1997 United Parcel Service strike

Led by Teamster President Ron Carey, the August 4, 1997 United Parcel Service strike was a postal strike involving over 185,000 teamsters. The strike effectively shut down UPS operations for 16 days and cost UPS hundreds of millions of dollars. The strike was a victory for the union, resulting in a new contract that increased their wages, secured their existing benefits and gave increased job security.

Union History

President Ron Carey had followed in his father’s footsteps to become a UPS driver, and Union member. Carey rose to Presidency of the Teamsters Union in the early 90’s, and was heavily supported by Teamsters for a Democratic Union President Ken Paff, mainly because of Carey’s support of Union Democracy. TDU influence on the IBT was a major factor in the collective bargaining tactics used to negotiate the 1997 UPS Contract: militance, union democracy, and rank-and-file intensive tactics.

An earlier strike against UPS in 1994, which had been the first National strike against UPS, had been unsuccessful and led to the Teamsters being sued by UPS for millions of dollars.

Causes

Contracts between UPS and their Union workers were set to be renegotiated in 1997, and general grievances against the company centered around the greed of the corporation, and the subsequent exploitation of the working class, who were often given little job security, low wages, and part-time employee status.

Bob Herbert , of the New York Times wrote that the UPS strike “is best seen as the angry fist-waving response of the frustrated American worker, a revolt against the ruthless treatment of workers by so many powerful corporations.

In the 1970's, UPS had began a process of replacing many full time workers with part time employees. In the 1980's, the wages of these part time workers was cut to just $8 per hour. At this time, almost two in three workers were classified as part time, and receiving part time compensation and benefits, despite technically working full time hours. Surveys conducted by Teamster leaders stated that “90 percent of part-timers at UPS ranked the creation of more full-time jobs with full-time pay as a top bargaining priority”. Teamster Laura Piscotti was quoted as saying: "These companies all have a formula. They don’t take you on full-time. They don’t pay benefits. Then, their profits go through the roof”.

In addition to the poor compensation, UPS’s warehousing and distribution centers, known as "hubs", were well known for their brutal working conditions, in which workers were pushed to perform at an unreasonably high level. In accomplishing higher profit margins, working conditions became dangerous, giving UPS one of the highest injury ratings in the industry. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a $3 million fine to UPS in direct recognition of the unsafe working conditions and frequent injuries. The Bureau of Labor Statistics cites the 1993 UPS injury rate as 14%, compared with the industry average 8%. A 1992 study conducted by the Great Lakes Center for Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health was technically cited as examining an “unnamed delivery company”, although it is widely understood that the company was in fact UPS. The results concluded that “job stress is a psychological health hazard for these drivers”. UPS was rapidly gaining a reputation for hazardous working conditions. A member of the national IBT-UPS Safety and Health Negotiating Committee described just two accidents within the UPS hubs that could easily have been prevented: "In Phoenix in June, two part-time workers caught their legs in a running belt. UPS installed a cut-off switch in the area only after the accident. In Long Island, N.Y., during negotiations, a young girl lost a finger in belt, with no one at the cut-off switch to stop it. Last year in Oakland, a young man lost his hand in a belt”.

Preparation

Teamster President Ron Carey’s message was simple- he demanded fair pay, reasonable hours and adequate pension programs for Teamsters. Prior to the 1997 UPS strike, Carey had already organized four successful strike campaigns. In preparation for the strike, UPS workers who had joined the Teamsters completed questionnaires designed to determine key grievances. Pre-strike rallies were held, and a petition with 100,000 signatures of Teamster members supporting the new contract negotiations and demands was completed. The impending strike also had its own website, as well as a dedicated hot-line for workers to stay connected. Efforts were made to ensure that both part-time and full-time workers’ demands were being included, and therefore that they would continue to support each other. It is widely believed that UPS bosses, reporters and the general public simply didn't expect that the Union was cohesive enough to actually carry out the strike. The expectation was that many workers would simply cross the picket lines and resume working.

