UPS workers who:
-Endure extreme heat with no A/C
-Battle harassment every day
-Can be forced to work unlimited ot
-PT workers start at $15.50
-Move 6% of GDP but make less than shareholders who do nothing
Are not afraid to strike. Yes billionaires, go ahead and cry about it. t.co/cMwBHglN2x— Elliot Lewis (@elliotrlewis) September 8, 2022
August 4, 1997, probably doesn’t stand out as a significant day in world history. But some would disagree.
That’s was the first time United Parcel Service (UPS) workers organized a nationwide strike in the U.S., which ended up with the company losing almost $780 million. In the 15 days that the strike lasted, 80% of UPS shipments went undelivered.
Now it may be happening again.
The world’s biggest courier service is facing a union battle as workers demand higher pay and better working conditions. Contract negotiations between UPS and the Teamsters Union, which represents freight and warehouse workers, are slated to take place in the spring as existing contracts expire in July 2023.
Even before the next-day delivery and online shopping revolution took the economy by storm, a strike by UPS workers created a void that no other company could fill. The likes of FedEx and US Postal Service offer similar services, but they represent a sliver of the capacity that UPS bears..
Nearly 6% of US gross domestic product is facilitated by the services of UPS alone every year. If workers decide to suspend delivery or hold up their work in local warehouses for a prolonged period like in 1997, the ripple effects could affect almost every American.
Deadline to avoid a national rail strike that could cost economy $2 billion a day is near.
A cooling-off period for negotiations expires September 16, when unions can strike. Five of the 12 unions have reached voluntary agreements with the railroads. t.co/BtSWtAISHX— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) September 9, 2022
As deadline looms, railroads say strike would cost $2B a day
OMAHA, Neb. — Major freight railroads, in a bid to apply pressure on unions and Congress, say a strike that could come after a key deadline passes next week would cost the economy more than $2 billion a day and disrupt deliveries of all kinds of goods and passenger traffic nationwide.
The Association of American Railroads trade group on Thursday issued a report estimating the dire consequences of a strike. Their report came a day after Labor Secretary Marty Walsh took part in talks in a bid to hammer out an agreement.
A strike or lockout won’t be allowed until next Friday at the soonest under the federal law that governs railroad negotiations.
Five of the 12 unions involved that together represent some 115,000 workers have announced tentative agreements covering over 21,000 workers based on a set of recommendations that a special panel appointed by President Joe Biden made last month. But several key unions are holding out in the hope that the railroads will agree to go beyond those recommendations and address some of their concerns about working conditions.
The Presidential Emergency Board recommended a five-year deal, retroactive to 2020, that includes 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses. But it wants unions to take their concerns about attendance policies, paid leave and expenses to arbitration or to negotiate separately with the railroads. Unions say their workloads have become unbearable after railroads eliminated nearly one-third of their workforces over the past six years.
h/t TerraForms