Press Releases
Teamster UPS Aircraft Mechanics To Customers: Don’t Let UPS Ruin Your Valentine’s Day
(MIAMI) – As millions of couples wait for their flowers to arrive via UPS this Valentine’s Day, airline maintenance technicians and related classifications protested at a UPS store in downtown Miami on February 13 to tell customers they should be concerned about the company that is delivering their flowers.
The 1,200 workers who keep the massive UPS operation running do physically challenging and often dangerous work around jet engine aircraft and equipment, inhaling toxic chemicals and exhaust fumes daily. At the same time, multi-billion dollar corporation UPS is trying to strip the workers and their families of health benefits.
At the protest on Monday, mechanics some of whom are in danger of losing their healthcare despite being very sick, will take their concerns about the devastating cuts directly to customers and call on UPS executives to get serious about negotiations and commit to a fair contract that safeguards their health benefits and protects good middle-class jobs.
UPS is the world’s largest shipping company and will deliver more than 89 million flowers globally on Valentine’s Day. Last year, the airline maintenance workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, which would halt UPS’s global shipping operation.
BACKGROUND:
UPS posted $4.84 billion in profits in 2015 and announced multi-million dollar raises for top executives.
Yet while the company brings in billions in profits, the company has been calling for devastating concessions in benefits for retirees who spent their lives repairing UPS’s planes. UPS’s current proposal would increase health coverage for a retiree and his or her spouse to more than $19,000 per year in the first year with continued increases annually.
UPS aircraft mechanics and other maintenance workers have been in contract negotiations with UPS for three years and are calling on the company to come to a fair contract agreement that protects their health and jobs.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and “like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.