More harassment

Make UPS Deliver in 2012

Hoffa and Hall have promised UPS will curb production harassment, hire more package drivers and respect members’ 9.5 rights.

It’s up to Teamster members to hold Hoffa and Hall to their pledge and to Make UPS Deliver on these commitments.

On national conference calls with Teamsters stewards in October, Hoffa and Ken Hall announced UPS management would curb production harassment, respect members’ 9.5 rights and eliminate the need for higher stop counts and excessive overtime by hiring more package drivers.

“We told UPS we are not going to tolerate harassment of our members. You can’t use the economy as an excuse,” Hoffa told the conference call.

Hall said that UPS management had decided that “the way to offset volume losses is to pile more work on existing drivers.”

Stress and Fatigue

That’s exactly right, and the results are the problems familiar to all UPS Teamsters. Routes are being cut and combined. Stop counts are up and so is SPORH harassment. UPSers are working longer hours and being ground under by stress and fatigue.

Our 9.5 rights are routinely violated and many members steer clear of filing 9.5 because they fear management retaliation and have lost faith in the grievance procedure.

Hoffa and Hall claimed management agreed to take immediate action to address these problems.

Specifically, Hall claimed that UPS management agreed to the following demands from the International Union:

1) Stop harassment rides.

2) Review dispatches and hire more drivers to match the number of drivers employed when volume was previously at this level.

3) Stop retaliation against drivers who file 9.5 grievances, specifically assigning supervisors to ride with drivers who file 9.5 grievances.

Hall told stewards, “This is the first time the company came to the table and said we admit we’re wrong and we’re going to change our ways.”

But whether management is really going to change their ways or if this was all an election year gimmick very much remains to be seen.

Management Gets Its Way

Until now, UPS management has been having its way with the Hoffa administration—a concessionary early agreement in 2008 and runaway contract violations ever since.

At the Teamster Convention, Hall threw down the gauntlet about upcoming negotiations, saying, “We’re not going to be talking about concessions.”  Hall has also said there will be no early negotiations unless the economy turns around.

When it comes to holding UPS to their pledge to curb production harassment, respect 9.5 rights and hire more drivers, Hall said, “We can’t just sit back and hope the company does the right thing.”

He pledged to launch a very public campaign targeting UPS if the company didn’t fulfill its promises.

That was in October. So far not much has changed and there has been no sign of a coordinated contract enforcement campaign—public or otherwise.

Teamsters have learned the hard way that when the Hoffa election train leaves the station, the platform stays behind.

With ongoing contract violations and upcoming contract negotiations, the stakes are too high for UPS Teamsters to let Hoffa-Hall or UPS management off the hook in 2012.

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We Have to Step Up

“If UPS Teamsters want the production harassment and contract violations to stop, we’ve got to step up. We can’t sit back and wait for Hoffa, Hall or UPS management to do the right thing.

“TDU’s Make UPS Deliver network is our tool for sharing information and strategies—and uniting nationally to enforce our rights.”

Craig Karnia, Package Car, Local 705, Chicago

Put More People to Work

“Hoffa and Hall say UPS management has pledged to hire more package drivers.  Where I work, UPS brings on temp drivers who work the same shifts and drive the same routes I do, but for $11.50 an hour with no benefits and no job security.

“Our union needs to demand that our biggest and most profitable employer hire more package car drivers at the full union rate—to ease the pounding on Teamster members and to put more people to work in good union jobs.”

Bob Slezak, Package Car, Local 59, Cape Cod, Mass.

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Delivering the Contract We Deserve

Contract negotiations will be here before we know it. The time to get ready is now. We need stronger language to protect members from production harassment, 9.5 violations, trumped up ‘dishonesty’ charges, new technology and unfair discipline. UPS Teamsters are the ones who have to live under the contract and we deserve a voice in bargaining. TDU will be holding meetings across the country to bring UPSers together to lay out a bargaining agenda for a contract that works for us—not just UPS management.

Doesn't look like they've made any difference yet.

More from Make UPS deliver

A little bit more ammo to prove that harassment is acceptable

Contract Working for UPS
Our working conditions are at an all-time low. But the current contract is working just fine for UPS. The company has been able to boost profits and cut costs.

In a terrible economy, UPS is making billions by squeezing more out of working Teamsters through longer hours, excessive loads, production harassment, and using Telematics and GPS technology to monitor (and push) drivers more than ever.

UPS has also boosted profits by eliminating full-time jobs—cutting air drivers, eliminating 22.3 positions, and reducing package jobs.

Cutting and combining routes is happening nationwide. Subcontracting is on the rise—in both feeders and package where work is going to the Post Office. Volume is up. But most centers still have fewer routes than they used to.

Money Won’t Stop Harassment
UPS was making record profits when they negotiated the last contract.

