By Laura Stevens
Teamsters union members at a the Western Pennsylvania bargaining
unit again rejected part of a contract with United Parcel Service
Inc., prolonging labor headaches for the shipping company.
In a vote counted Friday, Teamsters-represented workers rejected
the Western Pennsylvania supplement to the national contract for
the second time, 1,230 to 430, according to the national
International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Splinter-group Teamsters for a Democratic Union said employees
rejected the contract in part over health-care benefit issues.
Health care has been a sticking point in these labor talks, in
part because UPS is moving most of its unionized employees to
TeamCare, a multiemployer trust fund that offers group health
insurance. Critics, including the TDU, say the move results in
benefit cuts--such as introducing a $100 deductible after four
years. The national Teamsters group says the new plan maintains
very strong and similar benefits to the employees' current
plan.
The Western Pennsylvania group is small, but its rejection of
the supplement is a setback to UPS's attempts to implement the
five-year master contract that was approved in June by the
company's domestic package-delivery employees. Despite winning
approval last summer, the contract can't go into effect until local
unions have resolved all outstanding supplements and riders.
Seventeen were initially rejected, but a majority of these
agreements have already passed, including those for the large
central, southwestern and western regions.
"We will continue to work with the Teamsters in the local areas
to resolve the outstanding supplements," a UPS spokesman said.
In addition to Western Pennsylvania, supplements or riders for
UPS Teamsters in Philadelphia, Ohio, Indiana Local 135 and
Louisville, Ky., are still outstanding.
The supplements and riders involve issues--including health-care
benefits, pension contributions and raises--that must be resolved
with individual local bargaining units.
The union's previous contract with UPS was set to expire in
August, but the company and the Teamsters extended the current
contract while supplements and riders are negotiated.
Write to Laura Stevens at laura.stevens@wsj.com
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