The Teamsters unanimously passed a resolution at its international convention in Las Vegas this week instructing leadership to challenge United Parcel Service for violating the 2023 collective bargaining agreement by outsourcing delivery work to nonunion subcontractors, marking the latest effort to constrain the employer’s freedom to cut costs and reorganize operations.
The union represent about 330,000 UPS workers, including about 100,000 delivery van and truck drivers.
The campaign to target UPS (NYSE: UPS) subsidiary Roadie is part of a broader effort to contest a series of alleged contract violations by UPS, the union said in a post on X. The union claims the 2023 contract prohibits UPS from funneling tasks that are the sole domain of union workers to companies that use gig workers.
In November, the Teamsters publicly complained on social media that UPS was improperly diverting parcel deliveries to Roadie, which relies on lower-paid gig workers for final-mile delivery. Officials said Roadie uses UPS labels, tracking and equipment, proving Roadie is taking work from Teamster drivers.
“Over the past four years, UPS has been scaling Roadie’s operations nationwide. Dozens of Roadie distribution centers and cross-dock facilities have popped up. UPS wants more individual users on the Roadie app because the package giant is desperate to weaken the leverage, power, and solidarity of its existing Teamsters workforce,” the Teamsters claimed in its “Just Cause” Substack column in January.
In a March 4 column, the Teamsters said UPS is using Roadie “to help the company rid itself of current and future obligations to rank-and-file Teamsters.” The union has established a national Roadie Committee to coordinate grievances and compile evidence from rank-and-file members about UPS contract breaches, including mapping Roadie cross-dock facilities, ahead of action to force the company to comply with the national master contract.
But, according to Roadie’s website and parcel industry professionals familiar with both companies, Roadie handles same-day, urgent shipments that never go through the Brown parcel sortation network and oversize items that don’t fit in a box. The crowdsourced delivery platform instead picks up orders for customers, such as Walmart, Tractor Supply, FilterBuy, Spirit Halloween, paint brand Benjamin Moore and Nothing Bundt Cakes, at local stores and warehouses for last-mile delivery to shoppers.
UPS dismissed the Teamsters allegations in a November statement to FreightWaves. “Our contract with the Teamsters requires that UPS drivers handle all deliveries for our small package business unit directly and we remain in compliance with the terms of our agreement. We address any disputes through our long-established grievance process,” the Atlanta-based express logistics provider said.
Meanwhile, Unite, the United Kingdom’s largest trade union, on Friday condemned UPS for plans to discard its employee model for delivery drivers and instead rely on self-employed, on-demand drivers that provide their own vehicles for last-mile delivery. Unite said UPS will stop using frontline employees to make deliveries as of June 2027. Unite said the UPS proposal would cut the company’s workforce to 4,000, about half the current number.
Contract enforcement
The Teamsters have had recent success pushing back on UPS initiatives that impact its members. The company is in the midst of downsizing its parcel network to align with slower demand and reduce costs.
UPS this month reached a promised goal of retrofitting 2,000 package cars with air conditioning after the Teamsters filed grievances last summer that the company was slow in fulfilling its obligation to provide air conditioning in 28,000 vans in the hottest parts of the nation by the summer of 2027. Under pressure, UPS agreed to retrofit 2,000 delivery vans by June and another 3,000 vehicles by June 2027.
UPS also agreed in early April to limit driver buyouts to 7,500 individuals after unilaterally implementing a voluntary separation program with an undefined target. The move angered the Teamsters, which argued the company couldn’t negotiate contract terms without union input and ultimately forced the company to cap the number of buyouts.
The Teamsters have repeatedly argued that UPS also forces workers to work overtime against their will and makes paycheck errors. Ahead of the convention, Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said the union would hold UPS to the letter of the contract by aggressively utilizing an approved grievance process, which now includes a standing arbitrator who can quickly rule on disputes.
During the convention, Sean O’Brien was elected to a second five-year term as president, effective in March 2027.
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.
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