I do not remember any 3 day strike notice.
The strike vote was earlier in July that gave Carey the power to strike anytime after July 31.
Carey told UPS that if a deal was not reached, there would be a strike on July 31 after the strike vote by the members. Carey postponed the strike on July 31 to give UPS one last chance to sit down and negotiate. This was publicly announced.
I've read in the interim, Carey had the power to call a strike at anytime after the expiration of the old contract after July 31st.
And he informed UPS that there would be a strike on July 31 if an agreement was not reached. He postponed the strike on that day to try and reach a deal with UPS. It was publicly announced that the strike was postponed so he could continue to negotiate. He was still willing to negotiate. UPS was not.
The negotiations were ongoing Aug 1st-3rd, mostly through the mediators, but they were continuing when Carey called for the strike to start at 12:00AM the start of Aug 4th. That is my recollection.
Good recollection. They were ongoing, but only through a mediator. But to say they were negotiations, is putting it mildly. UPS changed nothing from that last, best and final offer during these mediated talks. They were not negotiating. They did not "negotiate" anything in that last, best and final. They were pretty much silent during these mediated talks.
You seem to be in the union camp of the company was just being greedy and out to screw the employees anyway they could
I am in the union camp, but not greedy. This contract was worse than the previous contract, and UPS had made more money than the previous years. So, yes, we feel that we should also reap the benefits of a company making billions. We just wanted a contract slightly better than the previous one, since UPS was obviously doing better financially.
But here were some of the issues that UPS never budged on.
The raises for this contract were less than the previous contract. Why? UPS was making more money.
UPS wanted to take over the health & welfare and the pensions, completely.
No increase in starting pay for part timers.
A 7 year contract.
Wanted part timers to deliver all the air.
Wanted us to cross all picket lines of other companies, even Teamster authorized picket lines.
Wanted to step back the innocent until proven guilty language we won in the last contract.
Even during mediation, UPS would not budge on any of the key issues.
Suffice to say, it performed that process in the manner of a company that did indeed care about its employees.
I have to admit, I have seen instances where the Company does something with their employees well being in mind, but hardly ever during contract negotiations. And 20 years ago, I would say I saw it a lot.
Today, not so much.
Admittedly, other experiences years after the strike were much different...
It's been 20 years, get over it.
We remember things from that contract also, but we have gotten over it.
Remember Murray's quote, the UPS lead negotiator responding to our wages that the Union proposed?
"that $8 an hour was not only an adequate part-time wage, but in many areas of the United States it would be “a fine full-time wage.”
How about Lenhart's quote, another UPS lead negotiator?
“All these little nobodies come to work for us and now they think they’re somebody because they work for UPS.”
And you wonder why we struck.
As to a famous Kelly quote,
The quote I'm referring to by James Kelly is,
"I never thought they'd walk"
The negotiations were done. UPS refused to negotiate anymore, even with the mediator.
He gave us two choices, accept his last, best and final, or strike.
He expected us to accept his offer. He did not expect us to strike.
At 12:01 AM on August 4, 1997, 3 days after Carey postponed the first strike, we called James Kelly's bluff and struck.
And 3 days into the strike, UPS spokesperson Patrella told the New York Times “We are willing to continue to discuss the matter with the Teamsters, but we must emphasize that our last, best and final offer remains unchanged,”
Like I said, UPS had absolutely no intention of negotiating, no intention of compromising on their last, best and final offer, even as the strike was ongoing.
Another quote from then CEO James Kelly less than a week into the strike,
“If you were to pit a large corporation against a friendly, courteous UPS driver, I’d vote for the UPS driver, also.”
Management needs to get over it and realize that you were the ones wanting us, forcing us, to strike. We didn't want to walk and lose 2 weeks pay, but we had no choice due to your decisions.
I also have to thank the UPS pilots and the IPA. They stood behind us and they did not fly.
Thank you.
