On the Clock: Protect Our Work, Our Time, Our Dignity

With peak season in the rearview, it’s time for UPS Teamster locals to expand our contract enforcement efforts as the company shifts its focus to cutting costs. Among the many gains in the new UPS Teamsters contract, we won stronger penalties against supervisors working and harassment. The perennial uptick in cost-cutting, supervisors performing Teamster work, and harassment should be met with renewed emphasis on enforcing Article 3, Section 7 and Article 37, Section 1(b), including new language that increases penalties for violating these protections. We also need to focus on enforcing Article 17 paid for time protections as management puts pressure on members to work off the clock. Business agents and stewards have an important role in educating members about why working off the clock undermines the contract and hurts their coworkers.

The following materials from the Teamsters Package Division can be used by locals for leafletting, parking lot meetings, and conversations with rank-and-filers, both in person and on social media. This toolkit also includes content around this year’s MLK Day, the first to be recognized as a paid holiday at UPS thanks to our contract fight last year! We urge all UPS locals to engage members with these materials and be ready to take action on grievable violations.

In this toolkit:

On the Clock Leaflet

Click below to download

Paid for Time Q&As

Q: Why shouldn’t I work off the clock before start-time if it means I’ll get my route done faster and easier?

A: Because UPS is not paying you for that extra work. This not only hurts your paycheck but allows UPS to cut jobs and can lead to layoffs. By coming in early and working off the clock, you are setting false and unfair standards for your route and enabling UPS to cut bid routes. Remember, every extra second or minute saved by you not having to look for a package in your truck is money in UPS’s pocket, not yours.

Q: So if I work before my start time as a driver, how does that hurt my coworkers?

A: Working off the clock hurts your coworkers on preload because they are losing that time. As Teamsters, we should not be taking other union members’ work. Many UPS Teamsters sacrificed in the past by refusing to work off the clock so that we could have the rights we have today.

Q: Why should I take my breaks?

A: Whether you work inside or as a driver, working though breaks undermines our supplement and the overall contract. Drivers who use their break time to sort their truck or pre-record stops, for example, make it easier for the company to increase the amount of work on routes which can lead to more routes being cut.

Q: How is starting ahead of my shift as a part-timer harmful?  

A: Anything you do to set up your work area – from gathering load bags to setting up scanners – should be done on the clock. When you perform this work off the clock, you are only doing UPS a favor (for free) and potentially inviting more violations of your three-and-a-half-hour guarantee under Article 22.

Q: How much does working off the clock really affect my paycheck?

A: Let’s do the math. If you’re an RPCD and you start 15 minutes before your shift five days a week, that’s more than $4,300 a year in overtime out of your pocket that you are giving to the company. If you’re a part-timer with, say, eight years of seniority, starting 15 minutes early off the clock five days a week amounts to more than $2,000 of free overtime labor per year that you’re giving up to the company.

Rally Signs

Click below to download files

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

These files can be sent to any local printer. If you need help finding a local printer, click here to use the Graphic Communications Conference “Find a Union Printer” tool.

The following guidelines for printing should be shared with the printer you use:
• Sign size: 18″ x 12″
• The signs are full color, full bleed

Social Media Graphics

Sample Social Media Text for Facebook, Instagram, etc.


With peak season over, it’s time to further protect our jobs and combat management harassment against UPSers.

The new contract strengthens grievances against supervisors working with increased penalties under Article 3, Section 7.

Increased pressure to work off-the-clock is another attack on Teamster jobs at UPS. This hurts RPCDs with unpaid work time and harms pre-loaders by taking away their work, leading to potential job cuts and reduction in hours. In these cases, grievances can be filed on behalf of the RPCD for unpaid time worked under Article 17.

When it comes to harassment, this daily problem is often kicked into high gear after peak. Article 37, Section 1(b) of our new contract increases the maximum pay for harassment to five times a member’s daily guarantee.

Go to the UPS Teamsters app for the full contract to read the above articles and section. We won’t let UPS take away our work, our time, or our dignity!

For the first time ever, today UPS Teamsters are celebrating Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday thanks to our historic new contract.

Dr. King dedicated and sacrificed his life in the struggle for civil rights and workers’ rights. He was assassinated in Memphis while supporting sanitation workers on strike and was a major figure in the labor movement. While we honor his legacy with a federal holiday, for many years UPS refused Teamster demands to recognize MLK Day as a paid holiday. But Teamster unity and militancy last year during the contract campaign forced the company to concede, adding MLK Day as a holiday in all supplements, riders, and addenda, per Article 29, Section 4 of the National Master Agreement.

Any UPS Teamster who chooses to work on this holiday should make sure they are getting holiday pay in accordance with their supplement.

It took a long time to make UPS understand Dr. King’s immortal words: “The time is always right to do what is right.” But today we can finally rest and respect the dream.

Happy MLK Day, brothers and sisters! ✊🏿✊🏽✊🏻
– Click below to download graphics –

Contract Enforcement Trainings

The ongoing Contract Enforcement Training program assists locals with educating business agents, stewards, and rank-and-filers on contract enforcement at UPS. This five-hour program includes an overview of:

If your local is interested in hosting a Contract Enforcement Training by the International, please reach out to the Training and Grants Department at (202) 624-8724.

9.5 Add / Cut Form

With the January 5 deadline for the 9.5 list now behind us, this form can be used by drivers and stewards to add a driver to the 9.5 list or for the driver to remove their name from the 9.5 list. A copy of this form signed by all parties should be given to the Steward and the Center Manager to update the Center’s 9.5 list.

Note: A tracking tool from the Package Division to assist BAs and stewards on Section 1(c) enforcement with alerts for when a compliance meeting needs to be arranged is forthcoming.

Share Photos & Videos

Follow the instructions below for submitting photos and videos from your local union’s contract enforcement activities, parking lot meetings, etc. We will feature content from UPS locals on the International’s social media platforms.

To submit image or video files from your phone:

  1. CLICK HERE to upload files and indicate your local union and location of the action. OR…
  2. Open the UPS Teamsters app, click on the ≡ menu icon on the top left of the screen, and select “Share Action Photos/Videos.” Upload your files and indicate your local union. OR…
  3. Email your files to UPSvictory@teamster.org. Remember to include your local union, as well as the UPS center/location where the action took place.

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