The United Parcel Service has turned down the application of two of its unionized employees seeking spousal benefits for their partners in civil unions in New Jersey. The company wrote that state law "does not treat civil unions the same as marriages," though authors of the legislation that created them say it does. Lynette McIntire, public relations manager for UPS, wrote in an e-mail to gay journalist Rex Wockner, that "UPS doesn't legally have the right to give same-sex benefits" to the employees who applied because they are members of the Teamsters "and any changes to benefits have to be done as part of the collective bargaining process." She said they have raised the issue with the union and that they do give benefits to same-sex partners of non-unionized personnel.
Steve Goldstein, leader of Garden State Equality, told the Newark Star-Ledger, "Civil unions are never in our lifetime going to be respected by employers like marriage." Indeed, Lambda Legal Defense has documented more than 100 complaints from those in civil unions in New Jersey about not being treated as spouses.
Garden State Equality, in emphasizing the inevitability that partners in civil unions will not be treated equally to married souses, has repeatedly argued that "marriage is the only currency society understands."
In late 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the Legislature to make certain that same-sex partners could enjoy all the same rights as married couples, whether through marriage or some other legal institution.
(gaycitynews.com)
