The Louisville Teamsters are recommending that the UPS workers reject the contract offer by UPS and signed off by the national Teamsters leadership.
The union that represents most hourly workers at UPS in Louisville is urging package handlers and truck drivers to reject a proposed new Teamsters contract ahead of a ratification vote starting later this month.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the shipping giant reached tentative terms on a five-year pact in late June. But roughly 10,000 UPS drivers and package handlers in Louisville and thousands more at UPS freight hubs across the country must sign off on the deal.
UPS has a major hub here in Louisville, KY.
I had read that President James P. Hoffa and his cronies want UPS workers to sign off on this deal. And what is in this UPS contract offer?
Louisville-area Teamsters don't like a provision that calls for creating a combination driver position, someone who would work in package handling at a hub and also drive a package delivery truck Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Such "hybrid" drivers create a second-tier of drivers who would earn about $6 less than the $36-an-hour wage of a full-time driver. Local critics predict that the lower-paid hybrid workers would also be deployed to fill in more frequently, reducing the chance to earn overtime pay for regular drivers, said Stephen Piercey, Local 89's communications director.
"The idea is to eliminate excessive overtime, but this could easily lead to no overtime at all," he said, adding that UPS "would be saving a fortune" to tap hybrid drivers more often.
I just love this two-tier system BS. A number of companies are pushing this.
And I have worked for UPS, and they don’t pay shit.
The tentative agreement also calls for boosting starting wages from about $10.50 to $13 an hour with a phased-in increase to $15.50 over the contract term. The union asked for a $15 starting wage because "with the money UPS is making, they should do that right now," Piercey sai
I was earning that wage back in 2006 there.