Attention Teamsters in the central region.

[PiedmontSteward]

REALLY?!?!?!? There's a reason ups wants to run the pension fund theirselves they don't trust the union and I don't either. You do understand the money ups gives the union towards our pension doesn't just go to us it goes to all the teamsters including ones whose companies went belly Right? I love the benefits and wage the union gets me but if you can't see they are crooked as hell your blind.

The pension is run jointly by the IBT and the company. UPS would love to have sole management of the pension fund so in good years, they can simply skim any returns that come in over liability in order to pad CEO/Executive pay rather than return it to the pension.

 

[moreluck]

The pension is run jointly by the IBT and the company. UPS would love to have sole management of the pension fund so in good years, they can simply skim any returns that come in over liability in order to pad CEO/Executive pay rather than return it to the pension.

"skimming" was probably invented by union bosses!!! (JMO)

 

[Brownslave688]

The pension is run jointly by the IBT and the company. UPS would love to have sole management of the pension fund so in good years, they can simply skim any returns that come in over liability in order to pad CEO/Executive pay rather than return it to the pension.

This makes no sense cause if they skim in the good years then come
A few bad years they are in the hole and have to contribute more. Bottom line is I don't trust the union with my retirement I don't trust the company with my retirement and I don't trust the government with my retirement I'll take care of me and anything I get from someone else will be icing on the cake.

 

[Fullhouse]

Well it seems there is some concern pertaining to the trust when it comes to pensions. I suggest that employees start taking advantage of the UPS Teamster 401k plan. To make things a little sweeter make a proposal for an employer match, up to 5%. Not many employees know that a new employer Roth 401k is available and it is not limited to $5,000 a year like a traditional Roth.

 

[grgrcr88]

REALLY?!?!?!? There's a reason ups wants to run the pension fund theirselves they don't trust the union and I don't either. You do understand the money ups gives the union towards our pension doesn't just go to us it goes to all the teamsters including ones whose companies went belly Right? I love the benefits and wage the union gets me but if you can't see they are crooked as hell your blind.

You do realize that is a government mandate that those orphaned members remain in the pension fund even after no one is around to make contributions dont you? There was legislation brought forward by the Democratic party to move those orphans to the PBGC and thus free up much of the liabilities of pension funds. Of course the Republicans shot that legislation down almost guaranteeing that every pension fund would be in the critical funding level.

I will never understand how any middle class Union worker could vote against their own intrests with the republican party. They love to distract people with the side issues of guns, gays abortion and immigration, all the while doing everthing in their power to widen the gap between the rich and the poor by eliminating the middle class. Wake up and smell the coffee. The republican party will not be happy until there is no middle class/

 

[hope2retire]

We haven't received a turkey for 3 years. Gold coin would be nice.

 

[moreluck]

We haven't received a turkey for 3 years. Gold coin would be nice.

Klein can send you a "loonie" !

 

[beentheredonethat]

Your gonna have to explain to me how the Teamsters have mismanaged and stolen money from the pension fund.
!

No matter what I or anyone else in mgmt says, you won't believe us. Do as I suggested before. Go to a financial planner. Give to him\her the contributions UPS paid to the pension fund on your behalf for your pension. Then ask them if all they did was diversify in safe investments (SP500 Index fund) over the years, what would you have for a monthly annuity at retirement. Compare to what the teamster pension plan offers you. Do this, and you will see that a lot of money is missing.

I'm up in New England and we pay for both PT and FT union folks based on hours paid (max of 40) a set amount per hour (that increases each year). The hourly has to work 5 years to get vested. The hubs up here have pretty bad turnover (like many hubs). What % of PT hourlies do you think stay here for 5 years to get vested in the pension? I'm sure you will agree that percentage is small. ALL of that money contributed on their behalf stays in the pension fund.

Therefore... your pension should be much much larger then even what UPS contributed for you, since all that money contributed for non vested PT'ers who left should increase everyones pension. Yet, the pension is in critical status.

Also... you and others have mentioned the pension fund is comanaged by the company and teamsters. THat is misleading. INitially UPS did not have any representatives on the boards of the pension funds. We do now and have had for a while. However, the management portion of the board is from multiple companies. UPS in most boards has but a single vote.

 

[JonFrum]

Legally, UPS has four Trustees on the New England fund representing fifty percent of the voting authority. All multi-employer funds are trusteed by half-Employer and half-Union representatives. These Trustees must obey ERISA, the IRS, the Department of Labor and all other Laws which carefully define what the Trustees can and can't do. As Fiduciaries, Employer Trustees' obligation is to the Fund, not to their specific employer. They can't make biased decisions favoring the company they work for. They are like a Little League umpire who happens to have a son playing in the game. He must obey the laws. He can't favor his kid.

With each new Contract UPS negotiates and signs, it strongly recommends a "Yes" vote containing this clause . . .

