TODAY AT 12 PM
Facebook Live
WHO: Sean M. O’Brien, Teamsters General President;
Fred Zuckerman, Teamsters General Secretary Treasurer;
the UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee
WHEN: Saturday, July 1, 12:00 p.m. EDT
WHAT: UPS Teamsters Press Conference
WHERE: International Brotherhood of Teamsters Headquarters
25 Louisiana Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
The event will be livestreamed at https://ibt.io/July1UPSLive
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Teamsters have overwhelmingly ratified a new national contract at ABF Freight, as well as 25 of 27 supplemental agreements. The two rejected supplements, the Southern Garage and the Western States Pickup & Delivery, reached new tentative agreement today after the Teamsters met with ABF, and will be voted on within the next week.
The five-year master agreement provides members with improvements to wages, benefits, and working conditions, among other gains.
“This national agreement will serve as the model for the rest of the freight industry. It will set the tone for national freight contracts moving forward. The gains made at the table will be long-lasting and far-reaching,” said Sean M. O’Brien, Teamsters General President and Chair of the Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC).
Ballots were counted today after two weeks of in-person voting. The agreement covers approximately 8,600 members at 137 local unions throughout the U.S.
“Our members have spoken and overwhelmingly agree that this strong national contract will protect Freight Teamsters,” said John A. Murphy, Teamsters Freight Division Director and TNFINC Co-Chair. “We have paved the way for a brighter future for every Teamster at ABF. I want to thank the negotiating team for their hard work, especially our rank-and-file members who were able to join the committee for the first time. Their participation and input was invaluable.”
Highlights of the national contract include:
• Wage Increases: Members will receive a $3.50 per hour raise effective July 1, 2023, with a total of $6.50 in raises over the life of the agreement. The wage increases in year one alone surpass those of the entire previous contract, providing meaningful improvements for members.
• Expanded Benefits: MLK Day is added as a new paid holiday, recognizing its significance. Starting January 1, 2024, two additional annual paid sick days have been added, increasing the minimum number of paid sick days from five to seven.
• Health, Welfare, & Pension Contributions: The company is required to increase its contributions to health, welfare, and pension plans, with a total of $4.46 per hour of additional contributions over the term of the agreement.
• Work Protections: The national contract includes provisions to protect members’ rights and well-being. It prohibits the use of invasive technology and ensures new guardrails against the use of autonomous vehicles or freight transportation without drivers/operators, safeguarding job security.
Read more here: https://teamster.org/…/teamsters-overwhelmingly-ratify…/
Today, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters walked away from the national bargaining table and officially demanded UPS exchange its last, best, and final offer no later than June 30.
The Teamsters gave UPS a one-week notice on Tuesday to act responsibly and exchange a stronger economic proposal for more than 340,000 full- and part-time workers. UPS executives couldn’t make it one more day without insulting and ignoring union leaders and rank-and-filers as negotiations resumed on Wednesday.
Despite the Teamsters having reached consensus on 55 non-economic issues with the company on June 19, UPS has continued to seek a cost-neutral contract during economic negotiations. The world’s largest delivery company that raked in more than $100 billion in revenue last year has made it clear to its union workforce that it has no desire to reward or respectfully compensate UPS Teamsters for their labor and sacrifice. During the past week, UPS returned an appalling counterproposal to the union’s financial package, offering miniscule raises and wage cuts to traditional cost-of-living adjustments.
“The largest single-employer strike in American history now appears inevitable,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “Executives at UPS, some of whom get tens of millions of dollars a year, do not care about the hundreds of thousands of American workers who make this company run. They don’t care about our members’ families. UPS doesn’t want to pay up. Their actions and insults at the bargaining table have proven they are just another corporation that wants to keep all the money at the top. Working people who bust their asses every single day do not matter, not to UPS.”
With a deadline of Friday to return a last, best, and final offer, UPS risks putting itself on strike by August 1 and causing devastating disruptions to the supply chain in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Teamsters nationwide overwhelmingly authorized a strike this month by 97 percent should UPS fail to come to terms on a new contract. UPS’s impending failure is one step closer to reality and has the potential to affect nearly all Americans.
