Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 8, 1994 TAG: 9402080123
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The drivers had objected to a new company rule requiring them to handle up to 150-pound packages. The previous limit was 70 pounds.
The agreement, read in open court by U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green, said no Teamster be required to handle more than 70 pounds without help from another employee. It also said UPS customers will be required to label all packages that weigh more than 70 pounds.
For its part, the union agreed to order members to return to work today.
"The courage of Teamster members won this agreement," said Teamsters General President Ron Carey. "No corporation has the right to break workers' backs just to make another buck."
"The strike is over," said Martin Wald, an attorney for the company.
Earl Brown, an attorney for the Teamsters, said after the court hearing that "we think this settlement protects our members from hazards of overweight packages. Those hazards can be very serious."
UPS spokesman Ken Sternad said the company last September proposed labeling packages over 70 pounds and allowing drivers to get additional help on heavy packages - and it included those procedures in training programs.
UPS spokesman Bob Kenney had said the 150-pound weight limit was "absolutely safe, it's a standard our competitors all use and we think it's only going to involve 40,000 packages out of 11 million that we handle every day."
Federal Express has no weight limit and the U.S. Postal Service has a limit of 70 pounds.
Other parts of the agreement include a stipulation that Teamster members who walked off the job will not be disciplined, and that UPS will not pursue the $5 million damage claim against the union for violating a temporary restraining order issued by Green last Friday.
Judy Scott, a Teamster lawyer, said about 90,000 of the 165,000 UPS workers represented by the union did not show up for work on Monday.
Company and union estimates had varied widely on the strike's scope. UPS spokeswoman Susan Rosenberg put it at at 20 percent of Teamster-represented employees. Teamsters spokesman Matt Witt said 50 percent to 60 percent.
The Teamsters said workers struck UPS through most of Georgia, suburban New Orleans; Albany, N.Y.; Columbus, Ohio; Charleston, W.Va.; Tulsa, Okla.; Seattle; and western Pennsylvania.
Unionized UPS workers were on the job in Alabama, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, the Dakotas, the Carolinas, much of Iowa, Oklahoma City and at UPS' air hub in Louisville, Ky., union and company officials said.
International operations weren't affected, UPS spokeswoman Pat Steffen said. Carey's opponents had accused him of calling the strike for political purposes.
"Carey is sending out ballots next week for a 25 percent dues increase, which is going to be a risky move from his standpoint, so he's using this as saber rattling," said Richard Leebove, a spokesman for a Michigan faction opposed to Carey.
Carey and his opponents have traded blame over the union's declining financial position for two years, since he won the battle to lead the union. It had been virtually taken over by the government in 1989 under a settlement of federal racketeering charges.
Sources say the union ran nearly $40 million in the red for the first nine months of 1993. On Jan. 5, the Teamsters voted to seek the dues increase from the union's 1.4 million members.
by CNB