News online
Trade unionists in the US picket UPS
7 November 2008
Union members in the US began a campaign of picketing last week as part of a strategy to publicise a dispute over UPS airline mechanics’ contracts.
Members of the ITF-affiliated Teamsters Union rallied outside UPS offices in Louisville, Kentucky on 30 October, to support almost 1,400 employees responsible for the maintenance of UPS’s large fleet of jet aircraft. The contract renewal dispute, which is now in its second year, revolves around the company’s plans to cut aircraft maintenance workers’ health benefits and to outsource jobs to locations outside the US. Negotiations have so far remained deadlocked.
Teamster Local 2727 President Bob Combine said: “UPS has been and continues to be an enormously profitable company. Attempting to outsource jobs and take benefits away from the very people whose labour earned those profits is not acceptable.”
He added: “Our members maintain the aircraft carrying the company’s overseas freight volume. They are willing to do whatever it takes to earn their fair share of the profits they have helped UPS earn. This company is not in financial difficulty, and we are not going to pretend that it needs concessions in these negotiations. We expect continuing informational picketing at different locations throughout the country, until we get real progress toward a settlement from UPS at the negotiating table.”
UPS recently announced a 7.4 per cent increase in revenue, along with a seven per cent increase per day in international export volume growth.
Back to current news online stories
|
view larger image
