The 1997 UPS strike delivered labor’s biggest victory in decades. For the first time in 25 years, our union is mounting a serious strike threat at UPS again.
The company is scared and management is spreading rumors to try to divide and weaken the membership into settling short.
It’s time to bust management’s myths and arm Teamster at UPS with the facts.
Management Myth #1:
If members go on strike, Amazon and Fedex will deliver our packages – and take our customers.
No they won't.
Teamsters at UPS delivered 20.4 million pack-ages a day last year.
With all its growth, Amazon can still only deliver 18 million packages a day.
More than 2.2 million of Amazon packages are delivered by UPS every day.
If there’s a strike at UPS, Amazon will be buried trying to deliver the two million packages we deliver for them.
FedEx delivers even less than Amazon does: 15.8 million packages a day.
The idea that they will be able to deliver 20.4 million UPS packages too is absurd.
“In 1997, no one could handle the packages. When we got back after the strike, packages were piled everywhere. It was a complete disaster,” said Nick Orabona, a strike veteran and Local 251 Teamster.
“There is so much more volume today than there was back then because of e-commerce. If there is a strike, the company will be crippled. That means a strike will probably be short and we will win!”
Management Myth #2:
If we go on strike, PVDs will be able to deliver the packages.
20.4 million packages a day? In personal cars?
If every PVD delivered 75 packages a day, the company would need to hire more than 250,000 PVDs.
That’s not happening.
Even more importantly, who would operate the highly integrated feeder network, air hubs, and who would fly and service the hundreds of planes UPS uses.
So if managers were able to pick up packages
in some town, how would they get them to Chicago, LA or Atlanta? Shippers will not trust sending their packages into that dead-end operation.
In the 1997 strike, managers sometimes drove empty package cars out of buildings, pretending to deliver but actually trying to scare strikers. It didn’t work, because Teamsters were united.
Busting Management Myths
“As stewards and activists our job is to keep members informed. Management will spread misinformation to make members afraid as negotiations heat up.
“The truth is we have all the leverage we need to win a strong contract. I attend IBT Steward calls and UPS Teamster United webinars to get the ammunition I need to counter management myths with facts.”
Shamsher Dhillon
Local 315, Richmond, Calif.
Keeping Members Informed
“Once a week, I send out a “Union Service Announcement” text to all the 22.4 workers in my center. I share stories about our local, highlight parts of our contract, and give updates to keep people informed and get them involved.”
Walter Vaz
Local 251, Rhode Island