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Complete UPS Contract Coverage
UPS Tentative Agreement and Supplements
Download copies of the tentative agreement and available tentative supplemental agreements. We strongly encourage members to read through them. An informed membership is the basis for a strong Teamsters union. Click here to download, review, compare and discuss.
Get the Facts on the Tentative Agreement
The International has sent out selective contract highlights. Download a two-sided leaflet with another look at the tentative agreement.
Health Care Concessions: Promises Broken
140,000 Teamsters presently in the company plan face big benefit cuts. Click here to download a leaflet and FAQs on this important issue.
More on Health Care Issues
Under the tentative agreement, UPS Teamsters will no longer get healthcare coverage through a company plan, beginning Jan. 1, 2014. This will result in deductibles and out-of-pocket costs for 140,000 UPS Teamsters, including all part-timers. Read more.
Technology and Discipline
The International Union has put out selective contract “highlights.” To protect ourselves from unfair discipline, UPS Teamsters need the full story.
End Part-Time Poverty
The International Union claims the new contract delivers for part-timers. But check out the fine print. This is a sales job. And part-timers aren’t buying what they’re selling. Read more.
Take Action
UPS Teamsters are getting info and taking action. Got a question on the tentative agreement? Want to join up with Teamsters who are spreading reliable contract info? Now’s the time. Click here.
Join and Support TDU
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Support Your UPS Contract Watchdog
Contract news you can use is priceless. But it’s not free. Help keep Teamsters for a Democratic Union trucking.
UPS Teamsters Getting Info, Taking Action
Got a question on the tentative agreement? Want to join up with Teamsters who are spreading reliable contract info? Now’s the time. Click here.
UPS and UPS Freight — FAQs: How the Contract Vote Works
In your working life at UPS or UPS Freight, you may get five or six chances to vote on a contract, and improve your working conditions and benefits. This is one of them – take advantage of it!
Who Votes? All union members on the UPS or UPS Freight seniority list will be mailed a ballot at the end of May on the contract. At UPS Freight, there is just one national vote. At UPS Package, all Teamsters get at least two, and in many cases three separate votes: on the national contract, on your regional or local supplement, and on a rider (for some areas).
- In “right to work” states, nonmembers do not get to vote.
- The vote is by majority rule, among those voting. If you don’t vote, you don’t count.
- If you don’t get a ballot, you can request a duplicate.
- It is a secret ballot; your ballot goes into a secret ballot envelope, then into a pre-paid return envelope.
Who counts the votes? The count will have an independent agent in charge, hired by the IBT. Due to past legal action, observers (members) not beholden to the Hoffa administration will be present. The unopened ballots will first be sorted by Local Union (there is a local union notation on the envelope), and the count will be then done separately for each local. The count will begin on or about June 20 for UPS Package.
What if the contract is voted down? The IBT and UPS will return to bargaining, to negotiate a contact acceptable to members. This is not a strike vote; it is a vote on accepting or rejecting the contract, by majority rule.
What if supplements or riders are voted down? Then the supplemental negotiating committee and UPS will return to bargaining to negotiate a more acceptable supplement or rider. The national contract cannot be implemented during this period.
Do you have more questions? Click here to send TDU a message or call us at 313-842-2600.
How does TDU win rights and protect our Right to Vote?
- TDU fought for and won majority rule on contracts: previously it took 2/3 to reject a contract.
- TDU fought for and won the right to a separate vote on all supplements and riders, prepared the language and worked with locals to get it adopted in the IBT Constitution. Previously there was no such right.
- TDU fought for and won the right to a “fair and informed vote” and observer rights.
- When former Teamster President Jackie Presser tried to violate these rights, TDU went to federal court for an injunction which resulted in the UPS contract votes being tossed out, and the vote redone fairly.
TDU will keep working to win and protect your rights!
We are stronger together. Support our movement to build a stronger Teamsters union by joining TDU.
UPDATED: Some UPS Supplements Available
UPDATED May 22, 2013: We now have most Supplement and Rider Tentative Agreements posted for membership review and comparison. We will post more as we obtain them from the International union.
Available for download here are –
We will make more supplements available for members to review, compare and discuss, as soon as possible. We believe an informed membership is the basis for a strong Teamsters Union.
Download Tentative Agreement with UPS
The Information Brownout has been lifted. Click here to download a complete copy of the new tentative agreement with UPS.
