If the Teamsters' 350,000 UPS workers go on strike next summer, it would hamstring not only UPS and its customers, including Amazon; it would potentially freeze the nation’s e-commerce economy, reports onesarahjones
to prepare workers for the possibility of a massive strike. Terry Diggs, a shop steward and 21-year UPS veteran based in Long Beach, California, said that while the union doesn’t want to strike, they’re getting members ready for the possibility. “We’ve actually set forth a plan for part timers and full timers. So if you’re a part timer, we’re asking, how much money can you afford to save per week out of your check?” he said. “Some people can afford to save nothing because of the wages.
Nick Jones, who is also a shop steward in Norfolk, Virginia, said while he voted to accept the current contract, it hasn’t worked out in practice. “I do think we’ve made improvements in the last contract as far as pay, and there was an attempt to relieve excessive overtime,” he said. “But the company did not honor the 22.4 language the way it was supposed to have been written in the contract.” With the explosion of e-commerce, excessive overtime remains a problem for everyone in both tiers.
The union’s pending battle with UPS would have ramifications for its plan to organize Amazon, too. “There’s a scenario where UPS workers mobilize and they take strike action and that affects 6 percent of GDP, and they win a good contract and that would be a huge labor victory,” explained David Levin, a staff director at Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a grassroots organization that supported O’Brien and his Teamsters United slate during the recent election.
O’Brien, for his part, is determined to get the Teamsters ready for the showdown to come. The negotiation process has become more transparent and inclusive of rank-and-file members, he explained. “People love it when you’re on the top side of a wrestling match. They don’t like it when you’re on the bottom,” he said. “And our members, because of what we’ve been doing and the inclusiveness, they feel they’re on the top side of that wrestling match. We’ve got tremendous leverage.
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