UPS Teamsters Freight Workers Vote Again on Sellout Contract - Strike Vote Possible - Company Threatens to Close - 3 Nov 2018

As workers’ opposition grows to Teamsters contract, UPS Freight preparing for strike

3 November 2018

As opposition grows among 11,000 UPS Freight workers to the Teamsters leadership's efforts to ram through its sellout contract, UPS management released a statement Thursday announcing that it is making preparations to respond to a strike.

Workers voted by more than 62 percent to reject the UPS Freight contract on October 5. On October 25, however, the Teamster bureaucratts announced that it would force workers to vote again on virtually an unchanged agreement. Workers are due to vote from November 7-11, with the results to be announced on Sunday evening, November 11.

Both versions of the contract create a new second tier of lower-paid workers by creating a new top pay-scale for current “in-progression” workers, that is, those who have not yet reached the top pay scale. The contract does nothing to substantially reduce the widespread use of subcontractor freight drivers, most of whom are forced to pay for their own medical and maintenance bills and gas. And it includes an effective wage cut, increasing wages by 1.7 percent, less than the rate of inflation.
UPS’ statement from Thursday declares that “the company has now begun discussions with UPS Freight customers to inform them of the potential for service disruption and the need to arrange alternative carriers.” It states that the company will “work to empty our network of freight by Friday, November 9.”

This action intended not only to mitigate the financial impact of a strike, but to intimidate workers with the threat of a lockout, by reducing work hours over the course of the next week as they are voting. Workers have reported this week being told by managers that the company could close its doors in the event of a “no” vote. Some workers have even reported being told by management that UPS is considering shutting its freight service division altogether.

The Teamsters misleaders and management evidently hope to force workers to vote “yes” through a combination of threats and intimidation. Many workers have suggested that the Teamster tops are hoping to reduce voter turnout from 66 percent last month to below 50. This would allow it to use the same constitutional loophole it used to defy the 54 percent “no” vote by UPS small packaging workers on October 5 and impose the agreement over mass opposition.

At an online Teamsters call on Thursday night, National UPS Freight Negotiating Committee Co-Chairman Kris Taylor made clear the union misleaders will do absolutely nothing to mobilize UPS workers for a struggle.

Taylor claimed that the union negotiating committee “felt that the company’s last, best and final offer does not sufficiently address the issues raised by the members.” Nonetheless, the union misleaders would put the agreement to a vote, because of the company’s claim—made just days after its financial report showed a 20 percent rise in third quarter profits to $1.5 billion—that there “is no more money to be had.”

Taylor then warned: “There is nothing more to be had at the bargaining table at this point. The company says there is no more. Not a penny, not half a penny.” He declared that “you need to recognize that a strike is not a guarantee.” While a strike “might force the company to come back to the table and offer more,” it was “also a fact that they may offer less. It’s also a fact that the company may close.”

Having issued these threats, Taylor made clear the union leadership would isolate UPS Freight workers in the event of a strike and not call out workers at the much larger UPS small packaging division, which employs 240,000 workers. “It is important that you understand that any strike against UPS Freight would only be directed against UPS Freight, and not against UPS Parcel or any other UPS entity,” he said.