But union negotiators agreed to watered-down language that has helped UPS drive down our working conditions—including 9.5 (Article 37), new technology and “proven
dishonesty” (Article 6), and full-time job creation (Article 22.3).

UPS got what they wanted in exchange for giving the Teamsters 12,000 new dues-paying members at UPS Freight.

This year the danger is that Hoffa and Hall will settle short on the contract again as long as UPS throws money into Teamster benefit funds.

The Hoffa administration has made no secret that negotiating money into Teamster pension and health and welfare funds is their priority.

Of course, strong Teamster benefits are a top priority for working Teamsters too! But they’re only half the story.

More money won’t stop production harassment, excessive loads, subcontracting, full-time job elimination and declining working conditions. Only strong contract language can do that.

Make UPS deliver

http://makeupsdeliver.org/

UPS & the Teamsters

UPS Contract Update

UPDATED March 28, 2013:  Bargaining has been suspended until April 15, when it is expected to get serious. The International Union announced that harassment and Surepost issues have largely been settled, but UPS and the IBT are “miles apart” on economic issues.

On a national conference call with UPS stewards on March 23, Package Division Director and IBT Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall outlined the union’s economic proposals for the first time, including:

* new full-time 22.3 jobs in each year of a five-year contract

* $1.50 an hour more in each year of the contract to pay for pension and health benefits, up from $1 and hour increases in benefit contribution in the current contract

* annual wage increases of more than $1 for all UPS Teamsters

* An additional wage increase, or “wage bump”, for part-timers to reduce the widening gap between part-time and full-time pay

* Raise starting pay for part-timers to $15 an hour

These are bargaining demands that all UPS Teamsters can unite around. The big turnout at Teamster contract meetings across the country showed that members are ready to fight for a fair contract at UPS. The company is expected to make a push for a quick tentative agreement over the next two weeks after taking its demand that members pay for our healthcare off the table.

Bargaining has been suspended until April 15. We expect that management is likely to take its demand that Teamsters pay for our healthcare off the table, and then the company will try to get a deal done. Members need to be prepared to review the details of any tentative deal carefully. With UPS making record profits and production harassment at an all-time high, this is no time to settle short.

Economics and Healthcare

UPS has put ridiculous economic demands on the table, including: a seven-year agreement, the elimination of all full-time 22.3 jobs as they become vacant, benefit contributions that are too low to maintain Teamster pensions and healthcare benefits, and a $1,000 bonus for full-timers and $500 bonus for part-timers instead of a wage increase in four of the seven years of the contract—with wage increases of 50¢ for full-timers and 25¢ for part-timers in the remaining years.

UPS made almost $4.5 billion in profits last year and this is an extreme and insulting low-ball offer—but remember, it is just an opening proposal. Nothing close to this will be put to the members for a vote.

On healthcare, members and the International Union have drawn a line against UPS’s demand that Teamsters in company plans pay part of their premiums.

An alternative raised by the IBT has been to move Teamsters in company plans into Union plans with UPS making sufficient benefit contributions to maintain benefits without members paying any part of their premiums. But the Union has not made this a formal proposal.

Teamster co-pays on healthcare premiums will not be part of any contract offer. But be on the lookout for cuts in the company healthcare coverage and increases in the cost of retiree healthcare for UPS Teamsters in company plans.

Harassment, 9.5 and Surepost

While Hall described the Union and UPS as “miles apart” on economics, he reported on a series of tentative agreements on harassment and SurePost:

*Harassment: The new contract will include language that allows members from all classifications to file grievances on harassment. Hall provided no additional information on how the language works or what penalties apply other than to say that the Union can take grievances to arbitration.

*9.5: Hall reported the contract will include streamlined 9.5 language that will allow any driver who works more over 9.5 on three days in a week to go to the center manager, get on the 9.5 list and be eligible for triple time penalties the following week. The “streamlined” system Hall described on the call is same as the one in the existing 9.5 guidelines. Members will have to see the tentative agreement to find out what the difference is.

Hall conceded the point Teamsters for a Democratic Union has made many times that getting your load adjusted, not triple time pay, is the real solution to 9.5 violations. He said the new contract will include language that allows drivers who have been paid multiple triple time grievances within a defined time period to have their issue heard above the center manager level.

The most important issue in terms of excessive overtime is the need to make UPS hire more drivers instead of increasing workloads and production harassment. Hall again reported the new contract will include language that will allow Teamsters to file a grievance if UPS “fails to maintain a sufficient workforce” but did not address concerns that the language is too vague to make UPS comply and reduce exploding stop counts and excessive overtime.

The IBT and UPS have not reached agreement on how 9.5 rules will apply to cover drivers.

