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Throwing Grandpa Under the
Bus
Would you do
it? Would you really
throw Grandpa under the bus?
That is what a yes vote for the proposed contract/pension
buyout is doing. Are you
going to help UPS and the IBT throw somebody’s Grandpa under the
bus?
Most of the UPS
retiree’s are in fact someone’s Grandpa.
They came to work at UPS as vigorous young people and gave 30
years or more to the Brown Machine.
Most of them came to work when there was NO national UPS
coverage of the
US.
With the sweat of their brow and sacrifice of large measures
of their lives away from their loved one’s they help create the
global entity that UPS is today.
They retired expecting to live the rest of their lives in
relative security as a reward for their dedicated service.
Now it’s
inconvenient for UPS to remember them any longer.
They have become a liability.
UPS is going to throw some chips on the table and walk away
from its’ people. UPS is
going to leave the balance of Grandpa’s life to a group,
Central
States and the Teamsters,
which has twice now had to be bailed out with a huge infusion of
cash. And all they need
for you to do to close the deal is vote yes on the contract.
Well, that’s
not my problem you might say.
Really? Here’s a
thought for you to consider; if UPS, Teamsters and Central States will throw Grandpa under the bus
what do you think they’ll do to you?
And before you shrug your shoulders and walk away from an
uncomfortable topic consider this.
If you retire with a 30 and out pension you’re going to get
to enjoy stability perhaps only till you’re 65.
At that point UPS GIVES YOU UP Grandpa to the dynamic money
sucking duo of Central States
and the Teamsters Union.
And you’ll be right where the current crop of Grandpa’s are.
SCREWED T O THE MAX!
But I will not
qualify for a 30 and out pension since I’m so young you say?
Well there’s something for everyone in the
contract/buyout/screw everyone deal.
You my friend are privileged to work till your
NORMAL RETIREMENT AGE OF 65.
What’s so normal about that?
Most of you in this situation will never make it to
NORMAL RETIREMENT AGE!
Your knees will give out; your shoulders will quit, your back
will cave in; and you’ll experience the joy of percentage penalties
for not making it till NORMAL
RETIREMENT AGE.
There is truly
something for every age group and special interest group in this
contract/buyout. The
current retiree’s are immediately abandoned.
The 30 and out group will be shortly abandoned. The younger
workers are being manipulated for their youthful denial that old age
is coming to them. Oh,
and there are three other groups we haven’t mentioned yet.
UPS avoids its’
civil liability to their retiree’s.
Central States gets and infusion of cash which will allow it
avoid going into true default for a limited time.
Teamsters get to brag that they’ve saved the day and Hoffa
JUNIOR gets to keep his job and retirement package.
What a deal. You
take it in the shorts and the big shots take it to the golf course
to brag about what geniuses they are.
But this allows
me to retire when I’m 50 with a 30 and out package you say?
Are you sure?
What will you do for insurance till you turn 55?
Did you fail to notice that you cannot have insurance till
you’re 55. I guess that
means that there is a 30 and out pension IF you’re 55.
Would you really risk everything you’ve worked for in a
gamble that you or your spouse won’t have any major medical problems
till you’re 55 by retiring early?
Have you
noticed that people who will never have to live under this pension
are going to vote on the rest of YOUR life?
Why should anyone who is from outside the Central States Plan
be allowed to decide that this is a good move for you and your
family?
KANSAS CITY
UPDATE
We continue to work with the NLRB in
Kansas City
towards a new and fair election.
It appears that the NLRB will add three additional charges to
the five charges filed by the APWA.
We believe that we are but assured a new election.
The people of Kansas
City
are just as anxious as we are for the new election.
We filed the election complaint as unfair labor practice
charges to protect our people from UPS.
It is good to protect our people but by filing this way it
will be at least 60 days after the NLRB rules in our favor before
another election can be held.
We continue to fight the battle for two terminated package
employees in Ft. Lauderdale
and Lexington
through the NLRB. We
believe that we have a good chance in both places.
If you knew the circumstances surrounding these terminations
we are sure that you would feel that these guys were sold out by the
Teamsters.
We have additional charges filed in
Texas, NC, SC, and
Iowa
with the NLRB for package employees.
All of these look good as well.
We will keep you updated on all of these cases.
