UPS is Louisville's largest employer. Teamsters are fed up with the company's mistreatment

[Omaha Steve]

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/2023/07/24/teamsters-are-fed-up-with-ups-mistreatment-ready-to-strike-for-wages-better-union-contract/70452962007/



By Avral Thompson Opinion Contributor

The national collective bargaining agreement for 340,000 Teamsters who work at UPS expires one week from today. With the possibility of a strike looming, UPS’s corporate propaganda machine is desperately trying to convince the public that UPS is a caring and compassionate company. UPS’s management team would have you believe they treat employees with the utmost respect, and that the leadership of the Teamsters Union is simply being unreasonable in our contract demands.

Nothing could be further from the truth. UPS Teamsters are fed up with this company’s mistreatment, and they are driving a national fight to get the contract they deserve.

UPS is the largest employer in the city of Louisville, Kentucky. Almost everyone in the Louisville-metro area has either worked at UPS or knows someone who has. In that case, you’ve likely heard about the "Big Brown Lie": UPS claims to care about workers, but UPS Teamsters are just lines on a profit margin spreadsheet. UPS views hardworking Teamsters as fodder for the corporate machine, only designed to make executives and shareholders richer.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Teamsters were deemed essential to the economic survival of the U.S., especially our members at UPS. While many workplaces shut down and people quarantined at home, UPS Teamsters kept working, risking their safety and lives to make sure packages were delivered.

FULL story at link above.

[Simeon Salus]

1. Good coverage of the labor side at Courier Journal.

The article rhymes with my post last week about why I quit myself a few months ago, and why my friends think a strike is inevitable.

Working conditions are unreasonable, pay is awful, and aside from the healthcare benefit, it's one of the worst jobs I ever had. Three hour shifts in the hub, four or five times a week. Fifteen hours maximum. In this economy.

The union employees I worked with for several years are dedicated, experienced, efficient and generally optimistic. But I've talked with folks on the line this week (and a couple of non-union employees) and everybody's sure the strike is on.

Thanks, Steve.

My doctor put me to the question (stop hurting myself or schedule surgery). I didn't have as much to lose as Teamsters who've been there underpaid and overworked for decades.

[MichMan]

2. I don't understand why anyone would stay and work there anymore.

Terrible pay and oppressive working conditions from what I hear. How do they keep anyone at all given the historic low unemployment rate right now?

[Simeon Salus]

3. Terrific healthcare benefits, better than what one normally buys in retirement or on the exchange

Low copays, includes dental and vision.

A very large number of my coworkers were longtime employees, well past retirement age. The work is uncomplex and repetitive, and you're only really busy for three weeks before Christmas. occasional four-day weeks with legal holidays paid and old timers do get a bunch of accumulated vacation time. If you only want to make 900 a month, it's not terrible.

But in my brief time working at the hub and on some trucks, the younger hires have trouble staying off their phones and getting the work done. Not all, but most. The work really cannot be much more optimally automated. Some things require human intervention, at this point.

Not sure how the endgame plays out.