Click here to donate.

In other news, with the IBT ballots heading out within the next ten days, now’s a great time to catch the video of the entire IBT Candidate Forum. If you’re a Teamster, you should absolutely be voting in the election. And while the forum is no replacement for doing the rest of your homework, it should give you a decent feel for each of the Presidential candidates.

Well, each one except for Mr. Hoffa, who sent Package Division Director Ken Hall as a stand-in. But that’s okay, if you’ve been around a while, you should already have an idea what to expect from Hoffa if he gets re-elected. At least you can get an idea of what his challengers are about — and whether or not they’ll offer a different direction from the one offered by the Hoffa administration.

Click here to see the forum video from the independent election supervisor’s website.

If you’re interested in what I really think about the pending election, you can read more about that here.

This past Sunday at the general membership meeting, President Bonaduce read a letter from Local 107 President and International Vice President Bill Hamilton regarding our health and welfare fund. It was offered as a way of putting the news about our fund into perspective. In short, it spells out how we stack up against similar funds around the country, and it dispels some of the misinformation that may be out there right now. If you want to read the letter in its original form, you can download it here in PDF format.

Click here to download the letter

But the most important element in both local and international union elections is going to be how well the voters — that’s members like you and me — educate themselves about our electoral options. That means it’s a great time to start getting out to the monthly membership meetings, and get familiar with the issues and people who will be running for office. Of course it’s always a good time to get involved in the union — that’s the best way to make sure you’re being properly represented.

Our next meeting is February 28. If you haven’t already been showing up, mark this on your calendar and come on out.

(For more information on this year’s union meeting schedule, please visit the “Meetings” page.)

I am more than me,
not the one you had foreseen,
but just like you I had a dream –
a delicate contingency –
depending on a “we.”

*
The poem above was written over a year ago, during the last few months of the 2008 Presidential campaign. When I scribbled the first few lines, I was thinking about all the people in the country who were talking about “change” and “hope.” And I was thinking about then-candidate Obama, who had given a voice to the dreamy-eyed idealism of millions of Americans.

But one thing that disturbed me even then was how some people imagined President Obama would right all the wrongs done by our federal government, especially those done over the past 8 years. Sadly, there were far fewer people who seemed to understand that any substantive change in our political system was going to rely not only on the people at the very top, but also on those at every other level.

Some thought voting was all they had to do. Others went a step further, working tirelessly on the campaign. But far too many seemed to think that once the election was over, there was nothing more to do.

By the time the poem was finished, I realized there are folks who think this way not just about national politics, but also about local politics — and even union politics.

**
As a shop steward for most of the past nine years, I’ve been approached by many who want solutions, who want things changed for the better. Many of them are willing to step up and be a part of their own solution, but some believe that their part ends once they share their problems with someone like me.

Some people believe that shop stewards and business agents can work magic all by themselves. And yes, every once in a while, we may seem to get magical results. We may even get you exactly what you want without you having to lift a finger. But more often than not, you need to be involved if you want real solutions.

Sometimes I remind those who come to me for help that I might need their help to get them what they want. This is how it is for us as union members — we have to stand up for our rights. If not, we have no one else to blame when those rights continue to get trampled. When we make the mistake of thinking our leaders will do everything for us, we set ourselves up for frustration.

***
So when you come to me with a problem, don’t be surprised if I ask what you’re willing to do to help solve it.

If your rights are being disregarded in the workplace, but you aren’t willing to file a grievance, your problem probably won’t go away any time soon.

If you’re unhappy with the way you’re being represented, but you’re unwilling to make your voice heard, you’ll probably remain unhappy for a long while to come.

If you see problems, but you aren’t willing to work toward fixing them and supporting others who do, you probably shouldn’t expect too many solutions.

Any time we fall into the trap of thinking of our union as something “they” run, we surrender control of our union. The union isn’t just the elected officers, business agents or shop stewards. It’s every single member — we are the union.

And if we want something, we can get it, as long as we’re willing to work for it.

For far too long, panel decisions have been treated like state secrets, but disclosure of these decisions are vital to our understanding of how effectively our union is being represented overall.

Make UPS Deliver has been providing this information for the past couple National Grievance Panel meetings, and I applaud their actions in the interests of rank-and-file UPS Teamsters. Click here to download the decisions in PDF format.