“We have an economy today that is reliant on parcel delivery and no one in the game handles more packages per day or provides better service than Teamsters at UPS. Our members are fighting for a post-pandemic agreement that honors the sacrifices they made to keep this country moving during the last several years,” said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. “Time has run out for UPS to give workers that honorable contract. The Teamsters repeatedly told the company from the beginning of this process that there would be no extensions. But UPS has sat on its hands and chosen to turn its back on these workers. Come August 1, it’s going to be damn hard for UPS to ignore us any longer.”
The Teamsters met with UPS negotiators late into Tuesday night over Article 34 of the union’s National Master Agreement, governing health and welfare and pension benefits for members. Despite early progress, UPS attempted to move the goalposts at the 11th hour and withhold any additional benefits from the Teamsters, seeking concessionary language instead.
When the Teamsters walked away from the table, UPS agreed to resume negotiations on Wednesday. When corporate executives showed up, they only resubmitted the same proposal for worker concessions under Article 34.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) challenged the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Monday to an MMA fight for charity, reigniting the animosity between them that was on full display during a viral moment at a Senate hearing in March.
“An attention-seeking union Teamster boss is trying to be punchy after our Senate hearing. Okay, I accept your challenge. MMA fight for charity of our choice. Sept 30th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ll give you 3 days to accept,” Mullin wrote in a tweet Monday.
Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, responded to a tweet from union president Sean O’Brien, who called Mullin a “clown” and a “fraud” and challenged him to “quit the tough guy act” and find him “any place, anytime.”
“Greedy CEO who pretends like he’s self made. In reality, just a clown & fraud. Always has been, always will be. Quit the tough guy act in these senate hearings. You know where to find me. Anyplace, Anytime cowboy,” O’Brien tweeted several days ago.
In O’Brien’s tweet, he appeared to be mocking Mullin for his height, attaching a photo of Mullin using a step behind a podium and circling the step beneath Mullin’s feet in the photo.
At a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in March, O’Brien told Mullin — who owned nonunion plumbing companies before selling his majority shares in 2021 — that Mullin was “out of line” for accusing him and other union leaders of “sucking the paycheck” out of union workers to pay for what Mullin described as the union leaders’ “exorbitant” salaries.
Mullin pushed back saying, “Don’t tell me I’m out of line,” and, “You need to shut your mouth.”
The Hill reported O’Brien’s salary was roughly $193,000 in 2019; Mullin, meanwhile had a net worth $31.6 million and $75.6 million in 2020, according to the newspaper Tulsa World.
The latest development, however, seems to come from a moment in a more recent hearing, when Mullin was making a similar argument about union bosses taking money from workers. He mentioned O’Brien as an example, though Mullin appeared to forget O’Brien’s name, calling him O’Malley instead.
“Hey, JohnWayne Mullin..First off, my name’s O’Brien not O’Malley. Secondly, you should get your facts straight because every time you speak in these hearings you’re full of sh*t. The more you run your mouth, the more you show the American public what a moron you are,” O’Brien responded in a tweet with a clip of the hearing.
He followed up with two more tweets directed at Mullin: one to which Mullin responded by challenging O’Brien to a fight and another tweet that said, “What have you done for working people in OK @SenMullin? Last time I checked, your state ranks near the bottom in median wages. Sounds like you need to shut your mouth & get to work for the people of your state. They deserve action, not your phony “man of the people” spiel.”
The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC) met with TForce Freight this week in Dallas to continue negotiations for a new national agreement to succeed the current agreement expiring July 31.
This week’s bargaining session brought some significant progress and productive discussions.
Here is a brief synopsis of the key developments:
“Overall, this week’s bargaining session has shown promising developments with the resolution of key issues and productive exchanges of proposals,” said Kris Taylor, Co-Chair of TNFINC at TForce Freight. “We are working hard and making progress towards reaching a comprehensive agreement that addresses the concerns and priorities of all Teamsters at TForce Freight.”
Negotiations will resume June 26 in Ft. Worth.
Press Contact: Daniel Moskowitz Phone: (770) 262-4971 Email: dmoskowitz@teamster.org
(WASHINGTON) – The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC) and ABF Freight System have tentatively agreed to terms for a new national contract.
