UPS

Momentum For Open Bargaining Grows For The Letter Carriers

April 11, 2024 Tyler Vasseur, Labor Notes. Strategize! Letter Carriers, Minneapolis, Unions, UPS, US Postal Service, Worker Rights and Jobs

Hit by years of inflation, and inspired by last year’s contract struggles and big wins by Big 3 auto workers and UPS Teamsters, members of the Letter Carriers (NALC) at the U.S. Postal Service are getting organized to fight for open bargaining. So far 23 NALC branches and one NALC state association have passed an open bargaining resolution first put forward by NALC Branch 9 in Minneapolis. In many more branches, members are discussing the resolution and plan to bring it forward in the weeks to come. The resolution calls for NALC leaders to articulate clear demands up front, and to give regular updates about the progress of bargaining.

Putting Members First: Ron Carey’s Lessons For Labor Movement Reform

April 2, 2024 Steve Early and Rand Wilson, Popular Resistance. Strategize! Book Review, Labor Movement, Teamsters, UPS, Worker Rights

Books about union presidents are usually penned by professional writers -- either academic historians, labor journalists, or paid flacks. Past accounts of the life and work of labor organization chiefs like John L. Lewis, Walter Reuther, Jimmy Hoffa, or Cesar Chavez have run the gamut from hagiographic to constructively critical. Few have had a biographer whose view of their leadership role is rooted in first-hand experience as a blue-collar worker in the same industry and union. Ken Reiman’s personal connection to the subject matter of Ron Carey and the Teamsters (Monthly Review Press, 2024) resulted from his own career as a UPS driver and activist in the local union that Carey led before becoming president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the 1990s.

UPS To Close 200 Hubs, Cut Teamster Jobs

April 1, 2024 Bill Aiman, Fight Back News!. Educate! Atlanta, Georgia, Teamsters, Unions, UPS, Worker Rights and Jobs

Atlanta, GA – United Parcel Service (UPS) announced on March 26 that the company plans to close up to 200 UPS hubs and automate sorting at the remaining hubs within the next five years. The plan is part of a broader initiative by UPS called “Network of the Future” which looks to automate union jobs with a goal of saving the company $3 billion in labor costs by 2028. UPS made $6.7 billion in profit last year and UPS CEO Carol Tomé took home $23.4 million in total compensation. The plan was announced at the UPS investor and analyst conference held at Worldport in Louisville, Kentucky.

To Beat The Heat, We Can’t Rely On Management

September 21, 2023 Alexandra Bradbury, Labor Notes. Organize! climate crisis, Heat, UPS, Worker Rights and Jobs

The death of UPS driver Chris Begley, 57, who collapsed in August while making a delivery in 103-degree Texas heat, was no isolated incident. Monitoring co-workers for signs of heat exhaustion has become a routine feature of the job, says fellow driver Seth Pacic, a shop steward in Begley’s union, Teamsters Local 767. Pacic has learned to discern over the phone when a co-worker needs to find air conditioning ASAP—and when they’re deteriorating so badly that he should call paramedics and brave management’s wrath.

The UPS Teamsters Contract Has Been Ratified – What Now?

August 26, 2023 Teddy Ostrow and RuWalsh, The Real News Network. Strategize! Contract Negotiations, Teamsters, Unions, UPS, Worker Rights and Jobs

On Tuesday, August 22, the Teamsters union announced that its members voted to ratify the national UPS contract by 86.3% – and with record turnout. Workers won significant raises, the abolition of the two-tier driver system, air conditioning in package cars, thousands of new full-time jobs, and more. In our previous episode, we discussed the gains of the tentative agreement and the years of Teamsters organizing it took to make them possible, including the past year’s contract campaign which built a credible strike threat. In this episode, we dug deeper into the various layers of members’ reactions to the contract, as well as what’s required of the membership to enforce it and build on it moving forward.

So You Wanna Practice Picket? Here’s How We Did It

August 25, 2023 Dane Rohl, Labor Notes. Organize! Practice Pickets, Strikes, Unions, UPS, Worker Rights and Jobs

For the first time since I started working at UPS 15 years ago, it feels like unions across the country are on the rise. UPS Teamsters mobilized for a massive contract campaign to win the best contract we’ve ever had. Now it’s the Auto Workers’ turn. Like in the Teamsters, UAW members recently elected new leadership that will stand up for you—and more importantly, actually allow members to stand up for yourselves. I’ve been following the contract fights at the Big 3 automakers. You’re fighting for a lot of the same things we fought for: ending two-tier, a fair raise, and control of your time.

Despite Big Teamster Wins At UPS, Some Expectations Outpace Gains

August 15, 2023 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. Organize! Contract Negotiations, Strikes, Unions, UPS, Worker Rights and Jobs

Some 323,000 U.S. workers have struck so far this year. Another 340,000 were in gear to strike, until their nationwide mobilization forced the company to concede. UPS Teamsters are voting on the deal through August 22. “After 25 years of [former Teamsters President James P.] Hoffa and his givebacks, we came out ahead,” said Eugene Braswell, a delivery driver and Local 804 steward. “This is the first time in all those years that I have a national contract that I can vote yes on.” How are UPSers making sense of their gains at the table? I spoke with two dozen rank and filers. Some were relieved they didn’t have to strike.

