LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- When Danielle Keller finally left her job loading and unloading planes at UPS’ Louisville air hub shortly after the shipping giant’s December “peak” season, the 22-year-old knew her decision to quit would likely cost her hundreds or even $1,000 in back pay.
Like more than 200,000 Teamsters union members across the country, Keller was in line to receive a raise taking effect retroactively to Aug. 1, 2018. The raise is part of the union’s latest five-year contract with UPS, one of the biggest labor deals in the country.
The contract calls for entry-level workers, for example, to be paid $13 an hour, up from $10.50.
But six months after the Teamsters took a nationwide vote on the deal, the contract is still not finalized, so the new pay rates aren’t in place and the retroactive raises haven’t been paid.
That leaves workers like Keller with a tough choice: Hold out for the retroactive pay, or leave UPS and risk giving it up.
Keller said she feels she’s earned the retroactive raise for the roughly three months she worked after Aug. 1 before she left UPS in late December or early January.
But without any idea when the raises would be paid, she decided to move on. She now works as a restaurant server and plans to start nursing school in the fall.
“I wanted to stay because of it, but at the same time, that job is not good for my physical health," she said. "I have all types of problems. I am a 22-year-old in, like, a 60-year-old’s body at this point."
The Teamsters’ national leaders declared last October that drivers, package handlers and other UPS workers across the country had ratified the proposed labor deal.
Workers actually rejected it in a nationwide vote, but union leaders pushed the contract forward by invoking a rule that comes into play when less than half of eligible members cast a ballot.
Six months later, the national contract is still not effective, because it hinges on about 30 smaller agreements between the company and the union covering local and regional issues in different portions of the UPS territory. As of Tuesday, three local agreements remain unresolved: in western Pennsylvania, Detroit and New York.
Neither Atlanta-based UPS nor the Washington, D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Teamsters would give a definite answer when asked if workers who leave UPS before the contract is fully ratified – like Keller -- will get the retroactive raises.
UPS spokesman Steve Gaut said it’s an “implementation issue” on which he could not comment.
“We are looking forward to news of ratification on remaining local agreements and at this point, have no further information on implementation,” Gaut told WDRB News.
Kara Deniz, a spokeswoman at the Teamsters’ international office in Washington, said: “The contract is not in place as some supplements are still being negotiated and we don’t comment on an open contract.”
Deniz wouldn’t comment on whether the union’s leaders would prefer that workers like Keller to receive retroactive raises even after leaving UPS, or whether the Teamsters would advocate for those workers to be paid.
“Sorry, that is the extent of what can be said at this time,” she said.
She also refused to say how the issue was handled five years ago, when the Teamsters last approved a national contract with UPS.
Union officials in Louisville aren’t sure what to tell members about the retroactive payments because they have no information from national Teamsters leaders or the company about the issue, said Stephen Piercey, communications director for Teamsters Local 89.
“Local 89’s position has always been that UPS workers should be entitled to their retroactive pay once the new contract goes into effect, whether they have quit or not,” Piercey said.
There are deep divisions within the Teamsters union, and officials in Louisville are often at odds with Teamsters leaders in Washington.
Keller and package handlers at UPS’ Louisville hub told WDRB that it’s generally understood that leaving before the contract is implemented means forfeiting the retroactive raise.
Such a policy would seem to benefit UPS, either by reducing the wages owed to workers like Keller – who racked up more hours and overtime during the December peak season -- or by giving workers a reason to stay on job.
UPS has notoriously high turnover in lower-wage jobs, and unemployment is at its lowest level in decades.
In Louisville, the company offered retention bonuses worth up to $250 a week to keep newly hired workers from quitting during its year-end peak season. The bonuses remained available in the first three months of the year and just ended this week, a UPS spokesman said.
James Smith, a Louisville labor attorney who often represents employers, said UPS workers should have no “reasonable expectation” of receiving retroactive raises if they leave the company before the contract is finalized.
“Until you get the thing signed, it’s not a deal,” said Smith, who is not involved in the UPS negotiation.
Meanwhile, workers on the job since Aug. 1 “were paid all the money they were owed at the time those hours were worked,” Smith said.
Smith likened the situation to a raffle where the rules state, "Must be present to win."
While she doesn’t expect to receive the retroactive raise, Keller said that, just in case, she made sure to update her mailing address on file with UPS before leaving the company.
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