Teamsters organize UPS Freight

Successful card-signing campaign at Westside terminal brings it into Local 135's fold



Jesse DeWeese hopes to boost the $60,000 a year he makes driving a truck around the Indianapolis area by $10,000 or so now that the Teamsters union will represent him and other workers at the UPS Freight terminal.

In the last three weeks, DeWeese was among approximately 95 workers at the Westside terminal signing cards expressing their desire to be represented by Local 135. Roughly 125 workers were eligible to sign.
Workers and company officials learned of the Teamsters' victory Wednesday from an arbitrator.
It's the first time the union has organized a UPS Freight terminal, and Teamsters officials hope to negotiate a contract lucrative enough to encourage workers at other UPS Freight sites to join the union.
To DeWeese, the success of the campaign means prospects for improving an already good job. He said UPS Freight is well-run and offers a nice working environment.
"You can't ask for a better company to work for," said the Indianapolis resident.
UPS Freight spokesman Ira Rosenfeld said the company will recognize the union and bargain in good faith.
However, Rosenfeld emphasized the development won't affect customers and that the union does not represent the rest of its 16,000-plus freight workers. The Teamsters already represent thousands of hourly workers nationally at UPS' parcel operations.
"It's always up to the employees to decide whether they want third-party representatives," Rosenfeld said.
The decision was not made through a traditional election. Instead, workers decided through a process called a card check. Those wanting representation signed cards; those who didn't refrained from signing. A third party confirmed whether the number of signatures amounted to more than half the eligible workers.
Locally, the card-check organizing strategy succeeded about two years ago at clothing seller Brylane, now called RedCats USA. Earlier this year the Service Employees International Union persuaded GSF, the largest janitorial contractor in Indianapolis, to allow a card check.
Ruth Needleman, a labor studies professor at Indiana University Northwest who formerly worked for UPS as a Teamster, said card checks succeed more frequently than elections because companies that allow checks often already have unions in other parts of their operations.
The business, which specializes in hauling full truck loads, was Overnite Transportation Co. until UPS bought it last year from Union Pacific.
The Teamsters had tried to organize Virginia-based Overnite for decades, and the Indianapolis terminal and 36 other terminals nationwide launched a three-year demonstration in 1999 to try to force Overnite to negotiate a contract after workers voted to join the Teamsters.
"They've been struggling for a long time to gain some workplace democracy," said Local 135 Secretary-Treasurer Brian Buhle. "We're happy to help them achieve that."
Indianapolis was chosen for an initial drive at UPS Freight because organizers were optimistic a card check would succeed, said Ken Hall, who directs the Teamsters' national parcel and small package division.
DeWeese, the truck driver, was a Teamsters member while delivering food in the Indianapolis area for Houston-based Sysco Corp., and is convinced Teamsters members not only make higher wages than nonunion drivers but also are able to negotiate generous benefits, including health insurance and pension.
DeWeese said he switched to UPS Freight nearly a year ago because he expected the card check to take place, and because he says the company is the best in the industry.
Now that the Teamsters are in, he's even more optimistic.
"It was more about opportunity than anything else," DeWeese said.