Teamsters rejects UPS proposal for personal vehicle deliveries

In a June proposal, UPS suggested that seasonal drivers utilize their personal vehicles for deliveries, a move the Teamsters union staunchly opposed in a letter earlier this month.    Teamsters National UPS Negotiating Committee has rejected a UPS proposal to create a “new classification of Full-time Seasonal Personal Vehicle Drivers (PVD),” the Teamsters union said in a statement.
   The PVD proposal would allow seasonal delivery drivers to use their personal vehicles for deliveries. But in a Sept. 1 letter to UPS, the union warned the company against attempting to “establish a parallel work force to which it can divert” work reserved for union-represented employees under UPS’ labor contract with the Teamsters.
   Sean O’Brien, director of the Teamsters’ national package division, said the union has “no intention of permitting the company to utilize seasonal employees to transport ground packages in their own vehicles. We would consider any attempt by the company to initiate such a program to be a violation of the current contract and will invoke all of our rights to prohibit such implementation.”
   UPS responded with a one-sentence statement, stating that the company “takes exception” with some of O’Brien’s claims, according to a report from WDRB News. UPS has not previously employed drivers who provided their own vehicles, and the two parties are gearing up to negotiate an extension to their five-year labor contract, which expires July 31, 2018.
   According to WDRB News, UPS has posted a handful of job ads for personal vehicle drivers in markets in California, Wisconsin, and Bowling Green, Ky. The company would require workers to wear UPS uniforms and deliver packages from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., during the peak season, according to the ads.
   There are certain vehicle standards that must be met, however, and because UPS is “a very regimented, very tightly run” organization, drivers using their own cars to deliver packages would detract from the company’s professionalism, Kara Deniz, a spokeswoman for the Teamsters’ package division told WDBR News.