2023-07-08 18:00:00
GRIFFIN, Ga. (TBC Atlanta) – Dozens of UPS workers gathered in Griffin on Saturday morning to prepare for their protests as negotiations between UPS and its unionized employees from across the United States reached a dead end.
Some UPS workers in the Atlanta metropolitan area said they are prepared to strike if the parties do not reach an agreement by August 1. The strike would include hundreds of thousands of workers across the country.
“We are practicing in case an agreement is not reached that meets our demands. We are practicing for August 1st. UPS trucks are going to stop abruptly across the country and cause a lot of problems,” said Jess Lister, a part-time UPS employee and a local representative for the truckers union.
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Lister, who works at a UPS facility in Georgia, said better working conditions and higher wages are top priorities for many of the employees who are willing to strike. “We earn poverty wages for doing backbreaking work. We created astronomical profits for this company, we know the money is there. We know the value of our work and we demand that it be paid to us”.
The company is seeking an agreement that will satisfy workers, customers and investors, while allowing UPS to fend off non-union competitors such as FedEx Corp and Amazon.com.
“We don’t want forced overtime. We have families and we also want to spend time with them. We care a lot about our customers. We strive every day to provide excellent service. All we want is a solid contract,” Lister said. According to a statement from the teamsters union, UPS workers voted “overwhelmingly, with 97 percent approval, to authorize a strike, giving the union great support in defending the demands at the bargaining table.” Negotiations between the truckers union and UPS began on April 17.
The union represents approximately 340,000 UPS employees, more than half of the company’s workforce, the Associated Press reported. Twenty-five years ago, 185,000 UPS employees walked off the job for 15 days due to a contract dispute.
Wages and profits remain the main points of disagreement between the world’s largest parcel service and the powerful labor union. The starting wage for part-time workers who handle packages at UPS warehouses is $15.50 an hour, which workers consider an unsustainable wage. About half of union member positions at UPS are part-time warehouse jobs.
“We need a starting salary of $25 for part-time workers,” Lister said. “We are just fighting for a good, fair and solid contract. We need protection from unfair demands and harassment. We need better salaries for everyone in general.” UPS referred to the result of the union members’ vote. “The results do not mean that a strike is imminent and do not affect our current business operations in any way,” the company said earlier in a statement. “Charter votes and approvals are normal steps in union labor negotiations. We continue to make progress on key issues and are confident that we will reach an agreement that benefits our employees, union members, our company and our customers.”
If a strike does occur, it is expected to be one of the largest, if not the largest, company shutdowns in US history, with far-reaching implications for the economy, according to the Associated Press.
The union is seeking an agreement that would share billions of dollars in UPS profits with workers and help recruit new employees. The economic impact of a UPS strike could be enormous. The company said it delivers the equivalent of about 6% of the nation’s gross domestic product. It delivers about 25 million packages a day, which is about a quarter of all package volume in the United States, according to global shipping and logistics company Pitney Bowes. That’s about 10 million more packages than it delivered each day in the years before the pandemic.
The contract between the truckers union and UPS expires on July 31.
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