PACKAGE DEAL AUGUST 19, 1997 TRANSCRIPT

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UPS workers will return to work after a painful 15-day strike that affected mail delivery throughout the United States. The Teamsters Union won many of the bargaining points. 10,000 part-time jobs will become full-time positions and the union will maintain control of the pension funds. A background report is followed by interviews with both sides.

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A RealAudio version of this NewsHour segment is available. NewsHour Links August 19, 1997 A background report on todays agreement. August 15, 1997 A look at how UPS competitors try to handle the extra packages. August 12, 1997 Read about the AFL-CIO's press conference and their support of the strikers. August 8, 1997 A look at the first week of the UPS strike. August 4, 1997 An interview with key figures from both sides of the UPS/Teamsters debate.

PAUL SOLMAN: For more on the settlement we turn to both parties, beginning with Gaye Williams, assistant director of communications for the Teamsters Union. Ms. Williams, welcome.

GAYE WILLIAMS, Teamsters Union: Thank you.

PAUL SOLMAN: Let's go over the settlement point by point, if we can, just to clarify. First, this part-time issue we've heard so much about.

The part-time issue.

GAYE WILLIAMS: Yes. There's a major victory on that in this agreement, Paul. This contract will provide 10,000 brand new full-time job opportunities for Teamsters members at UPS by combining existing part-time jobs, some of which would only have as little as three hours a day, into full-time jobs with a higher rate of pay--of course, full-time pensions and full-time benefits.

PAUL SOLMAN: So does that mean some people won't have jobs who had these very, very part-time jobs before?

GAYE WILLIAMS: No. Ten thousand workers at UPS at least worked over 35 hours a week. Many of our part-time members had been trying to get full-time jobs at UPS, had been working over 35 hours a week. But they've been working full-time hours for part-time pay and part-time benefits. Now they'll be able to have a full-time job with full-time pay, full-time benefits.

PAUL SOLMAN: Are these jobs, as I heard this morning, contingent on volume increasing at the company?

GAYE WILLIAMS: Well, there will actually be a total--when you look at the whole five-year period--of 20,000 new full-time job opportunities at least. We think there might be even more. For example over the past four years under the previous contract, 13,000 part-timers moved up from part-time work into full-time work just in the normal attrition, people retiring from the company, going on to other jobs, moving to other parts of the country. So if 13,000 people moved up over four years, we think probably more than 10,000 will move up over a five-year period. In addition, the pensions are much better, so there will be more people who will be able to retire from UPS and go on to live out the rest of their lives. There are limits on subcontracting, so that will create more good full-time jobs. So we think that there are going to be tremendous opportunities for part-timers at UPS that want to work a full-time job.

PAUL SOLMAN: And now specifically, how much money are we talking about in terms of a part-time person compared to a part-time person before this agreement, let's say, and a full-timer before? What's the money deal?

GAYE WILLIAMS: Well, the wage increases are also pretty substantial. For full-time workers they'll be having a wage increase over the term of the contract of $3.10 an hour.

PAUL SOLMAN: Over five years.

GAYE WILLIAMS: Yes. That's a 15 percent increase for full-timers. For part-timers they get an extra dollar for $4.10 an hour over the term of the contract.

The pension plan remains under the control of the Teamsters.

PAUL SOLMAN: And what about this pension issue? Because there was a lot made of that by the company--

GAYE WILLIAMS: Yes.

PAUL SOLMAN: --in the last week certainly. You've got everything you wanted here?

GAYE WILLIAMS: Absolutely.

PAUL SOLMAN: And that is what?

GAYE WILLIAMS: Well, there are going to be substantial pension increases. And those pension increases are going to be done through Teamster and other employer, multi-employer pension plan, not a company-controlled pension plan, as UPS had insisted through the 15 days of the strike. So that's a big victory for our members. They will be able to as their pension investments earn more money over time, they will see those investments come back to them in the form of improved benefits, extra pay, those sorts of things. And their pensions will be controlled jointly by the union and employers, not solely controlled by UPS.

PAUL SOLMAN: What was the final sticking point? I read that at the last minute the people were ready to agree and then no, it didn't work. What was happening there?

GAYE WILLIAMS: Well, what was going on was there was never--you know, up until very late in the day last night there were not agreements on any of the major issues.

PAUL SOLMAN: Any?

GAYE WILLIAMS: No. So there were sort of reports of, well, we were very close--

PAUL SOLMAN: The president--President Clinton said that.

GAYE WILLIAMS: But there weren't--there was not agreement on any of the major issues. Things fell together, and we now have a contract, and our members are going to be voting on that soon.

