APRIL 10 -- After a 10-hour bargaining session, 250 UPS drivers facing termination have been restored to employment. The breakthrough came after top Teamster officials intervened early this week. TWU Local 100 was one of several unions in the forefront of supporting our brothers and sisters at Local 804 after management announced plans to fire 250 members after a 90-minute on walk-out on February 26 to protest the firing of a union brother. They had fired 35 when the settlement was announced last night. TWU Local 100 Recording Secretary LaTonya Crisp-Sauray took the lead in protesting the firings for Local 100. Her husband, Ronald, was one of the UPS workers fired.
Here is the statement from the Teamsters: [April 9, 2014] UPS is rescinding the terminations of all 250 drivers and reinstating Jairo Reyes under an agreement reached today between Teamsters Local 804 and UPS. Under the agreement hammered out over a ten-hour marathon bargaining session, all terminations will be reduced to a 10-day suspension. Local 804 also agreed to pay monetary damages to UPS.
UPS agreed to work with Local 804 to improve labor-management relations at the company and to handle disciplinary disputes more expeditiously under the new grievance procedure. We are grateful for the enormous outpouring of support from UPS customers, progressive elected officials, and the public. It was that support that saved the jobs of the 250 drivers.
Ken Hall and the International Union helped convene today’s meeting and helped mediate the negotiations. We look forward to thanking everyone inside and outside our Union who helped in this effort. But tonight is first and foremost about the 250 drivers and their families. We congratulate them on standing together through this ordeal and winning their return to work with respect and dignity. We all look forward to turning the page and getting back to serving our customers.
