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The UPS Strike Looms As Corporate America Cashes In

July 25, 2023 Stephen Franklin, In These Times. , , ,
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. , , , ,
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. 

Louisville’s Small Unions Give Boost To UPS Teamsters Strike Prep

July 22, 2023 Molly Shah, The Real News Network. , , , , ,
With the possibility of 340,000 Teamsters going on strike next month at United Parcel Service (UPS) seeming more and more likely, the world will be looking to Louisville, Kentucky, where UPS headquarters and UPS Worldport, the largest sorting and logistics facility in America, are located. With over 25,000 employees, 10,000 of whom are members of Teamsters Local 89, UPS is by far the city’s largest employer. If the Teamsters and UPS do not reach an agreement by July 31, when the current contract is set to expire, the picket line outside these facilities could be the largest the city has seen in decades.

UPS Teamsters Are ‘Just Practicing’

July 20, 2023 Alexandra Bradbury and Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. , , , , ,
The clock is ticking on the August 1 strike deadline of 340,000 UPS Teamsters. It would be the largest strike at a private employer in decades. “People are actually paying attention,” said delivery driver Kioma Forero, a Local 804 shop steward in New York City. Customers along her route stop her to say, “I hope your negotiations go well.” The hosts are talking about it on Hot 97, the city’s top hip-hop station. A deal could still avert a strike—as we went to press, the Teamsters announced UPS had reached out to resume negotiations. The union bargaining team had dispersed to members’ home locals after talks broke down July 5, for practice picketing that has put on display just how ready to strike UPSers are.

UPS Pilots Won’t Fly If Teamsters Strike

July 19, 2023 Eric Kulisch, FreightWaves. , , , , , ,
The union representing UPS pilots says they will not cross picket lines if Teamsters drivers and package sorters walk off the job when the current contract expires Aug. 1, resulting in the immediate shutdown of the express logistics company’s global air operations. UPS (NYSE: UPS) has 3,300 pilots who are represented by the Independent Pilots Association (IPA), a separate union from the Teamsters. “If the Teamsters are on strike, we will honor that strike and we will not fly,” IPA spokesman Brian Gaudet told FreightWaves. UPS pilots are allowed under their collective bargaining agreement to honor primary picket lines and did that for 16 days during the Teamsters’ strike in 1997.

Hundreds Of Chicago Teamsters Stand Up To UPS Greed

July 15, 2023 Eliza Schultz and Haden Kersting, Fight Back News!. , , , , , ,
On July 14, 300 workers turned out for the latest practice picket and rally at the UPS Jefferson Street Hub on the Near West Side of Chicago. International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 705 and Local 710 organized this event, which was the largest of many practice pickets in the Chicago area that occurred throughout the week. Flyers promoting the event read, “Chicago Teamsters stand up to UPS greed!” The event comes as contract negotiations between the IBT and United Parcel Service remain halted. The Teamsters already negotiated a major win for full-time drivers with the end of the two-tier classification system, known as 22.4.

In Heat And Smoke, Workers Fight Negligent Bosses

July 13, 2023 Caitlyn Clark, Labor Notes. , , , , ,
On June 29, the air quality in Detroit was among the worst in the world. “Outside it smelled like burnt plastic, almost like trash,” said UAW member Cody Zaremba, who works at a General Motors plant in Lansing, Michigan. He and his co-workers were experiencing coughing, runny noses, watery eyes, and trouble breathing. But GM didn’t even acknowledge the smoke, Zaremba said, much less offer any protection. “Everybody just had to go about it their own way,” he said. “We can all see it and smell it. But what are we going to do about it?” As wildfires, drought, floods, and scorching heat disrupt the supply chain, the logistics industry is starting to worry about the impact of climate change…on profits.

After Marathon Sessions, UPS Negotiations Collapse

July 5, 2023 Kara Deniz, International Brotherhood of Teamsters. , , , ,
Around 4 a.m., UPS walked away from the bargaining table after presenting an unacceptable offer to the Teamsters that did not address members’ needs. The UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee unanimously rejected the package. Following marathon negotiations, UPS refused to give the Teamsters a last, best, and final offer, telling the union the company had nothing more to give. “This multibillion-dollar corporation has plenty to give American workers — they just don’t want to,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “UPS had a choice to make, and they have clearly chosen to go down the wrong road.”