It’s October 01 & YOU’VE JUST BEEN
“DONE”
When we announced we would create a single employer pension plan for
UPS employees we heard it said that:
It is not possible to
exit a multi-employer pension plan.
It is not possible to go
from a multi-employer pension plan to a single employer plan.
UPS will never pay the
money necessary to leave the Central States Plan unless Hell freezes
over.
Well guess what, ice
skates are being handed out in Hell today with the announcement that
UPS will pay $6.1 BILLION dollars to exit a multi-employer plan and
go to a single employer plan.
When we announced that Hoffa would “SELL YOU TO UPS LIKE A SLAB OF
BEEF at the supermarket” we heard people say that they could trust
Hoffa to never give them up to the company.
Well guess what, YOU’VE
JUST BEEN GIVEN UP to the company.
The only thing open to
discussion when we made that statement was the amount of the selling
price. Now we know.
Question: What do you think Hoffa had to give UPS to get $6.1
BILLION?
Question: Do you
think that whatever it was will impact Hoffa or any of his pony
crowd?
Question: Do you think that the common worker will pay the price in
order for Hoffa to keep his “anointed” position?
Question: Do you
think your current bargaining agent, teamsters, will have any
bargaining clout now that they no longer hold the big pie pension
plan?
Question: Do you
remember those years upon years and contracts upon contracts where
we were pounded with the idea that the very existence of the
teamsters depended on keeping control of that pension money?
ANSWER-HOFFA’S DERRIER HAS BEEN SAVED AND YOURS HAS JUST
BEEN “DONE”. KY anyone?
FRED ZUCKERMAN AND THE SCAM
Fred Zuckerman and his Local 89 cronies are running a scam on
their own members. The scam is that Fred is going
to throw you out of his union thereby costing you your job by
pulling your union card. FRED ZUCKERMAN IS A
LIAR. While the international constitution has
provisions that say that Local 89 can remove you from the union
membership for activities detrimental to the international; THEY CAN
NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES GET YOU FIRED. If you
are removed from the union it ONLY means that you will not have to
pay full union dues anymore. You will only have
to pay your core charge or Beck dues.
Fred Zuckerman is a wanna be dictator that rules on fear and
intimidation. I would bet his nickname would be
Fat Freddy; of course he would have to have a faithful little minion
so that he would feel important. Wonder who that
would be? Surely none of you are fearful or
afraid of Freddy. Why is someone that is supposed
to be working for you intimidating you? Why would
you take this?
ANYONE THAT WILL SIGN AN AFFIDAVIT THAT FREDDY OR ANY UNION
OFFICIAL HAS THREATENED YOUR JOB FOR ANY REASON INCLUDING APWA
SUPPORT; if you will let us know WE will file NLRB charges against
Freddy and Local 89. I guarantee this WILL stop
Freddy.
If Freddy tells you he is going to fine you for your APWA
support PLEASE tell us, our attorneys will handle this matter for
you at no charge of course. Incidentally Freddy
can NOT do this either.
We have heard that Freddy is taking credit for Brad Borders
losing his job. If any of you have heard Freddy
or any union official say this; if you will sign an affidavit Brad
will be back to work shortly. ANY AFFIDAVIT WE
COLLECT WILL BE FILED IN THE NAME OF THE APWA AND THERE IS NO WAY
THAT FREDDY OR ANY UNION OFFICIAL CAN FIND OUT WHO SIGNED THE
AFFIDAVIT. You are completely protected by the
United States government.
We have filed NLRB charges against Brad’s Local and UPS for
wrongful termination. We believe that Brad has a
very good chance of coming back!!!!
If I were one of the members of Local 89 I would let Fred and
his minions know that I will not be intimidated.
I would tell them in no uncertain terms that they work for me and if
they want to continue to do so that they will stop their childish
activities against the members. IT IS YOUR VOTE
ON ELECTION DAY THAT ALLOWS FREDDY TO DO WHAT HE DOES.
Historically Kentuckians have been a brave people that will
fight injustice. DON’T LET THIS WANNA BE DICTATOR
PUSH YOU AROUND. If I were from Lexington I would damn sure let John know what I thought of him and his
brother-in-law.
One other thing to note is that at the APWA we will sign our
name to materials we print. Notice a difference
in us and them?
ANOTHER LOSS
The people of
Pittsburgh
spoke on September 12th saying that they do not want a
union. It is certainly
not the fault of the core leaders we have in
Pittsburgh.
