Tag: North America

The UPU's mission to remain the same

Posted by | Jul 31, 2008 | |

Even though a majority of UPU member countries voted in favour of it, a proposal to expand the UPU’s fundamental mission was rejected yesterday (30th July) during a plenary session of the 24th Universal Postal Congress after it failed to obtain sufficient support.

The proposed amendment to the preamble of the UPU Constitution needed the support of at least two thirds of member countries having the right to vote at Congress, i.e. 171 of the 191 Union member countries.

The United States of America, supported by Norway, opposed the change, which went to a vote.

In the end, 97 countries voted in favour of the new proposed mission, while 28 voted against it and 17 abstained. Despite the positive result, 114 favourable votes were needed for the proposal to be adopted.

The document proposed that Congress adopt a new UPU mission that covered the full extent of the postal sector’s role and scope and, consequently, the current role and scope of the UPU, including its role as a United Nations specialized agency. In particular, the mission would have recalled the adherence of the UPU to the United Nations Organization and the postal sector’s contribution to fostering trade and promoting economic and social development worldwide.

Some countries defended the document, saying that the proposed mission better described the current reality of the postal sector, which is not limited to the distribution of letters and parcels. Others added that this new context would enable them to more easily obtain financing for development projects.

The United States argued that the UPU should focus on the core activities mentioned in the current mission, which is “to stimulate the lasting sustainable development of efficient and accessible universal postal services of quality in order to facilitate communication between the inhabitants of the world”.

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UPS nears agreement with drivers and package handlers (U.S)

Posted by | Jul 31, 2008 | |

United Parcel Service reached a tentative agreement with Chicago-based Teamsters Local 705 on a new contract covering roughly 11,000 drivers, package handlers and other part-time and full-time workers just hours ahead of a strike deadline, the parties said Thursday (31st July).

Workers’ hourly pay currently ranges between roughly USD 8.50 and USD 28. That would raise USD 4 over the life of the five-year contract, Local 705 Secretary-Treasurer Steve Pocztowski said. The deal also includes improved pension benefits, an extra week of vacation plus an extra day off, he said.

The proposal will be voted on by workers within the next five weeks, Pocztowski said.

UPS reached a tentative agreement with Teamsters Local 710 on a new five-year contract covering about 6,500 workers in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa on Tuesday (5th August).

That five-year agreement includes a more than 4 percent increase in wages and benefits and places limits on forced overtime, Chicago-based Teamsters 710 Secretary-Treasurer Pat Flynn said earlier this week. It also “dramatically increases part-time workers’ health and welfare coverage,” he said.

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UPS Strengthens Air Network in Mexico

Posted by | Jul 31, 2008 | |

New Airbus 300-600 to Increase UPS Air Cargo Capacity by 66 Percent

UPS announced the integration of an Airbus A300-600 freighter aircraft to service the Mexican market.

As of July 29, the Airbus 300-600’s route includes Mexico City and will become a key element in the growth of UPS’s express package and international air cargo services in central Mexico.

With the arrival of the A300-600, which replaces a smaller capacity Boeing 757-200, UPS has increased its international air cargo capacity by 66 percent to address the growing needs of its Mexican customers. The new aircraft will fly five times a week from Worldport, UPS’s all-points international air hub in Louisville, Ky., to Mexico City.

With the aircraft change and increased capacity, UPS is reaffirming its commitment to Mexico by investing in the infrastructure necessary to ensure that Mexican businesses can reach global markets. UPS provides a robust express package and international air cargo portfolio that includes UPS Worldwide ExpressSM, UPS Express FreightSM, UPS Air Freight DirectSM and UPS Air Freight ConsolidatedSM.

The deployment of the A300-600 is just the latest in a series of actions by UPS to strengthen its operations in Mexico, most recently by opening the UPS Center in Villahermosa, Tabasco, earlier this month.

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First Potomac Realty Trust signs 75,000 square foot lease with FedEx ground

Posted by | Jul 31, 2008 | |

First Potomac Realty Trust announced that it has signed a five-year lease with FedEx Ground, a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation for approximately 75,000 square feet at 1920 Campostella Road in First Potomac’s Diamond Hill Distribution Center in Chesapeake, Va. The facility will house the company’s residential delivery service, FedEx Home Delivery.
Diamond Hill is a four-building industrial park, totaling 712,500 square feet on 37.43 acres of land, located adjacent to Route 64.
Scheduled renovations to the space are underway with FedEx Home Delivery operations expected to occupy the space in the fourth quarter of 2008.
FedEx Ground will relocate its local FedEx Home Delivery operations from a 32,000 square foot facility in Norfolk to the new Diamond Hill location. The move is part of FedEx Ground’s nationwide network expansion plan which calls for the addition of seven new hubs, the expansion of 21 existing hubs and the expansion or relocation of more than 230 local facilities by 2013. The expansion will boost the daily package volume capacity of the FedEx Ground network, which includes FedEx Home Delivery, from the current 3.8 million to 5.6 million packages by the end of its 2013 fiscal year.
FedEx Home Delivery, a service of FedEx Ground, specializes in convenient residential ground delivery service. With a network of 500 distribution hubs and local pickup-and-delivery terminals, FedEx Ground has a workforce of more than 70,000 employees and independent contractors and 20,000 motorized vehicles delivering over 3.8 million packages daily throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The company reported annual revenue of USD 6.7 billion in fiscal year 2008.

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Obama and McCain take up DHL Wilmington cuts as campaign issue (U.S)

Posted by | Jul 30, 2008 | |

US presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain yesterday 29th July, turned DHL’s planned closure of its Wilmington air hub and its proposed cooperation with UPS into a top-level campaign issue. More than 8,000 jobs would be lost in a key political battleground amid growing fears of a US recession. Separately, pilots of DHL airlift supplier Astar Air Cargo took further legal action against the planned DHL-UPS airlift deal.

Obama, who discussed the DHL issue with Ohio officials earlier this month, yesterday wrote to the White House Domestic Policy Council calling on the US justice department to investigate the DHL-UPS agreement for potential anti-trust issues, and urging government support to help DHL workers find new jobs should the deal go ahead.

The Republican candidate, John McCain, issued a statement saying he supported the demand for the proposed DHL-UPS deal to be reviewed by federal and state agencies “for any potential violations of applicable law”. He also favoured government assistance for DHL workers who lost their jobs.

The statements were welcomed by Wilmington mayor David Raizk who commented that since Ohio was such a critical state “in some ways, the road to the presidency leads through Wilmington”. The “ Save The Jobs” coalition of community leaders and DHL Wilmington workers had previously called on both Obama and McCain to visit the hub to talk directly with affected staff. McCain will visit Wilmington in early August, according to the Dayton Daily News.

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