United Parcel Service (UPS) is the world's most valuable express delivery giant. According to official US data, the value of its annual shipments accounts for 6% of US GDP. Most of the company's first-line express employees come from the Teamster union, and the current contract between the two parties will expire on July 31.

due to the breakdown of contract renewal negotiations, the atmosphere between the two sides was tense, and the union even said that UPS's offer for contract renewal was "insulting". At present, 340000 UPS couriers under the union have passed a strike authorization resolution with high votes and will initiate strike action when necessary.

It is reported that once the strike starts, the transportation of about 17 million packages will be affected every day, accounting for 30% of the national package volume in the United States. Anderson economic group, an American economic consulting firm, estimates that if a strike of this scale lasts for 10 days, the possible economic loss will be as high as $7 billion (about 50.5 billion yuan), "it will take at least a century to encounter a loss of this scale".

UPS transport truck

Strike action "on the line"

Unions call White House "stay out"

, Teamster union members in UPS voted with a high support rate of 97% to strike if the contract cannot be renewed after the contract expires on July 31. UPS company a total of 340000 express employees belong to the union, accounting for the number of front-line employees more than half.

in June this year, labor negotiations made progress, and the two sides reached an agreement on issues such as the installation of air conditioners for delivery trucks. But UPS insists on hiring a large number of hourly part-time workers, while the union insists on securing regular employee benefits for its members.

The Teamster union's truck drivers association chairman Sean O'Brien said that many of the current weekly work less than 40 hours of the members of the wage level can be used "poverty" described, and UPS's offer "insulting nature".

O'Brien believes that many ordinary workers in the United States have been affected by inflation and unemployment pressure in the past two years, and their lives are relatively difficult. At the same time, the profits of American business owners have reached a new high, which has caused a serious imbalance in the US economy. He said, "Our competitors are the big companies in the United States. I would like to see the top management of these companies give their employees the biggest pay increase in history, because they have all made the biggest profits in history."

On the 16th local time, O'Brien revealed to union members at the meeting that he had repeatedly appealed to Biden administration officials not to interfere in the negotiations. "We have unanimously taken a tough stance against the White House. I grew up on the streets of Boston, where if two people had a disagreement and you had nothing to do with it, you just kept walking and ignoring it. We have expressed this attitude to the White House many times and called on them to stay out of it."

White House spokesperson Karin Jean-Pierre said that although the Biden government did receive O'Brien's request, but because of the importance of the matter, the White House still insisted on maintaining contact with both sides to promote communication and reconciliation.

just last year, the White House was involved in mediating negotiations between railroad workers and bosses, getting the two sides to reach an agreement in time for the Christmas rush. It is reported that if the strike is really held, it will be the largest strike against a single employer in the history of the United States.

UPS Emergency Training Workers

Make up the strike manpower gap

UPS company official website recently issued a statement shows that the company is urgently training non union members, hoping to strike can make up for some labor gap.

"We remain committed to reaching an agreement with the union by August 1, which is a triple win for employees, customers and the company," the said in a statement. It is our responsibility to take steps to ensure that we can continue to deliver our customers' packages in the event of a strike. In the coming weeks, many of our employees will be attending training to help them safely serve our customers in the event of a workforce disruption. This interim plan will not impact current operations and this training is in line with our commitment to security and business continuity. These activities will not affect our continued efforts to finalize a new contract with the union. "

UPS employees protest over pay

In addition, in a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, UPS listed "further increases in worker compensation" as one of the factors that "may have a material adverse effect on us. The document also stated that the instability of the labor supply is inherently determined by the express business model, and in the event of a large-scale resignation or strike, the company's ability to train and hire more people in a short period of time is limited.

"If we are unable to hire, train and retain qualified employees, we may face higher labor costs, reduced revenue, further increases in worker claims, regulatory non-compliance, customer churn, and the erosion of our brand value."

A spokesman for the Truck Drivers Association said on the 16th that UPS's insistence on hiring non-union members was a "humiliation" to the Teamster union ". The spokesman told the media: "What an insult to the workers who toil every day and earn hundreds of billions of dollars a year for the company. Full-time drivers and part-time workers on a pitiful base salary deserve better from this company."

Loss or up to 7 billion dollars

Rural and other remote areas are most affected

According to information Freightwaves by the logistics professional website, 58 million packages will be delivered every day in the United States in 2022, while UPS will be responsible for 24.3 million packages every day in the United States. If UPS workers strike on a large scale, FedEx, the U.S. Postal Service, DHL and other competitors will not be able to absorb such a large backlog of orders. Although UPS itself is preparing emergency plans, the consulting company estimates that 30% of the packages (17 million packages per day) in the United States will be affected by then, of which up to 4 million packages may be lost due to poor management.

Anderson Economic Group, a study found that if the strike lasts for 10 days, it will become at least a century the most expensive strike, the loss to the U.S. economy will be more than 7 billion U.S. dollars, including customer losses of at least 4.6 billion U.S. dollars, industry workers wage losses will be more than 1 billion U.S. dollars, and at least 0.8 billion U.S. dollars of direct losses will be borne by UPS shareholders.

Terry Esper, a professor of logistics at Ohio State University in, said that rural and remote areas will be the hardest hit because UPS has worked deeply in the countryside and mountains, squeezing out competitors and making it difficult for locals to find other express delivery companies to replace them. Some small business owners are unable to change express service providers, and the time to deliver packages to customers will be greatly delayed.

In addition, in addition to the "home delivery" program that serves online shoppers, UPS has a large number of corporate customers. Esper said that supply chains such as medical equipment and auto parts may be more severely affected by the strike, because these industries often sign long-term contracts with courier companies, and it takes a high cost to find another courier to replace them in the short term..

Source: Red Star News