Teamsters, UPS Agree To Extend Current UPS National Contract
June 28, 2013
The Teamsters Union and UPS have agreed to an extension of the current UPS National Master Agreement and all Supplements, Riders and Addenda. The extension does not have a specific end date, but can be terminated by either side with a 30-day notice.
This means that all of the current Agreements will remain in place until the Supplements that did not receive a majority of votes have been re-voted and agreed to. Any increases in wages, pensions and health and welfare contributions that were agreed to in the new National Master Agreement will be made retroactively to August 1, 2013 but will not take effect until the Supplements have been re-voted and agreed to.
In addition, UPS has agreed not to implement the increase in retiree contributions to retiree health insurance on August 1, 2013 as set forth in letters that were sent out to Retirees in December of 2012.
The six supplements that did not get approved are: Central Region Over-the-Road Freight; Central Region Local Cartage; Southern Region Area Local Freight Forwarding Garage; Carolina Freight Council Over-the-Road; Western States Office Employees—Part V; and New Jersey-New York Area LU-701.
June 27th, 2013- The ABF National Contract has been ratified by a vote of 3,210 yes to 2,965 no. The Western Supplement for Road, Shop, and Dock also passed, the office supplement failed. Local 492 vote tally was 172 yes, 40 no (Corrected). Below is the statement put out by the IBT:
Teamsters Approve National ABF Agreement; Most Supplements Also Approved
Union Will Talk To Members In Areas Where Supplements Were Rejected
(WASHINGTON) – Teamsters employed at ABF Freight System, Inc. have voted to approve the national master portion of the ABF National Master Freight Agreement as well as 21 of the 27 supplements. Some local/area supplemental agreements, however, were rejected and issues in those areas must be addressed before the national agreement can be implemented.
“We understand the sacrifices our ABF members are making,” said Gordon Sweeton, Co-Chairman of the National ABF Negotiating Committee (TNFINC). “We will work on obtaining approval of those supplements that were not approved.”
The Teamster negotiating committees responsible for the supplements that were not approved by a majority of voting members will be talking with the members in those areas. In the meantime, the Teamsters Union will schedule meetings to engage the company in further negotiations to achieve our members’ objectives.
“Once ratified, the national contract will protect our members’ health, welfare and pension benefits and will also give the company the ability to compete in a very tough trucking environment, which is good for ABF and the long-term job security of our members,” Sweeton said.
The contract calls for a 7 percent wage reduction, but the reduction will be entirely recouped by the fifth year of the five-year contract.
Teamsters Approve National UPS Contract, UPS Freight Contract Rejected In Separate Referendum
To view the final vote tallies, click UPS or UPS Freight.
June 26, 2013 -(WASHINGTON) – The Teamsters Union announced today that a majority of UPS Teamsters have voted to approve a new five-year national contract that contains significant wage increases and other improvements. Today the vote count on the UPS National Agreement, Supplements and Riders was concluded. The National Agreement in its entirety has been ratified by the members. This means that all articles of the Agreement have been agreed to.
Some of the Supplements and Riders did not get a majority of votes from those members who voted. They are: Central Region Supplement, Ohio Rider, Michigan Rider, Local Union 243 Rider, Local Union 177 (both Drivers and Mechanics), Local Union 804, Upstate NY, Metro Philadelphia, Local Union 623, Western Pennsylvania, Southwest Package and Sort, Western Region Supplement, Local Union 89, Local Union 135, Trailer Conditioners (TCI), and Latin America Inc.
The vote on the contract, the largest collective bargaining agreement in North America, was 34,307 to 30,202
The union also announced that UPS Freight Teamsters have rejected a proposed five-year national agreement with UPS Freight by a vote of 1,897 to 4,244.
Highlights of the new UPS contract, which covers about 240,000 union-represented employees, include wage increases totaling $3.90 per hour over the five-year term of the agreement, an increase in the starting part-time wage rate, the creation of 2,350 full-time jobs, protections from harassment and intimidation by supervisors, protections for employees who choose to work fewer hours in a day and guaranteed vacation time for employees coming back from military leave and other improvements. The agreement also maintains the current practice of no employee contributions for monthly premiums for health insurance.