We will continue to update the website with additional information. Check back soon.
The UPS Contract By the Numbers
It’s our contract. Get the facts on the proposed new five-year deal with UPS.
Wages
Wage increases are as follows: $.70/hour on August 1, 2013; $.70/hour on August 1, 2014; $.70/hour on August 1, 2015; $.40/hour on August 1, 2016 and $.40/hour on Feb. 1, 2017; $.50/hour on August 1, 2017 and $.50/hour on Feb. 1, 2018.
The progression has been increased from three-years to four-years so new 22.3s and drivers will have to wait longer to reach full union scale. The details are in Article 41.
The wage increases total $3.90. The wage increases in the 2008 contract totaled $4.00, which taking into account five years of inflation would now be $4.40.
Part-Time Wages
The International Union announced that part-time wages are going up by $1.50. But the real increase is only 50 cents.
That’s because the $1 raise that you get after 90 days in the present contract has been eliminated. In the proposed contract, part-timers don’t get their first increase until the one-year mark.
The contract does not include any catch-up raises for part-timers, just the regular annual wage increases.
The chart below shows the difference.
| 2008 Contract |
2013 Contract |
|||||
| Start | Preloader/Sorter | $9.50 | $11 | |||
| All Others | $8.50 | $10 | ||||
| Start +90 Days | Preloader/Sorter | $10.50 | $11 | |||
| All Others | $9.50 | $10 | ||||
| Start Plus One (1) Year | Preloader/Sorter | $11 | $11.50 | |||
| All Others | $10 | $10.50 |
Health Benefits
All members presently in the company-based health plan are being moved out, into the Central States Health and Welfare Fund or other funds with inferior benefits.
Retiree Health Benefits
Members in company-based plans will face much larger payments for retiree health care. Instead of paying $50/month to cover a retiree and spouse, it will go to $100, then $200 and $300/month by the third year of the contract ($150 for a retiree alone).
In the West, where Teamsters have “maintenance of benefits” language to protect against health care cuts, any maintenance of benefits funding will come from reduced pension funding.
IBT-UPS Plan Pensions
Covers nearly 50,000 Teamsters in the Central and Southern Regions and the Carolinas
The 30-and-out benefit will go from $3,000 to $3,200 in 2014 and to $3400 in 2017. The 25-and-out and 25-at-57 benefits are frozen at $2,000 and $2,500/month. The annual accrual, presently $170, remains frozen for five years and will go up by $5 in 2018.
Does the New Contract Make UPS Deliver on Harassment?
May 7, 2013: The International Union made harassment the signature issue of the contract negotiations. Does the tentative agreement deliver on the hype?
Two hot button issues the new contract is supposed to address are unfair discipline based on technology and excessive overtime.
The proposed new language is finally out. TDU.org asks UPSers to look at the language and send us your opinion.
Technology and Discipline
Article 6
The company’s right to fire an employee for “dishonesty” solely based on information from GPS or technology appears largely unchanged.
In cases that do not involve dishonesty, UPS must now “confirm by direct observation or other corroborating evidence” a violation warranting discharge.
But what about cases involving alleged dishonesty? There are only two changes in this language.
“No employee shall be discharged on a first offense if such discharge is based solely upon information received from GPS or any successor system unless he/she engages in dishonesty (defined for the purposes of this paragraph as any intentional act or omission by an employee where he/she intends to defraud the company.”
Dishonesty used to mean “theft.” But under the last contract, UPS has been firing drivers for “dishonesty” and “falsification” for DIAD misentries that used to be routine: mis-recording the delivery time on air, recording a stop when you’re back at the building, entering a closed commercial stop as a “not in” residential stop etc.
Do you think the new language will stop these terminations in the future? Send us your comments.
Retaliation / Excessive Overtime
Article 37
The International Union makes big claims for the new language in Article 37, saying the new language: will protect members from retaliation, make it easier to get on the 9.5 list, get drivers 9.5 pay faster, prohibit excessive overtime on the two remaining days within a workweek, increase cover drivers’ 9.5 rights, and give the Union the power to address inadequate staffing.
Article 37 has a number of language changes—and a number of loopholes.
TDU.org asks shop stewards and members with experience trying to enforce 9.5 to read the proposed changes and send us your thoughts.
