DS
Fenderbender
google necklacing ?
What'dyabringmetoday???
Well-Known Member
The BIG question, at least in my mind, is who is ready to walk next year????
UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
The ink will be dry on the contract long before the expiration date.
we all should hope for that. No one will win with a strike.
Johney
Well-Known Member
We had at least 5 or more cross. There was two guys who crossed on what would be the last day(of course they didn't know it)man did they feel really stupid. What is funny is most of the guys who crossed were fired during the year or so after the strike. There are a couple left. I always felt when those guys retire their pension checks would some how get lost in the mail
Catatonic
Nine Lives
I was one of those management people that was being booed.
I delivered routes all over Atlanta area and then I flew out to Seattle and delivered out of the Redmond facility.
I remember delivering out of an 1100 on Lake Washington with really tight turns into delivery locations.
I hope they have got all the dings and scrapes repaired. Did not feel out any accident reports ... God, I love Double Standards.
I remember the genuine shock by senior management at the Corporate office ... I compare the feelings and attitude towards the Union at that time to the feelings America expressed about the planes crashing into the Twin Towers.
It has gotten better but not all the way back.
Normal was forever changed.
The old-timers swoon for the days before '97 and I certainly miss them myself.
What I remember about '97 is that everyone at UPS was better off before the strike than they were afterward.
Richard Harrow
Deplorable.
Agree. UPS is still working to get back customers they lost in '97, and we would look like fools striking with our great benefits and $32 an hour salaries in this economy. There's a time for everything, it's neither in the company or Teamsters interests for there to be a work stoppage next August.
That said, I'll still try to get a week or two vacation around that time. If there's one thing I know, it's that UPS or the Teamsters could find a way to friend* up a wet dream.
Catatonic
Nine Lives
That could be your wife trying to wake you up.
OVERBOARD
Don't believe everything you think
Same here. I was at a small satellite barn with 5 drivers on this island, Ups lock up the barn and left. We didnt see anybody, We would walk the line for a couple hours. Then go to the beach.
This time around if we don't have a sign contract by April, I will be taking the first two weeks of Aug. off. To those that took a vacation during the 97 strike, did you walk the line on your vacation?
A
anonymous6
Guest
it's good to get a view from the other side. Ron Carey was a friend of our family and we spoke to him several times by phone before and during the strike. the biggest problem was the company trying to take control of the pension plans.
maybe i'm biased because of our friendship but I still think he was one of the most honest men I have ever known.
Catatonic
Nine Lives
This was what the UPS upper management was saying as well.
The way the teamster's played it out in the press was that this was all about transforming P/T jobs into friend/T jobs.
This is the way the contract moved and the purported reason for the strike when it was always about the Teamster controlled pensions and especially the multi-employer concerns.
I don't blame the Teamster's for trying to keep control of the pensions as there is a lot of power and appreciation - until they start to fail.
The Teamster's is a political organization whose leaders have to get elected and pensions are a strong tool to get the vote for the incumbent.
However, I would be remiss if I did not point out Central States (which was what UPS was talking about in 1997) and the more recent Teamster's pensions and their problems.
I guess their are more combo and 22.3 jobs (that equals a quasi-fulltime job) than there would have been.
Dracula
Package Car is cake compared to this...
We had a small shanty town built across the street from our building.
I remember all of the support we got, The UAW, the CWA, a lot of construction workers unions showed up, The pilots came down in their uniforms..that was cool.
I remember my kids were young--5 and 3--trying their best to carry picket signs.
I remember one of our, um, stranger drivers chanting slogans and beating his kick drum on the picket line...I can still hear that damn drum beating...
I remember asking my buddy how much money he was selling his classic muscle car for. He laughed and said, "The price just got cheaper."
I remember the street in front of UPS had a 40MPH speed limit and had a lot of traffic with 18 wheelers, Our fat assed union president came down there, almost passed the picket line, stopped, and did a U-turn without checking traffic, and nearly got t-boned by a speeding 53 foot truck.
My local got me work with an old man looking for help siding houses, so I went to the picket line before and after work. And yeah, I'll never again stand on a wobbly scaffolding, 25 feet in the air, siding houses, even for decent cash, no sir.
I remember the solidarity we had together, even if it didn't last a very long time after we went back to work.
I remember what a bunch of vindictive prics UPS were when we came back. And the way they acted as if they had no part, whatsoever, in the strike.
I remember on one of the first days management left in the package cars, a couple of our drunker strikers through some empty beer bottles at the trucks. It got kind of nasty when a couple of the hot-tempered sups stopped their trucks and got out looking for a fight. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.
We had a small number of drivers cross the picket lines. Those drivers are still shunned to this day.
I remember how the public sentiment was on our side.
And I still remember how little Hoffa got his
on CNN and said how we were making a "big mistake". Never will I forget that, and I still can't figure out how the rest of the Teamsters can either, but they do.
