UPS and unionized workers resume negotiations a week before strike deadline
UPS and unionized workers resume negotiations a week before strike deadline
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00:00 In one week, the contract between 340,000 unionized UPS workers and one of the largest
00:06 package delivery companies in the world expires.
00:10 Workers have overwhelmingly authorized a strike and say they're ready to walk if their union,
00:16 the Teamsters, and UPS can't reach a deal.
00:19 The labor dispute could lead to the largest strike in U.S. history against a single employer
00:24 and cause massive economic disruption in the shipping industry and beyond.
00:29 Stephanie Sy is back with a report from Los Angeles on how the battle lines are being
00:34 drawn.
00:35 Are we ready to fight?
00:36 Yeah!
00:37 Are we ready to fight?
00:38 Yeah!
00:39 At an early morning rally outside a UPS facility, the leader of the Teamsters, Sean O'Brien,
00:45 didn't pull any punches in the City of Angels.
00:48 We are going to be the example on how it is to fight and take on a schoolyard bully.
00:55 Before talks broke down in early July, the union said many issues had already been resolved
01:00 with the company.
01:02 UPS agreed to end a two-tiered wage system for part-time drivers, new overtime rules,
01:08 and improvements to keep drivers safe from extreme heat, including a commitment for A/C
01:13 in new package delivery vehicles and putting fans in existing trucks.
01:18 What are the remaining sticking points in this negotiation?
01:21 Economics.
01:22 Completely economics.
01:23 95 percent of the contract negotiated, all favorable from members, no concessions.
01:30 And UPS just is barking at rewarding the people that make them the success that they are.
01:36 Teamsters point to record UPS operating profits of $13.1 billion in 2022 and $12.8 billion
01:45 in 2021, when home deliveries were an essential service.
01:50 We have been working so hard for the last past three years during COVID.
01:54 Chris Haro is a package delivery driver who has worked for UPS for seven years.
01:59 Nobody wants to go on a strike.
02:01 Nobody wants to stop working because everybody needs UPS.
02:05 But at the same time, look what's happening with the company, making all these profits,
02:10 and we're not getting none of the piece of the cake.
02:13 It's not like we want everything.
02:14 We just want what we deserve.
02:16 UPS argues that its union employees are well compensated, with health care benefits for
02:21 full and part-time workers, and full-time delivery drivers earning $95,000 a year on
02:28 average.
02:29 They work 60 to 65 hours to make that money.
02:31 That's all overtime.
02:32 They make a lot of money, but they earn it.
02:34 But they don't tell you about the part-timers when they're starting at $16 per hour.
02:39 More than half of UPS' unionized workforce is part-time, including package handlers and
02:45 sorters in the warehouses.
02:47 While UPS says it presented the union with a historic economic proposal, union leaders
02:53 say wages for part-timers are too low, given the hardships of the job.
02:58 Glynis Sims is a part-time driver.
03:00 I think everybody should get a fair chance to reach top pay and get paid across the board
03:05 equally.
03:06 So if we have to stand up together, then I'm with it.
03:11 Sponsors have been holding rallies like this around the country and also performing practice
03:16 pickets.
03:17 They insist they will not negotiate beyond the July 31 deadline.
03:21 A spokesperson for UPS declined an interview request from the "NewsHour," but in a statement
03:26 said, "We need to work quickly to finalize a fair deal that provides certainty for our
03:31 customers, our employees and businesses across the country.
03:35 We started these negotiations prepared to increase the already industry-leading pay
03:40 and benefits.
03:41 We provide our full and part-time union employees and are committed to reaching an agreement
03:47 that will do just that."
03:49 The last time UPS workers went on strike in 1997, the 15-day action cost the company $850
03:56 million.
03:57 Today, UPS handles about a quarter of all parcel deliveries in the U.S.
04:03 And a 10-day strike could cost the economy more than $7 billion, according to one estimate.
04:10 A strike would also affect millions of customers, like small business owner Alex Detman.
04:16 He sells antiques and collectibles on eBay and Etsy from his home in Minneapolis.
04:21 The larger items, the heavier, bulkier boxes that I send really have to go UPS.
04:28 You can ship them through the post office, but it can be twice as much, if not more.
04:34 While Detman is sympathetic to the UPS union, he's concerned what a strike will mean for
04:39 his business.
04:40 I think people will worry about all of the carriers, you know, when is my item going
04:45 to arrive, is it going to get lost somewhere, and they'll just say, "Forget it."
04:51 That means, you know, maybe a bad August for me and lots of other Etsy sellers.
04:57 Supply chain experts say UPS risks losing market share to its competitors.
05:02 In advance of the strike, FedEx is encouraging UPS customers to switch.
05:07 And the U.S. Postal Service says it has the capacity to handle what is given to it.
05:12 The reality is that UPS drivers and the Teamsters union have tremendous leverage.
05:19 Kent Wong is the director of the UCLA Labor Center.
05:22 The whole point of a strike is disruption, to extract economic harm to the company in
05:30 order for a more favorable deal at the bargaining table.
05:35 Wong points out that public support for unions is higher than it's been in decades, and strike
05:40 strategies have worked recently, including for graduate student workers and L.A. school
05:45 employees.
05:46 When workers organize, when they take collective action, they generally win.
05:52 Organizers are betting the momentum continues.
05:54 On social media, the bold union actions, from Hollywood to hotels, are #HotLaborSummer.
06:03 And unions are showing solidarity.
06:05 At the rally in L.A., there were more screenwriters than UPS workers.
06:10 Zev Frank, a member of the Writers Guild of America, has been on strike since May.
06:15 The same kinds of grievances that actors have, that writers have, that Teamsters in Hollywood
06:20 have, that Teamsters in UPS have, there's a common through line.
06:24 There's been a massive transfer of wealth upwards in this country.
06:28 And the only way we're going to put an end to it is by organizing and coming out for
06:33 one another, and these displays of solidarity.
06:37 Given the stakes of a possible strike, hundreds of business groups have urged the Biden administration
06:42 to intervene, as it did recently to avert a rail strike.
06:46 Union chief Sean O'Brien firmly rejects the suggestion.
06:50 We'll settle our problem one way or the other.
06:52 We're trying to be diplomatic.
06:53 We're trying to be reasonable.
06:54 But sometimes people don't want to listen.
06:56 In front of the crowd, the tone is far from diplomatic.
06:59 If you want to fight, put your helmets on and buckle your chin straps.
07:04 It's a full contact sport.
07:06 At least some of the UPS workers sounded less combative.
07:09 Don't take me wrong.
07:10 This is a great company.
07:11 We get paid really well.
07:13 We get really, really good benefits, everything.
07:15 I love the company, but we deserve more for the hard work we've been doing for a long
07:20 time.
07:21 With one week until the deadline, negotiations between Teamsters and UPS are resuming tomorrow.
07:28 A sign a deal may still be reached.
07:31 For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy in Los Angeles.
07:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]