The head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters revved up the union’s membership in Atlanta on Saturday at a rally just days before high-stakes contract talks with UPS are set to resume.
Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien took the stage of the union’s local hall in South Atlanta to whistles and cheers and called on UPS to meet worker demands for a new 5-year contract. He also urged his membership to remain strong.
“We might get beat up, we might get bloodied, but we’ve got one more round,” O’Brien told attendees.
The UPS-Teamsters contract is the largest private-sector collective bargaining contract in the U.S., and the Teamsters represent more than 340,000 UPS workers across the nation, but the current deal is scheduled to expire at the end of the month.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
UPS is a vital cog in global commerce and supply chains. The Sandy Springs-based company says that as much as 6% of U.S. gross domestic product moves across its network each day.
A strike, if one happens, could throw a wrench into the economy, with businesses and consumers scrambling to find shipping alternatives.
UPS and the union appeared to make progress in recent weeks, coming to terms on a number of outstanding issues. But then talks broke down on July 5.
Negotiations between the Teamsters and the company are set to reopen Tuesday in Washington, D.C. The union is seeking higher wages and better working conditions for all employees before their contract expires at the end of the month.
In a statement shared with the AJC on Saturday, UPS said the company supports the rights of employees to “express their views,” and highlighted where workers and the companies have found common ground in talks thus far.
“We are proud of the progress we have made to date negotiating a new contract that includes increases to our industry-leading wages and benefits for our people,” the statement said. “We agree on the vast majority of the issues the union and our people have raised. We want to return to the negotiating table to come to an agreement by August 1 that represents a win for our customers, our employees, the union and the company.”
The president of Atlanta’s Teamsters chapter, Local 728, Matt Higdon said that he is “very hopeful” the union can secure a new contract before July 31.
For Jimi Hadley, a package car driver from Roswell, these demands are personal. Hadley said that “excessive overtime is just killer,” especially in the summer heat. Among the points of agreement so far between the two sides, UPS has said the company will install air conditioning in package cars starting in 2024, if a deal is reached.
Atlanta was the last stop in the Teamsters’ nationwide worker mobilization effort. Teamsters led practice picketing on Friday, a day before the rally, outside the UPS SMART Hub, the fourth-largest UPS distribution center in the world. UPS drivers honked their horns in solidarity as they drove past workers walking in a circle on the side of the highway.
O’Brien said holding their final picketing and rally near UPS’ headquarters before discussions resumed was intentional.
“We want to make sure they know we are very present in their backyard on the eve of going back to the table,” O’Brien said Friday at the picketing event.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Higdon, the Atlanta Teamsters leader, said that the union’s contract negotiation “sets the bar for labor across the country.”
“It’s for Georgia, it’s for every state, it’s for working people in general,” Higdon said.
Higdon said the Teamsters are prepared to strike, if they must, to get the agreement he believes they deserve.
“It would be very wise of them to give this agreement to these people because if they don’t we’re going to have to shut this company down on August 1st,” Higdon said. “We don’t want to, but we may have to.”
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