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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: 5, Informative) by PiMuNu on Friday June 08 2018, @11:12AM (1 child)

    by PiMuNu (3823) on Friday June 08 2018, @11:12AM (#690265)

    The labour movement in UK made a huge difference to the working lives of the people living there. Look up the Great Strike 1926. I don't vote labour very often, but I am glad they exist. The effect was to force the government to manage massive unemployment and huge social problems following the first world war and great depression. One of the great things about it was that it enabled significant societal changes without resort to armed conflict.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_United_Kingdom_general_strike [wikipedia.org]

    Compare that to, for example, the effective state imposed slavery from the Truck system due to widespread use of company stores.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_system [wikipedia.org]

    I know, in principle if you don't like the way you are paid then you can move jobs; but when all employers use the same payment system and you have no way to raise capital to set up your own foundry/coal mine that is not always practical. Employment mobility is not really practical (which is why for example the MBA concept of FTE "full time equivalent" is pretty much nonsense)

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday June 09 2018, @12:19AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 09 2018, @12:19AM (#690606) Journal

    I know, in principle if you don't like the way you are paid then you can move jobs; but when all employers use the same payment system and you have no way to raise capital to set up your own foundry/coal mine that is not always practical. Employment mobility is not really practical (which is why for example the MBA concept of FTE "full time equivalent" is pretty much nonsense)

    The present world is not 19th century UK coal mining. Principle matches reality these days.