After agreeing to Tentative Agreements on at least fifty-five Non-Economic issues, and a June 16 strike vote where all members voted 97% to strike, the Teamsters at UPS are ready to go on strike August 1st. Teamsters President, Sean O’Brien has repeatedly stated a new contract needs to be in place when the current contract expires at midnight July 31st. “The clock is on our side, not theirs. I assume at some point they’ll be reaching out looking to try and get a deal,” Sean O’Brien. The Teamsters set a deadline of July 5th, so that any Tentative Agreement can be reviewed and approved by the membership and ratified before the deadline, but UPS negotiators decided to step away from the bargaining table late on July 5th refusing to budge on reasonable wage increases for part-time workers.
Weary of suffering the fate of railroad workers last year, Sean O’Brien was asked if Biden would once again step in to protect corporate profits, to which he replied that he’s asked the White House multiple times to “stay away”.
The stalemate centers around an unacceptable offer UPS presented on wages for part-time workers. Since the COVID-19 pandemic part-timers were given “market rate adjustments” to the poverty wages UPS typically gives them to retain their super-exploited part-time workforce. As bargaining time approached, they started dropping these adjustments without notice, now they’re claiming they “can’t afford” these wages, despite continually raking in record profits. “UPS had a choice to make, and they have clearly chosen to go down the wrong road,” said Sean O’Brien.