All in all, it was a good experience for me. I stood shoulder to shoulder with the guys/gals I worked with a stood up to a company who pushed us around and thought we would never have the guts to stand up to them.
Yeah, "Last, best offer," I'll never forget that, either.
I remember all of the support we got, The UAW, the CWA, a lot of construction workers unions showed up, The pilots came down in their uniforms..that was cool.
I remember my kids were young--5 and 3--trying their best to carry picket signs.
I remember one of our, um, stranger drivers chanting slogans and beating his kick drum on the picket line...I can still hear that damn drum beating...
I remember asking my buddy how much money he was selling his classic muscle car for. He laughed and said, "The price just got cheaper."
I remember the street in front of UPS had a 40MPH speed limit and had a lot of traffic with 18 wheelers, Our fat assed union president came down there, almost passed the picket line, stopped, and did a U-turn without checking traffic, and nearly got t-boned by a speeding 53 foot truck.
My local got me work with an old man looking for help siding houses, so I went to the picket line before and after work. And yeah, I'll never again stand on a wobbly scaffolding, 25 feet in the air, siding houses, even for decent cash, no sir.
I remember the solidarity we had together, even if it didn't last a very long time after we went back to work.
I remember what a bunch of vindictive prics UPS were when we came back. And the way they acted as if they had no part, whatsoever, in the strike.
I remember on one of the first days management left in the package cars, a couple of our drunker strikers through some empty beer bottles at the trucks. It got kind of nasty when a couple of the hot-tempered sups stopped their trucks and got out looking for a fight. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.
We had a small number of drivers cross the picket lines. Those drivers are still shunned to this day.
I remember how the public sentiment was on our side.
And I still remember how little Hoffa got his
on CNN and said how we were making a "big mistake". Never will I forget that, and I still can't figure out how the rest of the Teamsters can either, but they do.All in all, it was a good experience for me. I stood shoulder to shoulder with the guys/gals I worked with a stood up to a company who pushed us around and thought we would never have the guts to stand up to them.
Yeah, "Last, best offer," I'll never forget that, either.
packageguy
Well-Known Member
What I remember is walking the line, hope it would end soon. It was 90 degrees almost everyday. Lots of people would drive by and give water, soda, hambughers hod dogs, and we had there support.
BigUnionGuy
Got the T-Shirt
Seeing them drive down the street, with the load charts still attached to the back of the truck....
-Bug-
bottomups
Bad Moon Risen'
I was a steward during the strike. Remember getting a call from my BA in the middle of the night to come down to the union hall to pick up the appropriate picket signs. Set up shop about 3am in front of the center as a one man strike line. Used my 5lb Motorola flip phone to start calling the membership to inform them of the strike. Local cops came through in the early morning to show their support but to also tell us to keep it peaceful. By start time we already had most everyone on the picket line, volleyball net and poker table set up and permission to use the restrooms at the business across the street. Through most of the first week had many people come by to show their support and drop off food and drink.
Remember following a package car driven by management down a street in the industrial park with the back door open and dodging the parcels that were falling out of the truck onto the street!
Second week of the strike I was on vacation and spent the week in northern WI fishing and boating. Had a picket sign fastened to the boat and still got many thumbs up out on the lake.
The few weeks after the strike were a major pain in the butt. Many driver follow ups and trying to collect COD's that were delivered as paid.
All in all, had a lot of support from the public. Not so sure we would enjoy the same if we went out again.
Remember following a package car driven by management down a street in the industrial park with the back door open and dodging the parcels that were falling out of the truck onto the street!
Second week of the strike I was on vacation and spent the week in northern WI fishing and boating. Had a picket sign fastened to the boat and still got many thumbs up out on the lake.
The few weeks after the strike were a major pain in the butt. Many driver follow ups and trying to collect COD's that were delivered as paid.
All in all, had a lot of support from the public. Not so sure we would enjoy the same if we went out again.
Anonymous 10
Guest
I Remember a driver falling off a ladder and becoming paralyzed from the waste down. I remember walking the line and being video taped. I remember being there right when the strike happened and some
guy throughing a rock through the windshield of a member from another building who had not received word we were actually on strike yet. I remember how the media seemed to be on our side. I remember how the whole country kinda just shut down. I remember being a proud teamster who felt united.
guy throughing a rock through the windshield of a member from another building who had not received word we were actually on strike yet. I remember how the media seemed to be on our side. I remember how the whole country kinda just shut down. I remember being a proud teamster who felt united.
old brown shoe
30 year driver
To those that took a vacation during the 97 strike, did you walk the line on your vacation? I was on vacation and walked the line in our town and spent a day on the line at the town we went to vacation in. Still have my sign hanging on the wall of my shop as a reminder of that vacation.
