[PEN-L:11735] AFL-CIO Backstops IBT Strike Fund

[Michael Eisenscher <meisenscher@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Note: Here is the address of the Teamster UPS Website -
http://www.teamster.org/ups.htm
It is updated daily.
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U.S. Unions Unite Behind UPS Strikers
 06:45 a.m. Aug 13, 1997 Eastern

 By David Lawsky

 WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The AFL-CIO is offering millions of dollars to help
Teamsters on
 strike against United Parcel Service while the company warned of thousands
of job losses as
 both sides dug in for what could be a long fight.

 The announcement by the huge federation of 78 unions came on the ninth day
of the dispute
 between the nation's largest package delivery company and the Teamsters
union, which objects
 to the growing use of low-wage, part-time workers at UPS.

 ``Before the week is out we will have enough loan commitments from other
unions, large and
 small, to finance the worker side of this confrontation for a long strike
if that's what it takes,''
 AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, standing with Teamsters President Ron
Carey at
 Teamster headquarters.

 UPS, based in Atlanta, stiffened its position too, taking out full-page ads
in dozens of
 newspapers to tell its story and declaring that the Teamsters can expect
job losses.

 ``We've forecast that the permanent lost business of the first two weeks of
this strike would
 result in the loss of more than 15,000 Teamster jobs,'' UPS spokeswoman
Susan Rosenberg
 said, adding that even ``if the strike ends this Friday, we're going to
have to begin layoffs.''

 Despite that, Labor Secretary Alexis Herman told reporters on Air Force One
that she was
 encouraged about prospects for resolving the dispute after meeting with
both sides Monday.

 ``I'm encouraged in that I believe that both sides expressed a willingness
to be more flexible in
 looking at their own differences,'' Herman told reporters after briefing
President Bill Clinton on
 Tuesday.

 But no further talks were scheduled and the Teamsters outlined their
preparations for a
 prolonged strike.

 Sweeney said he would get help from member unions to cover the $10 million
needed each
 week to pay $55 a week in strike benefits to the 185,000 Teamsters who
walked off their jobs.

 The union wants more full-time jobs because three out of five Teamsters at
UPS are part-time.
 Rachel Howard, a part-time worker in Burtonsville, Md., spoke at a
Teamsters' news
 conference.

 ``There are many weeks that I have been at UPS that I have worked 60 and 65
hours a week
 but UPS calls me a part-timer and pays me part-time wages,'' said Howard,
who picks up and
 delivers next-day packages.

 ``I only qualify for a half-time pension that a full-time worker gets,''
she said. ``I am now in my
 eighth year and still waiting for a full-time job.'' The company said it
already permits some
 workers to convert to full-time.

 UPS wants the union to permit a vote on its last offer. Carey insists his
union members have
 already voted.

 ``UPS should stop trying to dictate and start trying to negotiate,'' Carey
said.

 UPS called its own news conference and talked about what it called the real
reason for the strike
 -- its proposal to convert the union pension fund to a UPS-based pension
fund. It said its
 proposal would enrich pensions for employees.

 The company said it contributes more than $1 billion to the union plan.
Asked what it would
 contribute to a company plan, UPS's vice president for human resources, Lea
Soupata, replied:
 ``We really don't have that number.''

 With the Teamsters digging up funds from other unions, Wall Street analysts
noted UPS also
 had deep pockets.

 ``They have huge resources to withstand any strike,'' said analyst Philip
Baggaley at Standard &
 Poor's. ``The company has said they're losing tens of millions of dollars a
day. But when you
 have a $4.5 billion credit line and a very strong financial position,
obviously you still can afford to
 stand some pain.''

 Analysts also played down UPS' announcement on job losses.

 ``I think it's partly saber rattling. It's probably also some pressure
tactic on their part to get the
 union to come back to the bagaining table,'' said Martine Nowicki at
Moody's Investors Service
 Inc.

 UPS has repeatedly called for Clinton to intervene in the strike, but the
president has declined.
 Clinton could ask a judge to halt the strike under the Taft-Hartly law, but
the government must
 prove in court that the work stoppage endangers national health or safety.

 Some presidents have failed to win their cases and it has been 25 years
since the law was
 successfully invoked.

 Without the prospect of quick settlement, Soupata was asked if the company
would move to
 replace striking workers. She said that was a ``down-the-road issue.''

 UPS normally handles 12 million packages a day -- 80 percent of all
packages shipped by
 ground nationwide -- with a work force of 301,000 people.

 Schools and colleges find themselves without textbooks, and many small
businesses cannot
 deliver their goods and are scrambling to find alternative shippers, with
little luck.

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