Why I walked out at UPS and why UPSers will too.
Hello everyone.
I've been reading Democratic Underground for many years and largely use it for sourcing. A lot of your good eyes make my daily reading smarter, more well-informed and more capable against disinformation.
I don't usually share so much, but with the ongoing entertainment strikes, I'd like to say something about my recent experiences in the workforce.
In 2020 Covid put all my plans into satchel. Contracts which were signed and deals which were made were unsigned and unmade because of the national crisis. I was fortunate and my extended family stayed safe. Both my day job and my side business were totally halted (and are still badly affected) by the effects of the pandemic. I was one of those people who got the extra $600 a week from unemployment, and while it took a while to process the benefit, I was lucky. I was able to pay my rent and bills. I found a seasonal job which I liked when the benefits went away.
In Spring of 2021 I started working at a UPS facility at an airport close by.
UPS has a very good healthcare plan and even part-timers are eligible at nine months.
The Airhub is a huge unheated uncooled space; many planes are cleared and loaded, serviced and readied, every single day. Scores of cliche brown trucks are prepped, carefully loaded and sent out with drivers every day. Many dozens of cargo trailers, hundreds of aircraft cargo containers emptied, checked, carefully loaded, sealed, documented, flown out every day. Hundreds of thousands of packages every day, triple that during peak season. Hundreds of part-time employees empty these trailers and ULDs, sort them for re-shipping.
These are human beings, not mere statistics. Teamsters.
Mary has been working at this plant since it opened more than 30 years ago. She's retiring soon as the oldest part-timer in the building. Her supervisor, her floor supe, her full-time supe, the division manager, they all met Mary when they very first came on board UPS.
Jim helps with small sort debagging: unzipping, lifting and dumping many hundreds of reusable mesh bags onto a belt where they can be brought to intake stations. Jim's been with the company part-time for 12 years and has small side business as a caterer.
Gene also works in small sort and has been part-time on the bag aisle for over 20 years. Gene is recovering from a recent successful cancer treatment. His hair is coming back and he's starting to feel really good again. Gene is on the safety committee so he gets an extra few hours a week.
Shakira worked part-time repairing damaged and missing packages before reship. After four years she got a driver's position, wearing the brown suit; driving for three years now. Full-time route drivers are the face of UPS and deserve every credit and benefit; these are dedicated people who have learned their service areas and customers well.
Kay does preload, ordering incoming packages into route trucks so the driver can grab packages to deliver in the proper order. Kay has been with UPS part-time for 8 years and she's very good at her job. A lost or mis-sorted package can cost a driver valuable minutes, often in a hot sealed metal brown box truck.
Penny unloads onto a conveyer belt which can move its business end all the way into the very back of the trailer. It's largely an arm-rake, trying to get most of the traffic onto the moving conveyor. Very hard on her back and shoulders, plus she spends a good part of her shift standing on a yellow step unit, where mis-stepping could cause a fall. Penny started during Covid, getting an hourly bonus at first, then a "retention bonus", then gradually back to the base rate. She's making less an hour now than when she started two years ago. She's always been a cheerful co-worker, but today she looks pissed.
Kodi works on the airhub's ramp. He's part of the crew which uses giant portable elevators to remove and replace massive Unit Load Devices in the jets. You don't get to work on the ramp-side of the facility (airplane-facing) unless you've been working for a long while and know how to do your job without anyone else getting killed (a constant concern with jet aircraft).
These are hard jobs, tough on your hands, your backs, your joints, your ears. Loud repetitive noises rattle like ship's chains but constantly. Supervisors yelling over the loud noises to be heard. Supervisors are often younger, less experienced and less well-trained than the crew, like low-level managers in all job fields these days.
A vast majority of these people (including supervisors) work part-time. Some get two part-time shifts, if they've been in the union long enough. Most are limited to 12-15 hours per week (three hours per day), except just before and during peak. Supes might get an extra hour or so a day.
These days most UPS plant employees are limited by rule to a maximum three-hour shift. Often supervisors will attempt to get employees leave before the (union-minimum) three hour shift. Even if your hourly rate is quite good, you only get enough hours to tread water (except during peak in December). A UPSer is expected to devote five days to work, even if only 15 or so hours total.
UPS brings in dozens of new hires into training class every week. 80% of them leave before a month has gone by.
So just short of two years, I quit UPS.
The problem with UPS is not merely reasonable conditions for the drivers (though that's important). The problem is that UPS doesn't care its employees live in poverty, and require government benefits or other jobs. Three consecutive years of record profits at UPS, none of it going to the rank and file, none of it going to supervisors. Just stockholders and executives.
What I saw at UPS is repeated across the sector: everybody is offering laughable pay at entry level. Just like Walmart employees, UPSers are likely to find themselves asking for rental support, social services or food stamps. Lots of folks advertise they're hiring but the jobs themselves are often part-time or low wage.
I thought somebody should say something. Union members are not asking for anything unreasonable here.
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If the Teamsters - or any union - were trying to get a foot in the door now, they'd never be allowed in. There are just too many shady corporate practices for keeping the unions out now and forever in the future.
I can remember back to the days when working as a UPS driver was a nice gig. You got paid a full 40 hours plus seasonal overtime, great benefits etc. Back when the minimum wage was about 3.50/hour the UPS drivers were making $60K per year or more. I think that was around the mid-90s, before Fedex Ground went into direct competition against UPS.
What's happened at UPS isn't the fault of the employees or the union, but they've certainly had to give up way too much ground in the last 30 years. I believe this strike is justified and I hope the employees will be rewarded.
Solidarity!
