MOKENA, IL | Teamsters Local 710 secured another big win for UPS Feeder Drivers by settling the “30-Minute Meal” grievance ahead of arbitration.

Under DOT laws, drivers must take a 30-minute break before eight hours of drive time behind the wheel. Previously, the law was to take that break before eight hours on duty. Even with the law change, UPS was issuing discipline to drivers who did not take a that break before they hit eight hours on duty, even though they did not have eight hours of drive time. This meant UPS was forcing drivers to take a 30-minute unpaid break for no real reason, extending their day longer than it needed to be to complete their run.

“UPS always says that the most important stop of your day was your last stop at home, yet they were forcing drivers to unnecessarily delay getting home to their families,” said Local 710 President Del Schaefer. “They claimed they could do this under ‘managerial rights,’ and we stood firm on the fact that this was completely frivolous and that they were only doing it to try to keep control over our members that they shouldn’t have.”

Local 710 brought this issue to the bargaining table in 2023, but UPS refused to budge. Because of that, Local 710 started the process for arbitration shortly after negotiations concluded, and a Settlement Agreement (below) was finally reached this week.

“This is a great win for our entire Feeder network,” said Business Agent Craig Friedrich. “They’re finally getting back the 30 minutes of personal time that has been dictated by UPS for far too long. We tried to get them to realize that they couldn’t continue to do this to our drivers, and it took the threat of an arbitration they couldn’t win to make them finally back off.”

“710 has set another precedent by taking away more of UPS’s perceived sense of ‘control’ over our drivers,” said Business Agent Matt Hamilton. “Our Drivers are extremely professional and know how to maintain DOT compliance – they don’t need UPS breathing down their necks for the sake of imposing their will.”

This win comes on the heels of two other big wins with far-reaching impacts for UPS feeders: The Holiday Work arbitration win will likely hit seven figures in backpay to the members, and the Sunday Work arbitration win settled over 150 pay claims to get more than $138,000 back in the members’ pockets.

“This company keeps trying to flex their muscles with our members and our Local, and it just simply isn’t working out for them at all,” said Schaefer. “Local 710 will always have our members’ backs – all 14,000 of them – and maybe one day, UPS and our other employers will finally realize that our members are smarter and stronger than the attempts to violate their rights. Until then, our Local 710 team will continue to enforce our contracts and protect our members.”

Teamsters Local 710 represents more than 1500 UPS Feeder Drivers across Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa.

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Settlement Agreement

United Parcel Service, Inc. (“UPS”) and IBT Local 710 (“the Union”) agree to resolve the Craig Friedrich “30-min Meal” arbitration grievances on the terms below:

On-duty nondriving time can be counted and used in combination with off duty time, like the driver’s meal/break, but the drivers must continue to accurately record all personal time and remain DOT compliant.

Management still has the right to instruct a driver for business purposes to take an amount of meal per the contractual guidelines such as, for example, when a driver is at his turnaround and his return load(s) is not ready. Feeder drivers’ mealtime must continue to be taken so as to not jeopardize service, time, and schedule commitments.