APWA Dividing Members’ Energy

[twnjrspc]

Parcel Workers Association: Not the Right Course
February 22, 2007.

A group of UPS workers, with encouragement from management, is attempting to oust the Teamsters Union on a national scale. This outfit, the American Parcel Workers Association, is a wrong turn down a blind alley for Teamsters who want positive change.

The APWA leaders spread UPS corporate propaganda on our pensions. Check www.MakeUPSDeliver.org for the facts on this matter. The APWA advocates an anti-union “right to work state” posture, insisting that UPS workers should be able to decline to pay their union dues, sticking the rest of us with the bill. Their attorney’s firm advertises that they help corporations break unions and force health care concessions on workers. In short, they are against basic union principles.

The APWA has attracted the interest of a number of UPS Teamsters in the South who are frustrated with the Hoffa leadership and the pension cuts imposed by the trustees of the Central States Fund.

The APWA is doomed to fail because the majority of Teamsters are not going to vote out the Teamsters Union and leave behind their pensions, except for their vested rights. They are not going to give up union protection for an untested association.( aka Paper Tiger)

But in the process, we are concerned that this organization can divert membership energy into a blind alley. Teamsters fed up with pension cuts and leaders who lie to them may head down that alley, instead of on a positive road for change.

Originally Posted by twnjrspc
Hell, our Local, State, and Federal Governments aren't working for us either. Should we withdrawal our U.S. citizenship to become a part of a new untested government?

ENGINEER 79 REPLY: If the government does not work for you, you have an opportunity to vote them out.

TWNJRSPC REPLY: Then what part did the Engineer 79, the APWA, and supporters take during the recent Teamster elections?

ENGINEER 79 REPLY: Silence.......

If UPS Teamsters want change, and many do want change in our union, we have the tools to make it happen. First of all, we can elect our top IBT officials. James Hoffa was reelected Teamster president in November with 174,900 votes. There are 230,000 UPS Teamsters, and the number is growing. Do the math: UPS workers have the power to elect our top leaders. We can elect leaders in our local unions. And we have a right to vote by secret ballot, by majority rule, on our contract and contract supplements.
Are those hard to accomplish? You bet. But they are a hell of a lot easier than uniting 230,000 Teamsters to leave their union to end up with no protection.
It was Teamsters for a Democratic Union that fought for and won all these rights.
If Teamsters had been distracted into anti-union efforts like the APWA, we never would have won the right to elect our top leaders or majority rule on our contract votes, or 25-and-out; we would not have won our 1997 strike.
We respect the right of all Teamsters to consider any option. Check out the facts for yourself. If you want positive change, the right course is Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a movement that is 100 percent Teamster, 100 percent noncorruptible, and with a proven track record of positive victories.

 

[UPS FREIGHT WORKER]

Right on Brother! We at UPS Freight Know the apwa is nothing but a distraction, and at my terminal we would never sign up with them!

 

[nospinzone]

Potential Teamster rival begins campaign to woo UPS employees
Pension and Investments Online
By Barry B. Burr
Posted: March 5, 2007, 6:01 AM EST


The Association of Parcel Workers of America kicked off its campaign to replace the Teamsters union as labor representative at United Parcel Service of America Inc. and take control of UPS employees’ share of more than $50 billion assets in Teamster multiemployer pension funds and more than $1 billion in annual UPS contributions.

The dissident labor group exclusively comprising UPS workers is asking 238,000 workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Washington, to sign individual petition cards, asking for their authorization for the new APWA organization to represent them in collective bargaining at the company, said Van Skillman, a UPS driver from Greensboro, N.C., and president and co-founder of the new union.

The key issue for the APWA is better pension fund management and higher and more equitable pension benefits that workers currently receive from the 21 Teamster multiemployer plans that cover UPS employees, Mr. Skillman said.

The group needs 30% of the Teamster-represented UPS employees to sign the cards in order to ask the National Labor Relations Board, Washington, to hold an election to determine which union will be certified as the labor representative at UPS, Mr. Skillman said. APWA officials hope to complete the petition signing in 60 days.

The APWA seeks to become the collective bargaining union for parcel-service workers at UPS, based in Atlanta, Mr. Skillman said. Some 12,000 Teamsters at UPS joined the APWA, paying its $150 per person initiation fee, Mr. Skillman said.

