May 2, 2010
UPS/Teamsters negotiation in 1997
Introduction In 1997 united parcel service and the Teamsters were on table again after 1993’s contract negotiation. It was common since 1980’s that union sent signals to management about large concessions before every negotiation. Union made it clear before the 1997 negotiations started that "These negotiations are about only one thing and that is making improvements that will give our members the security, opportunities, safety, and standard of living that they deserve" (Witt, Wilson, 1999). In 1996 UPS reported $22.4 billion of sales. 80 percent of the ground package delivery business was under control of united parcel service. UPS had 185,000 Teamsters
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Union opened with demands that it claimed to be essential for its members. These demand included fair wages and decent pensions plan. At the time full time UPS employees earned $19.50 per hour and also 410 to $11 per hour in fringes. According to the union management their members deserved to be able to live a decent life. Next union concern was about its part time employees. As more than half of the employee working at UPS was part timers, their voice was also strong in the negotiation demands. Union demanded to make these part timers full timers and provide them same wage rate and full timers. Job security was also an issue that union wanted to be addressed in the negotiation (Bradford, 1997). UPS believed in subcontracted to make company more profitable and union was well aware of this fact. In the previous negotiations UPS had won subcontracting provisions and management wanted to keep this benefit in their plate in this negotiation as well. But, union did not like the way things went in the last negotiation, and this time they wanted to make sure that they do not let management take advantage of subcontracting. Union was very strong on the belief that its members deserved the job security which is only possible by getting rid of the subcontracting. Job safety and health improvements were also great concerns to the union in this negotiation. Union believed
In early August of 1997 the United Parcel Service (UPS) had a predicament on its hands, a teamsters strike. UPS, the world 's largest package distribution company was coming off a year [1996] in which they reported sales of $22.4 billion. UPS Employed 75,000 management and non-union employees compared with 185,000 teamsters who are part of the AFL-CIO that were going on strike. The teamsters rejected a contract extension offer from the company leaving the fate of millions of packages carrying everything from lobsters to laser printers up in the air (Johnson).
In early August of 1997 the United Parcel Service (UPS) had a predicament on its hands, a teamsters strike. UPS, the world’s largest package distribution company was coming off a year [1996] in which they reported sales of $22.4 billion. UPS Employed 75,000 management and non-union employees compared with 185,000 teamsters who are part of the AFL-CIO that were going on strike. The teamsters rejected a contract extension offer from the company leaving the fate of millions of packages carrying everything from lobsters to laser printers up in the air (Johnson).
For the Texoil negotiation, I was in the role of the Service Station Owner. As such, my main objective was to sell the station and get the best possible agreement. My BATNA was $400,000, which represented an offer from British Petroleum and my resistance point was $413,000 after tax, which represented the cost of my trip. My target was $488,000, which included an additional $75,000 to help tie me over until I found a job upon my return. This resistance point represents a purely financial alternative. However, there were several other criteria or interests other than strictly financial which could have been satisfied through non-financial means. My underlying interest or reason for selling the station was
The United Parcel Service (UPS) adopted a business strategy of mostly hiring part-time workers – attractive to young workers who were given work at off-time shifts earning union-negotiated wages and benefits. However, part-time work presented almost no opportunity for advancement. By 1996, this part-time UPS’s workforce grew to 182,000 part-time employees, working approximately 26-28 hours/week. The Teamster Union, handling the bargaining negotiations for UPS worker-members, researched the rights of the part-time worker and analyzed the disparities in salaries, retirement fund benefits and limited opportunities for full-time hiring between the part-time and full-time workers. The Teamster Union members’ called for strike after presenting this picture of UPS had exploited part-time workers to cut costs. This 1997 strike against UPS was as successful as it was disruptive. The strike was disruptive to the businesses across the country because it upset the shipping patterns. Yet, the strikers had gained large general public support over the company. The strike was led Teamsters president Ron Carey successfully because of its strategic execution. Namely, Carey made good use of media and generated public sentiment to pressure UPS to settle in his favor. From the first, the Teamsters had the high ground given the nature of the dispute and the fact that the public was also concerned about the issue of part-time work and the way companies were using part-time workers to avoid paying
Labor Unions have become an important factor in our industries. For many years, labor unions have served as the main voice of the workers to their employers. The continuous effort of labor unions in helping the laborers ensure their rights in their jobs, acquire all the benefits they need and to eliminate the injustice experienced by workers in their workplace is still an ongoing process. In order to understand labor unions in general, knowing the roots of it is the best way to start. In this paper, the progress of the labor unions throughout history, the issues faced the developments it achieved, laws passed and the problem faced by today’s unions will be tackled.
