This was indisputably a capitulation. UPS surrendered in its effort to pull out of the 21 Teamster multiemployer pension funds and set up its own plan so that UPS pension money could be used to pay benefits to UPS workers. Pity the UPS retirees who will now not get the 50 percent pension increases UPS offered in its proposed single-employer plan. UPS will now make additional pension contributions to the Teamster funds, some of which will go toward paying pensions to non-UPS retirees and, if the past is any guide, some of which will be used by the Teamsters as a political slush fund. Nothing unusual here.
Unions always seek more benefits for themselves than for the workers they purport to represent.
UPS also surrendered on the part-time worker issue. It has agreed to create 10,000 new full time jobs over the next five years. This is in addition to the 10,000 full-time jobs it expected to open up over the next five years due to retirements and normal worker turnover. Once again, unions care more for themselves than they do for the interests of workers. Some deliveries must be made to places that are away from the usual routes followed by UPS trucks.