For now, the rumors have subsided, at least in part, as the company is backing off some of its more egregious propositions regarding the Article 22.3 employees. No doubt the volume of calls to the Local Union from concerned members played a part in that shift — one reason why now is no time to stop with the pressure.

We have seen and heard threats to our jobs and talk about guarantees being shredded by a company making billions in profit. One thing most UPSers don’t seem to be thinking about is the violation of our contract that has been happening for months now. I’m talking about the 20,000 jobs UPS is required to maintain under Article 22, Section 3 of the UPS Master Agreement, as well as the documentation they are required to provide:

The number of full-time jobs created under Article 22, Section 3 of the 1997-2002 and the 2002-2008 Agreements shall not be reduced. Within sixty (60) days of the ratification of this Agreement the
Employer shall provide the International Teamsters Union a report detailing and identifying the full-time jobs which will need to be maintained pursuant to this paragraph.

The deadline for the last wave of those 20,000 jobs was last August, but there has been no indication that this language has been satisfied. So how exactly is the company able to eliminate jobs when they have yet to prove they’ve met this obligation?

And why isn’t the International Union proactively engaged in distributing the above mentioned list to locals for a nationwide audit process to see exactly how far away the company is from its obligation? Without complete information, there is no way to verify the extent of these violations. The company can dissolve a position from one location then claim it has gone elsewhere, but without verification, we have no way of knowing whether those claims are true. It is the essence of a shell game — an ages old con.

Are you a current Article 22.3 full-timer who has been afraid your job might disappear? Are you a part-timer who hopes one day to have a full-time job? If so, UPS’ disregard for contractual obligations directly affects you. But again, it affects all of us who call ourselves Teamsters. We all need to care about this rampant violation of our rights, because taking away the rights of even a few of us diminishes the rights of all of us.

In the coming days and weeks, I hope to be doing even more to get my fellow members involved in ongoing efforts to stop the shell game. Hopefully, some of you will join me.

“In Germany, they came first for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
and then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
and then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
and then… they came for me… and by that time
there was no one left to speak up.”
- attributed to Martin Niemoller

This past week in the Willow Grove UPS hub, some disturbing things have been happening. While we’ve known for a while about layoffs, the new developments revolve around the company reportedly trying to redefine some key terms in our contract.

The company announced, on rather short notice, plans to layoff certain inside workers. While any layoffs are disturbing in their own right, these layoffs are structured quite differently than past staffing reductions. In particular, these layoffs have targeted higher seniority, Article 22.3 employees, who have been kept from their guaranteed work hours while lower seniority employees have been permitted to keep working in the same operation.

On Friday, February 6, 2009, several Article 22.3 workers were kept out of work in this fashion. Inquiries made to the Local Union were met with claims that the Union had no involvement in the layoff selection process, which is in itself a serious violation of contractual rights. Furthermore, Union officials maintained that they were “completely against” what was happening.

How did the company get away with laying off full-time workers while junior employees were allowed to work in the same operation? Good question. Maybe it’s because they attempted to redefine seniority by insisting that Article 22.3 employees are in a totally separate classification from any part-time employees (even when full and part-time employees are both doing the same exact work).

While that may seem like a gross violation of the terms or our contract, it gets worse when you find out the company also claims the displaced employees have no right to bump. And how do they get away with that? Apparently, they do it by claiming that each day laid off is its own separate layoff. You see, in our supplement, most laid off workers with seniority have the right to bump after a specified number of layoff days. If the company is only laying off for a day each week, they will claim the count of days laid off is reset every week, even if their intent is to maintain a reduced work schedule for several weeks at a time.

Perhaps the company feels this is ample justification to deprive Union employees of some of their most basic rights, but it’s pretty clear the spirit of the contract doesn’t mean what they want it to mean.

The question now is, what are we going to do about it?

I say “we” because, aside from concepts we’ve already discussed in this post like seniority and bumping rights, there is an equally important concept we all need to embrace for our Union to be as effective as it needs to be:

SOLIDARITY

Solidarity is the one word answer to any misguided Union member who feels that violations committed against other Union members don’t affect them. It’s the one word retort to anyone who sees a Union brother or sister being violated and responds by saying, “It’s not my problem.” And it’s the only effective way to answer injustice that will otherwise spread to effect all of us.

And it will spread. What you mistakenly believe is someone else’s problem today will someday become your problem, too. And that day may come sooner than you expect. The only way to be ready for it is to stand by your fellow Union members.

