UPS Workers Reject Contract, Teamsters Brass Declare It Ratified Anyway
On Friday, workers at UPS and UPS Freight had rejected the proposed collective bargaining agreement on the table by a ratio of 54 to 46 percent, which was a triumph for the “vote no” movement that had been instigated by the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) and activists from the Teamsters United coalition. Due to a loophole in the constitution of the Teamsters, however, union officials for the Teamsters declared the contract ratified. The union officials and company leaders had pushed hard for the contract, and prior to the vote, Teamsters Package Division Director Denis Taylor had said the contract would be enforced even if workers voted against it. The loophole in the Teamster constitution states that contracts could be ratified even if members voted it down, unless voter numbers went over 50% or “no” votes were over 66%. Although it wasn’t clear post-vote whether the union would follow through with the loophole, TDU activists weren’t happy and are calling for Taylor’s removal as negotiator and for the union to return to the table to re-negotiate. At issue is the fact that Amazon, as UPS’s biggest customer as well as rival, raised their minimum wages last week to $15, while UPS was still offering only $13. Other concerns on the table include excessive overtime, surveillance, and supervisory harassment.
See "UPS Workers Reject Contract, Teamsters Brass Declare It Ratified Anyway", Alexandra Bradbury, Labor Notes, October 9, 2018