Fight Layoffs & Unfair Discipline

We united and took UPS to the brink of a strike to win the best contract in our union’s history.

With peak season over and volume down, the company wants payback. They are going to get fightback instead.

As we go to press, UPS is crying because the company made “only” $9.9 billion in profits last year. The company will lay off 12,000 managers and is considering selling off their nonunion carrier Coyote Logistics.

A headline in Fortune magazine declared, “UPS delivers 12,000 job cuts to management months after historic deal for unionized drivers—yet another sign the pendulum is swinging toward blue-collar workers.”

That doesn’t means Teamsters are immune to layoffs. We’re not. Outside of the peak COVID years, we have always gone through seasonal layoffs when volume drops after peak.

But unlike managers and supervisors, we have union protections and we will use them to fight layoffs and protect our jobs and each other.

Use Your Seniority Rights

If a full-timer is laid off in a non-hub building and forced to split shift, after two weeks they will be given the opportunity to work in a hub building so they can get eight consecutive hours of work.

Part-timers who are laid-off can bump non-seniority or lower seniority part-timers in other centers or buildings.

All members can now transfer to other buildings. Full-time insiders must transfer to another hub.

Fight Layoffs with Contract Enforcement

Sign the 9.5 list and use your 8-hour requests. Under the new contract, drivers only have to give three calendar days notice for an 8-hour request. Make UPS spread the work around.

Fight supervisors working. No supervisors should ever be doing our work, but especially when our members are laid off. Fight layoffs by filing supervisors working grievances.

No side deals. Before being “scheduled off” the company must use all paid time off. This will curb abuses with staffing.

Enforce Surepost protections. The new contract includes protections that allow us to recapture work that is improperly diverted to the post office.

Protect Yourself During Hunting Season

With peak over, it’s hunting season. Management is not your friend and they will prove it now.

That’s why this issue of 804 News focuses on how you can protect yourself from unfair discipline.

Every member should know the methods and how to use them to work at a safe and sustainable pace.

Every member should know what to do if you’re called into the office, starting with asking for your steward!

Every driver needs to be ready for their OJS. Follow the OJS tips and document your ride with the Local 804 OJS Tracking Sheet to protect yourself from harassment and speedup.

Information is power. Use it.