UPS Freight Workers Overwhelmingly Ratify Contract

[Earth Bound Misfit]

http://www.teamster.org/08news/nr_080818_5.asp

Teamsters Now Represent More than 11,600 Workers Since January

August 18, 2008

(Washington, D.C.) — A first contract covering more than 1,700 UPS Freight drivers and dockworkers nationwide has been ratified overwhelmingly by a margin of 94 percent. The agreement improves wages, benefits and working conditions, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa announced today.

The Teamsters now represent a total of more than 11,700 UPS Freight workers in 41 states. In April, a new UPS Freight contract covering 9,900 workers was ratified by an 89 percent margin which improves wages, benefits and working conditions. The workers who voted August 16 and 17 were certified after the April ratification vote.

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Workers at 50 terminals voted over the weekend. The terminals are in 23 states: Alabama, California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.

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The contract expires on July 31, 2013. Among the contract’s highlights:

Wage increases totaling $4.35 per hour or nearly 11 cents a mile over the contract.

An improved health care plan with lower employee premium costs with no increases in costs to employees over the life of the contract.

Overtime pay for work exceeding 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week.

UPS Freight employees lock in their current pension benefits.

The cost of retiree health insurance for most retirees is reduced substantially with no increase in premium cost to employees over the life of the contract.

The Teamsters will continue to organize UPS Freight workers nationwide. There are currently more than 15,000 UPS Freight workers, with 12,600 eligible to sign cards. The contract ratification caps a 50-year struggle by the Teamsters to organize workers at Overnite, which was bought by UPS in 2005 from Union Pacific Railroad and renamed UPS Freight.

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