Contract news?

john346

No more Brown!
I've heard that UPS is tired of putting all of it's pension fund money into the Teamsters coffer, and that the Teamsters are dispersing it to everyone who has retired under a different company flag, and are now bankrupt or out of business. As I understand it, UPS is the largest contributor to the pension fund, and apparently they want to now "assist" the Teamsters in where those monies are dispersed, as in back to ONLY UPS people. If you remember, the last contract, where we walked out, one of the issues was with the pension fund being pulled from the union & privatized by UPS. Some of us were still realing from the sting of the pulled "thrift plan" that was promised to be "for ever & ever", so our perspective was to not trust the company to have full control of our pensions, to later decide to pull that as well. If all this is true, the union is going to howl to the almighty (& all of us), to decline this offer, and the only way I can see for them (UPS), to sell it to us and go against the union, is to sweeten the pension plan. Has anyone heard anything about this, or is this one of those non-issue rumors that cast about like a ball in a pin-ball machine? For me, I did walk out last time, took the meager 3 $155 checks, grumbled about those who were crossing the line, and later wound up farther in debt, to watch the Teamsters do absolutely NOTHING to those who did cross. I consider myself a team player, but I'll never strike again because the union has not shown me any significant changes in their strength.
 

bsmoking

Member
John, I come to idaho every year , i like it there at HOPE ,but as far as the penison goes , i dont want UPS to have full control of it, but i would like them to pull out of the MULTI Pensin Plan and just make it our people , and have UPS/TEAMSTER plan . I have been here 33 yrs and i think we should get about 80% of your yearly pay as your Ret. As it is now i think you get right at 1/2 the yearly income. We all bulit this co. we desevre more at the end of the game, maybe they should pay less to the big wheels here and spend more on thier people.......brian
 

john346

No more Brown!
Brian, I completely agree. When you see big companies, like Delta tell the judge that they could be back in the black if they didn't owe so much to their pension plan, and the court allows them to discontinue the obligation. That's damn chilling at our point in this job. I don't think that the Teamsters will ever go away, nor allow us to take any cuts in what they disperse to us, so the joint thing allows us some greater options. Even perhaps a with a semi-privatized program to take the tax hit, and take out our funds and re-invest on our own. I'm not sure if that is allowed under the Teamsters or not, but the semi privatized might allow us the loop hole that would allow that option as well.
 
There are multiple pension funds for UPS employees across the country. The current proposal, to the best of my knowledge, is for UPS to withdraw from the Central States pension fund only. I could be wrong, but I would think that if you're in Idaho you're in a different fund and don't have to worry about any change in how your plan is controlled.
 

bsmoking

Member
GBROWN, iam in 396 so.calif. we have a lot of funds in our pension , but to let UPS have all the rights to it ,is not a good idea at all, on the other hand ,to have the union and ups control it as 1 plan for just upsers is a great idea. ,brian
 

tireknocker

Well-Known Member
It's a done deal!!!! The Union needs this to happen. Central States is in bad shape, worse than they are telling us. If they do not get this done by the Dec. 31. their is the chance that the government could see that fund is severely underfunded and decide to take it over.

Rumor is Hand Shake deal on Contract !!!!!!!!
 
T

tired of CS

Guest
Why should UPS have to buy out CS, they already paid what was owed. Why don't all you "brothers" get together and have your plan buy out CS. UPS owes you nothing!
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
Why should UPS have to buy out CS, they already paid what was owed. Why don't all you "brothers" get together and have your plan buy out CS. UPS owes you nothing!

You must be one of these new number crunching managers right out of a junior college that never even worked as a p-time loader or unloader. Without us there is no ups! How do you like them apples?
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
GBROWN, iam in 396 so.calif. we have a lot of funds in our pension , but to let UPS have all the rights to it ,is not a good idea at all, on the other hand ,to have the union and ups control it as 1 plan for just upsers is a great idea. ,brian
Brian its a great idea if ups always stays as large as they are now. But just ask yourself whatr happens in 25 years when we are not the largest anymore and say only have 50,000 employees because dhl took a big chunk of our business? Under a multi-employer pension which dhl is part of, our pensiion wouldnt change, however as a single-employer pension it would.
 
Brian its a great idea if ups always stays as large as they are now. But just ask yourself whatr happens in 25 years when we are not the largest anymore and say only have 50,000 employees because dhl took a big chunk of our business? Under a multi-employer pension which dhl is part of, our pensiion wouldnt change, however as a single-employer pension it would.

1- Please note that Red is not in Central States.....

2- The money being pumped into CS by UPS is the major reason the plan hasn't gone under yet. UPS contributes substantially more to the plan than its employees get out of it. If UPS goes from 400,000 employees to 50,000 employees, that kind of funding would no longer be possible. So if you're expecting a multi-employer pension fund to save our pensions in that situation, it would require the IBT to organize unprecedented numbers of new members to replace the 350,000 that UPS lost. Yeah, that'll happen..... :whistling

3- I have yet to see a single person covered by CS in favor of remaining in CS. UPS is not out to "steal" our pensions. They control the part time pensions ( at least around here ) and have yet to "steal" those away... Those arguments are old and tired, as are the claims that UPS will only have 50,000 employees in 25 years. Could it happen? Absolutely. Will it happen? Not likely. If you're that worried UPS will go belly up, then I suggest you either look for another, more stable company to work for ( :laugh: ) or start saving additional money so that you don't have to rely completely on your pension when you retire. It comes down to this... Who do you think will be a more viable entity when it's time for you to retire? UPS or the Teamsters? A company that for the last 100 years has shown strong growth and the ability to be an industry leader? Or an organization with declining membership, whose history is riddled with examples of theft and corruption? I think the answer is obvious.

