New York (CNN Business) Over the past year, the nascent labor movements at mighty corporations like Starbucks and Amazon have grabbed national attention. But less well-known is a looming high-stakes clash between one of America's oldest unions and the world's biggest package courier.
Contract negotiations are set to begin in the spring between UPS and the Teamsters Union ahead of their current contract's expiration at the end of July, 2023. Already, before the talks have even started, labor experts are predicting that the drivers and package handlers will go on strike.
"The question is how long it will be," said Todd Vachon, professor of Labor Relations at Rutgers. "The union's president ran and won on taking a more militant approach. Even if they're very close [to a deal], the rank and file will be hungry to take on the company."
If that happens, a strike at UPS would affect nearly every household in the country. An estimated 6% of the nation's gross domestic product is moved in UPS trucks every year. The explosive growth of online retail has made the company and its drivers more crucial than ever to the nation's struggling supply chain. Beyond the company's home deliveries, it also delivers many of the goods found in stores, factories and offices.
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About 350,000 Teamsters work at UPS as drivers and package sorters out of a global workforce of 534,000 permanent employees. And that's growing fast — the company has added some 72,000 Teamster-represented jobs since the start of the pandemic.
Paladoc on September 8th, 2022 at 10:33 UTC »
1995 - Got a job Unloading at UPS at DFW. 3am - job done, so generally before 7 but sometimes 10am closer to the holidays. Best shape of my life, loved the job and it instilled my work ethic. Moved up from Unloader to Irreg Driver to Sort, then got back to Irreg cause I liked it best. It beat the crap out of me, but the pay was phenomenal 8.25 to start when minimum wage was like 4.25.
Started driving tugs, could have been a decent career, but I had bigger plans. I joined the Navy.
2007 - Got out of the Navy, figured I'd work at UPS again while I went to school. Got a job down in Austin, Unloading then Sorting. Job beat the crap out of me even worse cause I was older now, and the benefits were present, but without the fantastic wage, it was not worth the effort of trying to clean up in bathrooms to be presentable for classes. Minimum wage was now about 6 bucks an hour, UPS started at.... 8.25.
princesschellex on September 8th, 2022 at 04:15 UTC »
My dad was a driver for 30+ years, I remember them striking when I was young. It only lasted a couple weeks but I know it really financially fucked the company.
Ar_Ciel on September 8th, 2022 at 02:16 UTC »
Long time ago when I was in the same line of work I heard they had the best benefits but worked you near to death. Guess that's finally coming to a breaking point.