Otherwise, it may turn out the way it did for people like Martin Niemoller (quoted at the top of this post), who mistakenly believed it wasn’t their problem when the Nazis went after other groups of people.

As I type these words, I know there are people in our Union who believe that what’s happening to others isn’t their problem. Because they don’t see themselves in the line of fire right now, they keep quiet — maybe because they don’t think the company’s sights will ever be turned on them, or maybe because they’re afraid that by standing up for others, the company will target them next. Whatever the case, if we don’t stand by our fellow Union members, who exactly do we expect will stand by us when it is our turn to be targeted?

Management depends on this kind of foolish indifference and apathy. They hope we’ll selfishly let them pick off our brothers and sisters so it will be even easier to target the rest of us in the future.

Think about it — before it’s too late.

A former UPS package car driver, Carey would become the first democratically elected head of the IBT. He went on to lead the union in a successful strike against UPS in 1997, because of which he is credited with opening the door to thousands of new full-time Teamster jobs.

People have differing opinions of Ron Carey (as they tend to have of all leaders), but many of the accomplishments he had in his time leading our union cannot be dismissed, no matter your opinion of Mr. Carey. As we hear news of his passing, all union men and women should hold him in a place of respect for the things he did for our cause.

To read more now on Ron Carey, check out TDU.org

But UPS is thousands of jobs short of the 20,000 full-time combo jobs required by the contract. And every day management is eliminating more of these jobs.

President Hoffa has bragged that our union has a “Hammer” to stop employers in egregious cases like this: the Right To Strike on deadlocked grievances.

No one needs a strike, especially before the holidays including UPS. What we do need is to send a clear message to every Teamster employer that our union is serious about protecting members’ jobs.

Is it time to remind management that we’ve got the Hammer? (read more)

Now if we could only use it to help UPSers like Mary Seumaala:

Mary Seumaala went on strike in 1997 to win a full-time job at UPS. Now UPS has taken her full-time job away.

…

And Mary is not alone. UPS has laid off forty Article 22.3 Teamsters in Seattle—and hundreds more across the country. In all, UPS is short-changing thousands of Teamsters out of full-time jobs. (read more)

Those familiar with this site know these concerns aren’t new. In the Willow Grove hub where I work, there are over a hundred Article 22.3 full-time employees, many with families to support and bills to pay.

Many employees, both full-time and part-time have come to me with concerns. And while I have no crystal ball to predict the future, I’ve done my best to calm their fears. But that’s made at least a little easier because our hub appears to be in a slightly stronger position than UPS facilities elsewhere.

While those of us in Willow Grove may not be in the direct line of fire, all UPS Teamsters need to grasp the importance of what is happening, even if it isn’t happening to us personally.

It’s about Solidarity. That’s the idea that we’re all in this together, and it’s the central operating principle of any union worth a damn. It’s the idea that we can’t stand idly by while others are hung out to dry.

And while it may not seem like a practical concept to some, it’s vital to our survival, not just as union members but also as human beings. Why? Because if we stay silent while others are violated, that silence will lessen the number of voices who speak out for us when we’re being violated. It’s a concept that could have prevented genocides throughout history, if only those with the ability had stood up for those without.

If we have no concern for those who are threatened now, who will there be left to speak for us if someday our jobs are on the line?

Take an interest. Hold your union officials accountable so they will hold UPS accountable.

I’ve heard grumblings from several contacts across the country that there hasn’t been any evidence the company has filled the last round of 2,500 article 22.3 jobs (slated to be filled by August 1, 2008). There’s supposed to be a master list of these existing jobs available to the union. As of yet, I’ve heard no firm answer on whether we have that list or how to obtain it.

If you’re a Teamster working part-time at UPS wondering when (or if) your full-time job opportunity is going to come, you can make a call or write to your local union. Let them know you want to see the proof that UPS has lived up to its end of the bargain.

If not, maybe this guy might be able to help us out:

*Thanks to Tom for the heads up on the video

**I once quoted a statement from Norman Black (the media relations manager who appears in the above video) to a sort manager with whom I was discussing a grievance. He shrugged off Mr. Black’s statement. I countered that Norman Black was an official spokesperson for the company, so his statement (which favored the member I was representing) should count for something. The sort manager looked at me, smiled and said, “I don’t care what Norman Black says. He’s an idiot.” Interestingly, that’s pretty much how he looks in the video.