PAUL SOLMAN: Why did it take so long, do you think?

GAYE WILLIAMS: I don't know. UPS lost millions of dollars a day in business. They put their customers and employees to great inconvenience.

PAUL SOLMAN: Most of that money, I take it, is actually money that would have gone to the Teamsters--the workers, the employees because that's got to be most of the expense of the company, right?

GAYE WILLIAMS: I don't know what that money would have gone to.

PAUL SOLMAN: There are revenues coming in.

GAYE WILLIAMS: They now have a contract. So they will--they are going to be experiencing pay increases, pension contribution increases, improved benefits at UPS. So they did not lose out on this. They stood strong. They gained new job opportunities, pay increases, pension contribution increases that are equal or better than what the company had been promising in a company-controlled pension plan. So, again, I think what's a crime here is that UPS prolonged this strike; that we had to have it drag out for 15 days when the proposal that ultimately was agreed on as a contract, a tentative agreement, was very close to what the union was proposing on August 2nd. So I'm not sure why UPS wanted to prolong the strike, but we're glad it's over and that our members are going back to work.

The Labor movement gains strength in victory.

PAUL SOLMAN: What did it do for the labor movement in general?

GAYE WILLIAMS: This is a tremendous victory for the labor movement in general. As President Carey said, we have seen how working people--what we can accomplish when we all stand together. Now our members are reasonable people. They like to have good solutions to problems; they like to work things out. 98 percent of contracts in the country are negotiated without a strike. There's never been a national strike at UPS before. But there are times when your future is threatened by corporate greed, and working people have to stand up; they have to fight back; and to do that you have to be organized. And we showed working people what will happen when you stick together.

PAUL SOLMAN: Why do you say corporate greed? I mean, this is a company that's unionized, no replacement workers. I mean, they've come to agree with almost all the terms you set out. Why is corporate greed--I heard you use that earlier today when I was listening to you on TV.

GAYE WILLIAMS: Yes. Well, there are many things that we thought were examples of corporate greed, and UPS made a billion dollars in profits, yet they were throughout the strike unwilling to negotiate with us on creating more good full-time jobs. In fact, they wanted to cut back the number of full-time job opportunities. They wanted to expand subcontracting. They were trying to shift to more low-wage, part-time, throw-away jobs, the kind of jobs that won't make this country strong; that won't--that will undermine the middle class in this country.

PAUL SOLMAN: Well, one last question. What happens to the employees who crossed the picket line, who went to work?

GAYE WILLIAMS: Well, I think--I don't know what will happen. Those will be decided on an individual basis. I think it will be good for us to have the strike behind us, for the UPS drivers to be out there, back with the customers, getting back any business that might have been lost over time. That's what we've got to do now. We've got to go forward at UPS. We've got a good contract, got a good victory for working people. It's a good day.

PAUL SOLMAN: Well, thanks very much.

The UPS response.

PAUL SOLMAN: Now, we get to the UPS side of the story, obviously. John Alden is the vice chairman of UPS, joins us from Atlanta. Mr. Alden, welcome.

JOHN ALDEN, UPS: Thank you.

PAUL SOLMAN: First, any reactions, I guess, to the particulars of what you just heard?

JOHN ALDEN: Well, I would disagree with a lot of the characterizations of what transpired. First, I would say I think the strike was unfortunate and unnecessary. We had been negotiating for five months. We put an economic proposal on the table months in advance of the expiration date, and five days before the expiration, the Teamsters came forth with their first economic proposal, which was totally unreasonable, and this is--

PAUL SOLMAN: The final proposal that you agreed to is different from what the Teamsters proposed at that time?

JOHN ALDEN: I would say that the last few days before the expiration we had offered a contract that is very similar in total amount to what we've agreed on two and a half weeks later. And I think that the strike was totally unnecessary, but there seemed to be another agenda on the part of the Teamsters; that they wanted to have a strike. And they talk about corporate America, and they talk about throwaway jobs. And I would like to remind everybody that UPS has been an engine of growth and a creator of jobs for the last four years in this contract. And, in fact, the Teamsters would have had negative growth in their membership had it not been for the significant growth in UPS Teamster employees.

PAUL SOLMAN: Let's talk about the particulars of the deal. The 10,000 new jobs that we've just heard Ms. Williams talking about, are they contingent on growth in volume at UPS?

JOHN ALDEN: No. I believe that the 10,000 is an agreed-upon number over the life of the contract that will convert part-timers to full-time.