A provision in the contract that changes the health care plan for some UPS Teamsters led to the rejection of 17 local supplements and riders to the national agreement. The provision moves 140,000 UPS Teamsters from their current UPS health plan into a new plan that will be jointly administered by the Teamsters Union and employers. That change was made because during negotiations, UPS said it would cut health benefits that members currently receive in the company plan and raise the cost to employees significantly.
The Teamster negotiating committees responsible for the supplements and riders that were not approved by a majority of voting members will be talking with the members in their areas. In the meantime, the Teamsters Union will schedule meetings to engage the company in further negotiations to achieve our members’ objectives.
The Teamsters National UPS Freight Negotiating Committee will be scheduling negotiations with UPS Freight soon in order to address members’ concerns. That agreement, which covers about 10,000 union-represented workers, will then need to be voted on again by the members.
Thank you to everyone that took their personal time out of their Saturday and came out to the General Membership Meeting in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Members traveled from as close as Las Cruces to as far as 145 miles away to be there.
We appreciate these members for the concern they have for their jobs and this Union. The more involved the members are in this Union, the stronger it will be. This Union is not made up of Officers and Business Agents; it is made from members like the ones that participated today. We don't say it enough, but we really appreciate the members that show up every month to the Union Meetings in Albuquerque, and we were glad to be able to facilitate Southern participation by holding this meeting in Las Cruces.
This was the first General Membership meeting outside the Albuquerque area for Local 492 that anyone can remember and it went very well. There were plenty of good questions from the members and they also aired issues they had that will help the Business Agents in the future. This was a great opportunity for the Southern Members to interact with all of the 492 Officers and BA’s.
We will be scheduling a "Northern New Mexico" Meeting in the near future and look forward to seeing our Northern New Mexico Brothers & Sisters there.
From Teamsters492.org administrator, Trey White; an editorial on the ABF Tentative Agreement
The following statement is to be considered an editorial by Teamsters492.org administrator Trey White, and not necessarily the view of this Local or the IBT:
May 20th, 2013- As most of you have heard by now, the 2-man committee has endorsed the Tentative Agreement between The Teamsters and ABF. The TA is admittedly not what we had all hoped for, the pay cut is particularly hard to swallow, but I think we all expected there would be some concessions in it. You can download the Tentative Agreement’s and materials from the IBT here:
I served on the 2-man committee and I can tell you from talking to the negotiators of this deal face to face, they struggled over the last 6 months with the company over so many issues trying to come up with something both sides could live with. In the end, they honored the results of the member’s most important worry in the survey by keeping the Pension intact. They came up with what they believe is the best deal possible under the current circumstances we find ourselves in.
I am going to breakdown the 2-man process for you and then get into the pros and cons of voting the contract in and also the pros and cons of turning it down. What I am not going to do is tell you how to vote. What you’re going to read in this editorial are the major facts as I see them with no spin. I am not going to try to cater to the fringes of this discussion, only the rational thought that I believe I bring to the debate. I will also get into the YRC factor that has unfortunately been thrown into this mix, like we need any more complication to this process.
The 2-man committee typically consists of two Union Officials from each local affected by the TA, in the case of Local 492, Trustee and ABF Line Driver Kelvin Holly & myself, Recording Secretary Trey White from the ABF dock/PUD side. We were both very honored for the opportunity to represent Local 492 but this was a very difficult experience due to the concessionary contract.
The longstanding tradition of holding the release of the TA until after the 2-man committee has adjourned, is a part of the process that many are frustrated with, but the process is there to educate Local officers and answer questions about the changes made before releasing it for public view.
They presented us with many facts about the current situation that ABF finds itself in and the numbers are depressing. Some of the new info presented was the astonishing fact that Old Dominion has recently surpassed ABF in revenue and delivers 75% more shipments daily, also presented was a chart showing ABF as the only top 20 carrier currently losing market share, and tons of other facts in between that support ABF’s claim they are struggling.
They also presented the National Survey results that were sent to ABF members last summer that indicated the ABF member’s number one and number two priorities were no cuts to Pension nor Health & Welfare, which were achieved (wages was #5).
