From: Curtis Price <cansv-AT-igc.apc.org> Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 15:42:26 +0000 Subject: AUT: (Fwd) Colorado Teamsters' Anger on the Rise in UPS Strike ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 07:46:28 -0700 From: NewsHound <NewsHound-AT-hound.com> Reply-to: NewsHound-AT-hound.com Subject: Colorado Teamsters' Anger on the Rise in UPS Strike NewsHound article from "STRIKES" hound, score "79." Colorado Teamsters' Anger on the Rise in UPS >>Strike<< BY LOU GONZALES, THE GAZETTE, COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Aug. 9--As the UPS >>strike<< continued into its fifth day, what a local Teamster leader had called a ``gentleman's >>strike<<'' began to take on a surly tone Friday. Supervisors handing out checks from the back of a UPS truck at the United Parcel Service parking lot on Emory Circle griped out loud about how much the pay envelopes contained. The paychecks were the last >>workers<< will see for the duration of the >>strike<<. ``It says what's wrong with society when you give a guy a $900 paycheck and he still goes on >>strike<<,'' groused district manager Steve Waite to nobody in particular. ``I worked 17 hours overtime to earn my money,'' a trucker shot back. Earlier this week, Local 17 steward Don Fleischauer had confidently predicted that the work stoppage would be a ``gentleman's >>strike<<,'' but Teamsters were struggling to hold their anger on the picket line in front of the UPS building. Car radios in the full parking lots surrounding the UPS property were tuned to Denver and Colorado Springs talk shows. Reactions were bitter when the crowd heard UPS spokesmen saying strikers didn't understand the company's proposals nor were being well served by union officials. One union steward took a straw poll asking each >>worker<< if he wanted to go with the UPS offer. Only three of several dozen said yes, one wasn't sure, and the rest said no. Some crumpled a letter from district manager Jim Ziernicki that was handed out with the checks and threw it on the ground or in a nearby trash can. Danielle Jessop, a >>strike<< placard hanging from a string around her neck, tried to calm fellow >>workers<<. Her three-hour shift on the picket line was over, but she stayed anyway. ``I'm just trying to keep everyone cool, keep everyone calm,'' Jessop said as she walked the line with her 4-year-old daughter, Alexandra.'' Most on the line said they were >>striking<< because UPS is hiring 80 percent part-time >>workers<< -- a trend the union says undermines a >>worker<<'s chance to move up into full-time jobs with better benefits. But some say the part-time issue, while it has been a successful ploy by Teamsters officials to create a sense of solidarity among strikers, is not the real reason behind the >>strike<<. UPS has also proposed to pull out of the Teamsters multi-business pension plan. ``We're paying into a pension fund for other Teamsters that don't work for UPS,'' said Ziernicki during a telephone interview. What UPS wants is its own in-house pension fund, one that it says will add 50 percent to a >>worker<<'s retirement take-home pay. But that offer isn't tempting to Jessop, who has faced layoffs from two companies that have folded. ``I don't have much trust for private company pension funds,'' Jessop said. In the meantime, negotiations remained unproductive in Washington, D.C. Teamsters president Ron Carey promised to ``dig'' in, while UPS Chief Executive James P. Kelly stuck by the company's pre-strike ``last, best and final offer.'' On the picket line, Jessop offered a statement to the negotiators. ``I just hope they remember us little guys,'' she said. ``I want to tell Mr. Carey that while I understand what he's fighting for, I hope he keeps me in mind.'' ----- ON THE INTERNET: Visit GT Online, the World Wide Web site of The Gazette, at http://www.usa.net/gazette ----- (c) 1997, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------ NewsHound is a service of Knight-Ridder, Inc. For more information, write to: speak-AT-hound.com This material is copyrighted and may not be republished without permission of the originating newspaper or wire service. ------------------------------------------------------------ For more information, visit the NewsHound website at http://www.newshound.com or send an email to speak-AT-hound.com. --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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