The success of the 1997 strike has often been attributed to the high level of organization within the Teamsters’ Union, as well as that which went into both the planning and execution of the union itself, and the strike. President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, John Sweeney said: “The UPS strike directly connected bargaining to organizing… You could stage a hundred… rallies, and still not come close to doing what the UPS strike did for organizing”.

After an unsuccessful August 1997 Teamster rally, which had had a poor turn out, and a UPS spokesperson said “They’re trying to stage a Broadway production of Les Miserables, and what we’re seeing is a high school production of Annie Get Your Gun”. Because UPS were not taking the strike, and indeed the union seriously, their final offer on August 2, 1997 was rejected by the Teamsters.

The Strike

On August 4, the strike began, and was the largest strike in terms of striking workers that the country had seen thus far. Almost 100 percent of UPS workers who were members of the Teamster Union were involved in the strike. During the strike, UPS had lost so much business that their losses were over $600 million.

Ron Carey used the information he had gathered from the surveys sent out in preparation for the strike to narrow the demands down to four key issues. Firstly, Carey demanded that when UPS created new positions, they would be full time, secondly, that thousands of the current workers who were classified as “part-time” be converted to full time worker status, third that the pay for those who did remain in only part-time positions was increased, and lastly that the workers would remain within the existing union pension plan.

Carey said: “People will be celebrating our victory over corporate greed. This fight with UPS shows what working people can accomplish when they all stick together. The UPS workers stood up to throw away worker approach and the nation’s working people stood behind us. And now we’re going to go out there to other workers who want to fight for that great American dream.”

Outcome

During the strike, the Teamster Union had paid out around 10 million dollars to workers manning the picket lines. After 16 days, the Teamsters and UPS came to a five year contract agreement that ended the strike. UPS had already agreed to giving 1,000 part-time workers full-time positions, but were forced to increase that number to 10,000. In addition, the pay rate of $8 per hour “base pay” was to be raised by 50 cents, while drivers were to make an additional $3.10 on top of their average $19.95 hourly rate, and part-time workers would be granted an additional $4.10 hourly.

The way in which the union was structured meant that all Teamsters would receive synonymous benefits, regardless of what company they actually worked for. These benefits were controlled by the Teamsters multi-employer pension fund. UPS wanted to back out of the plan, and offer their workers a new pension plan that UPS would control. Ultimately, UPS agreed to keep their workers in the Union benefits plan.

In addition, UPS agreed that they would now be required to discuss any future package weight limit increases with the Teamsters. To further address the issue of the unavailability of full time positions, UPS agreed to stop subcontracting, with the exception of peak times.

Carey stated that “[t]his strike marks a new era. American workers have show n...we [can] stand up to corporate greed. This victory shows that American workers are on the move again”.

Aftermath

The August 1997 victory was a turning point for workers’ rights. The strikes that had occurred in the 20 years prior to 1997 had been reluctant defensive actions, whereas the 1997 UPS strike was a planned offensive against corporate greed. The importance of a portable pension scheme, one that is controlled by the workers and that cannot be exploited by capitalist executives, was now shown to be a right, not a privilege. In addition, a clear message was sent to other Fortune 500 companies about abusing part-time work status: it would no longer be tolerated.

The 1997 UPS strike was a victory not only for the UPS workers, but also for the unorganized , non-union workers, who were inspired to join unions. In addition, the UPS strike was supported by thousands of members of other unions, as well as an estimated two thirds of the general population.

The Union had used their power as a collective unit to force UPS to concede to their demands. Because the demands had been set by the union members themselves, members did not simply cross the picket lines and return to work, as UPS executives had expected. In addition, Carey had worked to gain public support and sympathy, which was a crucial factor in keeping the morale up, and the Union cohesive. The preparation that went into the strike allowed Teamsters to erect 1,700 picket lines overnight, essentially halting UPS operations. In addition, the success of the cohesion of the union that kept the strike together rested on the flyers that were distributed regularly: the masses were kept informed and the strike had clear goals and direction.