We are on the brink of what could be the most transformative strike in U.S. history.
Fast Facts: The UPS bargaining agreement, representing over 240,000 workers, expires July 31 of this year. Negotiations begin on April 17. UPS workers are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and with the leadership of General President Sean M. O’Brien (of Charlestown, MA), the union has threatened to strike if an agreement isn’t reached by August.
“UPS Teamsters have given their sweat equity to this company over the last five years and sacrificed during the pandemic. Now it’s time for UPS to pay up. There will be no concessions.” – Local 25 President Tom Mari
On April 2, 2023, UPS Teamsters alongside Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien and Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman held a rally in Boston, launching a series of nationwide rallies building solidarity and community in advance of April 17th.
Mass JWJ was proud to attend this rally - scroll down for pictures from the exciting day!
On April 17, contract negotiations for over 340,000 UPS workers begin. Just months after UPS reported record profits – revenue of over $100,000,000,000 and $19,000,000 in pay for UPS CEO Carol Tomé – this contract is a pivotal opportunity for UPS workers across the country to win better working conditions and bring corporate exploitation to the forefront of public attention. The UPS contract, which expires at the end of July, is the largest private sector labor contract in the country, and workers are ready to take on this corporate giant.
Particularly since conditions under covid-19 saw a dramatic rise in home delivery needs, UPS corporate has leaned heavily on the backs of workers. While UPS likes to boast an average annual pay of $95,000, this figure is misleading – the company has made practice of hiring part-time workers with lower pay and higher turnover.
In addition to better pay, the union is seeking better working conditions. Workers are currently subject to cut hours, displacement, and split shifts, which have eight-hour workdays split into two four-hour shifts in a way that precludes parenting and general workday stability. The Teamsters are also fighting to eliminate the 22.4 tier that allows new hires to be paid at a much lower rate and to mandate air conditioning, since driving conditions in heat waves have led to severe health issues for workers.
If UPS doesn’t agree to worker demands by the time the current contract expires, the Teamsters will launch the largest strike against a single business in U.S. history. If the strike does happen, it will affect every zip code in the United States in more ways than one. The last time UPS went on strike was in 1997, costing the company millions of dollars and landing a union victory after 15 days of operational shutdown.
Because UPS workers are so vital to national infrastructure, our greatest leverage is in the logistics of the UPS industry – approximately 6% of national GDP moves in UPS trucks every year. But like in 1997, the impacts of this strike would transcend logistics.
And while this contract struggle certainly echoes that of 1997, the timing of this strike would represent a major surge of worker and union organizing. In the past year, workers at some of the most powerful companies in the world have seized collective power and rattled corporate expectations. Worker-led organizing at Amazon Labor Union and Starbucks Workers United has demonstrated the strength of grassroots leadership. A nationwide strike of this magnitude would put the labor movement, and the labor moment, at the forefront of public attention.