Once ratified, the proposed five-year contract will provide members with wage increases and improvements to benefits and working conditions, among other gains.
Teamster representatives will meet in Chicago next week to review the tentative agreement before sending it to the membership for a ratification vote.
“At the start of negotiations, we promised to fight like hell for our members at ABF. I can confidently say that we did just that. This tentative agreement is a testament to our hard work, strength, and determination at the bargaining table,” said John A. Murphy, Teamsters Freight Division Director. “I want to thank the entire negotiating team for their hard work and commitment throughout the bargaining process, especially our rank-and-file members who served on the committee.”
The Teamsters represent approximately 8,600 ABF truck drivers, dock workers, and other members nationwide. The current five-year agreement expires June 30.
Press Contact: Daniel Moskowitz Phone: (770) 262-4971 Email: dmoskowitz@teamster.org
(WASHINGTON) – Teamsters at TForce Freight have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike. This strong mandate reflects the strength and unity of the members’ fight for a strong national contract. The Teamsters represent more than 7,000 workers at TForce nationwide.
“Teamsters at TForce Freight know what it takes to win at the table. They have spoken loud and clear that they are ready to take on this company if they don’t get the best agreement possible,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “Our members are the backbone of this company and essential to keeping the nation’s supply chain moving. They deserve to be rewarded with a contract that reflects their value.”
The Teamsters’ commitment to raising the bar for all workers in the freight industry has been a top priority for the union’s new leadership. On June 15, Teamster local union leaders endorsed a new tentative agreement at ABF Freight for more than 8,500 members. The national contract at TForce Freight expires July 31.
“The resounding vote in favor of strike authorization serves as a clear message that our members will not accept anything less than a strong, comprehensive agreement that raises standards and improves working conditions,” said Kris Taylor, Co-Chair of the Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC) at TForce Freight. “This is a critical vote that will give us more bargaining power as we enter the final phase of negotiations.”
TForce Teamsters from across the country serve on the national negotiating committee.
TNFINC will resume negotiations on June 26 in Dallas.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and “like” us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.
Local 171’s annual picnic with the Retirees was last Saturday after the meeting. Thank you for all who came and enjoyed the food, drink and prizes. Look forward to seeing you all next year.
Teamsters Union local leaders have announced their endorsement and support for the tentative agreement reached between the Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC) and ABF Freight. The national contract covers over 8,500 members.
“With this new agreement, we have reset the standard and charted a new course for the entire freight industry,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “The gains made at the table are a testament to our strength and commitment to revamp and rebuild the Freight Division.”
The five-year agreement will run from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2028. The current agreement expires June 30.
Highlights of the tentative agreement include:
• Wage Increases: Members will receive a $3.50 per hour raise effective July 1, 2023, with a total of $6.50 in raises over the life of the agreement. The wage increase in year one alone surpasses those of the entire previous contract, providing meaningful improvements for members.
• Expanded Benefits: MLK Day has been added as a new paid holiday, recognizing the significance of this day. Starting January 1, 2024, two additional annual paid sick days will be added to the contractual minimum, increasing the minimum number of paid sick days from five to seven.
• Health, Welfare, & Pension Contributions: The company is required to increase its contributions to health, welfare, and pension plans, with a total of $4.46 per hour of additional contributions over the term of the agreement. These contributions provide vital support for members’ health care and retirement needs.
• Protections and Safeguards: The tentative agreement includes provisions to safeguard members’ rights and well-being. It prohibits the use of invasive technology, such as inward-facing cab cameras, audio recorders, body sensors, and biometric technology in vehicles operated by bargaining unit employees. It also ensures protections against the use of autonomous vehicles or freight transportation without drivers/operators, safeguarding job security.
“This committee did a fantastic job and worked hard to secure this very strong tentative agreement,” said John A. Murphy, Teamsters National Freight Director. “Their months of dedication and resolve have resulted in a comprehensive agreement that addresses members’ top priorities and secures significant economic gains and non-economic improvements.”
Balloting will be conducted in person by each local union.
Reminder: June’s Meeting will be One Week Early on June 10th at the Vinton Moose Lodge 2127 E. Washington St. Vinton for our Annual Picnic with the Retiree’s. Come out and bring your families as we gather together to show Unity for Local 171. Food and drinks provided.
