It is not clear why the IBT included a proposal for the already-implemented program in the Union’s bargaining demands.
Negotiations Resume
National Contract Negotiations Resume Monday
National UPS contract negotiations will be held in St. Petersburg, Florida next week from October 15-18.
The International Union turned over some opening bargaining proposals to UPS on Sept. 27. UPS did not submit bargaining proposals at that time.
The first page of the International Union’s bargaining demands includes a strongly-worded “Note on Harassment” and General Secretary-Treasurer and chief negotiator Ken Hall also issued a statement saying there will be no agreement reached unless harassment is dealt with to the union’s satisfaction.
But so far the IBT has offered few specific proposals on harassment. The Union’s opening proposal on Article 37, which covers excessive overtime, over-dispatch, over-supervision, 9.5 and 8-hour requests, was blank.
Click here to download and review the union’s opening proposals.
Click here to read more detailed coverage of the union’s opening bargaining proposals.
Will Union Proposals on SurePost Make UPS Deliver?
The International Union has told UPS that it will stop union cooperation with the controversial SurePost program unless the company negotiates agreements on the program as part of the new contract.
But the Company is already implementing one of the union’s only proposed changes, with the goal of boosting UPS profits, not protecting Teamsters.
The Union’s opening contract proposals calls for “a program to ensure that where package car drivers are delivering ground packages at the same address or to nearby addresses of SurePost packages, bargaining unit members will deliver the packages instead of the Post Office.” (Article 26, New Section 4)
But UPS already announced this change, three months ago and has started training package drivers.
Under a program called SurePost Redirect, UPS’s technology (PAS) will automatically redirect a post office SurePost package for delivery by the UPS driver when the company is delivering package to the same address or there are a multiple SurePost packages going to the same address on the same day.
The cost-saving purpose behind SurePost Redirect is laid out in a company presentation dated July 2012. It says point blank that the purpose of SurePost Redirect is to “Lower our cost by creating multi-package residential deliveries and reducing postage fees.” Click here to read it.
SurePost ReDirect will save the company money and give package drivers additional boxes to deliver. But in and of itself, it will not do anything to ease over-dispatch and excessive overtime.
That will only happen through strengthening 9.5 protections and creating more driving jobs. That’s what our Union should be fighting for and making a condition of continued cooperation with SurePost.
Click here to read the full story.