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posted by martyb on Friday June 08 2018, @04:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the unhappy-workers dept.

The Center for American Progress reports

The Teamsters union represents the 280,000 UPS employees who voted overwhelmingly in favor of going on strike[paywall] if a deal is not reached before the current labor contract expires on August 1. More than 90 percent voted for a strike.

Issuing a strike authorization vote does not necessarily mean UPS workers will order a work stoppage, but it does give the union leverage over management to win their negotiations.

[...] Since UPS began offering regular Saturday delivery service just a year ago, [demands on its labor force] have increased. While the company hasn't announced plans for Sunday service, the union claims UPS has made several proposals to expand weekend deliveries.

[...] The shipments [which] UPS transports comprise an estimated 6 percent of the United States GDP. A labor strike among the company's workers would have a sizable effect on the economy and would be the largest U.S. labor strike in decades. Three bargaining sessions ago, in 1997, UPS workers went on strike for 16 days, and there were 180,000 Teamsters at UPS at that time. There hasn't been a bigger strike since.

Coverage by the World Socialist Web Site is skeptical about the union's efforts and what will be the outcome. Not surprisingly, that article closes with:

There is no progressive answer to the continual lowering of living standards outside of the transformation of industry, communications, and transportation monopolies into publicly owned utilities under the democratic control of the working class.

Also covered at Fortune in UPS Has 260,000 Union Workers and They've Just Authorized a Strike:

The labor talks are proceeding amid discussions on pay and work schedules, as UPS looks to increase warehouse automation to keep up with surging demand from e-commerce shipments. The union has proposed increasing the part-time starting wage as well as improving the overall pay structure, according to a statement on its website. It's also pushing the courier to increase contributions to health and welfare and pension funds.

A previous "big" thing (39,000 workers): Largest Labor Action in 5 Years Slated for Wednesday, April 13 Against Verizon


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by captain normal on Friday June 08 2018, @05:10AM (9 children)

    by captain normal (2205) on Friday June 08 2018, @05:10AM (#690211)

    Have to keep those Amazon packages moving. God forbid that people might have to actually go out to shop for their stuff.

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Friday June 08 2018, @05:23AM (4 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday June 08 2018, @05:23AM (#690216) Journal

    I used to go out and shop for stuff. Salespeople then knew what the products were and could help you find the right one. Now, nobody has the first clue so in the middle of the store you find yourself pulling out your phone and ordering the damn thing online anyway (this has happened to me several times at Home Depot).

    Also, now you have to fight traffic so what used to be a 10-minute drive takes an hour fifteen because retards don't know how to put their phones down and look at the road, such that they get into accidents constantly.

    In the lovely stores where you used to be able to shop quietly and happily, now there are hordes of recent arrivals from third world countries who think pushing, elbowing, and clambering over others is a perfectly acceptable way to interact with strangers.

    So, yes, I happily order what I need online so I can get it done at the speed of thought and use my time to instead go fishing, or draw, or play music, or exercise, or [anything else except run on the endless hamster wheel of retail culture].

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @05:30AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @05:30AM (#690218)

      I'm forced to buy things from a local store, since I can pay cash and preserve my anonymity and privacy to a greater degree. We'll see how long it takes for facial recognition to be ubiquitous. Too bad we don't have real privacy laws in this country.

      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @07:00PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @07:00PM (#690448)
        You are doing it wrong. Right now you are red-flagging yourself. In a society of total surveillance you do not want to be anonymous; you want to be uninteresting.
        • (Score: 2) by toddestan on Friday June 08 2018, @09:54PM

          by toddestan (4982) on Friday June 08 2018, @09:54PM (#690537)

          The problem is that kind of information is all logged and stored on a computer somewhere. You have no idea when something that happened ages ago may suddenly become "interesting".

    • (Score: 2) by DavePolaschek on Friday June 08 2018, @03:42PM

      by DavePolaschek (6129) on Friday June 08 2018, @03:42PM (#690363) Homepage Journal

      Also, now you have to fight traffic so what used to be a 10-minute drive takes an hour fifteen because retards don't know how to put their phones down and look at the road, such that they get into accidents constantly.

      They're on their phone ordering the thing they couldn't find at Homer Depot before they got mad and left to drive home.

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Grishnakh on Friday June 08 2018, @01:07PM (3 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday June 08 2018, @01:07PM (#690293)

    What's wrong with having stuff delivered and paying for that service? Do these people not want the jobs? If UPS wants to deliver more days of the week, the answer seems pretty simple: increase staffing. Delivering packages and driving a box truck doesn't require a college degree; there should be plenty of people willing to take the job if the pay and conditions are reasonable.

    Are you opposed to more employment for some reason?

    • (Score: 2) by dry on Saturday June 09 2018, @05:40AM (2 children)

      by dry (223) on Saturday June 09 2018, @05:40AM (#690695) Journal

      Are you seriously suggesting decreasing profits instead of working the workers harder for the same (or ideally less) pay?

      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday June 09 2018, @11:42AM (1 child)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Saturday June 09 2018, @11:42AM (#690754)

        Actually, neither. I'm suggesting keeping profit levels the same or maybe increasing them a bit by hiring more people to handle the increased business. Remember the Walmart philosophy: profit through sheer volume. Honestly, I don't know what kind of screwed-up company wouldn't welcome increased business.

        • (Score: 2) by dry on Saturday June 09 2018, @05:21PM

          by dry (223) on Saturday June 09 2018, @05:21PM (#690841) Journal

          I guess I left out my sarcasm tag. I agree that the sane thing is to hire more people, unluckily management (and the stock market) seems to be stuck in this idea that the fewer workers, the better, and have forgotten all the studies that show productivity drops of after 7-8 hours of work generally.

          Honestly, I don't know what kind of screwed-up company wouldn't welcome increased business.

          Ones that can jack up their price and profit margin without losing too many customers. Examples include my cell provider, where I have basically 2 or 3 crappy choices that increase their prices in tandem or the gas stations (maybe actually the refineries) where even with close to a dozen competing companies, prices go up in tandem.