Dishonesty: There is no agreement on the key issue of technology and UPS using “dishonesty” charges to terminate drivers solely on the basis of information from Telematics, GPS, IVIS and other technology.

Surepost

Hall also reviewed a series of tentative agreements on SurePost including requiring the company to track packages and ensure that all SurePost packages that are over 10 lbs or 3-feet wide be delivered by package car.

Hall said SurePost Redirect has moved 20 percent of all SurePost packages on to package cars for delivery. He did not address the question raised by many members whether this program will lead to more driving jobs or just higher package counts. 

Deal in the Works?

UPS has made no secret it wants an early agreement. The two sides are far apart on economics but that is to be expected given that the company still has a low-ball opening proposal on the table.

The Company is expected to drop many of its concessionary proposals and make a push for an early deal over the next two weeks. UPS Teamsters need to be ready for a tentative agreement to come together quickly.

The Hoffa administration has maintained the darkest Brownout on contract information in more than a decade of contract negotiations with UPS. But UPS Teamsters will have the chance to review all proposed changes in writing before any contract vote.

It will be up to members to review the contract carefully, ask questions and make sure the new language will adequately protect Teamsters

Settling the contract early should not mean settling short.

UPS & Drugs

Fri Mar 29, 2013 2:32pm EDT

(Reuters) - United Parcel Service Inc has agreed to forfeit $40 million it earned from illegal Internet pharmacies shipping drugs using its services, U.S. authorities said Friday.

As part of the settlement, UPS entered a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

 

The company also agreed to put a compliance program into place to prevent illegal online pharmacies from distributing drugs through its shipping services in the future, authorities said.

"Good corporate citizens like UPS play an important role in halting the flow of illegal drugs that degrade our nation's communities," Northern California U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said in a statement.

UPS cooperated with the investigation, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said UPS was on notice from 2003 to 2010 that Internet pharmacies were shipping drugs without prescriptions, yet the company didn't put procedures in place to shut down their accounts.

"We believe we have an obligation and responsibility to help curb the sale and shipment of drugs sold through illegal Internet pharmacies," said Susan Rosenberg, a UPS spokeswoman.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

What about your obligation to be honest?

How long will your compliance program last? Until no-one is watching?

Hello America

Quite a few of you reading right now.
Was it something I said?

Still waiting for Albert's police to show up.

Have you still no comment to make in defending your fraudulent activities?

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What's up?
Didn't you want me to know you were there?

Glassdoor

Some interesting reviews on there about UPS

Including one about a "corrupt Union"

UPS Earning per share

I must have missed this one.

The question has to be, how much of this was earned by defrauding their customers.

But, like everyone else, we'll just turn a blind eye to that one.

Is there a "slush" fund in the UPS accounts in order to pay anyone off?

UPS Achieves Record Earnings Per Share

Press Release 2012 Free Cash Flow $5.4 Billion; Expects 2013 EPS growth 6-to-12%; $4 Billion in Share Repurchases Atlanta, January 31, 2013 - UPS (NYSE: UPS) today announced record 2012 fourth quarter and full year adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.32 and $4.53 respectively, with the U.S. Domestic segment leading the way. The company generated annual free cash flow of approximately $5.4 billion, a testament to operations execution and the emphasis UPS places on capital efficiency. UPS estimates that Hurricane Sandy reduced earnings per share by approximately $0.05. UPS recorded a fourth quarter mark-to-market, non-cash, after-tax charge of $3.0 billion for its company-sponsored pension and post-retirement benefit plans. Although the plans exceeded their expected rate of return, these incremental gains were more than offset by a 120 basis point decline in year-end discount rates. As a result, on a GAAP basis, diluted earnings per share for the quarter fell to a loss of $1.83. For the full year, reported diluted earnings per share were $0.83. This adjustment does not affect cash flow, required pension funding or benefits paid to plan participants. "2012 presented its challenges, most notably weak global trade. Nonetheless, UPS executed well, delivering superior service to customers," said Scott Davis, UPS Chairman and CEO. "Despite modest macro growth expectations for 2013 and uncertainty in the U.S. caused by the lack of progress in Washington, the UPS business model will deliver consistent results, with operating profit growth in all segments." "delivering superior service" said head of fraud Scott Davis. Is that how you define it these days?

UPS & Sochi 2014

Distinct lack of contact details on the sochi website

International Olympic Committee

Having strangely ducked out of my previous questions, by a game of ping-pong between the IOC & LOCOG, will the I.O.C. take the UPS millions for the next Olympic Games?

I'm fairly sure that the I.O.C. will take their slice of the fraudulently obtained dosh.

I don't see anything to suggest that some coffers might not be lined.

Ker-Ching


Bounce things around long enough and they drop of the radar.
It was only a visitor from Switzerland that gave me the prompt.