It doesn't mean I want the Teamsters to go away either. Without them, we wouldn't make the wages we do or have the job security we enjoy. I thank them for that, I just don't trust them to hold my money....
 
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All-in-all, I believe the pension belongs in the hands of Teamsters. Right or wrong, Teamster pension has FAR outlasted the likes of United Airlines, Digital Equipment, and a hundred other large businesses that went out of business or were bought-and-sold and basically stiffed the employees who have paid into company owned or managed funds. When companies are bought and sold, the pension fund begomes a bargaining token and history has shown that these funds are bartered away when the acquiring company weasles-out of it's responsibilty to the workers and LEGALLY moves the money out of the fund-effectively dissolving the fund.
The Teamster fund has been there for it's retirees and our obligation as union members is to ensure that the fund is retained under our control and dispersed as agreed and BE THERE FOR US when we retire...
 

pretzel_man

Well-Known Member
All-in-all, I believe the pension belongs in the hands of Teamsters. Right or wrong, Teamster pension has FAR outlasted the likes of United Airlines, Digital Equipment, and a hundred other large businesses that went out of business or were bought-and-sold and basically stiffed the employees who have paid into company owned or managed funds. When companies are bought and sold, the pension fund begomes a bargaining token and history has shown that these funds are bartered away when the acquiring company weasles-out of it's responsibilty to the workers and LEGALLY moves the money out of the fund-effectively dissolving the fund.
The Teamster fund has been there for it's retirees and our obligation as union members is to ensure that the fund is retained under our control and dispersed as agreed and BE THERE FOR US when we retire...

I think everything you say is fair, as long as its clarified...

IS the US you talk about all Teamsters? Meaning UPS and non-UPS Teamsters? That's what you have today. That's the definition of a multi-employer plan.

Employees of other companies still have a pension even though those companies have gone under. That's why a large % of the UPS Teamster dollar goes to other companies' Teamsters.

I think its your choice to make. Do you want to share UPS Teamster money with other Teamsters? This reduces risk overall, but also reduces benefit to more profitable members (like UPS Teamsters currently)

In either case, the members controlling their own fund is reasonable.

P-Man
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
While I am no pension expert, I hope that any new pension funds have to be set up so that the money cannot be used for anything else. After the Enron deal and other disasters, I would like to think that the new pension reform laws that start next year would keep the money safe from being used for any other purpose. By that, I mean if UPS is sold or loses significant business in the future, the money would still be there.
 

HazMatMan

Well-Known Member
I hope there is still a pension in 11 years when I plan on retiring.. Does anybody know if we were supposed to get a COLA raise 2 years in a row?? August 2006 AND August 2007?? I heard yes, also heard it was for 23 cents, if so, I only got 12 cents on August 2006 and got zilch, nada, zero on August 2007..
 

705red

Browncafe Steward
1- Please note that Red is not in Central States.....

2- The money being pumped into CS by UPS is the major reason the plan hasn't gone under yet. UPS contributes substantially more to the plan than its employees get out of it. If UPS goes from 400,000 employees to 50,000 employees, that kind of funding would no longer be possible. So if you're expecting a multi-employer pension fund to save our pensions in that situation, it would require the IBT to organize unprecedented numbers of new members to replace the 350,000 that UPS lost. Yeah, that'll happen..... :whistling

3- I have yet to see a single person covered by CS in favor of remaining in CS. UPS is not out to "steal" our pensions. They control the part time pensions ( at least around here ) and have yet to "steal" those away... Those arguments are old and tired, as are the claims that UPS will only have 50,000 employees in 25 years. Could it happen? Absolutely. Will it happen? Not likely. If you're that worried UPS will go belly up, then I suggest you either look for another, more stable company to work for ( :laugh: ) or start saving additional money so that you don't have to rely completely on your pension when you retire. It comes down to this... Who do you think will be a more viable entity when it's time for you to retire? UPS or the Teamsters? A company that for the last 100 years has shown strong growth and the ability to be an industry leader? Or an organization with declining membership, whose history is riddled with examples of theft and corruption? I think the answer is obvious.

It doesn't mean I want the Teamsters to go away either. Without them, we wouldn't make the wages we do or have the job security we enjoy. I thank them for that, I just don't trust them to hold my money....
Your right guy im not in the cs pension plan. But what is your point here? I would just like everyone involved to look at all the possiblities. You are aware that just because we are not in cs, this buyout will still effect all upsers in this contract, that money has to come from somewhere, so that is moneies lost to the other 200,000 upsers not in cs. I am sorry if you dont appreciate my 2 cents, but if i lose on my hourly rate, or medival, etc, i have just as much right to speak my mind. Now with that being said i have no problem sacrificing some of mine tro help you retiree at a decent age!

What happens to all the upsers in cs now? Will they stay in cs or will they assume those years? Theres way to many questions right now, and im hoping that everyone will take the time to read the offer and fine print and make the best decision.
 

wyobill

Well-Known Member
I assume the 25yrs that I have in with cs I will get to keep. While ups pulls out of cs I get to stay in the multi-employer slush fund along with my fellow retirees from ups. If the fund does run out of money before retirees die at least we will be able to go back to work without teamster sanctions. :confused:1
 

tieguy

Banned
You must be one of these new number crunching managers right out of a junior college that never even worked as a p-time loader or unloader. Without us there is no ups! How do you like them apples?

tsk, tsk.. testy apples. Guy didn't put you guys down just does not want to buy out CS which I think you're also against?
 
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