These people worked tirelessly and appear to have been misled
by their co-workers. It
is this humble person’s opinion that the people of Pittsburgh would do well to follow their
leadership as they are intelligent, articulate, brave leaders.
Everyone seems to be asking: what happened?
At this time we really don’t have any explanation except for
the possibility that a UPS Vice President by the name of
Mike
Morgan is a pathological liar.
It is true that Morgan can sale ice cubes to Eskimos but when
a person is caught in a lie by a room full of people those people
must act on what they’ve seen.
We feel that it is important to note that Morgan, a Vice
President of one of the largest corporations in
America, was so childish that he
refused to even speak to Van when introduced; much less shake his
hand. We feel sure that
this didn’t trouble Van in the least but by his behavior he caused
the terminal manager to act the same way.
We don’t feel it was the terminal manager’s fault as he is
more than likely in fear of his job.
The bottom line here is that if you have a pathological liar
for a boss and your job is at stake, what do you think the terminal
manager is going to do?
As further evidence of the moral character of Mr. Morgan; the
immature celebration that occurred when the company had the needed
ballot to deprive their employees of a union was something to be
witnessed!! Mr. Eskew
should be proud of the brainwashing job accomplished by Morgan!!!
When a grown man KISSES the terminal manager in public there
is definitely a problem.
The APWA will move on from here.
EVERYONE should thank the leaders of
Pittsburgh
as they did their job. We will figure where the mistakes, if any,
were made on our part.
A note to everyone involved; the APWA had planned long before
the election in Pittsburgh to be at
several brown side meetings in the coming weeks.
This should be in no way construed that we are giving up on
the Freight side. The
APWA has plans for the Freight side as well.
The next Freight terminal doesn’t tolerate people that have
an affinity for stretching the truth very well.
Come on down Mikey!!
KANSAS CITY
UNCOVERED
The APWA is big on truth and will not tolerate lies.
Therefore we have to give the devil his due; Mike Morgan; UPS
Freight Human Resource Vice President, has the charisma of the Pope
himself. If Mr. Morgan
ever gets out of a job with UPS Freight he needs, in our opinion, to
take up selling cars at Honest
Bob’s car lot. The
man can sale ice cubes to Eskimos.
Please rest assured that UPS has one hundred more just like
Mike when his creditability is beyond repair.
We at the APWA have taken to calling Mr. Morgan, Mr.
Misrepresentation because we strive to be kind to everyone.
The fact of the matter is, when a person intentionally
misrepresents something that he knows not to be true he is plain and
simple a liar, at least in the opinion of this North Carolina resident.
This is what occurred in Kansas City especially the last five days
before the election.
Until that point we had an overwhelming lead in the poles.
Our final pole showed that we had the support that UPS
eventually won by.
All the following occurrences happened in the final five days
of the campaign. Mr.
Morgan said; “your pension may
be frozen if you elect the APWA.”
Look at the qualifier
may.
May was used because Mr.
Morgan knew that this is not true.
Mr. Morgan does not have the authority to freeze your pension
nor is this legal. When
you use qualifiers such as
may, could, it’s possible, maybe, etc…legally you are not lying.
Morally we are sure this is something Mr. Morgan will have to
talk to his Maker about one day.
When Mike Morgan tells you, and he will, that your pension
may be frozen if you elect
the APWA, stand up and ask him point blank.
Are you going to freeze my pension?
Then ask if UPS would bring one of their attorneys to the
next meeting to explain the situation to you.
Mike Morgan does not have the authority to freeze your
pension. Neither UPS nor
the Board of Directors of your pension fund has the authority to
freeze your pension fund.
Folks plain and simple; the ERISA laws were written to
protect you from the likes of Mike Morgan and UPS Freight.
If your pension fund is ever frozen the Board of Directors of
UPS Freight will have to go before a Federal Judge and explain why
there is a need to freeze your pension.
Your pension can not be frozen because UPS Freight is mad and
they are going to take their
ball and go home. It is
not their (pension) ball.
That pension belongs to you; UPS Freight merely manages it for you.
Corporations such as UPS are the very reason the ERISA laws
came into being in the first place.
Remember when major corporations could steal their employees’
pension fund? This can not
happen today because of the ERISA laws.
The second step in the fiasco here was that UPS put their
people on the dock with calculators
figuring what an employee would draw in retirement.