Local unions representing UPS Teamsters will begin conducting in-person voting this week for strike authorization.
Voting YES will enable the Teamsters National Negotiating Committee to call a nationwide strike at UPS should the company fail to reach agreement on a strong new contract for more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters.
Strike authorization votes will be recorded in-person at local union halls and at the gates of UPS facilities. Results will be announced Friday, June 16.
“The time has come to use our strongest leverage and officially remind UPS that hundreds of thousands of Teamsters are ready to withhold our labor to ensure UPS acts accordingly,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “The National Committee strongly urges all UPS Teamsters to vote YES to authorize a strike. This is how we win.”
“All Teamsters at UPS must be ready to show these corporate executives how serious we are about our new contract. We’ve been organizing, training, and rallying in the lots. Now it’s time to vote,” said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. “UPS is going to give us what we’ve earned. But we have to fight like hell for it. We must be prepared to hit the streets August 1 if UPS screws this up.”
More details will be available soon on the UPS Teamsters app and directly from local unions.
Go to the UPS Teamsters app for more negotiations updates.
Multiple subcommittees of Teamster representatives and rank-and-file members kept meeting during the day Thursday to review contract proposals with UPS and finalize language for future exchanges.
Unfortunately, the Teamsters Safety and Health subcommittee was unable to meet after UPS committee chairs disrespectfully addressed other committee members and spoke down to Teamster rank-and-filers.
Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien wasted no time reprimanding the entire UPS bargaining group face-to-face for its unacceptable and embarrassing actions.
“It’s so sad that we have to waste precious time during negotiations to deal with UPS’s bad behavior,” O’Brien said. “Our Safety and Health subcommittee will not be assembling until UPS starts acting professionally and stops trying to drag Teamsters down to management’s level. I will not tolerate a single person from UPS disrespecting anyone on any of our committees.
“The Teamsters will win the best contract in our history at UPS. I know we haven’t seen UPS’s worst behavior yet, but I’m also not going to let it slow our progress or hold us down. We are going to deliver for our members.”
Other subcommittees will meet in-person on Friday.
All reactions:
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The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC) met with ABF Freight in Kansas City this week to continue bargaining for a new ABF National Master Freight Agreement.
The parties made significant progress on both economic and non-economic items. Economic issues such as wages, health and welfare, pensions, sick leave, and holidays were significant points of discussion this week. Enhancing the protections for road drivers against the use of purchased transportation and obtaining protections against losing work to autonomous vehicles and technology were also major topics of negotiations.
Teamsters National Freight Director John A. Murphy described this week as difficult but productive.
“We are down to a handful of critical open issues. It is our hope to reach a tentative agreement in time to have it ratified prior to the expiration of the current agreement and avoid a work stoppage,” Murphy said. “The rank-and-file members at ABF showed their support for their negotiators by recently voting by over 97 percent in favor of authorizing a strike should it be necessary. Such strong support for the union negotiating team by the ABF members will undoubtedly help us get the best possible result.”
The parties will resume talks next week.
The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC) met with TForce Freight this week in Chicago to continue negotiations for a new national agreement to succeed the current agreement that is set to expire on July 31.
Spirited discussions were had across the table on many subjects, including the company’s subcontracting and excessive rail usage.
The union also introduced a work preservation agreement to address certain concerns about the diversion of unit work away from bargaining unit members and to promote job security.
Some progress was made on various open articles such as protections against the company seeking to go back years to recover overpayments in wages, enhancing penalties against the company for untimely payments, and FMLA leave.
In terms of economics, the parties exchanged detailed proposals but remain far apart.
VINTON, Va. (WDBJ) – Aramark production and plant employees are upset with the company over pay and work conditions at the Vinton facility.
“We want to have better relations with the company. We want to get things fixed,” said Cindy Pugh, who sews uniforms at Aramark and has been an employee for 25-years.
“I don’t like the way they treat people there. They asked us to give respect. So what about us?” said Bn’Onia Suit, who has worked at Aramark for seven years.
Pugh and Suit are hoping a new contract will bring cleaner facilities, more respect from supervisors and better pay.
