UPS Retreats from Assaults on Workers’ Rights After Teamsters Assemble National Pickets

(WASHINGTON) – United Parcel Service (UPS) bowed to a credible, coordinated strike threat authorized by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters around midnight after the union demanded the multibillion-dollar corporation cease multiple attacks on workers’ rights.

With picket lines ready to assemble in the early morning hours Tuesday across seven states, the Teamsters secured a handful of settlements from UPS on outstanding grievances as well as a first contract for newly organized workers. At the direction of General President Sean M. O’Brien, Teamsters were prepared to strike UPS at its largest air hub, Worldport, in Louisville, Ky., and across the Chicago area, and to extend picket lines to California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Ohio if UPS did not retreat.

“The Teamsters have lost all patience with UPS’s ongoing attacks on our members’ rights and our contracts. The gloves are off,” O’Brien said. “Since the ratification of our National Master Agreement in 2023, UPS has displayed disdain and shameless disrespect for the workforce. They have refused to settle grievances, they are overworking drivers and our part-time members, they have failed miserably to deliver heat relief, and they are illegally trying to pay our members off. Our union’s actions Monday and Tuesday are just the beginning of an aggressive new chapter for the Teamsters at UPS. We will be UPS’s conscience.”

In Louisville, the Teamsters’ strike threat pushed UPS to resolve grievances affecting workers at Worldport’s Aircraft Maintenance Distribution Center (AMDC). For more than a year, UPS has ignored or delayed grievances that would honor and preserve AMDC members’ work, regularly diverting airport distribution services to workers paid a lower rate. The affected members of Teamsters Local 89 will now handle all originally assigned work along with its sister union, Teamsters Local 2727, under a settlement agreement UPS acquiesced to late Monday night.

In Chicago, Teamsters Local 705 achieved a first contract for administrative and specialist workers — a group similarly ignored by the delivery giant until strike lines were organized. The new classification of workers will be elevated to earn the top wage rate for their respective job duties.

On Friday, as O’Brien made clear to UPS that the Teamsters Union was prepared to take a more militant approach to resolve worker mistreatment, the company bowed as well and agreed to settle outstanding grievances regarding seniority issues and workplace safety at Teamsters Local 20 in Toledo and Teamsters Local 455 in Denver.

“There’s only one thing that UPS cares about and that’s money. Their behavior at the corporate level as of late proves it. Executive bonuses. Stock buybacks. These things are far more important to CEO Carol Tomé than the rights and livelihood of the men and women who deliver all those packages,” said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. “Our members around the nation should be awfully proud of themselves for taking a stand against runaway corporate greed. UPS wasn’t ready, but behind the scenes the Teamsters were. Let this be a warning to UPS that in any state, at any facility, the Teamsters are prepared to fight back against continued abuse of our members.”

While the Teamsters’ latest strike threat moved UPS to resolve myriad issues in several states, the logistics corporation is still violating the union’s National Master Agreement around the country. Since mid-July, UPS has bribed full-time drivers with illegal buyout offers to leave the company before retirement — another profit-fueled scheme being rejected by members.

Under Article 18 of the Teamsters contract, UPS is obligated to deliver at least 28,000 vehicles equipped with air conditioning. The upgraded language marked a significant win for delivery workers, who face extreme heat conditions for months on-end to ensure the company remains successful. Halfway into the agreement, UPS is woefully behind, having rolled out far less than 10 percent of the required new fleet.

Under Article 37, rank-and-file Teamsters are protected from being forced to work more than 9.5 hours per day — or UPS is required to pay significant penalties to compensate workers for the additional hazard and time. In the first six months of the year, UPS has already been forced to pay tens of millions of dollars in penalty wages to workers, despite the corporation’s disgusting attempts to pay off Teamsters to quit their jobs. Under Article 22, UPS is obligated to create at least 22,500 new full-time positions, but as with its heat relief measures, the multibillion-dollar company remains far behind.

“The enforcement of our national contract must now only heat up. We need all members ready to punch back at a moment’s notice,” O’Brien said. “The Teamsters demand that UPS make good now on delivering thousands of additional vehicles with air conditioning to our local unions in Zone 1, the hottest working environments for delivery drivers in the nation. UPS is fully and finally out of time to do right by our members. No more excuses, no more delays.”

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on X @Teamsters and on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.

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