More Detailed Analysis to Come
The tentative agreement is just out. It deserves a serious reading. Shop stewards and active UPS Teamsters are reviewing the contract now.
Teamsters for a Democratic Union will be compiling their feedback and publishing an analysis of the contract’s highlights and lowlights.
TDU will host a nationwide conference call for UPS Teamsters on Thursday night. Click here for more information.
New UPS Central States Health Benefits Chart
May 7, 2013: You can download and review a benefits chart for the enhanced Central States C-6 Plan, which would cover many thousands of Teamsters from various regions if the tentative agreement is approved.
This chart is being distributed by the International Union.
Most Teamsters across the country presently in the company plan would be moved to this plan under the tentative agreement. Those in California and in New Jersey Local 177 have until November 1, 2013 to come up with an alternative plan for those members, per a Memorandum of Understanding.
Regarding health coverage for retirees, the tentative agreement includes a Memorandum of Understanding which states that Teamsters presently under the company plan will pay premiums for retiree coverage as follows: Effective 1/1/2013 $50 individual, $100 to include spouse; effective 1/12014 $100 individual, $200 with spouse; effective 1/1/2015 $150 individual, $300 with spouse.
We encourage Teamsters to review the health and welfare coverage, as well as the contract.
Conference Call on the UPS Contract
May 6, 2013: Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) will host a Conference Call for UPS Teamsters to review the proposed UPS contract on Thursday, May 9.
UPS Teamsters have been kept in the dark for months by an information brownout.
On Tuesday, TDU will obtain and post the tentative national agreement. On Thursday, UPS Teamsters and shop stewards will meet on a national conference call to discuss the proposed contract.
UPS Teamsters and shop stewards will report on contract changes on key issues, including: pension, healthcare and retiree healthcare, production harassment, excessive overtime, technology, full-time jobs, subcontracting and more.
We’ll review contract highlights and lowlights on the call and take questions and comments from Teamsters. Keep your eyes open as well for upcoming Make UPS Deliver bulletins with contract updates and analysis.
UPS Teamsters will get to vote on the national contract and their supplement (and in some cases a third vote on their local rider).
The TDU Conference Call on the proposed UPS Contract will take place on Thursday, May 9 at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
You will need a Conference Call code to dial in to the call. Space is limited.
Click here to request the Conference Call code and we will send it to you by email.
Tentative Contract Deals Reached
April 25, 2013: The International Union announced it has reached a tentative agreement on new five-year contracts at UPS and UPS Freight. Negotiations on some supplements are still not completed.
Details on the new agreements are still sketchy due to the ongoing Information Brownout.
All UPS Teamsters in company health plans will be moved into union health plans.
The contract includes $1/hour increases in contributions to pension and healthcare benefits each year, the same dollar figure as the last contract.
Wage increases under the five-year deal are reportedly 70 cents in each of the first three years, followed by raises of 90 cents and one dollar in the last two years.
The IBT is reporting that part-timers will get a “substantial” pay increase including an increase in the starting wage rate for part-timers which was falling behind minimum wage in a growing number of areas.
The IBT press release does not include any information about the signature issues of production harassment and excessive overtime.
The IBT reports that the UPS Freight agreement “resolves subcontracting issues.” The new subcontracting provisions of both agreements deserve careful scrutiny.
Members will have a chance to review these and other important language changes before the contract ratification votes. First, the proposed contracts will be reviewed at separate upcoming meetings of two representatives from each UPS and UPS Freight local.
TDU and Make UPS Deliver will provide detailed contract information as it becomes available. We urge all UPS and UPS Freight Teamsters to carefully review the proposed agreements, attend local union contract meetings, ask questions, and cast an informed vote.
Click here to the read the International Union’s press release on the tentative agreements at UPS and UPS Freight.
UPSers Press for Vote On Change to Their Health Plan
April 22, 2013: More than 100,000 Teamsters will be moved out of their current health plan if UPS management gets its way in contract negotiations. Now some locals are demanding a separate vote on the issue.
UPS wants to move more UPS Teamsters out of company health plans. The company and Ken Hall were all but set on moving these Teamsters into the Central States Health & Welfare Fund. But members and some local unions are saying, “Not so fast.”
A debate has broken out on the National Negotiating Committee with some officers calling for alternatives to the Central States option and a separate vote by affected members only.
