Nam Y. Huh/AP
An overwhelming majority of UPS union workers voted Friday to authorize the right to strike, raising the possibility that the world’s largest package company could cease deliveries in the US as early as August 1.
TEAMSTERS AUTHORIZE STRIKE AT UPS pic.twitter.com/AmO2pjKt3v
— Alex Press (@alexnpress) June 16, 2023
The Teamsters union, which represents more than 340,000 UPS employees, is currently in contract negotiations with UPS. If the two sides do not reach a deal by the end of July, UPS workers could engage in an economically devastating work stoppage, the first in 26 years.
The potential to strike is a huge bargaining chip for UPS workers, whose demands include higher wages and the elimination of a two-tiered driver system that Teamsters say allows some drivers to be paid less than others who are doing essentially the same work. The starting pay for part-time warehouse workers, who account for roughly half of UPS workers represented by the Teamsters, is $15.50 an hour.
The Teamsters and UPS have already reached a tentative agreement on one of drivers’ longtime demands: air conditioning in delivery trucks. More than 140 UPS workers have reportedly been injured due to heat or dehydration since 2015, but, as Mother Jones has reported, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has failed to take action to protect workers from heat, even as temperatures rise. Still, while new UPS vans will be equipped with air conditioning starting next year, and existing vans will have second fans installed, the agreement does little to protect delivery drivers from the heat this coming summer.
The last UPS strike, in 1997, lasted for 15 days, lost an estimated $620 million for the company, and saw UPS conceding to many of its workers’ demands.
