Teamsters Slam ‘Appalling’ UPS Contract Proposal
A potential Aug. 1 strike is still on the table for more than 330,000 UPS workers, with the union behind them stepping up labor contract negotiations with an unwavering message: pay up.
After a Thursday meeting where the International Brotherhood of Teamsters shared their full economic proposal with UPS for a new five-year contract, the union voiced its displeasure with the shipping company’s “appalling” counterproposal, declaring “no more meetings until money gets real.”
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TEAMSTERS TO UPS: NO MORE MEETINGS TILL MONEY GETS REAL@UPS executives gave the #Teamsters National Negotiating Committee an appalling economic counterproposal on Thursday as negotiations resumed in Washington. #1u pic.twitter.com/EuhQv3uHFE
— Teamsters (@Teamsters) June 22, 2023
“The Teamsters will not bargain or accept any contract that’s cost-neutral,” said Sean M. O’Brien, general president of the Teamsters, during the meeting. “We are not going to sell ourselves short in these negotiations, and we will not buy back terms and conditions to protect our members. We have 39 days to go. This company is wasting time putting forth offensive proposals. If UPS wants to negotiate a contract for 1997 working conditions, they’re going to get 1997 consequences.”
O’Brien didn’t share the full financial details of the Teamsters proposal, but said it was “the biggest economic proposal in labor history.”
The proposal’s priorities included wage increases each year of the contract, “catch-up raises” for part-time employees, additional holidays and more paid time off, pension increases, as well as protection and enhancement of existing health and welfare benefits.
The union also wants to eliminate the two-tier 22.4 job classification, which the Teamsters say penalizes junior workers who perform the same functions as senior workers, and create more full-time jobs created over the next five years.
On Thursday, UPS described the talks’ progress toward a new national master agreement as “strong,” with both parties agreeing on all non-economic issues.
According to O’Brien, the delivery company and the union members have reached 55 tentative agreements addressing a variety of topics within the contract, such as the installation of air conditioners within all vehicles purchased after Jan. 1, 2024.
The parcel giant said the economic proposal will require “serious and detailed discussion” over the next few weeks.
“UPS is prepared to be at the table every day until we reach an agreement that allows us to continue rewarding our people with the best pay and benefits package in the industry while providing the flexibility our business needs to deliver for our customers and consumers,” said UPS in a statement.
The parties have taken different public approaches to the labor negotiations, with UPS and CEO Carol Tomé continually pointing to the progress being made. On the other hand, the Teamsters have been more critical of the opposition, whether it be via social media posts on Twitter or Facebook or commentary from O’Brien himself. On Friday, the union’s Twitter account detailed recent demonstrations outside UPS facilities.
📢RANK-AND-FILE TEAMSTERS TURN UP PRESSURE ON UPS
While rank-and-file members on the #Teamsters National Negotiating Committee square up with @UPS at the bargaining table, UPS Teamsters all over the country are keeping the pressure up in the parking lots and at the gates. #1u✊ pic.twitter.com/Dc0kgKofaV— Teamsters (@Teamsters) June 23, 2023
N.Y. Warehouse Worker Protection Act goes into effect
Elsewhere on the logistics labor front, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Monday that legislation protecting warehouse workers from unreasonably demanding work quotas is now in effect.
The Warehouse Worker Protection Act, signed in December, includes new requirements for distribution centers to disclose work speed data to current and former employees to inform them about their job performance and rights in the workplace.
The legislation also protects workers from disciplinary action or firing exclusively because of a failure to meet undisclosed quotas or performance standards, including those that do not allow for proper breaks.
With the Warehouse Worker Protection Act now in effect, employees can request quota information at any time, and are protected from having to work through meals or being limited from using the bathroom to make quota. These workers also can report violations related to quotas, and are immune from employer retaliation.
This law applies to employers and employees at warehouse distribution centers.
Within 30 days of an employee’s start date, employers must share quotas with them through a written description (in their preferred language) of each quota they are expected to meet.
“Warehouse workers suffer serious work-related injuries at a rate more than twice the average for all private industries. These workers routinely spend entire shifts speeding through tasks in an attempt to meet quotas mandated by their employers, all too often suffering musculoskeletal and repetitive stress injuries as a result,” said Mario Cilento, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, saying the act “provides long overdue limits to protect warehouse workers from inhumane quotas, and to protect them from retaliation for asserting their rights under this law.”
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), also threw his support behind the legislation, calling it “an important step in ensuring that workers are not forced to choose between their job and their safety.”
The RWDSU has represented employees at REI stores in Manhattan and Cleveland, as well as those seeking unionization at Amazon’s Bessemer, Ala. distribution center, where a terminated union leader was recently reinstated.
