Teamsters union sues UPS to block buyout offer to delivery drivers

The Teamsters national connected Monday asked a national tribunal to halt UPS from initiating a 2nd voluntary buyout programme for bundle car drivers, saying the effort to destruct jobs violates their nationalist contract.

Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes told analysts during the company’s Jan. 27 quarterly net telephone that UPS (NYSE: UPS) was readying a 2nd voluntary buyout programme for transportation drivers arsenic portion of an effort to prevention $3 cardinal by cutting an further 30,000 frontline jobs and 2 twelve facilities.

UPS has notified the national it intends to denote a voluntary separation program, called Driver Choice, this week, the Teamsters said successful a quality release.

The union, which represents astir 338,000 drivers, filed an exigency question for a impermanent restraining bid against UPS successful the US. District Court successful Massachusetts. The filing elaborate astatine slightest six alleged violations of the nationalist maestro declaration by UPS successful the rollout of the buyout program, including nonstop dealing with workers implicit caller contracts and eliminating jobs erstwhile obligated to make much positions.

The Teamsters reason the Driver Choice Program violates the national declaration due to the fact that it wasn’t negotiated and immoderate programme that changes the presumption of employment, specified arsenic compensation and separation, indispensable beryllium bargained with the union.

It claims that UPS since precocious January has not responded to dozens of requests for accusation and documents related to its program for a follow-on operator buyout.

UPS said it has been engaged with the Teamsters connected a voluntary separation program since aboriginal January and didn’t outpouring immoderate astonishment connected the national past week.

“We are alert of the Teamsters’ effect to the voluntary separation programme we planned to connection our U.S. full-time drivers and are moving to resoluteness the substance done the ineligible process. This does not impact our operations, and we volition proceed to supply the reliable work our customers expect from UPS,” said Genny Bowman, vice president of communications, successful a connection to FreightWaves. 

“The satellite is changing, and the complaint of alteration is accelerating. As we navigate these changes and proceed to reshape our network, our drivers admit having choices, including the enactment to marque a vocation alteration oregon discontinue earlier than planned. We engaged with the Teamsters connected this taxable successful aboriginal January. We are disappointed the Teamsters person chosen to reason a programme that is wholly voluntary and would supply a large payment to our employees, peculiarly arsenic we proceed to right-size our workforce,” the connection said.

The Teamsters loudly objected past summertime erstwhile UPS for the archetypal clip ever offered aboriginal status to transportation drivers, saying the declaration requires the Atlanta-based institution to make 30,000 full-time jobs nether a five-year declaration ratified successful August 2023 and that the outgo was excessively debased compared to what drivers tin gain successful wages, wellness attraction and guaranteed status benefits. It urged members to cull UPS’s lump-sum outgo offer.