Suffolk County Legislator Kevin McCaffrey presiding.
Business
Western Pennsylvania Teamsters Reject Part of UPS Pact
Health Care Has Been Sticking Point in Labor Talks
Jan. 24, 2014 6:42 p.m. ET
Teamsters union members at a the Western Pennsylvania bargaining unit again rejected part of a contract with
United Parcel Service Inc.,
UPS -1.20%
prolonging labor headaches for the shipping company.
In
a vote counted Friday, Teamsters-represented workers rejected the
Western Pennsylvania supplement to the national contract for the second
time, 1,230 to 430, according to the national International Brotherhood
of Teamsters.
Splinter-group Teamsters for a Democratic Union said employees rejected the contract in part over health-care benefit issues.
Health
care has been a sticking point in these labor talks, in part because
UPS is moving most of its unionized employees to TeamCare, a
multiemployer trust fund that offers group health insurance. Critics,
including the TDU, say the move results in benefit cuts—such as
introducing a $100 deductible after four years. The national Teamsters
group says the new plan maintains very strong and similar benefits to
the employees' current plan.
The Western
Pennsylvania group is small, but its rejection of the supplement is a
setback to UPS's attempts to implement the five-year master contract
that was approved in June by the company's domestic package-delivery
employees. Despite winning approval last summer, the contract can't go
into effect until local unions have resolved all outstanding supplements
and riders. Seventeen were initially rejected, but a majority of these
agreements have already passed, including those for the large central,
southwestern and western regions.
"We will continue to work with the Teamsters in the local areas to resolve the outstanding supplements," a UPS spokesman said.
In
addition to Western Pennsylvania, supplements or riders for UPS
Teamsters in Philadelphia, Ohio, Indiana Local 135 and Louisville, Ky.,
are still outstanding.
The supplements
and riders involve issues—including health-care benefits, pension
contributions and raises—that must be resolved with individual local
bargaining units.
The union's previous
contract with UPS was set to expire in August, but the company and the
Teamsters extended the current contract while supplements and riders are
negotiated.
Write to Laura Stevens at laura.stevens@wsj.com
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