BrownCafe

The illegal sex trade – also known as human trafficking – is more profitable than both the drug trade and gun trade combined. In Atlanta alone, $290 million each year is spent, according to the United Way.

The need to address human trafficking has never been more urgent. Recognizing that the logistics industry is uniquely positioned to help address this issue, UPS is proud to be part of the solution. Since our work on human trafficking began six years ago, we’ve launched an employee awareness campaign to empower UPS employees to advocate against human trafficking and we’ve also prioritized philanthropic partnerships. Through these initiatives, UPS’ers have raised more than $7 million to support global anti-human trafficking efforts in partnership with the United Way Center to Combat Human Trafficking. And there is still so much more work to be done.

As we join together as Atlantans to tackle human trafficking, the voice of the private sector is critically important. As President of Social Impact and The UPS Foundation, I believe addressing human trafficking is a critical piece of UPS’s commitment to build safer, more resilient and inclusive communities around the world. Innovative partnerships can provide opportunities for companies to be part of the solution. For example, our relationship with Truckers Against Trafficking trains UPS drivers to spot and report signs of human trafficking along their routes. Since the inception of our partnership, more than 130,000 drivers have received training on how to spot red flags and where to report concerning behavior.

The union that represents UPS workers in Maine is speaking out about what they describe as unfair labor practices.

Teamsters Local 340 leader Brett Miller said UPS workers have spent the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic understaffed and overworked.

Miller said the company needs to hire at least 100 employees to allow current workers more time off and to avoid consistent overtime.

He said UPS workers often work six days a week and put in 15 to 20 hours of overtime.

For the last year, UPS driver Tyler Kingsbury has known that of all the stops on his route, the deliveries to JFK Elementary in Somerville each day are his most memorable.

Corey Merrill’s third-grade class has snack time at the same time Kingsbury’s truck drives by.

“We started to wave, and he’d honk and, eventually, we decided to try to find out more about him,” she said.

“Like how old am I? What’s my favorite color? When’s my birthday?” Kingsbury said.

$1.5 million worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) was donated to East Baton Rouge Parish Schools from Big Brown Reaching Back UPS employees of Louisiana on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

The donations came from Sony Pictures in California and contained 40,000 hand sanitizers, drawstring bags, masks and gowns for cafeteria workers and bus drivers.

The PPE was originally intended for Hollywood sets, but was no longer needed as much and word got to UPS that they were looking to donate it.

Some employees at a United Parcel Service Customer Center in Atlanta are speaking out about what they say has been a recent rash of break-ins to their personal vehicles on site.

“We’d been gone for about five hours, and I get a call from another driver telling me my truck’s been broke in,” says UPS truck driver Chris McGrew.

He tells WSB Radio his shift a few days ago had him on the road to Florida when he heard what happened to his pickup truck back at his Fulton Industrial Boulevard workplace parking lot.

“Busted-out window. Messed up the door, probably the door has to be replaced. “We were almost in Jacksonville, Florida…we had to detour all the way back to Atlanta just so I could get my truck to a safe location,” McGrew says.