UPS Teamsters Will Get A COLA Increase in 2021

In accordance with Article 33 of the National Master UPS Agreement and with the release of the May Consumer Price Index (CPI), there will be a .33¢ per hour (0.8250 cents per mile for mileage pay) Cost of Living Allowance on August 1, 2021 for all seniority employees who have completed their appropriate wage progression schedule. The COLA increase is in addition to the negotiated annual wage increase.

Employees who have not completed their appropriate wage progression on the effective date of the COLA increase, shall receive the adjustment on a prospective basis on the date they complete their wage progression schedule.

Eldorado Area Water and Sanitation District Ratify First Contract!

Teamsters Local 492 would like to announce the newest Members added to the Teamster family in New Mexico.

Today, 5/19/2021, the workers at Eldorado Area Water and Sanitation District have unanimously voted to ratify their first ever contract! In an NLRB representational election in August of 2020, the workers at Eldorado Area Water and Sanitation District also voted unanimously in favor of having Teamsters Local 492 represent them. We have spent about a year in total between the start of the organizing campaign, the contract negotiations, to finally getting these new Teamsters a great first contract tentatively agreed to and then ratified.

The Eldorado Area Water and Sanitation District provides safe and clean reliable water services for customers in the Eldorado area of Santa Fe county New Mexico. Melissa Malcolm-Chavez** will be the Business Agent for this new group. Melissa along with President Trey White*, organized this new group and also negotiated their new contract. 

Teamsters Local 492 would like to congratulate these new Teamsters and we look forward to working with this new group of members now and in the future! 

Teamsters Local 492 now represents about 3400 Teamsters covering 28 different contracts at 65 locations across the entire State of New Mexico plus the numerous additional contracts and locations in the movie and pipeline industries.  

*Trey White is the 492 President & Business Agent for UPS Feeder Drivers and the UPS Comanche HUB ABF & YRC Dock, Office, Shop, & City Drivers and also covers Sandia Metal Trades & PAE-Perini. Trey also serves as the 492 Organizer, Administrator for both 492 Websites (Teamsters492.org & Local492film.org), Negotiator for all Local Contracts, Event & Training Coordinator, and he also handles all IT issues, Communications and Building/Property Maintenance

**Melissa Malcom–Chavez is the Business Agent for the Movie/Film Division, UPS Gateway, Eldorado Area Water & Sanitation District and ATF. She is also the 492 Political Coordinator and serves on the Boards of the New Mexico Federation of Labor, Sandia Metal Trades, Southwest Multi-Craft Health Care Fund and the NM Building Trades.

33% Western Teamsters Pension Bonus Granted for Service in Years 2021 – 2023

The Trustees of The Western Conference of Teamsters (WCT) Pension Plan have granted a special three-year 33% pension bonus under the Plan’s contribution account benefit formula for each of the years 2021, 2022, and 2023, increasing the benefit percentage from 1.2% to 1.6% of contributions for those three years. Therefore, Plan participants will earn a higher pension for every hour of covered work for 2021, 2022, and 2023. This is on top of the 25% pension bonus granted for covered work in 2020 at the accrual rate of 1.5% of contributions. The Trustees were pleased to grant this additional bonus in light of the Plan’s continued funding improvements and accelerated path toward its funding targets.

• Click here to see the specific benefit percentages that apply to each year of covered employment from 1987 forward.
• Click here to see the Buying Power of Bonus Accruals for work in 2021 – 2023 using a comparison of 1.2% vs. 1.6% for common contribution rates.