Gail Moran, assistant to the regional director at the NLRB, said, “It’s not usual you have more than one union representing the same classification of works at the same company,” But she said she couldn’t say if that’s the case with the UPS workers.

The current Teamsters contract with UPS expires in 2008.

Galen Munroe, Teamsters press secretary, said in a statement, “We don’t believe that the APWA is a legitimate labor union, they have no filings with the Department of Labor and they have never negotiated any contracts.”

The three largest of the 21 Teamsters pension funds covering UPS employees have more than $50 billion in assets: the $30.2 billion Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust Fund, Seattle; $20.7 billion Central States, Southeast and Southwestern Areas Pension Fund, Rosemont, Ill.; and $3.4 billion New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Fund, Burlington, Mass., Officials from the three funds couldn’t be reached for comment. The total assets of the other 18 plans wasn’t available.

UPS Teamster employees represent various proportions of the participants in 21 Teamster multiemployer funds. UPS contributed $1.289 billion in 2005 to multiemployer funds, according to its most recent 10-K report filed in 2006. “The vast, vast majority of it” went to Teamster pension funds, said Norman Black, UPS spokesman; he didn’t have an exact figure.

Mr. Black declined to comment on the APWA effort, saying UPS isn’t involved in its employees’ choice of union representation.

UPS and the Teamsters opened negotiations on a new contract in September to discuss exclusively pension and health-care issues, Mr. Black said. He said the opening of talks was unusually early for the contract that wasn’t expiring for almost two years because both sides recognize how difficult it is to settle the two issues.

UPS wants negotiators to consider all ideas regarding the structure of the union’s pension plans, Mr. Black said, although he wouldn’t elaborate. Mr. Black said UPS is concerned about severe underfunding of some of the Teamster plans; the use of UPS contributions to subside pensions of people who have worked for other companies that went out of business and no longer contribute into the Teamster plans; and disparate pension benefits at different Teamster funds for the same UPS work and length of service. Mr. Black would not specify which Teamsters plans UPS considers most troubling in terms of funding level.

The Central States plan is 60.5% funded as of Nov. 1, 2005, according to a Teamsters November 2006 report. To improve funding, the plan is seeking to increase contributions for each renewal period.

Western Conference reported its plan no longer had an unfunded liability as of 2006 and “this means there is no withdrawal liability for employers who withdraw from the plan in 2006,” it said in a report.

The Western Conference plan’s “investment performance remains stellar, ranking in the sixth percentile of Taft-Hartley trusts over the past 10 years, as measured by the Wilshire Cooperative Universe, the report said.

Mr. Black said UPS proposed in 1997 contract negotiations that workers could withdraw from Teamster plans and UPS would create a new pension plan for its Teamster employees, but the Teamsters opposed the idea and UPS didn’t pursue it, Mr. Black said. A UPS spokeswoman at that time said the proposal would increase pension benefits for Teamster members by 50%. The Teamsters’ Mr. Munroe would not comment on the 1997 UPS offer.

Teamsters Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund reported a 14.45% preliminary return for 2006, according to a report filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago under a court-supervised consent decree with the Department of Labor dating to the 1970s. The fund had $20.7 billion in assets as of last Dec. 31, the report said.

Mr. Skillman said he believes the APWA could improve pensions in part by taking the UPS employees out of the costly Teamster funds and making management under the APWA more transparent. He said details about the management of the Teamsters funds is difficult to obtain. He said some of the Teamsters funds, especially the Central States, have underperformed.

Jack Marco, chairman of Marco Consulting Group, Chicago, which specializes in consulting to jointly trusteed plans, said the decline of contributing employers in Teamster funds puts more burden on UPS to subsidize benefits of non-UPS employees. But he said it an “an industry problem, not a pension problem” with other companies going out of the trucking business.

“If these employers stayed in business, you’d have a healthy pension fund,” Mr. Marco said. “UPS is stuck with the bill for these guys.

“I think for all employers in the fund, it is a rotten deal some employers went out of business and didn’t pay their (pension) bill,” Mr. Marco said. “Employers have a legitimate gripe.”

Mr. Marco said the disparity in pensions among UPS employees depending to which Teamster they belong “is not ideal.” “Unfortunately, that is the way the world evolved,” he said. “If’ there was one plan for everyone, then it could be fairer.”

