DATE: Thursday, July 3, 1997                TAG: 9707030683

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MICHAEL CLARK, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   57 lines

UPS UNION SET TO VOTE ON AUTHORIZING LABOR STRIKE AS IN THE LAST STRIKE IN 1976, MEMBERS WANT TO INCREASE WORK SAFETY.

Independence Day might come twice this summer for Hampton Roads UPS workers who are members of Teamsters Local 822 in Norfolk.

The union members will vote early next week whether to authorize a strike after midnight July 31, when the delivery company's international contract with the Teamsters expires.

Officially called a ``job action,'' a vote to authorize a strike by the international package delivery service's 185,000 full- and part-time employees would give union officials leverage as they negotiate a new contract with UPS management - which was reluctant to discuss details.

It would also be the first United Parcel Service strike in Hampton Roads since 1976, which lasted about three months, said David Vinson, president of Teamsters Local 822. The 1976 strike covered UPS offices in the Atlantic region, from Pennsylvania to South Carolina. An international strike would shut down UPS package delivery service in Hampton Roads, directly affecting local UPS customers and the 1,000 residents who work for the company at locations in Oyster Point, Virginia Beach and Norfolk.

Of the 1,000 area UPS employees, 700 are Teamsters and eligible to vote. There are 200 rank-and-file UPS workers who are not union members and another 100 in management.

Votes cast next week by UPS union members must be tabulated and returned to national Teamsters offices by July 14.

The union might not get unanimous consent in the vote, Vinson said, but he does expect authorization. The Teamsters say UPS is taking a very hard line in contract negotiations.

``The membership is pretty insulted,'' Vinson said. ``The company is playing chicken, trying to see who will blink first. National is just trying to get authorization to get the company to bargain in good faith.''

The union seeks more full-time jobs, better wages and pensions and a safer workplace. The safety issue stems from 1993, when Teamsters staged a national one-day walkout to protest delivery of packages weighing more than 70 pounds. Some drivers wanted help lifting and moving heavy packages. After the walkout, the union and the company negotiated a settlement allowing workers to get help moving packages in excess of 70 pounds.

``It's still a touchy issue,'' Vinson said. ``The negotiations under way are still dealing with the language of the earlier agreement.''

In a telephone interview from UPS headquarters in Atlanta, spokeswoman Kristen Petrella said the company was the last delivery service to raise its package-size limit to more than 70 pounds, and those over that weight make up less than one-half of one percent of daily package volume.

Petrella said the job action authorization vote is a commonly used negotiating tactic.

``It's been authorized before without use,'' she said. A vote by the Teamsters to authorize a strike will not affect UPS service. ``The contract is still in effect,'' Petrella said. ``We're confident we will settle the contract negotiations.''

Vinson agrees. Personally, he has a good relationship with UPS - he worked there for 17 years. ``When we have a problem, we work it out.''

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