They also took us through all the extreme concessions ABF was fighting for, which the Union pushed back on, like matching (and in some cases) exceeding the cuts YRC currently has. The company was looking for $130 million per year savings but only will get about $35 million from this TA. They also wanted 30% part timers, and a merging of all supplements into one national contract, none of which they got. They had wild unattainable ideas about the pension, health & welfare but the Union knew the members would not stand for and did not give in on.
Ultimately, the 2-man committee needs to let the members decide whether they want to ratify this agreement. For us to decide that you should not be allowed to vote on it, because of something we don’t personally like about it, would infringe on the responsibility bestowed upon us. Every Local Union agreed to send this vote to the members.
Obviously, none of us are happy about the concessions, including the Union negotiators, but it is up to each of us as ABF employees to decide whether we can live with these concessions or not. We have quite a conundrum here because of the lingering threats of closures or sellouts, etc, but I think we also all have that little voice inside us that says the hell with it! I will admit it’s hard to think rationally with all of this noise. Let’s break it down so that you can decide for yourself. These are the major Pros and Cons as far as I can see.
Voting it in, Pros:
We will still be making more than YRC and most non-union drivers.
Up to 1$ per year increases in Health, Welfare & Pension which is what the members said was most important to them.
Our pension will not be cut, and in the West we will be sitting pretty. We will still have the best retirement in the freight industry, bar none.
Our insurance will not be cut and will still be the best in the country. UPS got cut in this area; they will now have to pay annual deductibles for the first time.
The work rule changes should help ABF compete better and that might translate into more jobs, more seniority, more bidding opportunities, and hopefully better contracts in the future.
Hopefully we will be able to keep working for ABF and won’t have to start over.
The 7% wage cut will begin to erode next year with 2% increases. By July 1st, we will be down to a 5% wage cut. Our YRC brothers have been at 15% for years and that's on top of the pension cuts they have had to endure.
Voting it in, Cons:
We are going to lose thousands of dollars in wages over the life of this contract.
We are losing a week of vacation which doesn’t hurt the pocket book but does cut into the family time.
ABC may still sell The Company or go under; it only makes it less likely if we vote it in, but doesn’t take it off the table.
Voting it down, Pros:
We have a chance of getting a better contract.
We send a message to The Company that we will not settle for less.
Voting it down, Cons:
We provoke The Company into a rash decision to sell the company, lock us out, or some other misguided move, retaliatory in nature, which could possibly include forcing the Unions hand by refusing to come back to the table.
The Company loses customers due to the Fear Factor, loses stock value making it easier for someone to buy us and the whole house of cards comes down.
They give in on wages but cut somewhere else (like pension or insurance) to compensate.
When you reflect on all of that, you can really see what a very tough decision we have to make. Each one of you must weigh the pros and cons and decide for yourself. It’s very easy to fall back on the idea that we need to make them go back to the table and get more, which may not happen even if we do vote it down. We must also remember for every action there will be a reaction. We need to deliberate on the possible outcomes of a yes or no vote and then decide if we can live with the ramifications of whichever way we go. The good thing is it is up to us, we are the final deciders. The outcome of all of this is on us now, hopefully we will be able to look back on this in five years and know we made the right decision.
YRC/ABF Deal:
As promised earlier, I am going to give you my updated take on the whole YRC thing. I put this last because I don’t really want to have this be part of the negotiation discussion but so many of you have been calling me about this, I feel the need to fulfill those requests, and as deplorable and inopportune as it is, the distressing reality is YRC has weaseled their way into this process.
You have all probably read my first editorial on the subject so you know I am against this YRC-ABF deal, if not you can click here. So let’s move on to the most popular question I am asked about YRC; is this possible?! The unfortunate answer is yes.
My understanding is they could not have made the offer without first showing that they could financially pull this off. The speculation is they could buy the company because the ABF stock was trading well below value at the time of the offer. The good news (for now) is the stock is trading at 3 times the price it was ($6 to $18) when YRC came up with this stupid plan. So hopefully they cannot afford to buy ABF now. The bad news is, if the contract gets voted down, the stock is likely to plummet, and the YRC corporate vultures will be flying overhead to swoop in.
