Post by death on Oct 8, 2018 8:29:59 GMT -5
Friends of Teamsters Local 118 shared a photo.
October 6 at 8:45 AM ·
Hello;
As most should now be aware, we have an approved National contract with United Parcel Service. While the rules for approving contracts has always been clear and our requirements to follow those rules quite concise, I am sure there will be a lot of frustration.
Unfortunately, the same premise of a democratic voice applies to those that refuse to be heard. If over 50% of the workers refuse to give their opinion, then an even smaller percentage cannot be allowed to have their choice override that right of silence. 50,248 voted no. Out of 209,043 eligible voters only 24% chose no. I won’t debate the reasons, but the IBT Constitution cannot allow just 24% of the workforce to decide if more than 104,000 refuse to vote.
This was brought up at the UPS National Hearings in San Diego this week. Not one Officer or Business Agent had a solution. Yes, there was some anger and some frustration, but no other options were presented. Our Constitution is binding on every Local.
Our Upstate/West NY Supplement was turned down and over 50% of the workers did vote. Your Committee will go back to the table. It is my belief that most of the no votes were directly connected to a no vote for the national agreement. It is also my belief that some of the officers and business agents in our supplement were not forthcoming with the correct information on this agreement and had other agendas or interests."IN OTHER WORDS, WHAT AM I GOING TO GET OUT OF IT?" (CHRIS TOOLE)
The top priorities for Local 118 Teamsters at UPS were excessive overtime, being forced to work weekends, low starting pay for part-timers, constantly changing preload and local sort start times, demand for a lower lunch period, maintaining healthcare/pension benefits, gain another paid day off due to loss of Friday after Thanksgiving, improve seniority/bidding rules.
I DID ALL OF THAT IN OUR SUPPLEMENT.
I will hold a mandatory meeting very shortly to ask for any additional input from our members and we will meet with UPS after that to try and wrap this up. Short of any significant changes in the opinions of our members at Local 118, we will be holding on our position that the Supplemental Tentative Agreement offered is still the best solution. Again, that will ultimately depend on the input I receive at the meeting, so please, make every effort to be there or contact me PRIVATELY…I have no interest in getting into FB arguments!
I want to thank all of you for your trust and support during this very long process. We are almost there.
In solidarity, Chris Toole Secretary-Treasurer