Foreword: this is a report back from a comrade Teamster. The struggle for a fair contract at UPS has deeper stakes than just the UPS hubs in the city. The Teamsters union is the largest union in north America, and by far the largest union local to SLC, with its primary base among vital logistics workers. The contract between the Teamsters union and UPS is the largest contract between a union and private company in the US. If UPS fails to cave to major Teamsters demands, the newly elected Teamster leadership has made it clear that they will strike. A strike at UPS would shut down a significant portion of the American GDP, and involve hundreds of thousands of warehouse workers and drivers.
Importantly; as workers begin to organize across different industries in our city, the Teamsters union has shown a willingness to represent workers across many industries. A victory at UPS is a victory for all workers, additionally if our Teamsters local suffers a defeat, the prospects for unionization across our valley would be hurt significantly. This report back ends with a call for solidarity, and we would encourage all our readers to take this call seriously and begin laying plans.
On Thursday morning, April 20th, around twenty part-time UPS Teamsters gathered for a parking lot meeting in the cold and wind. We all came early, before day shift, and stood outside the guard shack at the second largest UPS warehouse in the United States. The meeting agenda was simple: what is going on with the UPS-Teamster contract negotiations, and how part-timers can join the fight.
Since most of you readers did not attend this meeting, I’ll start with a recap. The UPS-Teamster labor contract is the largest private-sector contract in the United States representing 330,000 workers.* This contract, as well as many supplemental contracts covering smaller regions, gets renegotiated every five years and this year the Teamsters are all in.
The previous two contracts were negotiated under Teamster president Hoffa Jr, and to the anger and dismay of the rank and file, these two contracts included many concessions at the expense of UPS Teamsters. In 2022 Sean O’Brien became Teamster president in a campaign spurred by the betrayal of Hoffa Jr. and his decision to accept the 2018 contract even after the rank and file had voted it down. When O’Brien took office, he committed to this year’s contract fight, and he is showing the Teamsters, and UPS, that he will not back down.
With O’Brien, held up by rank and file militants, at the head of the Teamsters, all of the hard work and militancy of the rank and file is finally being expressed at the bargaining table, on the shop floor, and in the parking lot. Starting the meeting with this Teamster history was important because many part-time UPSers are new to the job. High-turnover is just one thing that UPS uses to keep its workforce low-paid and less interested in the union.
These recent contract concessions are being felt by UPSers across the board. A Teamster in the Smalls Department spoke about how Smalls is deliberately understaffed, leaving workers more stressed while their supervisors steal their work and yell at them to work faster and more dangerously. A Teamster in Unload shared his frustration with how little UPS cares for its workers, and how they show that care by providing us with sub-standard first aid kits. On top of that, he pointed out, when a worker does get injured, supervisors will be sure to talk that worker out of seeing a doctor or getting an injury report made.
Being at the meeting with my coworkers, all united in the belief that we do deserve better, was invigorating, for me, and my fellow Teamsters. For UPS, I’m sure it was terrifying. One UPS supervisor, upon hearing about the planned parking lot meeting, immediately called his boss to report me because I was passing out palm flyers about the event. Within an hour a shop steward came to talk to me, “To make sure everything was ok. ” The meeting was still four days away but we had already scared the boss with a few palm flyers! If you know me, you know I’m not very scary, but that is the power of a union. We can all scare our bosses if we fight together.
As we closed the meeting, we reminded people that while these negotiations are taking place, we have to do our part on the shop floor to sign up our new coworkers to the union, and enforce the contract we have now. If by July 31st, the contract expires and we do not have a new one, O’Brien has promised to strike August 1st. And as UPS still does not seem willing to bargain in good faith, a strike becomes more likely.
With August 1st approaching fast, please stay informed, the Teamsters are updating the public often as negotiations continue. Stay up to date and make sure you let your friends and family know what’s going on with the folks who deliver your boxes! Like any working class struggle, the mainstream media has been spinning a lot of disinformation into their coverage of negotiations. A strike would not just hurt the people who get rich off of UPS, but it would be a blow to the entire ruling class, keep that in mind when reading!
My last request: start strike prepping with us. For this strike to be successful, we need the whole community ready to boycott UPS, ready to donate to Teamsters, and ready to stand side by side on a picket line if need be. If we strike, we do it not just for us, but for all workers. We all deserve a living wage, a good pension, healthcare, and a dignified and safe workplace. And you deserve a box that was delivered by a happy, healthy, and well-paid worker. All Power to the People! The Concessions Stand is Closed!
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