Contract negotiations are anticipated to start within the spring between UPS and the Teamsters Union earlier than their present contract expires on the finish of July 2023. Already, earlier than talks even start, labor consultants are predicting that drivers and bundle handlers will depart in strike.
“The query is how lengthy will it’s,” mentioned Todd Vachon, a Rutgers labor relations professor. “The union president got here ahead and received by taking a extra militant method. Despite the fact that they’re very shut [to a deal]the bottom shall be thirsty to face the corporate.”
If that occurred, a strike at UPS would have an effect on nearly each family within the nation. It’s estimated that 6% of the nation’s gross home product is transported in UPS vehicles annually. The explosive progress of on-line retail has made the corporate and its drivers extra essential than ever to the nation’s struggling provide chain. Past the corporate’s dwelling deliveries, it additionally delivers many merchandise present in shops, factories and workplaces.
About 350,000 Teamsters work at UPS as bundle drivers and sorters out of a worldwide workforce of 534,000 everlasting staff. And that is rising quick — the corporate has added some 72,000 Teamster-represented jobs for the reason that pandemic started.
“We would like a contract that gives advantages to our staff and offers UPS with the pliability to remain aggressive in a quickly altering business,” the corporate mentioned in a press release this month. “UPS and the Teamsters have labored collectively for practically 100 years to fulfill the wants of UPS staff, clients and the communities the place we dwell and work. We consider we’ll proceed to search out frequent floor with the Teamsters and attain an settlement that’s good for everybody concerned.”
Anger over present contract
There are definitely indicators of pressure within the relationship between the corporate and the union, each its management and its rank and file members.
“Do our members get up day by day eager to strike. I might say no. However are they fed up? Sure, they’re fed up,” O’Brien informed CNN Enterprise final week. “Whether or not there is a strike or not is totally as much as the corporate. We’ll use as a lot leverage as attainable to make sure our members get the contract they deserve.”
UPS mentioned the common wage for its supply drivers is $95,000 a yr, with advantages corresponding to a standard pension plan price a further $50,000 a yr. UPS tractor-trailer drivers receives a commission much more. That is way over most salaries at FedEx and Amazon, the place many drivers work for small unbiased contractors.
The present contract expires at 00:01 on August 1. O’Brien swears that the union is not going to grant any form of contract extension past this deadline.
And he added that along with improved wages and advantages, the union will demand higher working circumstances, together with the addition of air-con in panel vehicles used for UPS deliveries, which the union says poses a danger for the well being of drivers.
Document income at UPS
The corporate typically talks in regards to the worth it locations on its Teamster-represented workforce.
And in a single necessary approach — the roles numbers — UPS is certainly one of staff’ finest pals within the government ranks of American corporations, regardless of the plain tensions. UPS is without doubt one of the few unionized employers to considerably enhance payroll and union membership. In different corporations, the variety of union members has been in fixed decline for many years.
“Everybody retains getting richer besides our members,” O’Brien mentioned.
She additionally tries to guarantee each buyers and UPS clients that the corporate shall be ready within the occasion the union goes on strike. She declined to touch upon what these preparations are.
“Our aim with the Teamsters is a win-win,” she informed buyers in July. However she added that UPS was “constructing contingency plans.”
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