Company Overview1 United Parcel Service was founded in 1907. It has locations in the United States as well as around the world. Its corporate headquarters is located in Atlanta, Georgia. UPS is the world’s largest package distribution company delivering more than 13 million documents and parcels every day and generating revenues of more than $27 billion a year. UPS is also the world’s largest express package and document delivery company, delivering more packages in two days or less that are tracked and guaranteed than any other company in the industry. It serves more than 200 countries and territories. The company operates in five international regions: Europe/Middle East & Africa; Asia Pacific; Latin America/Caribbean; Canada and the United States. The company is broken down into several divisions because of this. These divisions include UPS Air Cargo, UPS Aviation Technologies,
Negotiation and Conflict Application Paper I immigrated to the United States 15 years ago in pursuit of higher education and a successful career. I discovered that I had to significantly readjust the habits engrained in me from childhood through interacting with new people and dealing with conflicts. My traditional and conservative upbringing in India provided a sheltered environment and programmed me into listening and obeying elders and avoiding conflict at all costs. It was my belief that any conflict big or small with the close ones would cause a strain in the relationships. Thus, I often avoided conflicts and accommodated the wishes of others at the cost of my own. I considered this
Since its establishment in year 1907, UPS gradually underwent several organizational and functional reformations to become a successful firm by late 1980. Improved means of communication aided the organization to render quick services to the customer by internal replacement of the delivery vehicles from streetcar and bicycles to its first delivery car in the year 1913.Apart from the company approach towards service modifications, it modeled the union-management partnership to ensure employee to be part of UPS and union membership at the same time by putting forward remarkable features like differential start times, work across job classification and overtimes as needed. These
When comparing both claims from both parties, union and the company, it will be the union. I believe that Union had a stronger case and from the union perspective, there were several arguments made that were persuasive and they are; the threatening of employees with deprivation of benefits if the union should be elected to represent them, repeatedly interrogated employees concerning their union activities, and promising to pay and paying employees for certain medical benefits to discourage them from supporting the union.” The interrogation of employees concerning union activities in particular is an affirmation in the case where the company’s past employee maintenance, Larry Melton, called George Thompson, an employee who works at the company
In this negotiation exercise, I was assigned as the Seaborne Governor’s negotiator as part of a six member party meeting to negotiate a deal with Harborco to build and operate a deepwater port off the coast of Seaborne. The Governor on the whole was very interested in seeing this deepwater port built in Seaborne as she believes that the size of the project would provide the stimulus for a dramatic recovery in the state.
Unions have become commonplace in the labor arena. They provide employees with a valuable tool that allows them to stand together against their employer to make sure that their rights are upheld in the workplace. This paper will focus on labor unions with regards to how they work in two very different companies, Ford Motor Company and United Airlines. Also, a brief history will be outlined as well as legislation regarding unions.
In any negotiation, preparation is crucial; and having a set, outlined process to follow when preparing helps mitigate a potential oversight of any significant issues within the negotiation. Following a set process also helps one stay on task and in-line with what the important issues and factors are in a negotiation. In Bargaining for Advantage, G. Richard Shell provides a well-structured framework to follow in planning for a negotiation. For this reason, I used Shell’s negotiation preparation framework to plan for the negotiation between Rapid Printing Company (Rapid) and Scott Computers, Inc (Scott).
“The keystone of successful business is cooperation. Friction retards progress” (Penney, n.d., para. 1). Stagnant relationships between labor, management and the unions at Ellard Williams, Incorporated (EWI) is causing employee motivation to decrease while the number of union-filed grievances increases. This paper will describe how unions can add to the success of an organization, the causes of turbulent relationships between labor and management, and offers three strategies to improve union and management relations and stimulate production.
From this perspective, trade union is perceived not necessary and the role of it is creating conflict, and it is seen an unwelcome intrusion into the organization from outside competing with management for the loyalty of employees (Rose, 2004). Trade unions exist either as the result of wickedness or perverseness of individual employees, or because of a failure of management to anticipate and incorporate worker needs and concerns (Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring, 2005).
As employees, union can be beneficial for their communication, productivity, and management. First of all, working in a unionized workplace can protect workers’ benefit because union enhance morale for employee to talk with employers. If workers are not satisfied with the payment or the company policy, union can negotiate with managers. Managerment would like to change more reasonable policy. However, if people work in non-union, employers decide what they want. In others words, they can fire workers or decrease wages without any reasons. Even though employers believe that it is fair to all employees, employees may not agree with them. Therefore, employees quit their