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.

• Joe the Autoworker.com
• stories labeled ‘UAW’ at Joe’s Union Review
• ‘Debunking the myth of the $70-per-hour autoworker’ at The New Republic
• ‘Hands Off the UAW’ at The Nation

Even if you understand that $70 refers to more than just hourly wages, you might still have a completely false idea stuck in your head. The number being put out by those spreading the $70/hour lie refers to a strange formula based on total compensation figures.

The formula in question fails for one huge reason: the per hour cost for current union autoworkers is arrived at by adding benefit costs for retired union autoworkers as well. Using the same distorted math, someone could probably tell the same lie about UPS Teamsters. After all, our complete benefits package over the years is comparable in every way to what UAW members have been getting, and if you add in all UPS compensation/benefit costs (including hundreds of thousands of retirees) and only divide by the number of active employees, you’ll get a similarly huge distortion. So, if UAW members at GM, Ford and Chrysler are getting $70 an hour in total compensation, we probably aren’t far behind. But any Teamster working at UPS knows we don’t cost the company anywhere near that much.

If you’ve read this far, you should understand how utterly untrue the $70 per hour myth is. And if you understand that much, you might be wondering who would be starting such a misleading rumor.

Simply put, the rumor was started by people who exist to tear down unions and the gains unions have made on behalf of workers. And the path they’ve envisioned to tearing down unions goes right through Detroit, where they believe the failure (or restructuring) of the major American automakers will result in the collapse of the United Auto Workers union.

The rationale they like to offer is that, if the auto industry can vaporize the union, they can lower total compensation costs to more closely resemble those of foreign automakers employing workers in the U.S. (whose costs they estimate in the range of 40-50 dollars per hour). The problem with this rationale is that UAW members at the U.S.-owned auto plants are already closer to that compensation level than union bashers spreading these lies would have us believe. In fact, the most recent UAW contract with GM has drastically reduced GM’s liability for both retirees and active workers (a fact that has many in the UAW more than a little bothered), something the people behind the $70 per hour lie also fail to account for.

But the real danger is in allowing the anti-union dream scenario to become reality. If the union presence disappears or even decreases noticeably, all autoworkers, union or not, will see their compensation drop by a lot.

Remember when I mentioned that the anti-unionists want to erase “the gains unions have made on behalf of workers”? I didn’t say “union workers,” because I wasn’t just referring to union workers. I was referring to workers in any industry with a union presence.

Like the people at Fedex, who get just that much more in pay because UPS is unionized. Then there are the folks working for Toyota, Honda or the other foreign automakers with non-union plants in this country. You see, in both cases, non-union employers offer as much as they do because the unionized companies set a benchmark for industry compensation. Failing to offer compensation that appears close to the benchmark would make non-union plants easier targets for union organizing. And if the unions disappear, so does the benchmark — allowing non-union compensation to drift as low as management desires.

When unions are driven out of industries, those industries inevitably go minimum wage (think of meat processors, cutters and others in the meatpacking industry). And more minimum wage jobs are not what this economy needs.

But it’s probably just what the people telling the $70 an hour lie want.

Pay attention, because while it may be U.S. autoworkers under attack today, it will be others tomorrow. Someday, it will be UPS Teamsters getting smeared by some extravagant lie about how much more money they make compared to the average non-union worker. Don’t believe it? If you remember all the news reports from August, 1997, you know it’s already happened.

While Teamsters walked picket lines at UPS, there were voices on the news telling the American public that UPS workers make too much, have benefits that are too good, and so on. As UPS Teamsters know, we don’t receive exorbitant salaries or benefit packages, but that was the lie the anti-unionists were pushing.

Thankfully, the lie failed then. It failed because the union and others who were sympathetic to the workers’ cause beat it back. It will only fail again if the UAW and all the sympathetic voices they can find stand up and let people know it’s just another lie.

We need to join that sympathetic chorus and keep this lie from gathering steam. We can let our friends, family and government representatives know it’s a lie. We can make calls, send emails and letters to Congress. Tell them not to put automakers in a position to steal back hard-won rights from UAW members, or to eliminate the benchmark they’ve won for non-union autoworkers.

Again, it’s about solidarity. And again, it’s going to take an effort from everyone who understands what’s really at stake. You can start sending a message to your governmental representatives by clicking here.

Related links:

• Joe the Autoworker.com
• stories labeled ‘UAW’ at Joe’s Union Review
• ‘Debunking the myth of the $70-per-hour autoworker’ at The New Republic
• ‘Hands Off the UAW’ at The Nation

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.

UPS has eliminated dozens of full-time Article 22.3 jobs in Washington State. In many cases, long-time full-timers are being forced to go back to part time.

The company eliminated nearly 40 Article 22.3 full-time jobs in Seattle Local 174 in the Boeing Field, Redmond and Seattle buildings. Six more full-time Article 22.3 positions have been eliminated in Spokane.

