UPS, Teamsters Hold Fruitless Meetings With Labor Chief

Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman met Monday with both sides in the Teamsters strike against United Parcel Service, but there were no signs of progress in the eighth day of the nationwide walkout.

More than four hours of separate talks at the Labor Department with Herman were fruitless, with neither side giving any indication of concessions.

Instead of bargaining with each other, both parties were busily waging a war for public opinion.

UPS sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to call on President Clinton to use his executive powers to end the strike. “The disruption and hardships” created by the strike “should never have happened and could stop tomorrow,” Arnold F. Wellman, the company vice president, said in the letter.

Meanwhile, Teamsters President Ron Carey told a news conference outside the Labor Department that his union was fighting a battle not only for its members but for American workers. “Someone has to tell these corporations that enough is enough,” he said.

UPS handled more than 80% of the nation’s package shipments before the strike, delivering 12 million packages a day for almost 5 million customers. UPS’ competitors--including the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Express and other firms--are increasing their shipments but cannot fill the service gap because UPS has an overwhelming share of the market.

The Postal Service said Monday that it has cleared up most of its backlog of new parcel business by beginning Sunday deliveries. “We continue to serve our customers with few trouble spots reported,” a spokeswoman said. “Our doors are open, our trucks are rolling and our employees are delivering.”

The Clinton administration kept a hands-off approach during the first week of the strike, but Herman became involved after a rising chorus of complaints and concerns from businesses of all sizes.

But the administration, mindful of its good relations with the labor movement, wants to avoid using the Taft-Hartley Act to order the 185,000 strikers back to work.

That law allows a president to get an injunction to stop a strike or lockout if “the national health or safety” would be imperiled. Courts have granted injunctions in cases involving the steel industry, coal production and the maritime industry.

But there is no imminent threat from the UPS strike to national health and safety, according to administration officials.

In February, the president ordered American Airlines pilots back to work, citing a different federal law, the Railway Labor Act, which also covers airlines. But the standard for Taft-Hartley intervention is much higher, according to the administration.

“The standard in the statute hasn’t changed in the last week . . . and we monitor the strike conditions and the economic conditions to see if that standard has been met,” White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said Monday. “So far it has not.”

UPS is frustrated with the White House refusal to invoke the Taft-Hartley law, UPS spokeswoman Gina Ellrich told a news conference Monday outside the Labor Department. “The White House does not believe we are in a crisis . . . they have made it clear,” she said.

The letter to Congress, accompanied by efforts in members’ home districts, is an attempt to persuade the administration to intervene, she said.

“UPS feels we need all the help we can get,” Ellrich said.

The key issues in the strike are the status of part-time workers and the company’s proposal for a new pension plan.

The Teamsters want more workers moved into the full-time category, which has pay rates of $20 an hour. This compares with about $9 an hour in wages for workers on part-time, four-hour shifts.

UPS is willing to move 10,000 part-time workers into full-time status over the life of the contract, Ellrich said.

Carey, whose news conference was 90 minutes later, said of Ellrich: “She is trying to mislead you.” The 10,000 jobs figure cited by UPS would include jobs available because of resignations, attrition and normal growth in the full-time work force, he said. Instead, the union wants to convert current part-time jobs to full-time jobs with the better rate of pay, he said.

On the pension issue, UPS wants to withdraw from a multiemployer plan and create a pension program limited to UPS workers.

UPS workers would get an average of 50% improvements in their pensions, the company says.

The Teamsters insist the UPS wants to “get their hands on that money” in the pension fund and use it for corporate purposes, Carey said.

Meanwhile, a UPS driver died in an accident on Monday when his truck fell off a freeway ramp in Nashville after failing to make a turn. UPS said the driver was a longtime UPS trainer who was substituting for a regular driver because of the strike. The truck was destroyed and packages were strewn across the highway.