Teamsters said on Friday that United Parcel Service workers have allowed their union, the International Teamsters Brotherhood, to go on strike as early as August 1, after their current contracts expire. .
Teamster represents more than 325,000 UPS employees in the United States, and the company employs approximately 450,000 people overall.the union said 97% voted yes of strike approval.
Many unions use such votes to create leverage at the bargaining table, but far fewer ultimately follow suit. “This outcome does not imply that a strike is imminent and will not have any impact on our current business operations,” UPS said in a statement, adding that it was “confident that an agreement could be reached.” rice field.
A UPS strike could have a significant impact on the economy. The company handles about a quarter of the tens of millions of packages shipped each day in the United States, according to the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipment Index. Competition for UPS has intensified in recent years, but competitors find it difficult to replenish lost capacity quickly, leaving some customers in a pinch and others facing higher costs.
“What happens when you try to cram 25 percent more food into a stomach that is 90 percent full?” says Alan Amling, a researcher at the University of Tennessee Global Supply Chain Institute and a former UPS executive.
Since the two countries began negotiating a national contract in April, they have reached tentative agreements on a number of issues, most recently including an agreement on thermal safety. air conditioner requirements It will be introduced in new trucks from January, and existing trucks will have additional fans and vents.
But negotiators have yet to commit to a raise, and the raises have expired amid the company’s strong performance during the pandemic, Teamsters say. The company’s adjusted net income increased more than 70% from 2019 to last year.
The union is also focused on reviewing the pay gap for drivers who often work weekends.
UPS Chief Executive Officer Carol Tomé, who took the position in 2020, said of the recent situation: financial statement UPS said it was aligned with unions on “some key issues.” He added that outsiders should be less concerned with the “loud noise” that could arise during negotiations.
Overshadowing the negotiations is the political stance of Teamsters leader Sean O’Brien. During his campaign for union president in 2021, he repeatedly accused his predecessor, James P. Hoffa, of being overly conciliatory with employers.
O’Brien complained that Hoffa effectively forced UPS employees into concessional contracts after members rejected the deal in 2018. He said it was unlikely that a candidate aligned with Hoffa, the presidential opponent, would attack.
“You’ve already admitted that you’ve only gone on strike six times in your 25-year career, so UPS knows you won’t go on strike,” O’Brien said at the conference. candidate debate.
O’Brien has largely remained positive about UPS since taking over as president last year. In October, O’Brien told activists at the reform group Teamsters for a Democracy that supported his candidacy: “The UPS deal will be a defining moment for organized labor. ’ I vowed.
UPS drivers’ compensation is generally higher than that of the company’s competitors. According to UPS, a full-time delivery driver with four years of experience earns an average of $42 an hour, while a part-time parcel sorter earns an average of $20 an hour after 30 days.
The company says each group receives the same benefits package, which includes medical and pension contributions, worth about $50,000 a year for a full-time driver. .
In addition to overall wage levels, the union said it wanted to do away with the driver category created under the 2018 contract.
The company said the category is aimed at hybrid workers, who do tasks such as sorting packages one day while driving on other days, especially Saturdays, to meet the growing demand for weekend deliveries.
But Teamsters said those workers did not comply with the hybrid agreement and only drove full-time from Tuesday to Saturday for lower wages than other full-time drivers. The base salary for weekend drivers is about 87% of that of regular full-time drivers, the company said, with some employees working on hybrid schemes.
In the event of a strike, deliveries to consumers, such as e-commerce orders, would probably be the first to be disrupted. But experts said supply chains could also be hit. Some suppliers have struggled to ship goods such as auto parts to manufacturers quickly, which could cause production to stall.
Even short-term strikes can cause damage to UPS. Many customers had long relied on the company alone, but things began to change after Teamsters last went on strike in 1997, Amling said. After the strike, which lasted just over two weeks, more customers started working with multiple carriers. The impact was masked by gains from the rise of e-commerce and a decline in competitors, but the company may not be so lucky now.
Niraj Chokshi contributed to the report.