ARTICLE 69 - PENSION FUND
Section 1
(b) The Employer agrees to and has executed a copy of the New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Fund Agreement and Declaration of Trust dated April 11, 1958 and accepts such Agreement and Declaration of Trust, as amended, and ratifies the selection of the Employer Trustees now or hereafter serving as such, and all action heretofore or hereafter taken by them within the scope of their authority under such Agreement and Declaration of Trust.

You'll be happy to know that with the troubles YRC has been having, their Trustee had resigned and been replaced by a guy from Bimbo Bakeries!!! Really.

UPSers don't get all the benefits their contributions should have earned them because of several major market declines, because of the insurance feature of the plan, under which the survivors slightly subsidize the unfortunate ones, and because of about two dozen UPS policies that are largely incompatible with successfully earning a generous pension under plan rules.

When other company workers become orphaned in various ways, their benefit entitlement is almost always reduced or limited proportionately under plan rules to reflect a level that they contributed to and hence actually bought and paid for.

Note that UPS orphaned all Central States UPSers who retired prior to 2008.

 

[brownIEman]

Note that UPS orphaned all Central States UPSers who retired prior to 2008.

Note that UPS left those orphans with $6 billion in cash. It is a stretch to compare that to the orphans left with nothing by companies that went belly up, as you are apparantly attempting to do.

 

[nightfly]

Make amendments to the loophole in Article 6 regarding telematics.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Make amendments to the loophole in Article 6 regarding telematics.

You can expected to see much more defined and aggressive language regarding the use of technology for disciplinary purposes.

 

[moreluck]

...and pictures too...

 

[beentheredonethat]

Legally, UPS has four Trustees on the New England fund representing fifty percent of the voting authority. All multi-employer funds are trusteed by half-Employer and half-Union representatives. These Trustees must obey ERISA, the IRS, the Department of Labor and all other Laws which carefully define what the Trustees can and can't do. As Fiduciaries, Employer Trustees' obligation is to the Fund, not to their specific employer. They can't make biased decisions favoring the company they work for. They are like a Little League umpire who happens to have a son playing in the game. He must obey the laws. He can't favor his kid.

That's bull... The 50% voting is by representatives of all the companies, UPS itself has one person on the board, Frank Keller. UPS itself has 12.5% of the voting power. Very easy to be overruled by the rest of the trustees. Just because the other 3 represent other companies they don't have the exact same opinions as that of our representative. So you are trying to blame UPS when we get 12.5% of the vote.

As I said before, compare what it gives you to if all that money contributed went into an SP500 index fund over the years. That same SP500 index fund has had it's ups and downs. Hey, it doesn't affect me, my pension is not covered by the mismanaged and critical status of the teamster pension funds. Here's another question, why is it the IAM pension is so good? They get contributions virtually the same as the teamsters. They have similar mgmt\non mgmt on the board. They have similar insurance and survivor benefits. They have similar issues with the market. Yet they are fully funded and have a great payout to their members. Yet you are saying it's the companies fault that the teamsters pension is in critical shape. Hmmmmmm

 

[JonFrum]

Note that UPS left those orphans with $6 billion in cash. It is a stretch to compare that to the orphans left with nothing by companies that went belly up, as you are apparantly attempting to do.

The $6.1 billion payment UPS made to Central States on 12-26-2007 was not earmarked for the orphaned UPSers. It was a Withdrawal Liability payment that was owed and paid to the Fund in general. It didn't buy any UPSer, orphaned or otherwise, any additional pension credit.

UPS owed the money from year's past. It was like paying back taxes. It's a good thing to pay off your debt before leaving, but nothing to brag about.
- - - -
Orphans of companies that went belly-up are not "left with nothing." They have the years of contributions made by their companies before bankruptcy, as well as any amounts the Fund collects when the companies are liquidated.

 

[JonFrum]

That's bull... The 50% voting is by representatives of all the companies, UPS itself has one person on the board, Frank Keller. UPS itself has 12.5% of the voting power. Very easy to be overruled by the rest of the trustees. Just because the other 3 represent other companies they don't have the exact same opinions as that of our representative. So you are trying to blame UPS when we get 12.5% of the vote.

As I said before, compare what it gives you to if all that money contributed went into an SP500 index fund over the years. That same SP500 index fund has had it's ups and downs. Hey, it doesn't affect me, my pension is not covered by the mismanaged and critical status of the teamster pension funds. Here's another question, why is it the IAM pension is so good? They get contributions virtually the same as the teamsters. They have similar mgmt\non mgmt on the board. They have similar insurance and survivor benefits. They have similar issues with the market. Yet they are fully funded and have a great payout to their members. Yet you are saying it's the companies fault that the teamsters pension is in critical shape. Hmmmmmm

You don't accept that UPS is represented by all the Employer Trustees; but UPS and the Government, and the Courts do, and only they count.

Investing in the S&P 500 wil generate a finite sum that will run out if you live too long. A pension fund insures against this by promising to pay you until you die, (assuming you select that option), even if you live to be 115 years old.

A pension fund also insures you against your company going out of business by pooling your contributions with those of many other companies.

