The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is embroiled in heated contract negotiations with UPS and Yellow that could sideline more than 350,000 truckers if deals are not struck by the end of July.
Yellow has effectively run out of cash as its pandemic loan debt and inability to generate a profit weigh down an operation that is nearly a century old. Management has asked for concessions, but Teamsters bosses have dug in their heels. According to reports, Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien issued a testy tweet calling for the company’s CEO, Darren D. Hawkins, to resign.
“If ‘Do Nothing Darren’ continues he will single handily destroy a once honorable company … RESIGN NOW… Our members are done making bad investments…..” O’Brien reportedly tweeted.
Despite the union’s rank-and-file membership having dwindled, O’Brien and other union officials appear unwilling to make wholesale compromises to maintain Yellow’s 22,000 jobs.
“These companies for generations have treated labor as the cost that they can extract their profit from when other costs are more rigid and higher. When those costs go up, they look to labor to come down, so that way they can satisfy their investors,” Benjamin Dictor, an attorney who represents Teamsters Local 804, reportedly said. “One of the things that you’re hearing from Sean O’Brien is that that’s not the case. Some aspects of labor are a fixed cost. If you can’t afford gasoline, you better get the f— out of the trucking business.”
Teamsters negotiators appear to be making tough gains in their talks with UPS. The contract covering upwards of 340,000 employees is set to expire on Aug. 1. But a recent announcement indicates UPS officials have compromised on key issues.
The company reportedly agreed to end its dual wage system that pays part-time drivers $5 an hour less than full-time drivers, who can make as much as $39 an hour. Teamsters also successfully ended mandatory overtime and got UPS to agree to add Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a paid holiday. Reports indicate O’Brien went on the record before talks began in Washington, D.C., saying these issues were non-negotiable.
“We had part-timers going to work in these warehouses with total disregard for themselves and their families” during the pandemic, O’Brien reportedly said. “We had members that died because they went to work to provide these services to the general public.”
Teamster lawyer Dictor said that a “generational shift” is occurring in organized labor and unions have drawn a line in the sand.
Sources:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-teamsters-willing-sacrifice-22-110000492.html
https://www.ajot.com/news/ups-agrees-to-ax-two-tier-wage-system-in-win-for-teamsters
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