In his “Letter from the President” in this month’s 804 News, Howie Redmond wrote, “We can proudly say that we are taking care of business in the one area that we are responsible for—the union contract.”

Taking care of business: that’s right. And the name of that business is UPS!

Don’t take our word for it. Look at what financial analysts are saying. The host of Mad Money on CNBC says that the company “pantsed” and “pummeled” the Teamsters. The Wall Street Journal says the company will enjoy big savings under the new contract. (more…)

What are our trustees hiding and when will they comply with federal law? (more…)

Click here to download a leaflet for the Queens meeting, Sat., July 12 at 10 am.

Click here to download a leaflet for the Long Island meeting, Sun., July 13 at 9:30 am.

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Research by Local 804 Members United reveals that the Local 804 Health Fund has lost nearly $18 million since June 2003. Just five years ago, the Fund had more than $32 million in reserves. That number dropped to just $14.5 million in June 2007, the most recent figures available from the Fund’s 5500 Financial Reports.

Our Executive Board has told members that our health fund faces challenges. But they have never disclosed the full magnitude of the Fund’s problems. Local 804 Members United is committed to giving you the facts. Members can only protect our pensions and healthcare when we’re kept informed.

Click here to download the Local 804 Health Fund Update.

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The first answer is Local 804 officials did not make sure there was enough money going into the plan. Healthcare costs are rising sharply. When we voted on the 2002 contract, we were promised that it included enough money to protect our pension and healthcare benefits. That proved not to be true.

But there is another answer to the question: What happened to the money? When our Health Fund was losing millions of dollars every year, our own Local 804 officers diverted millions of dollars from the Health Fund to the Pension Fund starting in Aug. 2005.

Click here to download the leaflet “What Happened to the Money?”

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Local 804 Members United uncovered this information by reviewing the Fund’s own financial data as reported to the Department of Labor each year in a Form 5500 report.

Now Local 804 Members United is making these reports available to the membership. You don’t have to take our word for it when we cite financial data. You can review the Fund’s own reports for yourself.

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A pension attorney representing Local 804 members has warned our Pension Fund trustees that they are in serious violation of the Disclosure Rules of the Pension Protection Act, a federal law that requires the Fund to turn over financial, actuarial and other fund documents to participants who request them.

This message was delivered to our fund in a May 17 letter from pension attorney Ann Curry Thompson who represents Local 804 members Bill Reynolds and Tim Sylvester, who have been waiting to receive the information they have requested since January 22.

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The result? The company fixed the safety problem and dropped the 72-hour notice.

The incident reveals a lot about the company’s real attitude toward safety and what Local 804 drivers need to know to protect ourselves. (more…)

The Surface Transportation Assistance Act (”STAA”) protects drivers’ rights to enforce truck safety by making it illegal for a company to discipline, discharge or discriminate against an employee for making a vehicle safety complaint or refusing to operate an unsafe vehicle.

With any law, we need to know the extents and limits of our rights and the Do’s and Don’ts of enforcement.

Because of the recent issue at Farmingdale, this article will focus on the issue of refusing to operate unsafe equipment. (more…)

The Executive Board has canceled the summer general membership meeting. The summer meeting is usually canceled, but not always. Last year, the summer meeting was held because of the contract.

This year’s summer meeting could have been used to address the pension issues that have been drawing a lot of questions from the membership. (more…)