How We Turned Our Backs On An Abusive UPS Manager

August 13, 2023 John Capodanno, Labor Notes. Resist! Boston, Protests, UPS, Worker Rights and Jobs

I’m a 34-year Teamster and package car driver for UPS, and I’ve been a steward for the past seven years. Since I’ve been with UPS for so long, I am very used to the constant harassment and intimidation this company has thrived on. I had the honor to be put on the national negotiating team for the UPS contract by my local union—one of the strongest in the country, Local 25 in Boston. After UPS walked away from the negotiating table in early July, I was at barns helping to run practice picket lines. The UPS center in Westwood, a suburb of Boston, has a new center manager from New Orleans named Brian Newman.

UPS Teamsters Nationwide Are Voting On The Tentative Agreement

August 12, 2023 Teddy Ostrow and RuWalsh, In These Times. Educate! Contract, Teamsters, Unions, UPS, Worker Rights

UPS Teamsters nationwide are voting on the tentative agreement for the largest private-sector labor contract in the United States. The vote will end on August 22. A majority decision will determine if the contract is ratified. In this episode, we explore the highlights of the tentative agreement (TA) and what its gains, such as the abolition of the driver two-tier system and substantial wage increases, mean for workers’ lives. We also dig into how the TA is proof that years of Teamsters organizing, including the past year’s contract campaign, have reaped significant concessions from UPS — something workers and other unions are already taking note of.

Wage Gains At UPS Have Amazon Workers Demanding More

August 5, 2023 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. Resist! Amazon, Strikes, Unions, UPS, Wages, Worker Rights and Jobs

Amazon warehouse worker Paul Blundell has spent the past year talking to his co-workers about how UPS Teamsters were getting organized to strike. So recently, he had big news to share: “A few days before the strike deadline, UPS caved.” “Everybody’s jaw dropped” when they heard that night shift workers at the Philly UPS air hub will get an immediate raise to $24.75, Blundell said. “We top out around $20.90 after three years, so UPS is now starting well above that—with raises for the rest of the contract.” UPS part-timers also have low-deductible health insurance coverage with no premiums, and pensions.

UPS Teamsters To Vote On Contract; Ends Driver Tiers, Lifts Pay

July 28, 2023 Alexandra Bradbury, Labor Notes. Resist! Teamsters, Unions, UPS, Victory, Worker Rights and Jobs

With just a week to go before the strike deadline, UPS and the Teamsters announced a tentative agreement July 25. There will be no strike on August 1. It’s clear their strike threat paid off in a big way—to the tune of $30 billion, the union’s calculation of how much more UPS is spending on this contract than the last one. “This contract is going to show the Amazons and the Walmarts and the Targets that the Teamsters are here, there’s a shift, and they should be careful and start driving up their wages,” said New York City Local 804 President Vinnie Perrone, an international trustee who served on the bargaining team.

UPS Worker: ‘There Is Momentum To Fight For More’

July 28, 2023 Luigi Morris , Left Voice. Educate! Negotiations, Strike, Unions, UPS, Worker Rights and Jobs

This Tuesday, UPS and Teamsters announced they have reached a tentative agreement for a new contract for UPS workers nationwide, a week before over 340,000 workers were set to go on strike across the country in what would be the biggest strike of its kind in U.S. history. Now that strike is on hold as workers read, debate, and vote on the tentative agreement. After years of stagnant wages and deplorable working conditions, UPS workers have been organizing around the clock to fight for their demands, including much higher starting salaries for part-time workers and ending the two-tier system.

Inside The Teamsters’ Historic Contract At UPS

July 26, 2023 Luis Feliz Leon, The American Prospect. Resist! Teamsters, Unions, UPS, Victory, Worker Rights and Jobs

Some 340,000 UPS Teamsters will see significant gains to pay and working conditions if they ratify a five-year tentative agreement announced by the negotiating committee on Tuesday. Rank-and-file workers were poised to proceed with what would have been the largest strike at a single private-sector employer in decades, and the resolve from workers over the past several weeks was key to getting UPS to agree to a tentative deal that meets their demands. Negotiations, which broke down on July 5, resumed July 25, after UPS said that it would be “prepared to increase our industry-leading pay and benefits.”

The UPS Strike Looms As Corporate America Cashes In

July 25, 2023 Stephen Franklin, In These Times. Resist! Strikes, Unions, UPS, Worker Rights and Jobs

It’s early in the morning and Cesar Mendoza slips into his 20-year-old clunker of a car and heads for the UPS warehouse in Southern California when the thoughts swell up. Damn, I am stuck here, he thinks. I’m still working only a few hours a day and barely earning anything. And then, he reminds himself, as he does each morning, to try and think positively. But he can’t. Six years after starting out as a part-time UPS warehouse worker, he gets $17.85 an hour and when the hours are low, as they’ve been lately, he takes home about $300 a week.

Record Wages Should Be Received If Record Profits Are Being Generated

July 25, 2023 Luigi Morris , Left Voice. Resist! Strikes, Unions, UPS, Wages, Worker Rights and Jobs

In Griffin, Georgia, UPS warehouse worker Jess Leigh exemplifies the struggles of part-time workers. As a single mother of two, she has spent nearly six years on the preload shift making poverty wages and has worked in multiple positions from loading trucks to being a hazmat responder. Jess has been a firm advocate for part timers’ rights in these contract negotiations. She is a member of Teamsters Mobilize, a coalition of UPS rank-and-file workers whose main demand has been “a base wage of $25/hour, $0.75 in catch up raises for each year of service, and 5% raises over the life of the contract.” She has also earned a lot of recognition from workers across the States due to her role in organizing “Red Solidarity Fridays,“ a day where inside workers wear red as a show of unity in this fight.

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