Renewed Hope for Overnite/UPS Freight Workers

UPS Freight Workers Deserve Same Strong Voice as Other UPS Employees

After going out on strike with the Teamsters for three years at Overnite, Anthony Pope has a renewed sense of hope that he will soon have a strong voice at work as a Teamster.

Pope, a dockworker who has worked at Overnite for 10 years, is excited to learn about the union’s effort to bring its nearly 15,000 employees into the Teamster family.

“I welcome the Teamsters with open arms and I have a lot of coworkers who feel the same way,” Pope said. “We have fought hard to gain a strong voice as Teamsters. It’s been a long struggle.

UPS has renamed the recently purchased Overnite Transportation “UPS Freight.” In the coming weeks and months, the union is launching a member mobilization and education drive. As part of this effort, freight and UPS Teamsters will be asked to speak with UPS Freight workers about the benefits of union membership. Those benefits include a strong voice on the job and maintaining gold-standard wages and benefits by raising density at UPS—the largest Teamster employer with more than 200,000 union members.

A Long Struggle

The union’s plan is music to Pope’s ears. Pope and other Overnite workers represented by the Teamsters led an unfair labor practices strike against the company from October 1999 until October 2002.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who don’t understand the benefits of the union,” Pope said. “When we went on strike back in ‘99 for three years, we had a lot of people who didn’t understand why we were on strike. We were striking for respect and for a better environment. Teamster members can really educate workers here.”

During his 10 years on the job at Overnite, Pope said it’s intimidating to confront management about concerns he and his coworkers have.

“Being Teamsters will give us the strong, unified voice we need to make our workplace more just,” Pope said.

The rebranding of Overnite will include a transition to the UPS logo and a color scheme combining Overnite’s gray with UPS’s signature brown.

But the union is seeking a different transition—it will work hard to provide UPS Freight workers with union representation.

Worker-to-Worker

“The nearly 15,000 employees at UPS Freight—the former Overnite—deserve the same strong voice and strong representation that the Teamsters provide to workers at UPS,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. “With our members’ help, we will make that happen.”

“Our members’ involvement is vital because they know firsthand the benefits of being in the union,” said Ken Hall, Director of the Parcel and Small Package Division. “Our members at UPS, our freight members and others, are on the front lines in this effort to educate UPS Freight workers.”

“Our members have struggled to achieve justice at Overnite,” said Tyson Johnson, Director of the Teamsters Freight Division. “This effort is a new chapter in that struggle and we will succeed.”

UPS bought Overnite last year for $1.25 billion. UPS Freight workers’ new uniforms and branded trucks will begin appearing May 1. The rebranding of Overnite’s facilities and fleet, which includes 22,000 trailers, will occur over the next several years.

The Overnite name dates back to 1935. Motor Cargo, which became a subsidiary of the Overnite Corporation in 2003, dates to 1922.

Nonunion UPS Freight will continue to operate independently of the unionized UPS package delivery network, company officials said. However, sales forces of the two companies will sell both freight and package services. UPS said it conducted a sales pilot late last year in which package delivery salespeople sold ground freight services.

Protecting Members

In the meantime, Hall said the union will make sure members’ interests are protected.

“The Teamsters Union will remain vigilant by monitoring the Overnite/UPS Freight operations to make sure that no Teamster work at UPS is diverted to the new operation,” Hall said.

Charles “Hollywood” Watkins, an International Union Organizer with the Teamsters who worked at Overnite for 10 years until 2000, said he’s happy to hear about the plan to educate his ex-coworkers.

“We need to make organizing Overnite a priority,” Watkins said. “There’s always the chance that some Teamster work could be diverted to UPS Freight, and we need to make sure those workers become Teamsters so they have the same benefits and protections as UPS workers.”

It’s also vital that freight and UPS Teamsters take part in the member mobilization and education drive, he said.

“This effort is very important because this affects our members’ lives,” Watkins said