Officers from every local in the West held a conference call last week and spoke out against any transfer to Central States Health & Welfare Fund. Teamsters Local 177 which represents some 6,000 UPSers in New Jersey also joined the call.
“My local’s members deserve a separate vote on this issue,” an officer from a large affected local told TDU. “Members whose health benefits are going to stay the same should not be deciding whether our members get moved into a different plan with different coverage.”
The International Union organizes the ratification vote and has the power to give affected members a separate vote.
UPSers’ co-pays, drug costs, deductibles, and retiree healthcare costs would all go up under the top coverage that is currently offered by the Central States Health Fund, the C-6 plan.
The proposal to move UPS Teamsters out of company health plans would affect members in some of the largest UPS locals in the country, including locals in California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, St. Louis, Ohio, Iowa, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.
Part-timers nationwide are covered by company plans that provide coverage that’s superior to the C-6 plan.
Negotiations continue in Washington, D.C. this week. It’s too soon to know if the proposed contract will move Teamsters in company health plans in C-6 in the Central States, an improved Central States plan or alternative plans.
Stand Up Against Healthcare Cuts
Before contract negotiations began, Ken Hall vowed, “We’re not going to be talking about concessions, we’re going to be talking about improvements.”
Will this apply to Teamsters who will be moved out of their current health plan?
These members deserve a separate vote by affected members only and complete information on changes to their benefits and retiree coverage under any proposed new health plan.
That’s where we stand. How about you? Click here to send us a message and team up with other UPS Teamsters who are working together to oppose health benefit cuts and get a separate vote for Teamsters who would be moved into a different health plan.
Members Waiting on Details on Harassment, 9.5, Technology
April 12, 2013: The International Union will resume contract negotiations with UPS on April 22 with the goal of reaching a deal on a proposed new contract by the end of the week. Economic issues, including healthcare, remain on the table.
The IBT and UPS have reached tentative agreements on a number of language issues, including 9.5 protections from excessive overtime.
Members have been promised that the new 9.5 language will:
- Make it easier for drivers to get on the 9.5 list. Drivers will no longer have to work over 9.5 hours three times in a week before they qualify to get on the 9.5 list.
- Protect drivers on the 9.5 list from the being over-dispatched twice a week as long as they’re kept under 9.5 three days a week.
- Require management to adjust drivers’ loads and not just pay penalty pay when 9.5 violations are ongoing.
- Create escalating penalties for repeat violations including making UPS create additional driving jobs when there are repeat violations.
- Include stronger 9.5 rights for cover drivers.
Teamster members and the Make UPS Deliver campaign have been pushing for these and other language improvements.
Every UPS Teamster will have the chance to review the proposed changes when a tentative agreement is reached to see for themselves if we’ve won clear, enforceable language protections.
Are UPS Teamsters Headed to Central States Health Fund?
UPDATED April 12, 2013: Are UPS Teamsters presently in company plans heading for the Central States Health and Welfare Fund? That’s one proposal that UPS management has put on the table.
The International Union called a two-week break in negotiations to study this issue. So far, UPS Teamsters have only been told that management has proposed moving all UPS Teamsters into a union health and welfare plan.
Meanwhile, the Central States Health and Welfare Fund seems to be preparing to go national. The fund is even planning to drop the Central States name and perhaps rebrand itself as MyTEAMCare.
UPS wants to get retiree healthcare costs off of its balance sheets because of legal accounting changes. But how would switching to the Central States Health Fund affect Teamster members?
There’s no word yet on that from the IBT. Bargaining resumes on April 15.
Unlike the Central States Pension Fund, the Health and Welfare Fund is in good financial shape. It has 19 months of reserves, which is considered very healthy.
UPS Teamsters who are currently in this plan pay no monthly premiums. UPS retirees in this fund pay $200 per month for retiree coverage and $400 for retiree-plus-spouse coverage.
Switching UPS Teamsters into Teamster health plans may benefit members and our union. But UPSers have lots of questions, and they deserve answers.
Healthcare affects members and our families directly and personally. If major changes are in store for our health coverage, UPS Teamsters deserve full disclosure—all the facts and all the options—before any contract vote.
Click here to see a summary of Central States healthcare coverage with co-pay and deductible information. The C-6 plan is the top coverage currently available to Teamsters in the Central States.
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. Read the rest …
