Thank you to everyone who participated in the rallies and the National Day of

Action at UPS and UPS Freight during the past several weeks. The response

was overwhelming. I had the opportunity to meet with more than 10,000

Teamsters in two weekends, and the message from our members was clear – we

will not settle for anything less than a fair contract.

Yesterday, the National Negotiating Committee and I presented the Company

with more than 55,000 signatures on petitions demanding a fair contract now at

UPS and UPS Freight.

We have held bargaining sessions for the past two weeks with UPS. The

Committee has reiterated that without movement by the Company on articles of

the contract pertaining to harassment, we will not be able to move forward at this

time. The Company also gave us a presentation on healthcare costs to support

their proposal on health insurance. In response, the Committee is working hard

to come up with creative solutions to the problem, in order to make sure that

Teamsters at UPS don’t pay a cent towards their health insurance and

Teamsters at UPS Freight do not pay a cent more towards theirs. We hope to be

in a position to present an offer soon.

Before we broke for the weekend, we submitted our first comprehensive

economic proposal. The proposal includes wage increases for all Teamsters,

including a healthy increase in the starting wage rates for part-timers. We expect

a response from the Company next week.

UPS Freight held bargaining sessions the last week of February. When we

reconvene on Monday, we will begin to seriously discuss the issue of

subcontracting and our economic proposals.