
NOVEMBER, 2008 NEWSLETTER
LEAD FOR NEWSLETTER
We would like to thank you for all that you have allowed us to accomplish doing this APWA campaign. You have moved mountains and have accomplished what no one believed possible by your support of the APWA. If anyone believes that UPS would have the pension today without what you did over the previous three years; they are foolish.
You have made UPS’ers all over the country believe that together that together we can accomplish anything we are willing to work to achieve. While we have accomplished much there is so much more left to do. We have been asked by many people to continue the effort so that we may, one day, have the union that we all deserve.
If we receive the financing we will continue the campaign; if we do not we will not. Each Founding Charter Member will receive a quarterly statement of what we have taken in. We must get the freight people involved in the package side. They have seen first hand how the company and the Teamsters are in bed with each other. In addition we need the following.
Our spouses to have a pension should they precede us.
Lump sum payouts with a monthly pension.
A pension raise, $3,000.00 per month may have been adequate11 years ago. It is NOT adequate TODAY. It is a token insult.
Quality insurance that we are already paying for but not receiving.
A union that does not sell us out to the company.
A union that is controlled by its membership.
Real pension protection for our friends that have previously retired.
There is so much that we can do if we choose to do so. It is going to take your help. You must talk to your co-workers and tell them how you feel. You must be pro-active in the financial portion of the APWA. You must help when called upon. Again thank you for what you have accomplished. Let’s finish the job now!
2009 APWA CAMPAIGN
Now that we UPSers have settled into our new contract with the IBT and our new single-employer pension fund, many of you may be wondering what is happening with the APWA. Are we still around, planning anything in the future? The answer to these questions is, yes. An organization that began from ground-zero just a few short years ago, today has an infrastructure consisting of thousands of members, located in all 50 states, and all of them are standing by to re-launch a new campaign to replace the Teamsters as the bargaining agent at UPS one year from now.
But why? Shouldn’t we be content with our new contract and our new single-employer pension fund? To be sure, the new fund is a step forward, but it is hardly a finished work and language in the new fund can be very deceiving, leaves our pensions in serious financial peril should the Central States Fund ultimately collapse. UPS’s promise to make up the difference is only good for the life of this contract—nothing further.
Make no mistake about it, the company and the IBT are very much in bed together and there is really no one out there who is looking out for us. The only reason we have this new fund at all is because of the stand so many took by joining the APWA and/or supporting its’ first campaign. And the only reason UPS and the IBT hammered out this new contract—an unprecedented full year in advance—was to shut down our card signing program prior to our being able to force a nationwide vote. But there is much more to be done and in 2009 we intend to hit the ground running in all 50 states. We also have a new strategy that begins by training and equipping numerous teams to hold meetings and collect cards throughout the country. With the infrastructure we built previously, and our new strategy, we are confident we can swiftly and efficiently replace the Teamsters entirely.
Wouldn’t it be enough to simply force the Teamsters into making necessary changes, but retain them as our bargaining agent?
No. UPS’ers deserve a union they can believe in and know that it is truly looking out for them. Frankly, any union that has to be “forced” into doing what it should cannot be trusted to maintain anything gained if the leverage (the APWA) is gone. In no time at all, we will be right back to having a union that bullies us more so than our company. The only way to guarantee that we will always have a bargaining agent we can trust is to simply change unions, embracing one that is created by UPS’ers, for UPS’ers, and nothing but UPS’ers. In addition, some of the most critical changes we seek cannot be legally accomplished without a change in bargaining agents. Principle among them is to obtain ownership of the new single-employer fund from the IBT and install the “it’s your money” policies spelled out in the APWA constitution. Other notable goals are:
· To remove the out-clause language currently included in the new fund and provide UPS’ers a retirement benefit they can count on for life, not just until age 65.
· To override state laws across the country and provide all UPS’ers their
· God-given “right to work” regardless of union membership.
· To reduce dues to 50% of what the IBT currently charges, a figure that cannot be raised without majority approval garnered by a nationwide vote.
· To negotiate meaningful hours control based on daily caps rather than the current 9-5 shell-game currently employed by the IBT.
