Over 90% of UPS Teamsters Just Voted to Strike

WEDNESDAY, JUN 6, 2018, 7:18 PM

BY JOE ALLEN

Twenty-one years after the historic 1997 United Parcel Workers strike, are UPS-Teamsters ready to once again walk off the job? After Tuesday night’s strike authorization vote, workers are one step closer to that possibility.

On Tuesday, thousands of Teamsters across the country listened-in on a national conference call as the union’s chief negotiator, Denis Taylor, reported that UPS and UPS Freight members voted by over 90% to authorize a strike if UPS does not agree to an acceptable contract by July 31 when the current contract expires.

UPS is the largest private-sector unionized employer in the United States and a strike at the company could see up to 280,000 UPS-Teamster members walk out, with potentially major disruptive impacts on the U.S. economy. And it would be the largest strike the country has seen in decades. 

Why “Yes”

. . .

The issues at the negotiating table include the poverty level pay for part-time workers, healthcare and pensions, subcontracting union especially feeder work [or over-the-road work between hubs] to non-union contractors, and UPS’s demands for drivers to work a 70-hour week.