The Resurgence Of Labor

The UPS Strike As A Moral And Political Watershed

by Jeff Burman

The Perfect Strike Scenario

Unionized UPS workers, highly visible, well-regarded, and 185,000 strong, struck over an issue that effects us all. Part-time work, the "inevitable" response to globalized competition, resulting in significantly lower pay and benefits.

The opponent? Just "the tightest ship in the shipping business." United Parcel Service, with 1995 profits posting at $1.15 billion, a staggering 75% market share, and the nation's biggest political action committee. But the mighty UPS was forced into a crucial concession from the start.

Erasing PATCO

When UPS couldn't pressure President Clinton to invoke Taft-Hartley provisions to force union members back to work, UPS president James Kelley decided not to call in replacement workers.

Why? Public opinion was solidly behind the strikers 55% to 27%.

The opposite scenario unfolded in 1981, when President Reagan allowed the firing and replacement of striking air traffic controllers. When Reagan dismissed PATCO strikers it was not illegal to do so; it was not even illegal to train and hire replacement workers. It just wasn't acceptable practice. It wasn't done. Reagan gave the "green light" to striker replacement and, for corporate America, the "flexibility" it provided was more than welcome.

This time corporate restructuring met with effective opposition both from the Teamsters and from John Sweeney's reinvigorated AFL-CIO. The end result was the still-contested promise to convert 10,000 part-time jobs to full-time jobs, a modest pay increase, and the retention of UPS in the multi-employer Teamster pension fund.

The Part-Time Fight

The single most potent issue for part-timers is pay equity: equal pay for equal work. At UPS, 60% of the work force are considered part-timers and make a base pay of $8 an hour, and have for the last 15 years running. These part-timers may work more than one shift a day, or more than 40 hours a week. Doesn't matter. Full-time workers make $20 an hour.

Are these part-timers students or otherwise, part-timers by preference? Many say no. They're just doing the best they can to get by. Nationwide, more than 23 million U.S. workers work part-time. And the trend is for more.

Another potent issue is job safety. The maximum allowable weight per package is 150 lbs. The injury rate at UPS for 1996 was 33.8 reported injuries per 100 workers.

The Pension Fight

Yet another potent issue is control of pension funds. Many have pointed to the advantageous pension package offered by UPS and scoff at the history of corruption at the Teamsters.

Few point out that the maximum pension allotment of $3,000 a month is a capped figure, without allowance for inflation. Even fewer point out that a pension fund controlled by UPS offers no guarantees that the fund won't be raided for its assets or be abandoned should UPS ever fold up its tent. There is also the question of how much management would participate in its plan and how much employees would have to gradually contribute.

The complaints about Teamster corruption fly in the face of the reformed Teamsters under Ron Carey and "Teamsters for a Democratic Union" (TDU). The best indicator of how far along the reformed Teamsters have come is how desperate and shrill are the complaints by Carey's defeated opponent Jimmy Hoffa, Jr.

Whazzit Mean?

Ron Carey said that "workers were on the run, but not any more. This strike marks a new era." John Sweeney said "It shows that we can win these situations and that workers are fed up and are willing to strike back."

Even James Flanagan, an L.A. Times columnist, described the UPS strike as "a defining event not only for labor-management relations but for the entire U.S. economy."