Who Will Blink First?

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tdu

Guest
UPS and Hoffa:
Who Will Blink First?
With a July 31 contract deadline looming, Teamsters at United Parcel Service are urging union leaders to go down to the wire to win the best possible agreement.

UPS is under tremendous pressure to settle as quickly as possible.

Company spokespersons continue to make rosy predictions to the press while management tells members horror stories about the looming threat of lost business. In UPS hometown of Atlanta, as well as at other locations, management has lined up idle delivery trucks with signs posted saying mothballed by loss in volume.

This handy threat against members is actually a sign of the pressure building on management.

Meanwhile Teamster officials have promised members the best contract ever. At a rally on Sunday, June 23 Teamster negotiator hall said We expect not the same contract we got in 1997, but a better contract than 1997. In the 1997 agreement the union forced UPS to create 10,000 new full-time jobs over the course of the five year contract.

The union is demanding the creation of 3,000 fulltime jobs each year of a three year contract. They also have set a goal of protecting workers from rampant overtime and bringing more UPS employees under the union contract. In recent years UPS has created new job classifications within its operation and expanded a non-union subsidiary, UPS Logistics.

If Hoffa settles early, he will sell us short Louisville, Kentucky UPS driver David Thornsberry said. We are in best position ever, so a just-ok contract with the expected wage increases wont cut it. We need to see a big jump in the part-time wage rates and protection from the non-union threat of UPS Logistics.

Bargaining continued on the contract during the week of June 24th.UPS management submitted economic proposals the week of June 17th. Proposals on health and welfare coverage and pensions were expected to be exchanged this week.

Ultimately, the power to determine the contract lies in the hands of the members. They will vote on the national agreement and separately on the 32 supplemental agreements.

For background information on the Teamsters and UPS obtain a copy of Rank and File Power at UPS a one hundred page booklet by TDU.
 
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wkmac

Guest
"bringing more UPS employees under the union contract."

IMO, this is at the heart of everything that is going on. This little statement above tells it all.
 
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robonono

Guest
"Who Will Blink First?"

This should NOT be a game of "chicken", where both sides barrel down the negotiating track with no intentions of giving in. In "chicken", both sides hope that the other side gives in to the others demands in order to avoid a head-on collision.

In the real world, terrible wrecks can occur, maiming and killing both participants.
 
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tdu

Guest
"End Part-Time Poverty" T-Shirt distributed by West Coast UPSers.
A contract t-shirt is available from California UPSers. The shirt is black with gold ink with "Teamsters of UPS" printed on the front with a small package car symbol and "End Part-Time Poverty" in big type on the back. Size: XL only. Price: $20.00.
 
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badhab1

Guest
Yep, let's pay $20.00 for a T-shirt to prove how poverty strickened we are. Duhhhhhhhhhhhh. Are ya'll the same people that started the con on picking the gold out of dead .........? I for one find your blatant solicitation for personal financial gain offensive and inappropriate.
 
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wkmac

Guest
Badhab,
I think it's a bunch of :censored2: too. Carey and the TDU crowd had the chance in 97' to fight to raise part time pay but didn't. They went for more fulltime jobs. Appears this time we might be seeing the same play taking place. What is happening in the Teamster leadership is more involved in growing the business (more employees under union contract/more full time positons) that would leed to more $$$$$ in the union treasury from dues and more $$$$ from fulltimers into union health and welfare plans. IMO, this is what it's all about and not about doing things that benefit the members at UPS. Also UPS is being played to set the stage for the Master Freight Contract next year. JMO.

And another thing! If you'll notice the only size available for that Poverty T-shirt is XL. I never realized Poverty ate so well!

Hey UPS, I need to lose a few pounds so may be the secret to weight lost is higher income. Let's test that theory by raising my pay.

mac
 
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proups

Guest
Here is a good article for those jolly souls who think it is OK for our union to keep UPS at the table as long as possible while they grandstand and WE lose volume and jobs.

Look at the last line: Teamsters Union spokesman Bret Caldwell said the union has secured a $100 million line of credit to cover strike benefits that range from $85 to $230 a week

They secured a line of credit???? What was the dues hike for? I know it was not in time for this "possible" strike, but we all know where it is going....in the union's pockets.

Notice what the primary issues are: increased pension contributions. We know why UPS is bucking that one - the company is tired of funding the union pension plan so they can pay all those retirees who worked for companies that went out of business. Without UPS, Central States would fold. They probably realize they are in trouble, and look at these negotiations as a way to keep it funded.