Another popular question is; don’t they know the ABF customers will walk? If they wanted to ship with YRC, they would already be doing so. I agree, but it is not that simple. They would probably retain some customers but definitely not all.
One theory being floated is they don’t really need ABF’s customers or even the ABF employees. ABF only has $133M in debt but has net assets in the range of 1.6 billion. They could buy the assets of the company without taking the employees, sell off terminals and equipment, merging any customers that choose to move to YRC, into the existing YRC network which is nowhere near capacity. As an added bonus, YRC removes one of their main competitors from the market place. YRC Worldwide has nothing to lose.
The big losers in a deal like this are the employees of both companies, the Union, and the shareholders who will be left holding the bag again when the YRC stooges screw the two companies up and go bankrupt.
I personally spoke with President Hoffa last week in Las Vegas and again today in Chicago about this and told him I felt the two Teamsters representatives on the YRC board of directors needed to be removed, and he agrees. Let’s hope he can make that happen..
The ballots will be mailed out June 3rd, and counted on June 27th.
From Teamsters492.org administrator, Trey White; an editorial on the ABF Tentative Agreement
The following statement is to be considered an editorial by Teamsters492.org administrator Trey White, and not necessarily the view of this Local or the IBT:
May 20th, 2013- As most of you have heard by now, the 2-man committee has endorsed the Tentative Agreement between The Teamsters and ABF. The TA is admittedly not what we had all hoped for, the pay cut is particularly hard to swallow, but I think we all expected there would be some concessions in it. You can download the Tentative Agreement’s and materials from the IBT here:
I served on the 2-man committee and I can tell you from talking to the negotiators of this deal face to face, they struggled over the last 6 months with the company over so many issues trying to come up with something both sides could live with. In the end, they honored the results of the member’s most important worry in the survey by keeping the Pension intact. They came up with what they believe is the best deal possible under the current circumstances we find ourselves in.
I am going to breakdown the 2-man process for you and then get into the pros and cons of voting the contract in and also the pros and cons of turning it down. What I am not going to do is tell you how to vote. What you’re going to read in this editorial are the major facts as I see them with no spin. I am not going to try to cater to the fringes of this discussion, only the rational thought that I believe I bring to the debate. I will also get into the YRC factor that has unfortunately been thrown into this mix, like we need any more complication to this process.
The 2-man committee typically consists of two Union Officials from each local affected by the TA, in the case of Local 492, Trustee and ABF Line Driver Kelvin Holly & myself, Recording Secretary Trey White from the ABF dock/PUD side. We were both very honored for the opportunity to represent Local 492 but this was a very difficult experience due to the concessionary contract.
The longstanding tradition of holding the release of the TA until after the 2-man committee has adjourned, is a part of the process that many are frustrated with, but the process is there to educate Local officers and answer questions about the changes made before releasing it for public view.
They presented us with many facts about the current situation that ABF finds itself in and the numbers are depressing. Some of the new info presented was the astonishing fact that Old Dominion has recently surpassed ABF in revenue and delivers 75% more shipments daily, also presented was a chart showing ABF as the only top 20 carrier currently losing market share, and tons of other facts in between that support ABF’s claim they are struggling.
They also presented the National Survey results that were sent to ABF members last summer that indicated the ABF member’s number one and number two priorities were no cuts to Pension nor Health & Welfare, which were achieved (wages was #5).
They also took us through all the extreme concessions ABF was fighting for, which the Union pushed back on, like matching (and in some cases) exceeding the cuts YRC currently has. The company was looking for $130 million per year savings but only will get about $35 million from this TA. They also wanted 30% part timers, and a merging of all supplements into one national contract, none of which they got. They had wild unattainable ideas about the pension, health & welfare but the Union knew the members would not stand for and did not give in on.
Ultimately, the 2-man committee needs to let the members decide whether they want to ratify this agreement. For us to decide that you should not be allowed to vote on it, because of something we don’t personally like about it, would infringe on the responsibility bestowed upon us. Every Local Union agreed to send this vote to the members.