PAUL SOLMAN: Now, why did you make such a big deal out of the pension proposal? I did an item on this show the other day, and I couldn't follow the specifics of the pension deal. Maybe I was just not paying enough attention, but it was awfully complicated.

JOHN ALDEN: Well, it is. The whole contract is complicated. And it's very hard to describe in sound bites to America, but we were offering a pension that would have, on average, improved our members' benefits by 50 percent. And it would have saved UPS money.

PAUL SOLMAN: Because it would have stood alone?

JOHN ALDEN: Pardon me?

PAUL SOLMAN: Why is that, because it would have stood alone from these other Teamster--

JOHN ALDEN: It would have stood alone. It would have been funded by UPS people for UPS people. And our people would have benefitted. It was unfortunate. We thought it was a win-win for both UPS and for our employees. I think that over time we'll have to judge what kind of benefit our people get under the multi-employee programs.

Can UPS regain the public's trust?

PAUL SOLMAN: Were you surprised at the public reaction and support for the whole issue of part-time workers going to full-time? I saw polls two to one Americans pro-Teamster because of that issue.

JOHN ALDEN: Well, I'm not sure. I think they maybe were pro-Teamster but they may have been pro-UPS driver. Our customers have always been able to separate our driver from everything else. And they are--as Mr. Kelly had said--if you wanted to favor a corporation or the UPS driver, the UPS driver always wins. And I think some of that is in that polling.

 PAUL SOLMAN: So in other words, you did such a good job before that it's worked against you--

JOHN ALDEN: Our customers and the American public have a great appreciation for our drivers. I think that this was a campaign that was orchestrated. It was planned out for months in advance, and they were--latched on to a problem that may exist in this country. It does not exist in UPS. We pay our part-timers very well, and we pay them 7 or 8 dollars in benefits for each hour worked. That is not what they were describing going out in America with throwaway jobs.

PAUL SOLMAN: This was a--

JOHN ALDEN: That's not the condition at UPS.

PAUL SOLMAN: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to step on your last point.

JOHN ALDEN: That's all right.

PAUL SOLMAN: So is it a kind of symbolic struggle, do you think, I mean, that you wound up being the test case for?

JOHN ALDEN: Well, I'm not sure what the agenda was. And I couldn't comment on that, other than it was--obviously there was a lack of negotiations. They were so far apart, and it became evident to us that they wanted a strike.

PAUL SOLMAN: Do you expect to lose business? Mr. Kelly said today I think that he expected to lose in the short run about 15,000 jobs due to lower revenues in the short run. Is that a company agreed-upon number?

JOHN ALDEN: Well, it's our best forecast going forward on what we anticipate what will happen with our business. We'd like to be wrong. We'd like to think that it's all going to come back. But we--our planning folks have told us that we expect less volume back when it's all over. It will take us a few months to determine that, but right now our plan is that we will have less volume and less jobs.

PAUL SOLMAN: What are you doing to build back loyalty? What are you going to do?

JOHN ALDEN: Well, we're starting a very aggressive campaign. We've been in contact with 140,000 of our regular customers almost daily since before the strike. We will call them and personally visit them. We will also call 1,600,000 customers over the next few days, advising them that the strike is over, and asking for their business again.

PAUL SOLMAN: Any lingering acrimony? You've made a couple of remarks here, which seem like you're kind of still upset about all this.

JOHN ALDEN: Well, I think it's very unfortunate that what we've put our customers through and our people through. It's very divisive, and it's unfortunate, and I think it could have been avoided. But now we need to get back to the business and move forward.

PAUL SOLMAN: Were you disappointed that President Clinton didn't invoke the Taft-Hartley Act and get--force the employees back to work?

JOHN ALDEN: We were disappointed, but that's his call, and we respect that.

PAUL SOLMAN: And do you think that a tight job market gave the Teamsters more leverage than you might have expected? Obviously, you didn't expect a strike where you'd lose $650 million in revenue.

JOHN ALDEN: No, we didn't expect it. And I can't comment on what the Teamsters' position was in terms of jobs. But we think it's very unfortunate, and we think that people and our customers are the ones that have suffered because of it.

The implications for the labor movement in America.

PAUL SOLMAN: Last question: Do you think there are implications for the labor movement here as a result of the victory?

JOHN ALDEN: Well, I think we'll just have to reserve that judgment. And time will tell whether there's any effect on American corporations.

PAUL SOLMAN: Time will tell. That's how we like to end most of our reportorial effort. Thanks very much to both of you.

JOHN ALDEN: You're entirely welcome.

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