Memories From The '97' Strike........

A

anonymous6

Guest
Couple things I really remember. First I kept every piece of paper that both sides passed out. It fills a drawer and is a real eye opener. As a fairly new upser ( 5 yrs ) i was surprized how low the company would go to get what they wanted.

Second. Ron said we were going to walk that friday at midnight if the Teamster demands were not met. I was sitting in the Oakland Hub breakroom 150 plus miles from home sweating out the deadline thinking "how am I gonna get home.?"

Well,anyway, the deadline came and went ( disappointing ) but everything worked out.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
I got the call at home and within about a hour we had our big circus tent (about 20' X 30') set up, a generator running to power a tv and lights and coolers full of beer. This was set up just across the street from UPS in a vaccant field. It didn't take long for people to start driving by to see what was happening. Lots of people dropped off baked goods, pop and even a case of beer or two. A Yellow Freight (you're not yellow-you're orange) truck pulled up and the driver gave us a 100 dollar bill to add to the strike kitty. Something I never understood was that UPS actually rented a porta-pot and set it up on their property for us to use.
 
I remember in the week leading up to the strike UPS going to the trouble of having a fence ccompany come in and put a third row of barb wire to the top of the fence posts that already had two. We just shook our heads and kept working. Another time they had all the office people in the training enter on top of the hill line up so we could see them as if we were going to be intimidated.
 

Shifting Contents

Most Help Needed
I was a freshman in high school. Didn't even notice. But now, 22.3 jobs are dissapearing, part timers are paid ALMOST nothing and have to wait a year for bennies, and UPS controls our pention fund. I don't know what you guys gained but I know what we lost . . . Market share.

I've never really heard stories from people who were there. Fill me in. Help me understand why it happened and what was gained. As far as i know it was about more full time spots and UPS not controlling the pension fund. Please fill in my blanks.
 

yeldarb

Well-Known Member
I was a freshman in high school. Didn't even notice. But now, 22.3 jobs are dissapearing, part timers are paid ALMOST nothing and have to wait a year for bennies, and UPS controls our pention fund. I don't know what you guys gained but I know what we lost . . . Market share.

I've never really heard stories from people who were there. Fill me in. Help me understand why it happened and what was gained. As far as i know it was about more full time spots and UPS not controlling the pension fund. Please fill in my blanks.
. Ups controls our pension fund?!? Are you sure about that? That was one o the biggest reasons for the strike.
 

sortaisle

Livin the cardboard dream
It's depends on your pension. Western Supplement is private. Central states got a huge infusion of cash from UPS to keep it from going to the government. Not sure about the eastside. There's not a single pension for all locations. Your pension may vary. I was on night sort in Portland for the '97. Basically we played touch football in the streets, bbq'd and waited for Freightliner to get off work...wave our signs at them...and then back to football...it was 2am...what else were we going to do...except boo/hiss management and scabs.
 

Leftinbuilding

Well-Known Member
Luckily, I had the foresight to schedule my vacation, so I was kicking back and getting paid for a good portion of the strike. Never did agree to the need of a strike. And ultimately IMO, more was lost than gained.
 
Last edited:

Babagounj

Strength through joy
Luckily, I had the foresight to schedule my vacation, so I was kicking back and getting paid for a good portion of the strike. Never did agree to the need of a strike. And ultimately IMO, more was lost then gained.

I also had scheduled my vacations for those weeks.
 

The Blackadder

Are you not amused?
I remember being told that if we went on strike it would be years before I was back as a full time driver. I would be back part-time. Iwas worried I wanted UPS to succed I wanted a good paying job.

Now 15 years later I know longer care, 50 plus hour weeks and being told I suck I really dont much care anymore.

Funny thing was I was back driving full time about 3 weeks after the strike.
 

The Blackadder

Are you not amused?
Luckily, I had the foresight to schedule my vacation, so I was kicking back and getting paid for a good portion of the strike. Never did agree to the need of a strike. And ultimately IMO, more was lost then gained.

Will suck next year as many high senortiy drivers will be bidding Aug. off. Oh well hopefully I can get july. LOL
 

DS

Fenderbender
I remember it well.Up here in Canada,I was lucky enough to keep working throughout,although I was covering a lot more ground to get enough stops.Customers would say,i thought you guys were on strike,and I had to explain although we were all teamsters,we had a different contract than our southern neighbors. We had a short strike up here our last contract,but it lasted less than 3 days.
 

old brown shoe

30 year driver
There was a lot of trash talking from both sides but it seemed most of what the public herd was from the company. The pilots who honored the strike really made the difference. I think they kept us from having a longer and more damaging strike. It was not good for the company, union or the public image of both.
 
A

anonymous6

Guest
Luckily, I had the foresight to schedule my vacation, so I was kicking back and getting paid for a good portion of the strike. Never did agree to the need of a strike. And ultimately IMO, more was lost than gained.


both sides lost a lot. who really lost were the 3 drivers in our hub that crossed the picket line.
 

badpal

Well-Known Member
Really got good at playing pitch. As coworkers we really came out of it close. a very interesting experience. Beneficial or not i am not sure,
 
A

anonymous6

Guest
There was a lot of trash talking from both sides but it seemed most of what the public herd was from the company. The pilots who honored the strike really made the difference. I think they kept us from having a longer and more damaging strike. It was not good for the company, union or the public image of both.


one of the sundays, i was the only one on the picket at the airport till a pilot came over and spent the whole afternoon talking to me and showing support. it was great.
 
Top