Obviously, none of us are happy about the concessions, including the Union negotiators, but it is up to each of us as ABF employees to decide whether we can live with these concessions or not. We have quite a conundrum here because of the lingering threats of closures or sellouts, etc, but I think we also all have that little voice inside us that says the hell with it! I will admit it’s hard to think rationally with all of this noise. Let’s break it down so that you can decide for yourself. These are the major Pros and Cons as far as I can see.
Voting it in, Pros:
We will still be making more than YRC and most non-union drivers.
Up to 1$ per year increases in Health, Welfare & Pension which is what the members said was most important to them.
Our pension will not be cut, and in the West we will be sitting pretty. We will still have the best retirement in the freight industry, bar none.
Our insurance will not be cut and will still be the best in the country. UPS got cut in this area; they will now have to pay annual deductibles for the first time.
The work rule changes should help ABF compete better and that might translate into more jobs, more seniority, more bidding opportunities, and hopefully better contracts in the future.
Hopefully we will be able to keep working for ABF and won’t have to start over.
The 7% wage cut will begin to erode next year with 2% increases. By July 1st, we will be down to a 5% wage cut. Our YRC brothers have been at 15% for years and that's on top of the pension cuts they have had to endure.
Voting it in, Cons:
We are going to lose thousands of dollars in wages over the life of this contract.
We are losing a week of vacation which doesn’t hurt the pocket book but does cut into the family time.
ABC may still sell The Company or go under; it only makes it less likely if we vote it in, but doesn’t take it off the table.
Voting it down, Pros:
We have a chance of getting a better contract.
We send a message to The Company that we will not settle for less.
Voting it down, Cons:
We provoke The Company into a rash decision to sell the company, lock us out, or some other misguided move, retaliatory in nature, which could possibly include forcing the Unions hand by refusing to come back to the table.
The Company loses customers due to the Fear Factor, loses stock value making it easier for someone to buy us and the whole house of cards comes down.
They give in on wages but cut somewhere else (like pension or insurance) to compensate.
When you reflect on all of that, you can really see what a very tough decision we have to make. Each one of you must weigh the pros and cons and decide for yourself. It’s very easy to fall back on the idea that we need to make them go back to the table and get more, which may not happen even if we do vote it down. We must also remember for every action there will be a reaction. We need to deliberate on the possible outcomes of a yes or no vote and then decide if we can live with the ramifications of whichever way we go. The good thing is it is up to us, we are the final deciders. The outcome of all of this is on us now, hopefully we will be able to look back on this in five years and know we made the right decision.
YRC/ABF Deal:
As promised earlier, I am going to give you my updated take on the whole YRC thing. I put this last because I don’t really want to have this be part of the negotiation discussion but so many of you have been calling me about this, I feel the need to fulfill those requests, and as deplorable and inopportune as it is, the distressing reality is YRC has weaseled their way into this process.
You have all probably read my first editorial on the subject so you know I am against this YRC-ABF deal, if not you can click here. So let’s move on to the most popular question I am asked about YRC; is this possible?! The unfortunate answer is yes.
My understanding is they could not have made the offer without first showing that they could financially pull this off. The speculation is they could buy the company because the ABF stock was trading well below value at the time of the offer. The good news (for now) is the stock is trading at 3 times the price it was ($6 to $18) when YRC came up with this stupid plan. So hopefully they cannot afford to buy ABF now. The bad news is, if the contract gets voted down, the stock is likely to plummet, and the YRC corporate vultures will be flying overhead to swoop in.
Another popular question is; don’t they know the ABF customers will walk? If they wanted to ship with YRC, they would already be doing so. I agree, but it is not that simple. They would probably retain some customers but definitely not all.
One theory being floated is they don’t really need ABF’s customers or even the ABF employees. ABF only has $133M in debt but has net assets in the range of 1.6 billion. They could buy the assets of the company without taking the employees, sell off terminals and equipment, merging any customers that choose to move to YRC, into the existing YRC network which is nowhere near capacity. As an added bonus, YRC removes one of their main competitors from the market place. YRC Worldwide has nothing to lose.
The big losers in a deal like this are the employees of both companies, the Union, and the shareholders who will be left holding the bag again when the YRC stooges screw the two companies up and go bankrupt.