 

[twnjrspc]

Potential Teamster rival begins campaign to woo UPS employees
Pension and Investments Online
By Barry B. Burr
Posted: March 5, 2007, 6:01 AM EST


The Association of Parcel Workers of America kicked off its campaign to replace the Teamsters union as labor representative at United Parcel Service of America Inc. and take control of UPS employees’ share of more than $50 billion assets in Teamster multiemployer pension funds and more than $1 billion in annual UPS contributions.

The dissident labor group exclusively comprising UPS workers is asking 238,000 workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Washington, to sign individual petition cards, asking for their authorization for the new APWA organization to represent them in collective bargaining at the company, said Van Skillman, a UPS driver from Greensboro, N.C., and president and co-founder of the new union.

The key issue for the APWA is better pension fund management and higher and more equitable pension benefits that workers currently receive from the 21 Teamster multiemployer plans that cover UPS employees, Mr. Skillman said.

The group needs 30% of the Teamster-represented UPS employees to sign the cards in order to ask the National Labor Relations Board, Washington, to hold an election to determine which union will be certified as the labor representative at UPS, Mr. Skillman said. APWA officials hope to complete the petition signing in 60 days.

The APWA seeks to become the collective bargaining union for parcel-service workers at UPS, based in Atlanta, Mr. Skillman said. Some 12,000 Teamsters at UPS joined the APWA, paying its $150 per person initiation fee, Mr. Skillman said.

Gail Moran, assistant to the regional director at the NLRB, said, “It’s not usual you have more than one union representing the same classification of works at the same company,” But she said she couldn’t say if that’s the case with the UPS workers.

The current Teamsters contract with UPS expires in 2008.

Galen Munroe, Teamsters press secretary, said in a statement, “We don’t believe that the APWA is a legitimate labor union, they have no filings with the Department of Labor and they have never negotiated any contracts.”

The three largest of the 21 Teamsters pension funds covering UPS employees have more than $50 billion in assets: the $30.2 billion Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust Fund, Seattle; $20.7 billion Central States, Southeast and Southwestern Areas Pension Fund, Rosemont, Ill.; and $3.4 billion New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Fund, Burlington, Mass., Officials from the three funds couldn’t be reached for comment. The total assets of the other 18 plans wasn’t available.

UPS Teamster employees represent various proportions of the participants in 21 Teamster multiemployer funds. UPS contributed $1.289 billion in 2005 to multiemployer funds, according to its most recent 10-K report filed in 2006. “The vast, vast majority of it” went to Teamster pension funds, said Norman Black, UPS spokesman; he didn’t have an exact figure.

Mr. Black declined to comment on the APWA effort, saying UPS isn’t involved in its employees’ choice of union representation.

UPS and the Teamsters opened negotiations on a new contract in September to discuss exclusively pension and health-care issues, Mr. Black said. He said the opening of talks was unusually early for the contract that wasn’t expiring for almost two years because both sides recognize how difficult it is to settle the two issues.

UPS wants negotiators to consider all ideas regarding the structure of the union’s pension plans, Mr. Black said, although he wouldn’t elaborate. Mr. Black said UPS is concerned about severe underfunding of some of the Teamster plans; the use of UPS contributions to subside pensions of people who have worked for other companies that went out of business and no longer contribute into the Teamster plans; and disparate pension benefits at different Teamster funds for the same UPS work and length of service. Mr. Black would not specify which Teamsters plans UPS considers most troubling in terms of funding level.

The Central States plan is 60.5% funded as of Nov. 1, 2005, according to a Teamsters November 2006 report. To improve funding, the plan is seeking to increase contributions for each renewal period.

Western Conference reported its plan no longer had an unfunded liability as of 2006 and “this means there is no withdrawal liability for employers who withdraw from the plan in 2006,” it said in a report.

The Western Conference plan’s “investment performance remains stellar, ranking in the sixth percentile of Taft-Hartley trusts over the past 10 years, as measured by the Wilshire Cooperative Universe, the report said.

Mr. Black said UPS proposed in 1997 contract negotiations that workers could withdraw from Teamster plans and UPS would create a new pension plan for its Teamster employees, but the Teamsters opposed the idea and UPS didn’t pursue it, Mr. Black said. A UPS spokeswoman at that time said the proposal would increase pension benefits for Teamster members by 50%. The Teamsters’ Mr. Munroe would not comment on the 1997 UPS offer.