These UPS people were telling dock workers that they would
receive pensions in the $4,700.00 per month range.
Again, enter misrepresentation!!!
These UPS people were adding these people’s pension, social
security and 401K together to come up with this.
A dock worker and mechanic can expect a pension of somewhere
around $1,400.00 a month.
This is what your pension is; period.
Social Security and whatever 401K that you have is YOURS and
has nothing to do with your pension.
A road driver can expect a pension of somewhere in the
neighborhood of $4,000.00 a month.
This is pension only!!
It is not right that others receive so little.
It takes all of you; city drivers, dock workers, mechanics
and clerks to make this company go.
In other words it makes no difference when the road driver
brings the freight in if the city drivers are not there to deliver
the load to the customer.
The road drivers don’t load the delivery trucks.
If the mechanics don’t keep the road trucks running how in
the world can the road drivers bring the freight in?
Clearly we do not want to reduce the pension of the road
drivers but we have to bring the pensions of the remainder of the
terminal up to the road driver level.
Let’s understand what’s going on here.
UPS added the $1,400.00 a month pension a dock worker will
receive to the $1,600.00 a month social security that worker will be
eligible for to a supposed $1,700.00 that same worker will receive
if that worker put X amount of dollars into the 401K from day one.
The $1,600.00 from social security and the $1,700.00 from a
401K, if you made the appropriate donations, are YOURS and have
nothing to do with what UPS pays you in pension.
If you want to calculate this way, then the road driver would
draw $7,300.00 a month in so called pension.
The final part of the collapse in Kansas City came from ten
full time dock worker jobs with no CDL requirement being added and
from what we have heard from some people, the promise of forty more
over the next two years.
This promise came in the form of it’s
possible that we could add
40 more fulltime non CDL dock jobs.
See the two qualifiers in one sentence!
UPS has been insistent over the last year that they are going
to turn all the dock jobs into part time jobs.
Do any of you think that
Kansas City will get the ten additional jobs
much less forty more over the next two years???
There ain’t no Santa Claus and UPS is going to make all the
dock jobs part time the same way it has on the package side if you
don’t stop them.
The bottom line is you have to look around and see what’s
happening to you. You
have less full time dock jobs; in some cases you have temps in these
jobs. You have more
independents pulling your loads.
In many cases people are making less money today than they
did 10 years ago. You
know where your pension is but know little else about it.
UPS charges you $25.00 for a copy of the pension plan
document that takes an attorney to understand.
Is it possible that UPS does this to cover up something?
It is a fact that the APWA will not lie to you
even if it hurts us to tell the truth.
We beg you to come to us if UPS tells you something we said
is untrue so that we can prove that we did tell you the truth.
If need be we will provide you with our attorneys,
accountants, health care or pension providers to prove to you that
we are telling the truth.
We will never get upset with you for asking us to prove what
we say is true!!
Please don’t fall into the pit that Kansas City did; they fell
for the lies Mr. Misrepresentation told.
Some of the other examples were:
the Teamsters will be on the ballot
no one that was hired after December will be eligible to vote
we have no support anywhere except Kansas City and especially not in Gaffney
the APWA will negotiate a contract that will pay you less money than you
make today and there is nothing that you can do about it.
All of these are bald face unmitigated lies and we think Mike Morgan
knew they were when he told them!!!
Gaffney, SC UPS Freight
After the backstabbing we received at the hands of Morgan’s
Raiders in Kansas City the interest
in Gaffney has waned.
Apparently the Gaffney people are not interested in fighting the
company and the teamsters.
Recently we called over 100 people who had signed
authorization cards and asked that they attend a meeting to prepare
for the coming election scheduled for their facility.
We had 3 people to show up.
So we called again and had absolutely no one show up.
We have chosen to accept this lack of interest as the
expression of the people’s choice in Gaffney.
We will not proceed with the election at that facility.
We have notified the NLRB of our decision and the election is
cancelled.
We wish the people of
Gaffney well and hope that at some point in the future they will
reconsider. Since we never
did conduct an election at that facility there is no cooling off
period applicable under NLRB law.
We could start the process of collecting authorization cards
all over at any point; as could the teamsters.
At last count teamsters had been “guarding” the gate at
Gaffney almost around the clock for some 35 days.
It will be what it will be.
People do have choices and we are just one of those
available. |
