A strike authorized Friday by Teamsters working for shipping giant UPS is the latest flash point in a conflict between organized labor and global logistics companies that 40-year high inflation triggered.þþThe UPS Teamsters strike authorization is the latest sign of an emboldened U.S. labor coalition hoping to make gains following poor working conditions, low pay and the cost of living crisis set off by the pandemic.þþIt arrives on the heels of work stoppages on West Coast ports by longshoremen and port workers earlier this month, as well as a threatened strike last year by U.S. rail workers that prompted the White House to intervene despite the Biden administration’s strong ties to labor.þþIf the current Teamster negotiations break down, the authorization could lead to the largest U.S. strike in decades, involving some 340,000 warehousing, transportation and delivery workers bound by the largest single private sector bargaining agreement in the country.þþ“There are multiple scenarios for labor actions to be pretty heavy this year, and the Teamsters at UPS is certainly one of them,” Art Wheaton, director of labor studies at the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) in Buffalo, N.Y., told The Hill.þþ“There are a lot of frustrations on the part of union workers where they’re feeling like they have not been receiving their fair share of the gains and profits made by different companies,” Wheaton said.þþ“Teamsters are working in lockstep for a new five-year agreement that guarantees higher wages for all workers, more full-time jobs, [and] an end to forced overtime and harassment from management,” the union said in a Friday statement announcing their intention to strike if contract negotiations fail.þþThe Teamsters have said they are fighting for better working conditions and a larger share of soaring company profits.þþA representative for the Teamsters, who requested to remain anonymous because of their participation in the ongoing bargaining process, told The Hill on Tuesday that negotiators have reached an agreement on 24 provisions in the national contract so far, but talks on the economics portion of the contract centered on wage levels and pay increases have yet to begin.þþUnion leaders want an end to what they call a “two-tiered” wage system that allows workers who have been with the company longer to make more money for doing the same job as those who have joined more recently.
Source: thehill.com