Teamsters Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund reported a 14.45% preliminary return for 2006, according to a report filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago under a court-supervised consent decree with the Department of Labor dating to the 1970s. The fund had $20.7 billion in assets as of last Dec. 31, the report said.

Mr. Skillman said he believes the APWA could improve pensions in part by taking the UPS employees out of the costly Teamster funds and making management under the APWA more transparent. He said details about the management of the Teamsters funds is difficult to obtain. He said some of the Teamsters funds, especially the Central States, have underperformed.

Jack Marco, chairman of Marco Consulting Group, Chicago, which specializes in consulting to jointly trusteed plans, said the decline of contributing employers in Teamster funds puts more burden on UPS to subsidize benefits of non-UPS employees. But he said it an “an industry problem, not a pension problem” with other companies going out of the trucking business.

“If these employers stayed in business, you’d have a healthy pension fund,” Mr. Marco said. “UPS is stuck with the bill for these guys.

“I think for all employers in the fund, it is a rotten deal some employers went out of business and didn’t pay their (pension) bill,” Mr. Marco said. “Employers have a legitimate gripe.”

Mr. Marco said the disparity in pensions among UPS employees depending to which Teamster they belong “is not ideal.” “Unfortunately, that is the way the world evolved,” he said. “If’ there was one plan for everyone, then it could be fairer.”

The group needs 30% of the Teamster-represented UPS employees to sign the cards in order to ask the National Labor Relations Board, Washington, to hold an election to determine which union will be certified as the labor representative at UPS, Mr. Skillman said. APWA officials hope to complete the petition signing in 60 days.- So in just 60 days, the APWA will decertify some 71,400 of 238,000 UPS Teamster members, Right?And again I ask, where the hell were they during the recent Teamster election, when all UPS'ers had an opportunity to vote in reform minded candidates, like The Tom L Slate? Something smells here!

If UPS Teamsters want change, and many do want change in our union, we have the tools to make it happen.

First of all, we can elect our top IBT officials. James Hoffa was reelected Teamster president in November with 174,900 votes. There are 230,000 UPS Teamsters, and the number is growing. Do the math: UPS workers have the power to elect our top leaders. We can elect leaders in our local unions. And we have a right to vote by secret ballot, by majority rule, on our contract and contract supplements.Are those hard to accomplish? You bet. But they are a hell of a lot easier than uniting 230,000 Teamsters to leave their union to end up with no protection!

It was Teamsters for a Democratic Union that fought for and won all these rights.The APWA leaders spread UPS corporate propaganda on our pensions. Check www.MakeUPSDeliver.org for the facts on this matter. The APWA advocates an anti-union “right to work state” posture, insisting that UPS workers should be able to decline to pay their union dues, sticking the rest of us with the bill. Their attorney’s firm advertises that they help corporations break unions and force health care concessions on workers. In short, they are against basic union principles.


If Teamsters had been distracted into anti-union efforts like the APWA, we never would have won the right to elect our top leaders or majority rule on our contract votes, or 25-and-out; we would not have won our 1997 strike.


We respect the right of all Teamsters to consider any option. Check out the facts for yourself. If you want positive change, the right course is Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a movement that is 100 percent Teamster, 100 percent noncorruptible, and with a proven track record of positive victories.

 

[si_dan]

I agree with twnjrspc. As teamsters we have an avenue for change.
It is our right to vote. Hoffa won with 174,000 plus votes out of over a million
that was eligible. If you want a better union, participate in the process.
Dont throw out your ballot or put it on the junk mail pile. Attend a meeting once in a while and ask questions. Let them know you are concerned with what is going on. Remember that union officials work for you. Check out the website mentioned above and also tdu.org. Positive change can come from within.

 

[1eyejack]

Like i said before when we take office we will be glad to talk about how the die hard teamster members would like us to transfer there 40 cent on a dollar back into the teamster great plan .. we all no that when ups puts in 234 per week and u only get 50 aweek into ur fund wht a deal please make sure u speak up when we take office an u still want out ....oh yea i just received my teamster 401 k plan and it says if i take out 6% of my money which it would be 285 per month my return in 30 yrs would be 420,000 and average of 9% in return ..now that sound like a whole bunch ...Wht would happen if i invested the 234.oo dollar aweek i can only imagine how much i would get back ..thats 12,168x 30 yrs 365,000 plus and average of 9% .3 , 285,345 dollar for a ... oh yea they wht to give me 2,500 a month for my 25 yrs of service that they took away from me plus they will penalized me if i decided to work a little part time job plus i don't have the age so i get penalized again oh yea that sounds like a great fringing plan the teamsters offer ..oh yea they say we have the votes that can take out hoffa just remember its not just ups voting for the jerk he has other people that r in the teamsters .. but the day will come when we will vote to out the teamsters that will happen because UPS people can make it HAPPEN they know this is the only chance to get rid of the teamsters ... just remember 1 think they work for us we don't work for them ... we have had enough of the great lies its STOPS HERE ......

