FULL ARTICLE: Teamsters union keeps 240,000 UPS workers on the job as contract expires
The contract covering one quarter of a million UPS workers expired on Tuesday, July 31. The Teamsters union is forcing workers to continue on the job without a new contract, in open defiance of a vote by more than 93 percent of the workforce at the beginning of June authorizing a nationwide strike beginning midnight, August 1.
On July 10, the union announced that it was indefinitely extending the current contract by at least 60 days. The announcement came as the union released its proposed contract for 2018-2023, which is a provocation against the workforce. The union is aware that there is widespread opposition to the deal and is seeking to delay to wear down the workers.
The proposed agreement includes:
* The creation of a new “hybrid” class of “22.4” driver/warehouse workers, who will be paid far less than current drivers and are not guaranteed full-time hours. The new position, which the Teamsters union boasted arose from its own proposal, is designed to destroy the last remaining decent-paying full-time jobs at the company and extend part-time “flexibility” from the warehouses to the delivery drivers.
* Maintaining permanently low wages for part-time workers who make up more than two-thirds of the UPS workforce. The union boasts that part-time workers’ wages will reach $15.50—itself a poverty-level wage—by 2023.
* No limits on forcing drivers to work overtime for up to 70 hours per week during peak season.
* No change to the dangerous working conditions caused by endless corporate speed-up demands...........
CONTINUTED AT: Teamsters union keeps 240,000 UPS workers on the job as contract expires
The contract covering one quarter of a million UPS workers expired on Tuesday, July 31. The Teamsters union is forcing workers to continue on the job without a new contract, in open defiance of a vote by more than 93 percent of the workforce at the beginning of June authorizing a nationwide strike beginning midnight, August 1.
On July 10, the union announced that it was indefinitely extending the current contract by at least 60 days. The announcement came as the union released its proposed contract for 2018-2023, which is a provocation against the workforce. The union is aware that there is widespread opposition to the deal and is seeking to delay to wear down the workers.
The proposed agreement includes:
* The creation of a new “hybrid” class of “22.4” driver/warehouse workers, who will be paid far less than current drivers and are not guaranteed full-time hours. The new position, which the Teamsters union boasted arose from its own proposal, is designed to destroy the last remaining decent-paying full-time jobs at the company and extend part-time “flexibility” from the warehouses to the delivery drivers.
* Maintaining permanently low wages for part-time workers who make up more than two-thirds of the UPS workforce. The union boasts that part-time workers’ wages will reach $15.50—itself a poverty-level wage—by 2023.
* No limits on forcing drivers to work overtime for up to 70 hours per week during peak season.
* No change to the dangerous working conditions caused by endless corporate speed-up demands...........
CONTINUTED AT: Teamsters union keeps 240,000 UPS workers on the job as contract expires
