New website has latest information on UPS agreements
Sept. 4, 2013 | The IBT has launched a new website, upscontractfacts.com, to provide UPS members with the latest information on the National Master Agreement, its supplements and riders, and the most asked questions and answers about the contract and ratification process. You can read the contract highlights, browse the full agreement, the supplements and riders, and get additional information on TeamCare, the national Teamster Health Plan.

TeamCare improvements announced for UPS Teamsters
Sept. 5, 2013 | Local union leaders representing UPS Teamsters who currently receive TeamCare health care benefits and those moving into the TeamCare plan met Sept. 4th in Chicago to learn about the improvements made since the UPS National Master Agreement was ratified in June. The improvements apply to all UPS Teamsters covered by TeamCare, existing participants and new participants. You will receive via mail an information packet, including a DVD that will explain the improved benefits. Additionally, you can go to www.MyTeamCare.org and click on the UPS link. Read the IBT announcement here.

TTP: Out of the shadows!
Sept. 17, 2013 | Lead negotiators for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Free Trade Agreement will be meeting in Washington, DC this month for several days of horse-trading aimed at speeding the massive pact towards conclusion. This round is even more secretive than the last three years of closed-door negotiations, in that they are not even including a stakeholder process. Please join representatives from the environmental, labor, family farm, faith, consumer, public health and other social justice movements for a lunch-hour rally that lets TPP negotiators know that people are watching and will hold them accountable no matter how far underground they take their negotiations. Rally - 12:00 Noon, Friday, September 20, 2013 - Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 600 17th St. NW, Washington, D.C. Can't make it? You can still make a difference by telling friends in the DC area, and by writing your Members of Congress urging them to oppose Fast Track for the TPP. Click here for the fact sheet. Here's why it matters.

Reminder! New Maryland cell phone, seat belt laws in effect Oct. 1 *
Sept. 27, 2013 | Effective Tuesday, October 1, if you are caught driving while talking on your hand-held cell phone, you will be pulled over and issued a $75 ticket. Previously, police could only ticket a driver for cell phone use if the driver was stopped for a primary offense, such as speeding. Maryland's new get-tough law upgrades the state's existing hand-held cell phone law to primary status. A second offense will cost you $125, a third and subsequent offenses, $175. Additionally, the new seat belt law requires all passengers to wear a seat belt while traveling in the backseat of any vehicle. It is a secondary law and carries a $50 fine. (The primary law covers an unrestrained driver and/or passenger in the front seat.) * The Baltimore Sun: New law cracks down on cellphone chatting while driving