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Leaders from UPS Local Unions Overwhelmingly Accept Contract Proposals
More than 260 local union leaders who represent Teamsters at UPS and UPS Freight gathered today in the Washington DC area to review national contract proposals, all of which were approved.
General President Jim Hoffa, Chairman of the UPS National Negotiating Committee (NNC), said the proposals will be submitted to the company when national negotiations begin in January.
Contract proposals adopted today by the NNC focus on subcontracting, excessive hours and other issues. For UPS members, additional proposals were adopted related to ongoing harassment and increases in the average size and weight of shipments; UPS Freight proposals also took up the issue of blackout weeks.
During opening remarks at the “two-person” meeting – in which two representatives from each UPS and UPS Freight local union meet – Hoffa said UPS Teamsters are energized and ready to fight for a strong contract in 2018.
“The Teamsters UPS contract is without question the strongest labor agreement in the country, but we have major issues at stake in upcoming negotiations. Pensions, UPS’s use of new technology and the challenges posed by competitors like Amazon are going to weigh heavily in talks with the company. We have a strong, experienced committee that is ready to win the best contract possible for our members,” Hoffa said.
Denis Taylor, NNC Co-Chair and Director of the Teamsters Package Division, thanked local union leaders for working with the committee to compile proposals from members at UPS and UPS Freight.
“Our local unions stepped up and made sure their members’ input was heard today and gathered thousands of contract proposal forms,” Taylor said. “We will present many of these proposals to the company when our first negotiating meetings take place in January.”
The current National Master Agreement, which covers more than 250,000 UPS Teamster members, expires on July 31, 2018.
Negotiating committees for UPS and UPS Freight are at the very beginning stages of the bargaining process. Supplemental committees are meeting individually over the course of the next two months to exchange proposals with the company and engage in multi-day negotiating meetings. After these supplemental meetings and peak season, national negotiations will begin in January.
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