“For the seven years you put all your heart, all your blood. That means you walk in there for nothing. So now foods are expensive, I got three kids, how am I going take care of my kids,” said Suit.
Suit not only has her expenses in the United States, but sends money back to help her family in Haiti as well.
“It seems like every time we try to say something or try to get something across they’re just like waving us off,” said Pugh.
Teamsters Local Union 171 represents 53 production and plant workers at Aramark.
“90% of our production, plant employees are women or minorities and over the years, the company has exploited that. And that’s why they’re so far behind,” said Scott Barry, vice president of Teamsters Local Union 171.
Talks between Teamsters and Aramark began in January and they still haven’t come to an agreement.
“I mean, all these people want is job protection, they want safety, they want a clean workplace, and that’s one of the things we’re fighting for. …The hire rate for this company is just $10 an hour, even though they got to pay them 12 because that’s Virginia minimum wage,” said Barry.
We reached out to Aramark about contract talks and they had this to say:
“We have had several meetings with union leaders and the bargaining committee in an effort to reach a new agreement. We intend to keep working toward a settlement that works for everyone.”
WDBJ also asked about the unclean work conditions claim and lack of respect from supervisors but we did not receive a response.
The hope for Teamsters and employees, is that this won’t lead to a strike or lockout.
“No one wants to do that and no one wins in a strike or lockout, so we’re still trying and hopefully we get back to the table. Let’s break through this logjam, let’s get everybody back to work and everybody’s lives back to normal,” said Barry.
WDBJ will continue to provide updates to our viewers about the contract talks on the air and online.
Copyright 2023 WDBJ. All rights reserved.
Bargaining resumed with ABF this week in Chicago for a new ABF National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA) to succeed current contract expiring on June 30. The parties continued to work through various issues, but a lot of work remains to be done.
Negotiations are getting down to the tough issues, including protections against purchased transportation, autonomous vehicles, and inward facing cameras in trucks.
The parties currently remain far apart on economics.
On Thursday morning in Chicago, hundreds of ABF members rallied in support of the bargaining committee and for a good contract. Many members of the bargaining committee were able to attend the rally in person.
The parties are set to resume negotiations in Kansas City on May 22.
After four months, and several weeks of delays by UPS, the Teamsters’ negotiating committees have secured major gains across all supplemental contracts and riders nationwide.
Of the 30 open supplemental agreements, UPS Teamsters have won tentative agreements on key issues, including overtime improvements for part-time members, reform to the grievance process and a faster grievance procedure, protections for seniority rights and the ability to bid for preferred jobs, and a complete shutdown of UPS’s proposal to try to force Teamsters to work any five days in any seven-day period.
“UPS is beginning to understand that the Teamsters’ position is rock solid — we are not tolerating concessions of any kind,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “UPS just wrapped up the most profitable five years in its existence. It’s time to reward the people who made those profits possible. Our members will see no concessions across any supplemental contracts.”
Click below to read more about the gains made during supplemental negotiations: https://teamster.org/2023/05/ups-teamsters-contract-update/
The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC) and TForce Freight met this week for another round of bargaining for a new national agreement to succeed the current agreement set to expire on July 31, and more progress was made.
Although the parties resolved most of the easy issues in the early weeks, they are now starting to address the more difficult ones.
“This week we took up a number of challenging language issues with regard to stewards, seniority, protection of rights, grievance procedure, and several other articles,” said Teamsters lead negotiator Kris Taylor. “A lot of work still remains to be done, including issues of economics, but we are making real progress at the table.”
Several additional articles were addressed at the table this week as well, including Articles 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, 34, 43, and 44.
The parties will return to the table on May 1 in Indianapolis and have multiple weeks scheduled to continue negotiations.
The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC) met this week with ABF Freight to continue negotiations for a new national agreement to succeed the ABF National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA) which expires on June 30.
Progress was made on a number of supplements. At the national table, the parties discussed significant issues including the union’s objection to any inward facing cameras and in-cab monitoring, and the union’s objection to the use of autonomous equipment.
The union also presented its initial economic proposals to the company. The parties are meeting again next week in Kansas City to continue negotiations.