Here's how a UPS strike could still happen
UPS part-time workers are ‘furious’ and ‘feel betrayed’
Summary: On Tuesday, following an acrimonious two weeks of not talking, negotiators for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and United Parcel Service (UPS) agreed to a tentative agreement.
However, a tentative agreement is not a ratified contract and there is an undercurrent of unhappiness among a significant amount of UPS workers that could put a strike back on the table.
The Full Story: Following Tuesday’s news announcement of a tentative agreement between the Teamsters and UPS, businesses, politicians and media pundits across the nation expressed relief that a very costly strike involving UPS’ 340,000 Teamsters-represented workers had been avoided.
“We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it,” Sean M. O’Brien, the Teamsters’ president, stated. “UPS has put $30 billion in new money on the table as a direct result of these negotiations.”
However, despite the general public relief, there is still the possibility that a strike may occur and a significant block UPS workers may determine whether the contract passes, or is rejected.
UPS part-time workers are ‘furious’ and ‘feel betrayed’
Part-time workers make up two-thirds of UPS’ workforce, according to WSWS.org. Although part-time workers received a significant bump in the new contract, increasing “from $15.50 per hour to $21 rising to $23 over the five years of the contract.”
“But,” WSWS.org explains, “$15.50 is so low that UPS has already been compelled to raise wages around the country to attract enough workers, and many already make more than $21 per hour.”
The big rub, however, is that the new contract will “create 7,500 new full-time positions, next to nothing for a company with nearly 200,000 part-timers, some of whom have waited decades to move up to full-time status.”
"A lot of us are frustrated and disappointed," Jose Francisco Negrete, a package handler in Anaheim, California, who has been working at UPS for 25 years told CBS News.
Peter Lyngso, a part-time package sorter working in Chicago, reported CBS News, called the agreement a "sellout," and said it doesn't address longstanding pay disparities between full-time and part-time workers.
“The contract leaves over 180,000 part-timer UPS workers with no path to making full-time status or wages equivalent to what full-timers earn, maintaining a sub-category of part-time, precarious workers at UPS,” reported Payday Report’s Mike Elk.
“The part-time activists im plugged into are furious. I feel betrayed,” Chicago-based UPS part-timer Peter Lynsgo told Payday Report.
“Other part-time workers said the contract, which only guarantees part-time drivers 3.5 hours a day, does little to eliminate the problem of part-time workers being forced to work full-time hours at much lower wages,” reported Payday Report’s Elk.
How a strike is still possible.
Although unlikely, it is still possible, given the amount of upset part-time workers, for the majority of Teamster members at UPS to reject the tentative agreement and go out on strike.
The reason is, for the UPS contract to go fully into effect, per the Teamsters’ rules, the union members must still vote to ratify the contract and, if a majority of members reject the deal, they could go out on strike.
Teamster members, according to the union’s website, will begin voting electronically on August 3 and conclude August 22.
According to the Teamsters’ International Union Constitution [in PDF], which was changed in 2021—largely due to the last UPS contract in 2018 being implemented over the members’ rejection: “All contracts must be approved by a majority vote of the members who have cast a ballot.”
However, “[n]o strike shall be called unless a majority of the affected members eligible to vote and voting approve a separate strike authorization, except as provided in subsection 1(b)(1) or 2(f).”
Since the union has already conducted a strike authorization vote in June, it is unlikely the union would need to conduct another nationwide strike vote.
Moreover, according to the Teamsters’ rules (Article XII, Sec. 1): “If at least one-half of the members eligible to vote cast valid ballots, then a cumulative majority of those voting in favor of the final offer shall result in acceptance of such offer; and a cumulative majority of those voting against acceptance of the final offer shall authorize a strike without any additional vote being necessary for such strike authorization.” [Emphasis added.]
While no one really knows just how many of UPS’ part-time workers feel betrayed and inclined to vote against the agreement, it is still possible that the UPS deal is rejected and workers opt to strike.
Over the next few weeks, given the media plaudits Teamster president Sean O’Brien is receiving, it is expected that he and other Teamster leaders will be traveling around the nation urging local members to vote to accept the deal.
However, if they don’t, we may be seeing a UPS strike in the headlines by Labor Day.