June 29, 2018 -
Local 89 UPS Air Contract Negotiations Update
The following contract update pertains only to the Louisville Air Rider which covers the UPS Teamster members who work at the Worldport Air Hub in Louisville, Kentucky.
Many major items, such as wages, pension and overall healthcare, are negotiated in the National Master Agreement (NMA) or the Central Region Supplement (CRS), not the Louisville Air Rider. As we have not seen the final language for the NMA or the CRS, Teamsters Local 89 is not taking any stance on those agreements at this time. We will certainly inform our members of Local 89’s opinion on the NMA and CRS in the future once we have been given the language by the IBT and have had time to review it.
Again, this update pertains ONLY to the Louisville Air Rider and the language contained within it.
Teamsters Local 89 and UPS reach Tentative Agreement for Louisville Air Rider
Today, the Teamsters Local 89 Negotiating Committee reached a Tentative Agreement with UPS for the Louisville Air Rider, an agreement which covers the UPS Teamsters who work at the Worldport Air Hub in Louisville, Kentucky.
This agreement comes after many months of hard bargaining on both sides of the table, and in the wake of a 93.19% strike authorization vote conducted by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in early June.
“We are extremely proud of the work our committee has done on the Louisville Air Rider,” said President Fred Zuckerman. “Our committee championed many important issues for our members at UPS Worldport, which ultimately led to one of the strongest agreements our Local has ever achieved.”
The Details
Below we will give a summary of all changes that will be present in the Louisville Air Rider when it is sent out for a vote. This summary will go in order of article number and will summarize the changes to each article and section. If an article or section is not mentioned, then there were no changes to that article or section.
Louisville Air Rider - Article 3, Section A:
Changes to existing language: Language added to Belt Maintenance Mechanic Review committee to strengthen our committee’s ability to identify and capture work that our members can perform.
New language: Both parties will meet within 6 months of ratification in the attempt to form a new Belt Maintenance Apprenticeship program.
Louisville Air Rider - Article 3, Section B:
Changes to existing language: Part-time transfers changed from 2 per year to 2 per 12-month period. A part-time member who transfers into a new position must work in that position for 60 days before transferring to another position.
Note: This language will not in any way prevent a transfer upwards from 3-hour to 6-hour, 3-hour to full-time, or 6-hour to full-time.
Changes to existing language: 3-hour and 6-hour transfer awards will be posted electronically through the BIDX system for fifteen calendar days.
New language: Part-time members transferring to Marshalling and Fueling may not transfer to another part-time position for 1 year. Part-time members transferring to PSC may not transfer to another position for 18 months.
Note: This language will not in any way prevent a transfer upwards from 3-hour to 6-hour, 3-hour to full-time, or 6-hour to full-time.
Louisville Air Rider - Article 3, Section D:
Changes to existing language: There will be 2 de-ice opt outs of 10% each during the life of this agreement. The first 10% will take place after the 2018/2019 de-ice season, and the second 10% will take place after the 2019/2020 de-ice season. The number of members opted out in any mandatory group cannot exceed 30%. If an area is already over 30%, no one in that area will lose their opt out as a result of this language.
Louisville Air Rider - Article 3, Section G:
Changes to existing language: Part-time members will receive a second 10-minute break if they are worked over 6 hours. This language will apply all year, rather than only during peak season as was the case in the previous contract.
Louisville Air Rider - Article 4, Section D:
Changes to existing language: Full-time bid awards will be posted electronically through the BIDX system for 15 calendar days.
Changes to existing language: Full-time jobs that are vacated in the small sort will be replaced by another full-time member, or a part-time to full-time transfer. This is to ensure that no full-time positions in the small sort are lost.
Changes to existing language: When a job becomes vacant through the bid process, open positions will not be filled until the job is bid, and the awarded bid employee arrives. The company may assign a qualified employee to this job temporarily. When the posted bid closes, the employee with the most company seniority between the awarded bid and the internal transfer request will be assigned the job.
Louisville Air Rider - Article 6, Section F:
Changes to existing language: The vacation list has been changed to include Next Day Air Ramp 6, and Next Day Air Ramp 9/11 as separate groups. Second Day Air Ramp Manager Group has also been changed to Second Day Air Ramp. This is to protect the existing vacation lists from being split if the Company adds new managers.
Louisville Air Rider - Article 6, Section J:
Changes to existing language: Porter Helpers have been added to the list of work groups that can take vacation during peak season, as their work decreases during this time of year.
Louisville Air Rider - Article 8, Bullet Point 1:
Changes to existing language: The Company will create 250 full time jobs during the life of this agreement. The first 50 jobs will be Monday through Friday dayshift jobs and will be bid upon ratification of the contract. By the end of the second year the Company will have bid a minimum of 75 of the 250 jobs. By the end of the third year the Company will have bid a minimum of 100 of the 250 jobs. By the end of the fourth year the Company will have bid a minimum of 175 of the 250 jobs. If any of the 250 jobs have not been filled, they will be bid in the last year of the contract.
Changes to existing language: Of the 250 new full-time jobs, the Company may create jobs that have varying daily guarantees where overtime will not apply until after the guarantee. Any such jobs will provide the opportunity to work 40 hours in the workweek.
Louisville Air Rider - Article 8, Bullet Point 8:
Changes to existing language: 6-hour members will receive 40 hours per option week, and 35 hours per vacation week. This is an increase of 1.5 hours for option and 5 hours for vacation weeks to bring 6-hour members in line with the additional hours that 3-hour and full-time members have on their option and vacation weeks.