· To end the company’s growing reliance on subcontractors moving freight that should be handled by our own feeder drivers.
· To provide meaningful help with grievances and to do so in a timely manner.
· To once and for all, provide definitive language that provides drivers the flexibility they need and want regarding when and how much break to take.
· And finally, to have a targeted, responsive union that is defined by the needs and wishes of UPSers rather than a clumsy, inefficient conglomerate, defined by the wishes and needs of outside interests.
To be sure, this cause is a noble one, but this campaign, like any, takes money. For that, we have a new strategy as well. Beginning now, we are asking every hourly employee who would like to see these badly needed changes become a reality, to make a painless, one-time contribution of just $10.00. That’s it. Just ten dollars. One time. While that may not seem like much of a contribution, multiplied nationwide times the thousands of UPSers affected by these issues, we will easily have all the money we need to launch this new campaign and run it to a successful end. In the coming days you are likely to hear criticisms about the APWA, leveled against us by the IBT, suggesting that their financial strength is much stronger than ours. Just remember where they get that money. And ask yourself how much of it comes back to you in terms of service and trust. In contrast, the APWA will be positioned to accomplish the most with the least amount of burden upon you, but our failure to secure the contributions will force us to abort these plans.
Additionally, APWA founders have pledged to do a better job of keeping supporters up to date on all that is happening across the country by means of our website, and regular newsletters, delivered on a timely basis, the first Monday of each month. You can access this vital link to us by either visiting the website at www.parcelworkers.com each month, or by selecting to have it delivered straight to your e-mail inbox. Either way, there is no cost involved.
In closing, I would ask you to carefully consider the many times the company and the Teamsters have demonstrated they are more interested in the money you represent than in you. Then ask yourself if that makes you or your family feel secure. If not, I urge you to join with me in making the ten dollar contribution, signing an APWA card when they come out, and then boldly stepping up to a ballot box and placing an X next to our union, a union created by us and for us, a union we can finally believe in. Contributions can be via the website itself or by checks. If check is preferred, it should be made out to APWA and sent to:
APWA
P.O. Box
FREIGHT NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2008
We also continue working with
Likewise, we continue to receive requests for help from
terminals that have already gone Teamster.
They fine folks now
recognize the promises given them by the IBT were nothing more
than hot air. It doesn’t take people long these days to figure out
the bull the Teamsters are
feeding the Freight side is just that; bull.
We are also in the
midst of restarting the Package campaign because people in that camp
now understand they too were fed a lot of lies and half-truths.
For the first time in history, the IBT has agreed to allow
subcontractors access to UPS yards
all year long.
What does that say about the security of your feeder job?
UPS and the IBT have also carefully worded their “best contract
ever,” leading package people to believe their pensions are
guaranteed for the entirety of their lives.
It is not. The pension
language clearly states it is only good
“until age 65 or for the life
of the contract.”
And does anyone really believe UPS will extend this clause at the
end of this contract? If
they were planning to do so, why would they have included this
language at all? UPS and the IBT also
deceived the Package retirees.
These former workers no longer enjoy any pension protections
at all, while UPS has made certain IBT officials will have all the
guarantees they need for life.
A two-tier insurance system in this contract also provides
benefits to some UPS package people that are vastly superior to what
others are receiving. And why is the company supplying better
insurance than your union, anyway? Is this really the kind of organization you want
protecting you?
Here is the test: If
the Teamsters are such an asset, why has their membership
plummeted from 4.7 million in 1992 to less than 1 million today?
That statistic alone should generate many questions, and for
answers, we suggest asking those former Consolidated Freightway
drivers (who now work with you) why they think the
mighty Teamsters stood
idly by, watching as CF diverted its freight to
The fact of the matter is we have the very best people on the
Freight side. Unfortunately, those who originally asked that we help
you have all gone Teamster themselves.
They just regret it,
and now the choice is yours. To be sure, the APWA wants to help you
avoid the cesspool that others have fallen into, and we can help
you. If you do not want our help, however, we will certainly not
hinder. Just understand that if you want our help,
today is the day you must
stand up and request it.
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?
It’s October 01 & YOU’VE JUST BEEN
“DONE”
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.
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: 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?