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NEWSLETTER
FOLLOWING THE MONEY
Who is the controversial Hispanic Advocacy group "National Council La Raza" (The Race) that UPS gave $240,000? CNN's Lou Dobbs interviews La Raza's president and CEO. YouTube. According to the group's website, UPS has committed to a multi-year, multi-million dollar contribution.
ADDED 1/20/08
How Congressman Kline helped UPS
and raised money for his new PAC
According to a Harper's article, Kline was key in passing a law that lowered UPS's pension obligation. UPS has donated $15k to Kline's campaign in the last 3 years and held a fundraiser for Con. Kline's leadership PAC. The article described these leadership PACs as "unregulated slush funds." 1/26/08
UPS Whiteboard Music
Is NABER the only ones that think it's weird that the music behind the Whiteboard commercials is the intro to a song by the musical group, "The Postal Service"? The song is "Such Great Heights" and is available on Itunes.
Lightning Round
4/2/09
Cramer said that he'd recommend UPS, if it fell back into the $40s, calling it a "great, great company with a great yield."
An apology: The persons who were supposed to be taking over this website, just didn't. Not important enough, I guess.
Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Coverage Increases
In cases brought to enforce the 1990 ADA law, disabilities has been narrowly defined by the courts. Diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure) had not been covered even though it disqualified individuals from certain jobs. UPS had been instrumental in obtaining this narrow interpretation by taking Murphy v. UPS to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Briefly, that decision allowed UPS to fire a mechanic because of his inability to obtain a DOT physical card, because of hypertension. UPS further argued that because his condition did not have a major effect on his daily life, Murphy was not covered by ADA. Other court decisions similarly decided that diabetes was not a disability.
Many of you are aware that insulin dependent diabetes are not allowed DOT cards to drive and UPS terminates employment of those drivers. They do not make reasonable accommodations to move individuals into appropriate jobs. Years ago, however, UPS did find other positions for these UPSers. Many were long-time employees and near retirement age.
This injustice is about to be remedied. In January, the ADA Amendment Act (ADAAA) will become law. ADAAA will reverse Murphy v. UPS and other similar cases. Congress will define what they intended in the original law that the courts modified. “Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that because of Supreme Court decisions that interpreted the ADA's coverage in an unduly restrictive manner, the full promise of the 18-year-old legislation has not been realized. “Our intent was to be inclusive; civil rights bills are meant to be interpreted broadly,” said Hoyer, who was a key player in enactment of the original ADA in 1990.” (SOURCE: http://subscript.bna.com/pic2/hr2pic.nsf/id/BNAP-7JRRQE
Since previous Supreme Court decisions are to be reversed, it would seem that this law is retroactive to the effective date of the original ADA law. It remains to be seen how this will be played out in court. Seek your own legal council to determine your rights under the new law.
Hopefully, this new law will end the shameful termination of employees who are fully capable of working but have the misfortune of illnesses that don't allow them to continue to drive professionally.
Former UPS worker awarded $2.63 million
A federal jury last month to award Jones a whopping $2.63 million in damages, including $2 million in punitive damages.
“We were able to show the outrageous and brazen fashion in which UPS retaliated against Mr. Jones through evidence of, among other things, repeatedly and admittedly sabotaging his efforts to return to work after he filed a workers’ compensation claim,” one of Jones’ attorneys, Frederic D. Deay II, said in an e-mail." SOURCE
UPS Challenges The Class Action Status
Of ADA Suit Brought By Scott & Scott
In an effort to get this class action thrown out before a new ADA law become effective on January 1, UPS is trying to decertify this as a class action lawsuit.
SEE LINK
ADA (American with Disabilities Act) mandates that a company make "reasonable accommodations" to employees unable to continue at their current job because of injury or illness.This case is a landmark case in employment law that may well interprete the current and incoming ADA laws. The central issue is UPS's unwritten policy of "100% cured" before injured or ill UPSers can return to work. Few workers receive job reassignment or any accommodation to their job. This appears to be in complete disregard to the law.
UPS's lawyer admits there are tens of thousands of (current and former) UPSers involved. He claims that there is billions of dollars involved. Does that mean that when it is expensive, companies don't have to follow the law? How difficult is it for workers stripped of their job?
It is of note that former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is one of the judges hearing the case. UPS's lead attorney Mark A. Perry clerked for O'Connor in '93-'94. Justice O'Connor also wrote the majority opinion in Murphy v. UPS where UPS prevailed. Murphy v. UPS set an importent precident for ADA cases and is cited as a reason that the U.S. Congress updated the ADA law. Reasonable people would question whether O'Connor should recuse herself.
Co-council for UPS is Eugene Scalia, the son of O'Connor's former Supreme Court colleague, Justice Antonin Scalia. UPS has brought significant clout to this case which indicates how important it is (in the company's eyes) not to make accomodations for injured employees. Tens of thousands of employees who are too injured or too ill to continue working at their jobs, yet this somehow flys under the radar of the mass media.
UPS Earnings Down 56% In Q1 of '09
This year is gonna suck. Maybe next year... according to Scot D. (paraphrase) UPS picked up more than half the market share of DHL's departure from the US domestic small parcel market.
The company also says it has reduced the US workforce by 10,000. Domestic small package division held up better than the freight division or
the logistic division.
According to MSNBC, "He (Davis) also said the company was affected by increased rail, health care and pension costs. Davis said a slowing economy had only a “slight impact” on UPS’ results."
Chart Since Scott Davis Became CEO, Did He Deserve To Double Salary?
UPS Got Pants-ed By Local 705 Retirees In Court
UPS attempted to retaliate against Local 705 retirees by raising their medical insurance premium by as much as 700% (for retirees with families). The court found that UPS had broken ERISA laws, violated the contract they signed in 2008, and violated the terms of the SPD (insurance plan documents). It can be speculated that UPS targeted Chicago retirees because the group is very vocal as UPS watchdogs and retiree activists. The groups also has helped many active employees
Local 705, headed by Steve Pocztowski, was instrumental in securing this victory. The union obtained and paid for the lawyers who went after UPS. Traditionally, retirees are not protected in the way that unions protect active employees. Pocztowski has definitely raised the standard that other Teamsters locals need to emulate.
UPS may have tipped their hand for future action against their own retirees. UPS made it clear that they intend to make all retirees pay any amount over the $6,250 cap on coverage that the company incurs.
This payback would begin after the current contract expires in 2013.
$2 Billion More In Debt
UPS is selling $2B in bonds. What are these guys thinking? This is not a good time to take on more debt. UPS for 90 out of its 100 history had no debt.
