A Response from UPS on Civil Unions
I received this tonight in my email after filling out the online form at the UPS site.
Same old crap, just explained away with a bunch of excuses.
Dear Mr. Cannon:
I got your email that you sent to our customer service dept. I wanted to respond personally to let you know that UPS does indeed provide benefits to domestic partners. Some of the media you may have seen is not giving the full picture.
As a matter of corporate policy, UPS currently offers same sex benefits to all non-union employees -- management as well as administrative workers. This includes all such employees in New Jersey, even though the state has failed to recognize gay partners as married spouses. Beyond health care, UPS also offers benefits such as medical leave, pension rights, funeral leave, relocation and transfer benefits. We recently added same-sex benefits as part of a new union contract with UPS pilots too.
UPS doesn't legally have the right to give same sex benefits to package car drivers (like Ms. Brazier who was cited in some of the media reports) because she is part of the Teamsters and any changes to benefits have to be done as part of the collective bargain process. The contact expires in 2008. Absent a law that specifically categorizes same sex partners as married spouses such as in Mass., UPS cannot unilaterally change a union contract to offer same sex benefits. We have already brought up this issue to the Teamsters for consideration. The situation regarding Ms. Brazier and her partner is just as disappointing to UPS as it is to them. But for unionized employees, we can only address the issue through the union at contract renewal time.
Hopefully, this will help you feel better about doing business with UPS.
Sincerely,
Lynnette McIntire
UPS Public Relations
Anyway, if anyone cares, here's the contact information for UPS.
2 Comments
Leave a comment
I know what you are saying Matthew. And you are right about putting the blame on UPS. As a company, they have put anti-discrimination measures in place. I guess my issue with this is that UPS is saying, "...what else do you want us to do? ...it's not OUR fault. ...we HAVE to discriminate because the UNIONS are MAKING us discriminate because it's not in the union contract."
ok, fine. I get it. But at some point, shouldn't the finger pointing and the excuses end? I mean, it's always easy to point to someone else (or something else) and say, THAT'S why this is happening. Fine, then DO something about it.
I question the sincerity of UPS and companies like them. If they really wanted to put an end to this kind of discrimination, they should be doing more than bringing up the issue to the Teamsters for "consideration".
But what do I know. I'm just an aging activist, and in my day, we used to use more than just words and promises.
What is left to me is to not do business with UPS. And in so doing so, perhaps UPS will try a bit harder to push this issue with the Teamsters (money talks!). If they don't, then I have a clear conscience in knowing that I didn't directly or indirectly support discrimination by using them. And if a company that is shipping me something only gives me the option of using UPS, I won't do business with that company, and I'll let them know why they lost my business. That's how it's done.
And yes, I actually do look at the hiring practices and discrimination policies of a company before I become their customer. It takes more time, but if more of us would take the time to do that, a lot of these practices would become quite unattractive to many companies.
Hi, Bill -
If you want to assign blame, point to the union. Even after marriage laws were changed to allow same-sex marriage in MA, the Teamsters have voted repeatedly to deny health benefits to said couples in its rules.
Moreover, it doesn't make any sense that a company would provide benefits to same-sex couples of non-union employees but then deny them to the unionized employees. After all, it's the drivers who are the face of UPS and probably the single largest group of workers.
The union contracts are negotiated to the minutest of details - usually always in favor of the union. If UPS wants to provide same-sex benefits, it's the union that has to include them in the contracts.