 

[twnjrspc]

Like i said before when we take office we will be glad to talk about how the die hard teamster members would like us to transfer there 40 cent on a dollar back into the teamster great plan .. we all no that when ups puts in 234 per week and u only get 50 aweek into ur fund wht a deal please make sure u speak up when we take office an u still want out ....oh yea i just received my teamster 401 k plan and it says if i take out 6% of my money which it would be 285 per month my return in 30 yrs would be 420,000 and average of 9% in return ..now that sound like a whole bunch ...Wht would happen if i invested the 234.oo dollar aweek i can only imagine how much i would get back ..thats 12,168x 30 yrs 365,000 plus and average of 9% .3 , 285,345 dollar for a ... oh yea they wht to give me 2,500 a month for my 25 yrs of service that they took away from me plus they will penalized me if i decided to work a little part time job plus i don't have the age so i get penalized again oh yea that sounds like a great fringing plan the teamsters offer ..oh yea they say we have the votes that can take out hoffa just remember its not just ups voting for the jerk he has other people that r in the teamsters .. but the day will come when we will vote to out the teamsters that will happen because UPS people can make it HAPPEN they know this is the only chance to get rid of the teamsters ... just remember 1 think they work for us we don't work for them ... we have had enough of the great lies its STOPS HERE ......

Then why did you not vote them out in the recent Teamster election? Where were all of you then? What position did all of you take on replacing Hoffa? Were you out there campaiging for The Tom L Slate? You seem to think that this APWA will be untouchable, and free of corruption. Come on now! You can't possibly believe that...Do You? What's next...are you going to replace our Local, State, and Federal governments. Oh...that's right, "We vote them out". Take off your rose colored glasses my friend.

 

[Ironshot]

TEAMSTERS (IBT)
Union Reformers Accuse Chicago Local of Ballot-Stuffing
Dissenters within the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for months have been accusing President James P. Hoffa, Jr. of planning to steal his bid for re-election this fall. But they’re not hesitating to point out that certain local officials loyal to Hoffa are trying to do the same thing in their own campaigns. Chicago’s Local 743, they argue, presents a flagrant example. Richard Berg, an activist with Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) challenging Hoffa’s loyalist incumbent Robert Walston for the presidency, says he was robbed – and that he’s got the documentation to prove it.

Evidence obtained by Berg’s attorney, Tom Geoghegan, purportedly shows that hundreds of ballots were bulk-mailed to addresses of employers, stewards and even a Russian bath house frequented by Walston. The phony ballots subsequently were marked and counted in the December 2004 election, giving Walston his margin of victory. “We knew the election was stolen from us,” said Berg. “But I don’t think we expected to get the black and white proof, and see how they did it.”

The leadership of the 12,000-member local already had been cited as corrupt by ex-Teamsters internal cleanup supervisor Ed Stier, who resigned in protest nearly two years ago. Berg’s New Leadership slate plans to make its presence felt at the IBT nominating convention in Las Vegas this June. Meanwhile, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, acting on member complaints, filed suit against the local hierarchy last August on grounds that it failed to “insure a fair election,” when seven insurgent candidates ran for office. Chao wants a federal judge in Chicago to order a new vote, this time to be supervised by the government. (www.tdu.org, 1/30; Crain’s Chicago Busines

This group has tried for 30 yrs!! Time for plan B.. Toss out all the IBT..thieves These reports are never ending for one reason, there never was another choice and now there is another choice; it is the APWA.

