Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 25, 1993 TAG: 9303250092
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Newsday
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TEAMSTERS SEEKING LESS STRESS AT UPS
When negotiations open today in Washington for a new contract between United Parcel Service and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, union officials say their goal will be to have their 160,000 members treated as well as the packages they deliver.While UPS has thrived on a system that distributes 11 million packages a day, the price of that productivity has been undue worker stress, Teamster International Vice President Mario Perrucci said.
"We understand they have to be productive, but we are sick and tired of employees being threatened every morning, being told: `You didn't do a good job yesterday. You were 15 minutes behind,' " said Perrucci, co-chairman of the Teamster UPS negotiating team. "They have your name circled and they tell you you are the least best of, say, 30 drivers. They try to ridicule you."
A union survey of 53,000 UPS employees showed that 77 percent believed that unjust pressure was applied in the company's quest for productivity. Almost 70 percent said the company wanted more than "a fair day's work for the wages paid."
Teamster members at the UPS hub in Roanoke are covered by the national contract. Their bargaining is conducted on the national level.
UPS spokesman Ken Sternad countered, "We are a demanding company, because it is a demanding business and our customers are demanding. . . . But treating someone inhumanely, that is unacceptable to us."
UPS conducted its own survey - with 81 percent of the employees responding - showing that 62 percent said they were treated with respect by their supervisors.
Along with demands for better wages and benefits, Perrucci said, the Teamsters will be seeking contract language to protect workers from overly aggressive supervisors. "Perhaps we should have in the contract the right for the union to bring a supervisor up on charges," he said.
Sternad declined to discuss UPS' bargaining positions.
UPS delivery drivers are paid the highest wages in the small-package industry: $17.70 in pay plus $10.62 in fringe benefits per hour. Part-timers start at $8 for loaders and $9 for sorters and average $10.89 an hour, Sternad said.
Both Perrucci and Sternad said that some UPS competitors were trying to alarm customers into switching deliverers by predicting the Teamsters would strike when the contract expires July 31.