I personally spoke with President Hoffa last week in Las Vegas and again today in Chicago about this and told him I felt the two Teamsters representatives on the YRC board of directors needed to be removed, and he agrees. Let’s hope he can make that happen.
We will be putting together a schedule of meetings at the Union Hall for this Tentative Agreement and will be posting it here soon, which will probably happen around the first week of June.
The ballots will be mailed out June 3rd, and counted on June 27th.
From Teamsters492.org administrator, Trey White; an editorial on YRC corporations wish to buy ABF.
As most of you have heard, both YRC and ABF have released statements about a meeting held in March at ABC headquarters about YRC acquiring ABF. ABC told YRC, due to the timing, they were not interested in a deal. You can view these statements by clicking ABF or YRC here. The deal is a “no deal” at this time.
The following statement is to be considered an editorial by Teamsters492.org administrator Trey White, and not necessarily the view of this Local or the IBT:
I do not believe that it is in the best interest of either YRC or ABF for a deal of this nature to happen and it seems absolutely insane that either party would even consider it.
YRC has not made their employees whole in wages nor pension and needs to concentrate their efforts on getting financially healthy, before they consider buying anything. It is an insult to the YRC employees who have sacrificed their pay and pension to help keep YRC in business, only to hear YRC Corp now wants to put them through that nightmare again!
The track record of acquisitions for YRC is horrible. YRC has not recovered from the Yellow-Roadway merger that happened nearly 10 years ago (December 2003) and the purchase of USF in 2005. They have lost about 50% of their combined revenue since the high of nearly 10 billion in 2006. Now they want to take what little money/leverage they have, to acquire another company? It makes no sense and is absolutely shocking to me.
As a 21 year employee of ABF, the realization that ABC was even entertaining the idea is very disheartening, to say the least. The ABC statement alluding to the “timing” being the problem (not that the idea was insane) was especially hard to read.I am very proud to be a Teamster, and I take enormous pride in my work, not just at this Local, but on the job at ABF as well, in the belief that the better job I do, the more profitable the company will be. In turn, the better able the company will be to pay the great wages and benefits we all have enjoyed in the past, it’s quid pro quo/karma.
Is it still possible to retire with dignity at ABF? I don’t believe it would be if YRC and ABF were to get together. In my opinion, this would put the proverbial nail in the Unionized Freight industries coffin; is that the strategy YRC’s Welch spent so much considerable time thinking about?
In my opinion, the two Teamster representatives appointed to the YRC board of directors, Harry J. Wilson (who serves as Chairman and CEO of MAEVA Advisors) and Douglas A. Carty (who serves as Chairman of Switzer-Carty Transportation) need to be removed immediately as they seem to have lost their way if they believe this is a good idea for anyone, and are clearly not operating in the interests of any Teamster. The IBT needs to appoint a real Teamster to this YRC Board, not an industry insider, but a real working Teamster.
My final thoughts are this; whether you work for YRC or ABF, we are all Teamster brothers & sisters along with the other 2300 members of this great Local Union and the 1.4 million Teamsters across North America. Do not let this idea divide what binds us together. We must all make our way though the trials and tribulations of the industries we are in and the best thing we can do to make this Union continue to be possible, is to take pride in our work. No matter what the name of the company, or what uniform we wear, we represent this Union every day when we show up for work and do what is right. That is within our control and helps to maintain our standard of living and to keep Union jobs available for not only us, but the generations to follow. Everything else is just noise.
By Mark B. Solomon of DC Velocity
May 3, 2013- Less-than-truckload carrier YRC Worldwide Inc. and its YRC Freight long-haul unit today both reported operating income in the first quarter of 2013, the first time since 2007 that YRC and its struggling unit have posted operating gains during what is normally the weakest quarter of the year.
YRC Freight posted operating profit of $2.
May 31st, 2013-Please be advised some of the UPS ballot return envelopes may have “UPS Freight” on them. There is no need to ask for a replacement ballot as the IBT is aware of the issue and has assured us all votes will be counted in the appropriate supplements and riders. You can view the letter from the IBT Here.
