2023 Teamster Contract Negotiation - Partner Edition

[UnionStrong]

I went through the 97 strike. Here is how it went from my perspective at our center… About 2 weeks before the strike the public got nervous. The volume went down a bit. The week before the strike customers quit shipping and the volume dropped drastically and the last few days it went down to a trickle. Low seniority people didn’t have any work and routes were cut as management combined routes together. The first days of the strike the employees were having a great time and talking a lot of smack. Going into the 2nd week the fun was pretty much over and a few guys crossed the line. As it started to look like this was going to go into the 3rd week a few more guys crossed the line and all the party had come to an end. After the strike was over the first day back was really strange walking back into the building. Management was pissed and they was going to make it hell for the employees. There was almost no work so there was no pre loaders at all. The Drivers that worked had to unload the trailers and load package cars (No you didn’t load your own car) before going out on a route . The volume took some time to get back up so the ones without much seniority was hit hard. Quite a few people never came back. The tension between management, those that crossed the line and all other employees was thick and this went on for a long time. This was the end of UPS having a somewhat good relationship between management and employees. It was never the same after the strike. Many customers left completely and those that stayed opened up accounts with FedX and split their shipments so they wouldn’t have just 1 option in the future. Many Businesses treated the drivers differently. Even the ones that acted like they was on the drivers side before the strike had a different attitude after they lived through it. It was 23 more years after that strike before I retired yet I still had a customer tell me just before I retired that UPS was never the same company it was before the strike.
A strike might be necessary but I pray for you guys working now that it doesn’t have to get to that. If it does go to a strike I will be right there on the line with the guys at my old center. Good Luck!

No one crossed the line where I was, no one. Having said that, I hope there’s no strike, it’s nothing to look forward to.

 

[Box Handler of Dallas]

You are missing my point, part times don't care either way about going on strike or not, most don't have no vested time into it

There are many part timers, myself included, that do care and have years invested. The ones that have been around for a while are the ones the union needs to make sure shows up to vote. I'll be one of the first timers to walk the picket line with the full timers at my hub if that's the way it goes.

 

[Jkloc420]

There are many part timers, myself included, that do care and have years invested. The ones that have been around for a while are the ones the union needs to make sure shows up to vote. I'll be one of the first timers to walk the picket line with the full timers at my hub if that's the way it goes.

Maybe next year

 

[dudebro]

I went through the 97 strike. Here is how it went from my perspective at our center… About 2 weeks before the strike the public got nervous. The volume went down a bit. The week before the strike customers quit shipping and the volume dropped drastically and the last few days it went down to a trickle. Low seniority people didn’t have any work and routes were cut as management combined routes together. The first days of the strike the employees were having a great time and talking a lot of smack. Going into the 2nd week the fun was pretty much over and a few guys crossed the line. As it started to look like this was going to go into the 3rd week a few more guys crossed the line and all the party had come to an end. After the strike was over the first day back was really strange walking back into the building. Management was pissed and they was going to make it hell for the employees. There was almost no work so there was no pre loaders at all. The Drivers that worked had to unload the trailers and load package cars (No you didn’t load your own car) before going out on a route . The volume took some time to get back up so the ones without much seniority was hit hard. Quite a few people never came back. The tension between management, those that crossed the line and all other employees was thick and this went on for a long time. This was the end of UPS having a somewhat good relationship between management and employees. It was never the same after the strike. Many customers left completely and those that stayed opened up accounts with FedX and split their shipments so they wouldn’t have just 1 option in the future. Many Businesses treated the drivers differently. Even the ones that acted like they was on the drivers side before the strike had a different attitude after they lived through it. It was 23 more years after that strike before I retired yet I still had a customer tell me just before I retired that UPS was never the same company it was before the strike.
A strike might be necessary but I pray for you guys working now that it doesn’t have to get to that. If it does go to a strike I will be right there on the line with the guys at my old center. Good Luck!

I remember '97 as well. No one at my locations (Meadowlands and Newark Airport) crossed the line, except for one hourly on the 16th day whose wife needed non-elective surgery and he was afraid of not having benefits. To my knowledge the other workers let him slide. I don't remember management being angry at the hourlies exactly, here in the Northeast Union employees don't cross picket lines like they might somewhere else. But all the Quality / Win-Win happy coaching stuff from the mid-90's went out the window and production became the sole focus, because revenue wasn't the same afterwards.

I do remember customers never trusted us the same way again. But to the point of your customer's views, UPS went public 2 years after the work stoppage and THAT changed the company far more.

 

[ManInBrown]

I remember '97 as well. No one at my locations (Meadowlands and Newark Airport) crossed the line, except for one hourly on the 16th day whose wife needed non-elective surgery and he was afraid of not having benefits. To my knowledge the other workers let him slide. I don't remember management being angry at the hourlies exactly, here in the Northeast Union employees don't cross picket lines like they might somewhere else. But all the Quality / Win-Win happy coaching stuff from the mid-90's went out the window and production became the sole focus, because revenue wasn't the same afterwards.

I do remember customers never trusted us the same way again. But to the point of your customer's views, UPS went public 2 years after the work stoppage and THAT changed the company far more.

Why wouldn’t he just buy Cobra for that month? He would’ve only needed it for the month of the surgery.

 

[dudebro]

Hopefully he has a uniform that fits

You can always find one of the helper shirts turned in by a 400 lb helper the previous peak season