Lansing, MI – Teamsters in Lansing and Detroit conducted practice pickets at UPS centers on Friday, June 30. Members marched, held signs and chanted, putting pressure on the company to present a last, best and final offer. These pickets come days after the National Negotiating Committee issued a 48-hour deadline for UPS to issue such an offer. In a June 28 press release, General President Sean O’Brien said, “The largest single-employer strike in American history now appears inevitable.” Later that day, the company softened its bargaining stance and the deadline was extended to July 5.
Lansing, MI – As UPS moves out from its peak season, the company is ending market rate adjustments (MRAs) and bonus programs designed to attract workers and boost part-time employees’ pay. The negotiated part-time pay rate for workers hired since August 1, 2018 is $15.33 per hour, with a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) included. Teamsters Local 623 reports that UPS paid its members $19 an hour as part of an MRA and the workers are taking a 27% pay cut as the adjustments expire.
Lansing, MI – 120 protesters rallied for Palestine at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. After handing out flags, signs and water, the crowd gathered on the capitol steps to hear from the organizers and to chant, “Free, free Palestine!”
Lansing, MI – 120 protesters rallied for Palestine at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. After handing out flags, signs and water, the crowd gathered on the capitol steps to hear from the organizers and to chant, “Free, free Palestine!”
Lansing, MI – On Saturday, March 20, hundreds of protesters gathered in southwest Lansing to unite against police crimes, eviction, ICE detention centers, military intervention and capitalism. 17 groups hosted the event in Risdale Park.
Lansing, MI – A group of 40 stagehands from across Michigan gathered at the State Capitol building in Lansing, March 17. The IATSE union stagehands are marking one year without work and demanding the extension of unemployment benefits until it is safe to return to their jobs.
Lansing, MI – 120 union members and supporters marched through downtown Lansing, July 15, chanting, “They say cut back! We say fight back!” The march stopped at a union worker statue where Nick Eaton of IATSE Local 247 spoke, “This statue represents the workers who built the new buildings you see in front of you. It also reflects the history of factory workers before deindustrialization left ugly scenes and empty lots, like many cities in the Midwest.”
Lansing, MI – Police brutality protests continue in both Lansing and East Lansing after the downtown march on May 31 but they are not the only challenge to police brutality based in the Lansing metropolitan area. Black Lives Matter-Lansing and One Love Global hosted a live “Call to Action” on Facebook and Eventbrite.
Lansing, MI – UPS announced first quarter profits of $965 million. The profits are down only slightly from last year’s $1.1 billion, despite the closure of many commercial businesses. UPS has filled this commercial business shortfall with an increase in residential delivery, causing long hours of work for package car drivers.
Lansing, MI – In the April 13 edition of USA Today, Teamster head James P. Hoffa and three other labor leaders signed an outrageous letter entitled “Coronavirus is a stress test for capitalism, and we see encouraging signs.” The article fawned over the same companies that rank-and-file Teamsters across the country are fighting every day. It was especially outrageous given that Teamsters in many industries still lack appropriate PPE, sanitary working conditions, information and hazard pay.