May 28th-Please be advised that the highlighted section of Article 34, Section 1 Paragraph (k) on page 23-25 of the UPS Tentative Agreement is for Central States ONLY. It does not apply to New Mexico, which is in the Western Conference of Teamsters (WCT) Pension Trust. WCT has its own accrual rates and the PEER 80. If you have any questions regarding the applicability of any portion of the Tentative Agreement, please contact the Local Union
Leaders of Teamster Local Unions that represent UPS and UPS Freight workers across the United States voted unanimously today to endorse the tentative agreements, paving the way for ballots to be prepared and sent to members.
You can download all Tentative Agreement info here:
Please download, print and review these documents. If you have any questions after reading these documents, Local 492 UPS Members will be able to ask them at any of the 4 meetings being held downstairs at the Local 492 Union Hall on May 25th (Saturday) 10 am and 2 pm and also on May 26th (Sunday) 10 am and 2 pm. Please bring your own printed copies of this agreement with you to the meetings for reference. The UPS Freight Members meeting will be Sunday May 26th at 12 noon. .
Ballot packages will be mailed to all members at the end of May for ratification of the master agreement, and any supplements and riders if applicable. Complete voting instructions will be included in the ballot package. Tentatively, ballots will start being counted on or about June 20.
General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall, who also serves as Package Division Director and Co-Chairman of the Teamsters National Negotiating Committee with General President Jim Hoffa, presented the changes contained in the tentative agreement to more than 300 Local Union leaders.
UPS: “Our members made clear they wanted us to protect their health care benefits and address harassment while increasing wages and retirement contributions,” Hall said. “This is a strong tentative agreement that achieves all those things and more.”
UPS Freight: “This is a strong tentative agreement that does exactly what our members asked for, which is to take on subcontracting while increasing wages and pension contributions,” Hall said. “The committee stayed focused and united, and they got the job done.”
Details of the tentative agreements with UPS & UPS Freight were outlined at the “two-person” meeting, attended by two representatives from each Local Union. The UPS national master contract is the largest collective bargaining agreement in North America. This is the second national agreement for UPS Freight Teamsters.
“I commend the negotiating committee for staying focused and united,” Hoffa said. “Backed by the determination and engagement of our members, the committee kept its mission in sight and remained a force at the bargaining table. These are agreements we can all be proud of.” “Both negotiating committees were at the table at the same time representing 250,000 workers at UPS and UPS Freight,” Hoffa said. “That’s a lot of bargaining power. We were able to show a united Teamster front and it paid off.”
The Teamsters reached a tentative contract agreement with ABF today, May 3, 2013.
No details will be released until leaders from ABF local unions meet in the near future to review the tentative agreement and decide whether to endorse it, said Gordon Sweeton, Co-Chairman of the Teamsters National ABF Negotiating Committee.
The date, time and location of the local union meeting will be made available to local unions soon. Once the upcoming meeting takes place, the union will release more information to members.
ABF stated:
We are very pleased to announce that the ABF and Teamster negotiating teams have reached a tentative agreement on a contract for the next five years.
The agreement is in the best interests of ABF union employees and meets our stated goals to:
• Maintain the best paying jobs in the freight industry
• Stay in our current pension funds
• Ensure our employees have great benefits
• Adapt to the changing needs of our customers
• Put ABF on a path of profitability to secure jobs and retirement benefits, now and in the future
Details will be forthcoming. In the interim, we will continue to serve our customers in the fast and efficient manner they have come to expect from ABF, as it will remain business as usual through the ratification process.
We thank the negotiating teams for their hard work over many months in reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.
ABF Freight Business Agent Walter Maestas will be attending the “Two Man Committee” in the next few weeks to review the Tentative Agreement between ABF and The Teamsters.
After his return, there will be meetings scheduled at the Teamsters 492 Union Hall for ABF Freight Members to review the information gathered from the Two Man Committee and to ask questions. Those dates will be posted here as soon as they are determined.
The IBT will be mailing Ballots to all ABF Freight Union Members soon after the Two Man Committee which will include the changes made to the contract for your review. They will also be posted on this website ASAP
UPS_Freight_Final_Vote_6-26-13.pdf