 

[twnjrspc]

Like i said before when we take office we will be glad to talk about how the die hard teamster members would like us to transfer there 40 cent on a dollar back into the teamster great plan .. we all no that when ups puts in 234 per week and u only get 50 aweek into ur fund wht a deal please make sure u speak up when we take office an u still want out ....oh yea i just received my teamster 401 k plan and it says if i take out 6% of my money which it would be 285 per month my return in 30 yrs would be 420,000 and average of 9% in return ..now that sound like a whole bunch ...Wht would happen if i invested the 234.oo dollar aweek i can only imagine how much i would get back ..thats 12,168x 30 yrs 365,000 plus and average of 9% .3 , 285,345 dollar for a ... oh yea they wht to give me 2,500 a month for my 25 yrs of service that they took away from me plus they will penalized me if i decided to work a little part time job plus i don't have the age so i get penalized again oh yea that sounds like a great fringing plan the teamsters offer ..oh yea they say we have the votes that can take out hoffa just remember its not just ups voting for the jerk he has other people that r in the teamsters .. but the day will come when we will vote to out the teamsters that will happen because UPS people can make it HAPPEN they know this is the only chance to get rid of the teamsters ... just remember 1 think they work for us we don't work for them ... we have had enough of the great lies its STOPS HERE ......

TEAMSTERS (IBT)
Union Reformers Accuse Chicago Local of Ballot-Stuffing
Dissenters within the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for months have been accusing President James P. Hoffa, Jr. of planning to steal his bid for re-election this fall. But they’re not hesitating to point out that certain local officials loyal to Hoffa are trying to do the same thing in their own campaigns. Chicago’s Local 743, they argue, presents a flagrant example. Richard Berg, an activist with Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) challenging Hoffa’s loyalist incumbent Robert Walston for the presidency, says he was robbed – and that he’s got the documentation to prove it.

Evidence obtained by Berg’s attorney, Tom Geoghegan, purportedly shows that hundreds of ballots were bulk-mailed to addresses of employers, stewards and even a Russian bath house frequented by Walston. The phony ballots subsequently were marked and counted in the December 2004 election, giving Walston his margin of victory. “We knew the election was stolen from us,” said Berg. “But I don’t think we expected to get the black and white proof, and see how they did it.”

The leadership of the 12,000-member local already had been cited as corrupt by ex-Teamsters internal cleanup supervisor Ed Stier, who resigned in protest nearly two years ago. Berg’s New Leadership slate plans to make its presence felt at the IBT nominating convention in Las Vegas this June. Meanwhile, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, acting on member complaints, filed suit against the local hierarchy last August on grounds that it failed to “insure a fair election,” when seven insurgent candidates ran for office. Chao wants a federal judge in Chicago to order a new vote, this time to be supervised by the government. (www.tdu.org, 1/30; Crain’s Chicago Busines

This group has tried for 30 yrs!! Time for plan B.. Toss out all the IBT..thieves These reports are never ending for one reason, there never was another choice and now there is another choice; it is the APWA.

Hello Ironshot. Haven't chatted with you in awhlie, hope all is well with you.

I 've not forgotten your experience With the Hoffa led Teamsters, but as a majority, we are not from that same mold. You've never been a member of any Union, right? Well anyway, just recently,UPS Teamsters had an opportunity to reform, and vote out the Hoffa regime. Again I ask...where was the reform minded, and APWA supporters? I just can't seem to get an answer to that.

Simply put,this situation is no different than our Governments, that are elected to represent us. For hundreds of years they have been corrupted, and have failed us. Does that mean we revoke our citizenship, and what rights, benefits, and protections we have, to follow a handful of people that have divised an untested plan, that merely exists on paper? Absolutely not!

If UPS Teamsters want change, and many do want change in our union, we have the tools to make it happen. First of all, we can elect our top IBT officials. James Hoffa was reelected Teamster president in November with 174,900 votes. There are 230,000 UPS Teamsters, and the number is growing. Do the math: UPS workers have the power to elect our top leaders. We can elect leaders in our local unions. And we have a right to vote by secret ballot, by majority rule, on our contract and contract supplements. Are those hard to accomplish? You bet. But they are a hell of a lot easier than uniting 230,000 Teamsters to leave their union to end up with no protection.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the APWA needs some 70,000 of 230,000 UPS Teamsters to decertify, or give up their protections and rights, in order for the APWA to be certified as a representing body under the NLRB? Oh, and they're going to do this within a 60 day time period? Golly Gee Batman! If you guys are that good, you could have spanked old Hoffa in the recent election. I'm sorry Ironshot, but while there's alot of apathy, and simple minds out there, that leaves the APWA to only prey on the stupid.