Louisville Air Rider – Letter of Record, Bullet Point 2:
Changes to existing language: Union representatives will have the right to meet with newly hired workers for the purpose of educating them about the Teamsters union. Teamsters Local 89 will have access to newly hired workers at the New Hire Orientation center, as outlined in the National Master Agreement, and will have access to newly hired workers at pre-seniority attainment meetings held at Worldport.
Louisville Air Rider – Letter of Record, Bullet Point 3:
Changes to existing language: All 3-hour, 6-hour, and full-time members will have the right to bring their personal cell phones into work in accordance with the Company policy.
Louisville Air Rider – Letter of Record, Bullet Point 12:
Changes to existing language: 1DA Small Sort and 2DA Small Sort will each be considered one manager’s area for the purpose of internal transfers.
Louisville Air Rider – Letter of Record:
New language: Full-time members bidding into AMDC or Container Repair-ULD will not be able to bid outside their classification for a 1-year period.
New language: On ratification, all ramp vans will be inspected to determine if they have a working air conditioning system. Any that have a working air conditioning system will be maintained.
New language: Part-time members bidding to a full-time job will not lose their option week during the first year after taking a full-time position as has been practiced in the past.
New language: In order to receive holiday pay, a member must work their regularly scheduled workday either immediately before or immediately after the holiday. This mirrors the holiday language in the Central Region Supplement.
New language: 2 consecutive call ins, or “2-for-1s” will be limited to 4 times in a 12 month period, without a Doctor’s note. Consecutive call-ins that are covered by a Doctor’s note will not count towards this limit.
Louisville Air Rider – Double Shift Letter of Understanding:
Changes to existing language: Ramp 6 will be allowed the same double shift opportunities as Wing H. 1DA and 2DA Small Sort will be allowed the same double shift opportunities as Core unload. These are both groups that previously had no or very limited double shift opportunities.
Louisville Air Rider – Letter of Understanding (pertaining to Porter Helpers and Mechanics):
Changes to existing language: Porter helpers will cover holiday and weekend overtime in parts.
Changes to existing language: The equipment that was previously listed as “mechanic only” has been re-listed as “mechanic only for this equipment, but not limited to” in order to clarify that this list is not intended to limit mechanics to only the equipment shown.
Louisville Air Rider – Overtime Procedures for Belt Maintenance – Bullet Point 6:
Changes to existing language: Mechanics cannot be forced to work more than 16 hours in a 24-hour period.
Louisville Air Rider – Coverage Mechanics Agreement – Bullet Point 5:
Changes to existing language: The Company will post the coverage mechanic schedule on Wednesday (previously Thursday).
Louisville Air Rider – Letter of Agreement (pertaining to Short-Term Disability):
New language: The Company will bring short-term disability benefits for full-time members in line with the short-term disability for part-time members (currently 60% of pay under TeamCare health insurance). This increased short-term disability benefit will become effective six months after ratification of the National Master Agreement.
Conclusion
As we hope you can see from reading the summary of changes above, a great deal of effort went into making significant gains in the Louisville Air Rider. We are particularly proud of our committee’s accomplishments on full-time job creation, 6-hour option and vacation pay improvements, 2nd breaks yearlong for any 3-hour member who work over 6 hours, and for expanding personal cell phone rights to all our 3-hour members.
In addition, the improvement to short-term disability for our full time members is a battle we have been fighting for many years now, and one that we have at last secured. Unless negotiated into the National Master Agreement by the IBT, this is a benefit no other UPS location has.
We feel that there are many important improvements in this Louisville Air Rider Tentative Agreement for all our members whether they are 3-hour, 6-hour or full time. That is why our entire rank-and-file negotiating committee has endorsed the Louisville Air Rider and that is why Teamsters Local 89 is recommending that our members vote in favor of it. Once again, we want to be clear that we are not making a recommendation either way on the National Master Agreement or Central Region Supplement at this time, as we have not seen the final language on either. We will take an official stance on the NMA and CRS in the coming weeks once we have been given the language to review. This favorable recommendation is ONLY for the Louisville Air Rider.
Finally, we want to thank everyone who worked so hard to negotiate the Louisville Air Rider over the past eight months. Teamsters Local 89 officials and staff and our rank-and-file committee put countless hours into this via research, communications with members, and negotiations with the company. They worked tirelessly on behalf of our members, and we are proud to have such working-class warriors on our side.
Teamsters Local 89 Louisville Air Rider Negotiating Committee:
Teamsters Local 89 Officials and Staff
Fred Zuckerman - President
John Bolton - Secretary-Treasurer
Avral Thompson - Vice President
Jeff Cooper - Recording Secretary
Brian Hamm - Trustee
Robert Colone - Trustee
Craig Burns - Trustee
Vinny Rivera - Business Agent
Mike Rankin - Business Agent
James DeWeese - Business Agent
Stephen Piercey - Communications Director
Teamsters Local 89 Rank-And-File Members
Dale Crigger - Mechanics Steward
Tom Gordon - WFF/Cartage Steward
Frank Habich - GSE Steward
Amy Hibbard - 1DA Wing A Steward
Dan Hilton - 9/11 Steward
Dan Karrer - Container Repair Steward
Todd Kochert - 2DA Ramp Steward
Rich Lesher - 2DA Wing A Steward
Rob Martin - 1DA Small Sort Steward
Ed Sageser - 9/11 Steward
Joe Sexson - 1DA Wing D Steward
Tom Suddeth - 1DA Wing C Steward
Yogi White - 1DA Grade Lane Shift Steward
Stacy Windhorst - 2DA Wing B Steward
