What’s at stake in the UPS contract vote? Why we support rank-and-file workers calling for a “NO” vote
By Workers Strike Back. Published August 18, 2023
Workers Strike Back is an independent, rank-and-file campaign organizing in our workplaces and on the streets against the bosses and their political servants. Workers Strike Back is a vehicle not only to fight back against the maneuvers of the bosses, but also to organize a fighting alternative to the flawed strategies of business unionism—adopted by many union leaders—which plays by the bosses’ rules.
As this email goes out, our union siblings at UPS are voting on the Tentative Agreement that was reached between the Teamster leadership and multi-millionaire UPS CEO Carol Tomé and her team. We are joining UPS workers who are calling for the strongest possible “NO” vote, including calling for a series of online meetings to coordinate this important work.
Under their newly-elected President Sean O’Brien, the Teamster leadership’s strategy has revolved around public bluster and media releases more than preparing the rank and file and mobilizing them to win the best contract possible. After agreeing to a weak solution to worker heat exhaustion that sees A/C installed in only 28,000 new trucks purchased over the next 5 years, with no measures at all to address working conditions for inside workers and totally inadequate measures for existing vehicles, O’Brien publicly announced that Teamster negotiators were walking away from the table because UPS wasn’t offering enough money. Practice pickets were announced and strike training began in some areas. Then, after three weeks without talks, a deal was announced after only one more brief bargaining session on July 25th.
The Teamster leadership has gone all out to sell this contract as “historic,” despite its many glaring weaknesses. In the context of widespread demands for a part-time wage floor of $25 an hour, this Tentative Agreement would only raise part-time pay to $21 an hour with .75 cent raises in the second and third years – an increase which will be vaporized by inflation.
As a respected UPS steward and commentator has pointed out, the biggest demand of workers since the pandemic is to have a life outside of work. “As one driver put it to me the other day, I just want to go home, I just want to go home – I want to see my family, I want to see my kids, I want to have a life. I want to have hobbies, I want to be able to play sports, I want to do things outside of work. I want to have a life.” This exactly mirrors a key point made by workers at Amazon’s Cincinnati Air Hub, KCVG: “We’re working to live, not living to work.” Hours of work, and the ability to take time off were the key issues in last year’s contract battle on the railroads. They are major issues for everyone who was called an “essential worker” at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then it has become clear that bosses in healthcare, food distribution and logistics want to make unremitting labor the “new normal” and the language in this TA fails to defend workers from forced overtime except for a subset of veteran full-timers - and even for them it is wildly inadequate.
The contract was hailed by union leaders as being worth more money than any previous UPS contract, but that’s a mathematical sleight of hand, because the workforce itself is bigger than ever, with 72,000 Teamster jobs added since 2018 and we’ve seen jaw-dropping levels of inflation. The bar is low after forty-one years of concessions from Teamster union leadership, which in 1982 agreed to a 27% pay cut for part timers, from $11 an hour to $8, launching the two-tier era. A truly historic contract would have ended that undercutting of workers’ wages and conditions, and even $25 an hour would not bring workers’ buying power even close to what it was pre-1982.
A number of rank-and-file groups and individuals are campaigning for a “NO” vote and we fully support these workers. In a shameful attack on democratic discussion, President O’Brien has said that anyone who doubts that the new contract is the strongest ever “doesn’t know what they’re talking about”, and that “anyone who calls our contract concessionary is lying.”
In reality the contract makes huge concessions. It opens the door to Sunday deliveries, giving up the union’s right to negotiate over such changes. The contract also formalizes the employer’s ability to hire Personal Vehicle Drivers, dangerously opening the door to further exploitation. There is no clear language to keep the extra pay, known as Market Rate Adjustments, that was added to attract workers during the Great Resignation. Protections against harassment in the workplace, which is a huge issue at UPS, are woefully inadequate, as are protections against forced overtime as explained above.
Workers and supporters calling for a “NO” vote have been attacked online and in mainstream media, with even Newsweek getting in on the act. A strong labor movement can’t be built by shutting down debate and this is especially true at this moment, when workers at UPS are already geared up to strike. Signing this TA means committing to a no-strike clause for the next five years. With unemployment at record lows, workers have never been in such a strong position. Historic gains can’t be won without a fight.
All workers would win if UPS workers got $25/hour and a strong contract, and that’s why Workers Strike Back has organized local meetings alongside rank-and-file UPS workers to discuss the contract and how to fight for more. That’s also why our supporters have been out tabling at UPS facilities – where we have gained a warm welcome from workers looking for clarity on what is actually in this confusing and poorly-drafted TA. Workers Strike Back firmly supports the fight for a “NO” vote and for renewed action to win the contract that UPS workers, and all workers, deserve.
As inflation surges and an economic crisis looms, corporations like UPS will increasingly seek to place the burden on working people and offer sub-par contracts which amount to pay cuts in the face of the cost of living crisis. Help us build Workers Strike Back as a force that rank-and-file workers can use to fight for more in contract struggles and beyond.
Can you make a donation today to help support the initiatives of Workers Strike Back activists organizing for fair contracts? Please consider making a monthly donation to help us prepare for struggles in the months and years to come.
