MOKENA, IL | The Teamsters Local 710 Bargaining Committee for the UPS Contract met throughout the last two weeks to continue negotiations.

While the Teamsters secured tentative agreements on multiple issues, negotiations quickly became stagnant as the Company hadn’t addressed the bulk of the Union’s proposals.

“We had a lot of open dialogue across the table and made movement on a good amount of our proposals so far,” said 710 Bargaining Chairman and President Del Schaefer. “But UPS made it clear they are not interested in a lot of the proposals that are very important to our members, especially our part-timers and those under the Article 46 Air Agreement. This Union is not interested in bargaining against ourselves, nor will we move backwards. I hope we can regain the positive momentum we had going when we get back to the table.”

Despite concluding the two-week session at a standstill, progress was made on the following issues:

• improvements to the grievance and arbitration procedure that streamline selection of arbitrators and include a sitting arbitrator at panel hearings;
• when a Feeder Driver doesn’t follow their bumped run, the other Feeder Drivers in that center will be able to bid on that run and dovetail into receiving center’s seniority list;
• notification of posting seniority lists and bids will be uniform and clear;
• changes to the DOT 70 hours in 8 days rule for Package Car Drivers during peak and emergencies can only be done with approval by the UPS Director of Labor and the 710 Secretary-Treasurer;
• removal of the cap of one penalty payment for multi-grievant grievances; and
• additional clarifications throughout the contract that solidify current practices.

“Our members have pulled this company up to record profits over the life of this contract, and they deserve to see that their efforts have not gone unnoticed,” said 710 Secretary-Treasurer Mike Cales. “I’m proud of the progress we have made without giving anything up – UPS should clearly see that we’re here to get an agreement that recognizes our members’ dedication, especially as we move further into the heart of our issues.”

Negotiations for this week were canceled and will tentatively resume in mid-June.

The Local 710 UPS agreement covers more than 7,000 members throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa. It is separate from the national UPS agreement but expires at the same time, July 31, 2023. Stay tuned to Teamsters710.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest bargaining updates.