They want more FT jobs? With this volume loss, we are having a hard time holding on to FT jobs. I have accounts that have diverted 40-60% to other carriers, and more next week.

This is BS! Sorry about my ranting. Read on.....



By Peter Szekely

WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - With contract talks in an "intense and critical phase," Teamsters Union President James Hoffa said on Friday it was up to United Parcel Service to stem its business losses from shippers worried about a strike.

"The company can stop the bleeding," Hoffa told reporters as the two sides prepared for a weekend of marathon negotiations. "They can make sure that we get a good contract."

Earlier, Atlanta-based UPS blamed anxiety over the threat of a strike by its 230,000 unionized workers after July 31 for part of its 3 percent earnings drop in the second quarter.

The world's No. 1 package delivery company said this week it was losing business to rivals such as FedEx Corp. and Airborne Inc., particularly toward the end of the quarter, because it had not yet reached a deal.

"While we aren't happy about that, we have told the company that the power to stop the diversion is entirely in its hands," Hoffa said.

The statement appeared designed to reassure union members that their negotiators would not buckle as talks focus on big-ticket economic items like wages, health care, pensions and the terms covering the thousands of UPS part-timers.

The union has said its members, including those who sort, load and deliver more than 13 million packages a day, will strike if there is no deal by the time its current contract expires on July 31.

A strike in 1997 shut the company down for 15 days, shaking the nearly century-old UPS's record for reliability and costing it $750 million in lost revenue. A major issue in those talks was the union's goal of converting more part-time jobs into full-time jobs, which have higher pay and better benefits.

Although Hoffa said the two sides were still apart, he cited progress that had been made in resolving an array of secondary issues and refrained from criticizing UPS managers.

If a settlement is not reached over the weekend, he said he would continue to bargain. Although Hoffa has made sporadic appearances at the bargaining table since the talks began in January, becoming personally involved at this critical point adds a note of urgency to the process.

BIGGEST PRIVATE SECTOR CONTRACT

The UPS contract is not only the biggest for the 1.4 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters, it is also the biggest in the private sector to come up for renegotiation this year.

"The contract settlement between the Teamsters and UPS will set the tone for collective bargaining and the conditions of working people throughout the United States and Canada," Hoffa said. "We take this responsibility very seriously."

Union bargaining goals are to maintain UPS workers' full health care coverage, increase pension contributions, raise wages by more than they were raised in the last contract and convert more UPS part-time workers into full-timers.

Teamsters Union spokesman Bret Caldwell said the union has secured a $100 million line of credit to cover strike benefits that range from $85 to $230 a week.
 
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lr1937

Guest
<look>
Why would any union borrow money to go on strike? $100 mil x .05 = $5 mil at least per year intersest payments if all is used. How much would 5 mil per year do for Health welfare and pension payments. Why would a group of people vote yes to give anyone permission to do something like this? Maybe I am stupid or maybe members just don't care. Maybe you can do this when you think you have a cash cow or you can convince a small percentage of people to act on the behalf of all if all doesn't care or pay any attention.
 
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sendagain

Guest
I think UPS and the IBT are like two pigeons fighting over a frenchfry. While they size each other up and try to look powerful, a sparrow comes along and flies off with the prize leaving the other two stunned. After twenty-five years of this game, all these bigshots with their giant egos have just about worn me out. Will somebody with a brain please show up and be willing to do the right thing for the 200+ thousand of us that bust our hump everyday keeping the business of America moving.
 
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michael

Guest
Sound like the silent majority is really starting to make their opinion known. Good for you ! ALL OF YOU !
 
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longups

Guest
I know who will blink first, UPS. Not because UPS doen't have the high ground but because the Union (non-UPSers) have nothing to loose if there is a strike.
Hoffa and Ken (whatever his name is) will keep their salary (from multiple job titles) and their perks. They will not be unemployed until volume comes back (if ever) and they will be able to still fill their pockets with UPSers hard earned money going into a "generic" pension plan. (read this as extra money to play with.)

Too bad the Union doesn't see the right thing to do, Go after FEDEX. Organize them to kill that company too! Put them at the same disadvantage that UPS has.
 
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rckfrd98

Guest
If the Teamsteras continue with the bully communist tactics. I will turn in my union card and withdraw from the union. That way I will not be a union member when i report to work on 8-01-2002
 
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