Such insurance functions do reduce the payout however. That's the way insurance works.
- - - -
The IAM pension fund has had its problems, and has suffered from the same market drops that all other pension funds exxperienced. But I don't have the time to research its current situation. Feel free to document its present funding status and degree of benefit cuts if you know them.

 

[brownIEman]

The $6.1 billion payment UPS made to Central States on 12-26-2007 was not earmarked for the orphaned UPSers. It was a Withdrawal Liability payment that was owed and paid to the Fund in general. It didn't buy any UPSer, orphaned or otherwise, any additional pension credit.

UPS owed the money from year's past. It was like paying back taxes. It's a good thing to pay off your debt before leaving, but nothing to brag about.
- - - -
Orphans of companies that went belly-up are not "left with nothing." They have the years of contributions made by their companies before bankruptcy, as well as any amounts the Fund collects when the companies are liquidated.

I get the money went into the general fund and not earmarked for UPSers. The whole idea of the withdrawal liability is to make up for the lack of future payments on behalf of your retirees in the system. It is not comparable however, to paying back taxes. Your statement "UPS owed the money from year's past" is not accurate. It would imply that UPS had not paid its full contribution payments to that point, which is not the case. Closer to say UPS owed the money for years future. And I understand it was owed as part of the agreement to withdraw from the plan, I never said paying the debt was anything to brag about, but it is also nothing to sweep under the rug. If you are going to mention orphaning retirees, it is simply disingenuous to overlook the withdrawal payout.

 

[JonFrum]

I get the money went into the general fund and not earmarked for UPSers. The whole idea of the withdrawal liability is to make up for the lack of future payments on behalf of your retirees in the system. It is not comparable however, to paying back taxes. Your statement "UPS owed the money from year's past" is not accurate. It would imply that UPS had not paid its full contribution payments to that point, which is not the case. Closer to say UPS owed the money for years future. And I understand it was owed as part of the agreement to withdraw from the plan, I never said paying the debt was anything to brag about, but it is also nothing to sweep under the rug. If you are going to mention orphaning retirees, it is simply disingenuous to overlook the withdrawal payout.

Withdrawal Lialility is not based on the future. It is money owed from the past up to the moment of withdrawal.

UPS fulfilled its legal obligation to contribute money to the Central States Pension Fund as agreed to and specified in the labor Contract. But that wasn't all they owe. The required contributions per hour worked, usually paid per month, do not fully fund the benefit levels earned by UPSer participants. Contributions might only fund, say, 80% of promised benefits. Any employer who wants to leave the fund must pay the remainder to bring the funding for their employees up to 100%. In addition any employer who seeks to leave must also bring its employees up to the 100% funding level if the Fund's assets have shrunk as a result of a bad stock market, or bad luck, or unwise investment decisions, or even if members simply lived longer than they were statistically suppose to. Ultimately employers are legally obligated to fully fund all their employees retirement benefits until the employees and their eligible spouses all die. Or until the employer withdraws from the Fund and pays up what it owes at that moment.

All employers in a multi-employer fund are legally obligated to maintain, in theory, a 100% funding level for their employees so long as the employer is a member of the Fund, and to make up any new shortfalls no matter how often they occur. But they don't actually have to make these additional payments until they announce their intention to withdraw. Withdrawal by UPS triggered the obligation to pay what what was owed all along, above and beyond the full monthly contributions UPS had been making for years.

No additional pension credit was earned by UPSers because the $6.1 billion Withdrawal Liability payment was previously owed money, not a new contribution. It's like when the bartender lets you "run a tab." If he hears you are leaving town, he'll demand you pay up before you depart. It has nothing to do with future sessions at the bar. It is payment for past drinks consumed but not fully paid for.

 

[HULKAMANIA]

If they want to be able to use teleCRAPtics to discipline then they better get that stupid junk to working RIGHT 100% of the time. It doesnt work right 100% of the time. On pick up runs if you shut your truck off, pull the diad and quickly press enter and stop complete and fire your truck back up, you will get dinged for recording in travel, its happened to me several times. Next the bulkhead door doesnt work correctly 100% of the time ether. I dont think they should ever be able to discipline with someting that isnt capable of being right all the time.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

If they want to be able to use teleCRAPtics to discipline then they better get that stupid junk to working RIGHT 100% of the time. It doesnt work right 100% of the time. On pick up runs if you shut your truck off, pull the diad and quickly press enter and stop complete and fire your truck back up, you will get dinged for recording in travel, its happened to me several times. Next the bulkhead door doesnt work correctly 100% of the time ether. I dont think they should ever be able to discipline with someting that isnt capable of being right all the time.

It sounds like you are using the sign system for some of your pickups. Do yourself a favor---don't rely on the signs. Shippers pay $20/week to see your smiling face.

You need to wait at least 7 seconds between the time you shut the PC off before you start it again to avoid a recording in travel.

Write up the bulkhead door in the DVIR--this will cover you for any bulkhead door events.