Tampa UPS Teamsters organize for hazard pay
Tampa, FL – With the ongoing COVID-19 crisis putting workers at risk and UPS making huge profits, many rank-and-file Teamsters are demanding hazard pay. Teamsters in Tampa, Florida are organizing co-workers to fight for it.
Rank-and-file Teamsters activists distributed buttons and stickers to UPSers with the slogan “Hazard pay for UPS workers.”
“We want to unite our co-workers around the demand for hazard pay. We’re encouraging folks to wear the buttons at work,” said Gage LaCharite, a UPS warehouse worker. “This is the first step in a national campaign to win hazard pay. UPS just announced they made $1 billion in profits for the first quarter of 2020 – hazard pay for all UPS workers for the rest of this crisis is something the company can do. The money is there.”
Many workers across the country have won hazard pay increases including Amazon and Teamsters at Kroger. Teamster leaders James Hoffa Jr. and Denis Taylor have made it clear they will not negotiate hazard pay for UPS Teamsters.
“Hoffa and Taylor not pushing the company for hazard pay is disappointing but not surprising. This is only the latest concession they’ve given them,” said Elizabeth Kramer, an unloader. “We need to pressure them to represent Teamsters across the country. If they aren’t willing to fight for the members, they need to get out of office.”