Friday, August 1st, the details of UPS's "last, best and final" offer were read to us by our Division Manager at the morning PCM. The IBT called for a strike on Sunday, August 3rd and we started picketing that night. The strike ended on August 18th. My statement about UPS not bargaining until "3" weeks into the strike was a typo on my part.
 

brownIEman

Well-Known Member
The contract expired at midnight on Thursday, July 31st 1997. Prior to that UPS had requested, and was granted, a one-day extension. On Friday, August 1st, the details of UPS's "last, best and final" offer were read to us by our Division Manager at the morning PCM. The IBT called for a strike on Sunday, August 3rd and we started picketing that night. The strike ended on August 18th. My statement about UPS not bargaining until "3" weeks into the strike was a typo on my part.

If it was UPS that was not bargaining, why did UPS ask for another extension to keep negotiating on Sunday August 3rd? And why did the Teamsters turn them down and walk away from the table that night?

I think the main reason the IBT went on strike is that Carey wanted one, and he knew he could "win" one with UPS because he knew he could have gotten what he wanted without one anyway. He wanted to have a war victory for his re-election bid. In the event, the government did not allow him to run anyway.

I recognize we will likely have to agree to disagree on this.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
Started Monday August 4th, Handshake ending it was done either Monday August 18th or Tuesday August 19th, can't remember for sure. So either 2 weeks even or 2 weeks and 1 day.

I was wrong. It was 15 days. Maybe it was 3 weeks before we got all our beer cans picked up from the strike compound.
 

brownIEman

Well-Known Member
The Last, Best, and Final Offer was "Take it or leave it" on the last day of negotiations. That is fact, not my opinion.
It's straight out of the Union busting hardball playbook.

Article - How To Play Collective Bargaining Hardball with the Union

It was offered last day of REGULAR negotiations prior to the expiration of the prior contract as take it or leave it. The Teamsters left it. Then both sides negotiated over the weekend of August 2-3rd with the involvement of the national mediators. At the end of that session, UPS had moved significantly from the terms of this last best final, and asked for a further extension to continue negotiating. The teamsters refused and left the negotiating table on Sunday night, the Strike began at midnight monday morning. That is also fact, not my opinion.
 

TechGrrl

Space Cadet
It was offered last day of REGULAR negotiations prior to the expiration of the prior contract as take it or leave it. The Teamsters left it. Then both sides negotiated over the weekend of August 2-3rd with the involvement of the national mediators. At the end of that session, UPS had moved significantly from the terms of this last best final, and asked for a further extension to continue negotiating. The teamsters refused and left the negotiating table on Sunday night, the Strike began at midnight monday morning. That is also fact, not my opinion.


-AND- 15 year old memories mean nothing this time around, since the leadership on both sides has changed. Ron Carey is long gone, and I can't even remember who the CEO was.

Not to mention the totally different economy, and all the other changes that have taken place since then.

We live in interesting times....
 
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