Southern California Teamsters rally for a new contract
Orange, CA – On April 15, Teamsters in southern California held a rally around ongoing contract negotiations between the Teamsters and UPS. The rally was attended by hundreds of Teamsters from Locals 396 and 952 and featured speeches from Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien, Local 396 Secretary Treasurer Victor Mineros as well as rank-and-file members.
Currently, the union and the company are negotiating the Western and South Western Regional Supplements. Negotiations for the master contract, which covers the whole country, were set to begin on April 17, but according to a statement released by the union, the company has been unwilling to negotiate a number of key issues, and negotiations for the master contract won’t move forward until those issues are resolved.
The rally started at 12:30 p.m. when Teamsters from the Los Angeles area arrived in droves. They convened on the center stage where the first speaker, General President Sean O’Brien was introduced. In his speech, Sean O’Brien spoke about a number of critical issues that the union is willing to strike over, saying, “Part-timers are the backbone of this company. They represent the majority of the employees, and we need to make sure we drive their starting rate of pay up and we need to make sure we create more full time job opportunities for them.”
O’Brien spoke about the issues facing drivers, like the company's recent push to add more cameras in trucks, saying, “If they attempt to get inward facing cameras in this contract, that will be a strike issue.” Later on he commented on the contract’s imminent expiration, saying, “We’ve got 12 weeks until the expiration of this contract. We’ve made it clear; we will not be working beyond the expiration date of this contract.”
Thomas Katakowski, a part-timer and a shop steward from Anaheim took the stage and spoke about the struggles facing part-timers, “One of the biggest issues facing UPS part-time workers is the need for a living wage. We work for a company that made $13 billion in profits last year, yet many of their workers have a hard time keeping a roof over their heads and food on their kitchen tables. 65% of this company's workforce is part time, yet the majority of its workers struggle to survive, living paycheck to paycheck.”
When asked about the issues facing part-timers, Jeremy Arias, a southern Los Angeles shop steward agreed and said his biggest issues are better pay and harassment, “I’d like to see us getting better pay and better language around harassment. We work too hard for the shit pay that we make.” He also said he’d like to see the drivers treated better: “We have their backs just like I know they have ours as well.”
After Katakowski finished his speech, Teamsters 396 Secretary Treasurer Victor Mineros took the stage to talk about how UPS teamsters worked through the pandemic and what the members deserve, saying “We worked through the pandemic and what did we get? Nothing. But I know what this company got, $13 billion.” He added, “Do we deserve them treating us like shit? No! Do we deserve them taking our work? No! Do we deserve them forcing us to work six or seven days? No! So what we’ll get is what they owe us.”
This rally was the largest in the country so far, ahead of a possible strike starting August 1. The Teamsters haven’t mobilized rank-and-file membership in this capacity since the last UPS strike in 1997, over 25 years ago. With only 12 weeks left on the contract and union members showing up in full force to fight for their demands, it’s clear that the workers are treating this fight seriously. The struggle over a new contract is theirs to win and they have the power to do it.