Rank-And-File UPS Workers Prepare To Strike And Refuse To Back Down

July 3, 2023 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , , ,
In 2013 and 2018, UPS workers were forced to accept contracts that failed to protect them and that created a growing underclass. In 2023, the rank-and-file are refusing to accept less than what they need. As the end of their current contract on July 31 grows near, workers across the nation are organizing strike captains, educating workers and holding practice pickets. UPS employs 340,000 people and is responsible for 6% of the nation's GDP. Clearing the FOG speaks to Richard Hooker, Jr., of Teamsters Local 623 in Philadelphia. Richard has been leading the fight for a decent contract. He speaks about the current working conditions, the workers' demands and why this fight is critical for all workers.

Can UPS And The Teamsters Reach A Deal?

July 3, 2023 Stephen Franklin, In These Times. , , , ,
When the temperature hits three digits in the brown UPS truck Luis Rivera drives, he slows down his deliveries, which gets him in trouble, he says, with his boss. “They say, ​‘Why did you take so long?’ and I say, ​‘Dude, it’s hot. I know when I need to take a break,” explains Rivera, a veteran delivery driver and Teamsters member in Central California, where heat waves are common. Rivera ticks off the times that colleagues have gotten heatstroke and recalls the tragedy of a young UPS driver, 23-year-old Jose Cruz Rodriguez Jr., who died two years ago in Waco, Texas.

UPS Teamsters Union Struggle Is Critical For All Workers

June 28, 2023 Gavrielle Gemma, Orinoco Tribune. , , , , ,
340,000 workers, members of the Teamsters Union, worked tirelessly during the worst of the COVID pandemic. Despite exhaustion from overwork, disease, and family tragedies, they saved lives by delivering packages to those quarantined. Meanwhile, bosses at UPS lived in luxury as profits soared to $56.3 billion from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 alone, UPS says it will spend $3 billion in stock buybacks and $5.4 billion in dividends. Every penny of that profit is due to the labor of the workers. The current contract expires in less than five weeks. Every day the company delays making a realistic offer to the union, the closer workers come to a strike authorized by 97% of the rank-and-file who voted.

Teamsters Rank And File Hold Speakout Against UPS Contract Proposals

June 26, 2023 Fight Back News!. , , , ,
Commerce City, Colorado - On June 24, rank-and-file Teamsters stood out in front of the gate of the Commerce City UPS hub outside Denver to speak out against the economic proposals UPS submitted during negotiations. These proposals include wildly unpopular ideas, such as the creation of a two-tier wage system for preloaders and a $17 per hour starting wage. As people were walking out of the gate, many workers flocked to the table, insulted by these proposals and ready for further action. “They think we're worth $17 an hour; this is what UPS thinks of their preloaders,” Kat Draken, a Teamster shop steward, furiously stated, “they must think we're joking about striking.”

‘We Must Strike’: A Message From A Rank-And-File UPS Worker Activist

June 23, 2023 Greg Kerwood , Left Voice. , , ,
It has become almost cliche to say that nobody wants a strike, as if it were somehow uncouth to stand up for one’s humanity without a qualifier. But wanting a strike is truly not the question. The question, rather, is do we NEED a strike? And the answer is an unequivocal YES! We NEED a strike to unite our members at UPS, and our Teamsters Union as a whole. We NEED a strike to create a generation of militant Unionists, whose education will be the picket line, and whose graduation will be the launch of a new Labor movement. We NEED a strike to create the bonds that hold Labor together, that unite workers; those that can only be forged in the furnace of workplace action.

With Strike Looming, UPS Teamsters Win Air Conditioning, Other Gains

June 18, 2023 Simon Rowe, Fight Back News!. , , , ,
Tampa, Florida - Since national negotiations started in March, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has reached many tentative agreements in their national contract with United Parcel Service. These agreements that will benefit Teamsters include but are not limited to better cooling systems in package cars, strengthened grievance procedures, and the creation of more union jobs. The current Teamsters contract with UPS was a five-year agreement which expires on July 31. Unless the Teamsters bargaining team reaches a tentative agreement with UPS for a next contract and the rank and file votes “yes” by July 31, over 300,000 Teamsters are set to strike on August 1.

Teamsters Vote By 97 Percent To Strike If UPS Fails To Deliver Strong Contract

June 17, 2023 International Brotherhood of Teamsters. , , ,
Washington, DC - UPS Teamsters have voted by an overwhelming 97 percent to authorize a strike, giving the union maximum leverage to win demands at the bargaining table. The powerful vote allows the UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee to call a strike should UPS fail to come to terms on a strong new contract by July 31, when the union’s current National Master Agreement expires. The Teamsters represent more than 340,000 UPS package delivery drivers and warehouse logistics workers nationwide. “This vote shows that hundreds of thousands of Teamsters are united and determined to get the best contract in our history at UPS.
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