UPS drivers maneuvering to create a new union
- From: "sobebum" <mrbrown.publius@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 17:12:13 -0400
UPS drivers maneuvering to create a new union
By Thomas Gnau
Dayton Daily News
Saturday, May 19, 2007
DAYTON ? ? A group of United Parcel Service drivers are maneuvering to
exit the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and create a new union.
Drivers like Rick Ford, who drives a semi to Chicago each night from West
Carrollton, is an organizer for a union branding itself the Association of
Parcel Workers of America.
For Ford, 48, the impetus to leave the Teamsters comes down to what he
contends is a faulty pension system ? the Central States Fund. If he
retired tomorrow, Ford says he would receive nothing, though he has been
an UPS driver for 29 years.
Ford will have to wait until he is 65 before retiring, said Van Skillman,
APWA president and organizer.
With APWA, Ford says, "No. 1, the money you have going toward your
pension, you're going to get 100 percent, almost 100 percent, of your
money."
But there are other issues at work, APWA organizers say.
It's also about medical insurance, which is less of an issue in Ohio,
where UPS provides generous health insurance, said Skillman, 50, a 28-year
UPS driver based in Greensboro, N.C.
APWA supporters challenge the quality of Teamsters representation.
Messages were left for a Teamsters spokesman in Washington, D.C. and an
officer of Teamsters Local 957, Ford's union.
Ford, an APWA organizer since March 2005, says driver signatures for union
organization cards have been collected in 29 states.
Ford declined to say how many signatures he has locally, but he said 75
percent of drivers at the UPS depot in West Carrollton have signed cards,
as well 85 percent of Dayton-based drivers. Ninety-five percent of drivers
have signed up in both Springfield and Hamilton, he said.
Skillman thinks a National Labor Relations Board-overseen election will be
held this fall, perhaps in September or October.
"We didn't really understand the amount of support we had until we started
getting these cards signed," Skillman said.
The drive seems to have gotten notice. This week, UPS said it is willing
to jointly manage a new pension plan with the Teamsters as a way to leave
the Central States Fund, the (Louisville) Courier-Journal reported. UPS
has a national sorting hub in Louisville.
"It's pretty obvious that Atlanta (UPS corporate headquarters) has finally
done its homework," Skillman said. "The company has nothing to say about
this organizing drive or anything about the Teamsters," said Norman Black,
a UPS spokesman in Atlanta. "Our employees make their own decisions about
union representation
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/business/2007/05/19/ddn051907parcel.html
.
- Prev by Date: Re: New Member
- Next by Date: Re: WHAT I JUST DID TO HELP ENVIRONMENT-GAS PRICES carolyn
- Previous by thread: EOD Performers Fri 05/25/07
- Next by thread: Eurobarre
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