Under the contract, UPS is required to maintain 20,000 Article 22.3 full-time jobs. The company is not allowed to lay off any combo employees if the layoffs bring the total number of Article 22.3 jobs nationally below 20,000. There is no exception for “loss of volume.”

UPS is thousands of positions short of the 20,000 jobs required by the contract. The deadline for creating all of these jobs was Aug. 1.

Article 22.3 of our new contract obligates the company to provide a list of the 20,000 jobs that had to be maintained pursuant to the contract. With jobs shifting from place to place (in our local, some of the combo job vacancies have been shipped elsewhere), the only way to ensure that UPS is keeping its word is to see the details. I have asked for this information, but as of yet I haven’t seen it. Still, I encourage other UPS Teamsters to request some kind of verification on the required job creation and maintenance.

Read the full story and find out more about holding UPS to its word at Make UPS Deliver

*
Make UPS Deliver follows the story sparked by CNBC host (and Philly guy) Jim Cramer when he said UPS “pantsed” the Teamsters in the 2008 contract. Just a taste of what Cramer had to say:

I can’t overemphasize the importance of this contract to UPS. Personally, I love unions. But professionally I love companies that have crushed unions. And UPS, you know what they just did: They pantsed the Teamsters!
(Read the full story at Make UPS Deliver)

If you were reading this site last October you were already aware of the issues involving the “unborn” (refer to a quote in the Cramer story about “hosing over people who aren’t members yet”), and that there were several voices (including my own) who warned of the potential negative effects of this contract. Click here to read three articles from Cybersteward.net in particular.

**
Shining the bitter light of contrast on the gains not made in last year’s contract negotiations are the gains that have been made in Local 705′s recent strike threat (read more here). When approached by several part-time UPS members I represent about the news of 705′s victory (including higher raises, more vacation personal time, as well as other non-monetary gains), I told them we can still stand up for the contract rights we have – and remember to stand up next time our contract negotiations come around.

Standing up for the rights we still have includes not falling asleep on violations involving supervisors working and the creation of new full-time positions and the maintainence of existing positions.

The worst reaction we can have to contract concessions is to give up on the rights we still have. Let’s not do that.

And don’t forget that the new contract books are in, so if you need a copy, contact the union hall, your BA or your Shop Steward. Knowing your contract and your rights is the first and most vital step to standing up for those rights!

Do a favor for U.S. and Colombian workers alike; urge your congressional representatives to reject the Colombia FTA.

Click here to read more and to take action.

New part-time employees will reportedly have to wait longer to attain seniority, longer to obtain health insurance (12 months for themselves, 18 months for any dependents), longer to obtain full-time jobs, and will see a stagnant starting rate until at least 2013. From Make UPS Deliver:

The tentative agreement would freeze the starting pay rate for part-timers at $8.50 until August 2013. It would provide for an increase to $10.50 after 90 days on the job.

In a major concession, the proposed early deal reportedly denies health coverage to part-timers for the first year of employment, and family coverage for the first 18 months.

…

Part-timers will receive annual increases of 70¢-75¢-75¢-85¢-95¢ beginning Aug. 1, 2008. But each year, the wage increase will be split so that half is paid on Aug. 1 and half is delayed six months until Feb.1 of the following year.

Thus, part-timers will receive an increase of 35¢ on Aug. 1, 2008 and a second increase of 35¢ on Feb. 1, 2009.

…

Under the proposed deal, it will take longer for part-time Teamsters to go full-time because the tentative deal will NOT create 10,000 new full-time jobs like the 1997 and 2002 contracts did. Instead it creates fewer jobs.

In a positive step, the tentative agreement increases the penalty for supervisors working from time-and-a-half to double time. That’s an improvement, where the union enforces this language. (source)

The split pay structure outlined above is reportedly the way all Union employees will receive their wage increases, half in August, half the following February. They also report there won’t be as many new full-time jobs, though there will be a few differences in the way they work, and full-time inside and combo workers will remain on a separate, lower tier as compared to Package and Feeder drivers. Again, from Make UPS Deliver:

The proposed early agreement will not create another 10,000 new full-time jobs—a victory first won in the 1997 strike and repeated in 2002.

The tentative agreement not only has fewer new full-time combo jobs. There’s another concession. If UPS pulls traffic off the rail and creates a feeder job, the tentative agreement lets the company count that as a new full-time job.

…

The tentative agreement has no increase in pay rate for combo workers, just the general wage increase, so combo Teamsters will continue to make substandard wages through 2013.

Reportedly combo workers will be able to bid preferred jobs. That is one improvement. (source)

Of course, we still have to see details on the supplement, but we should all be paying attention to the details that will affect our livelihoods over the life of the next contract. After all, we’re the ones who decide if this tentative deal becomes official or not.