Last Updated on August 22, 2023, 1:15 PM | Published: August 22, 2023
OKLAHOMA CITY – Some Oklahoma City United Parcel Service (UPS) workers are disappointed about the recent contract agreement between UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
And, Teamsters who are veterans of negotiations say it may be a close vote on ratification coming up shortly.
UPS and Teamsters reached a tentative agreement on July 25th, and 340,000 UPS workers need to vote on the deal by August 22nd.
Doubts
For details, free Press spoke to Holly Baca, UPS Package Handler and Teamsters Local 886 member.
“It seems like the newer people who are less familiar with the history of contracts are pretty stoked to be getting $21/hour, but there are quite a few who also recognize that people hired after August 1st of this year are basically getting cheated out of raises”, Baca said.
“A part-timer hired today will make the same hourly wage as a new hire in 2027, even with four years seniority,” she explained.
Close vote?
Baca thinks it’s going to be a close vote.
“It’s hard to gauge solely based on social media, but even among the people I personally talk to, it seems an almost even split between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ votes,” she said.
This is just the national “master” agreement. The regional supplemental agreement has even more controversy.
Baca continued, “That being said, there are far more people willing to vote down the regional supplement, even if they plan to vote ‘yes’ on the national master.”
Oklahoma City specifics
There are multiple differing supplemental contracts around the country based on region. Oklahoma is a part of the “Southern” supplement.
Asked what went wrong with the “Southern” supplement, Baca said there are a couple of things:
- Vacation time.
- Option days (option days are individual paid time off days).
“Vacation time and option days are lacking compared to some other supplements. The only ‘improvement’ in that regard is that they moved earning your third week of vacation from ten years to a whopping nine years. No additional option days, and you don’t even earn your option days (except for one day) until after three calendar years of employment,” Baca explained.
For example, Baca didn’t receive her option days until she worked about 3 years and eight months since she was hired in April.
The “Southern” supplement isn’t all bad. It’s got some advantages compared to other supplemental contracts.
Baca stated, “Some people might say the ‘Southern’ supplement is the weakest, but ultimately each one has their pros and cons. In the Atlantic supplement, part-timers do not get any kind of break during the sort. We get a ten-minute break, to be taken after the first hour and before the end of the third, with an additional ten-minute break if a shift goes over six hours. So in that regard, ours is better.”
“That being said, we could really use some improvements,” she said.
“It really sucks to work eight years and only have two weeks of vacation per year,” Baca continued. “I only just earned my third-week last year. Many of us think it should be third-week at five years, and others are of the mindset ‘I suffered, so should you’ saying why should these new guys get a better contract – but what kind of union is that?”
I already earned my third week by working for a decade, I still fight for those who come after me to earn it earlier,” she concluded.
Drivers are happy
Drivers on the other hand are pretty satisfied with the contract agreement. Their top pay is going to $44.25 right now and $49 by 2027.
Air conditioning will also be added to their vehicles, but it will take some time to benefit from that.
Also, there will be no more forced “sixth punches.” Forced sixth punches are days workers are forced to work a 6th day of the week. If a worker refused to come in on the sixth day, they could be written up. But, not anymore with this new contract agreement.
The vote to pass the proposed agreement among the workers follows a dramatic back-and-forth between UPS and Teamsters. Negotiations broke down at the 11th hour leading to Teamsters picketing across the country only for a tentative agreement to be reached before the deadline.
Earlier, we reported on negotiations breaking down and practice pickets that led up to the new tentative agreement.
Alex Gatley covers labor activities in the state of Oklahoma.
