Commerce City, CO – On Friday, August 2, a group of Teamsters at the UPS facility in Commerce City, part of the Denver metro area, confronted management to demand immediate action to address the excessive heat inside the building.

Many of these workers are part of the Shop Floor Educators, a group founded earlier this year to educate employees about their legal and contractual rights. They marched to managements’ offices to present a petition with over 800 signatures, calling for measures to address unsafe working conditions caused by high temperatures.

The petition demands the installation of more fans throughout the building to ensure proper ventilation, as well as air conditioning in break rooms during the summer months to provide workers with a space to cool down if they begin to suffer from symptoms of heat-related illness.

This year, 2024, is on track to be the hottest year on record, and stickers with the slogan “Cool zones now!” are visible throughout the Commerce City building, reflecting the urgency and popularity of the demands.

“These unsafe working temperatures are getting worse year after year, and management's ‘just keep drinking water’ advice is not adequate,” said Audrey Pandolfi, a rank-and-file Teamster who participated in the march.

Every year, UPS workers across the country suffer from heat exhaustion, with some incidents resulting in death. The concrete and metal UPS distribution facilities often trap heat inside due to poor ventilation, putting the workers who load trucks and sort and process packages at constant risk of overheating and becoming sick while on the job.

“At UPS, deaths happen every single year due to how hot it becomes,” said Keegan Estrella, a part-time UPS worker and Teamsters representative on the Safety Committee at Commerce City. “We're not asking for the world right now; we're asking for heat safety.”

The demonstration was seen as a success by participants. The UPS preload manager said he would discuss the workers' demands with the human resources department and address them at the upcoming monthly Safety Committee meeting.

Anthony Cole, a rank-and-file Teamster who played a key role in gathering petition signatures, underscored the power of collective action, stating, “Showing solidarity matters. Solidarity always makes the company scared. Solidarity lets other members know that there are those who are fighting. This may inspire other members to do the same – to join the fight or fight a little harder. And with more members comes more power. Change needs workers to come together. These actions let everybody know that, together, workers can make change for the better.”

The next monthly Safety Committee meeting will be in the coming week, and several workers have stated they will be there to show support for the demands.

#CommerceCityCO #Teamsters #UPS #UnitedParcelService #Labor

Salt Lake City, UT – UPS Teamsters are working extremely long hours in hazardous conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, putting themselves and their families at risk with no hazard pay. UPS was late to provide sufficient personal protective equipment for workers and only did so after workers demanded it. Still, many areas lack the appropriate PPE to stay safe at work. The Teamsters union has not put hazard pay on the negotiating table for UPS Teamsters; workers are organizing on the shop floor to win their demand. UPS recently announced their quarterly profits at almost $1 billion.

“UPS is making hundreds of millions in profit during the pandemic and refuses to take our safety seriously. Along with our demands for safety, we demand Hazard Pay for working in hazardous conditions,” said Nick Godfrey, a part-time UPS worker in Salt Lake City

The call-in days are planned for May 19 through May 21. Workers demanding hazard pay on the shop floor and are now pushing the director of the Teamster Package Division, Denis Taylor, to take up the demands of the union workers he represents rather than making continued concessions to the company.

#SaltLakeCityUT #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #UnitedParcelService #HazardPay

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.

The concessionary Teamster mis-leadership has declared that they will not seek hazard pay from UPS. They are instead operating on the logic that the union must cooperate with and concede to the company to maintain operations.

In early March, before the U.S. government had taken much action against the coronavirus, UPS’ CFO Brian Newmann was quoted in Reuters, saying “Our planes are flying in and out of China right now...I think we’re trying to position ourselves to take advantage of some pent-up demand.” Even outside of UPS, the investment class is openly positioning to profit off of UPS during the pandemic. Writing for InvestorPlace Media, Chartered Financial Analyst Mark Hake characterizes coronavirus as delivering a “discount” on UPS stock and advises “UPS stock looks attractive. Its present price already discounts a lot of bad news.”

Rank-and-file members are not backing down from a fight. Breaking with the Hoffa administration, members have been circulating several petitions for hazard pay from the company. In addition, as reported in Fight Back! Teamsters in Tampa, Florida have started a campaign to demand hazard pay.

Outside of UPS, hazard pay has been offered by many retail and grocery companies, including Target, Walmart, Whole Foods, Costco, Sprouts, and Kroger, according to the Los Angeles Times. Even within the logistics industry, Amazon has increased overtime pay for warehouse workers. UPS is taking advantage of the pandemic and profit massively at the expense of the workers’ safety.

Teamsters can sign the petition for UPS hazard pay here: Hazard Pay Petition

#LansingMI #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #UnitedParcelService #COVID19 #HazardPay

Tampa, FL – UPS announced April 27 that the company would begin drone deliveries in early May. The drones would deliver medications from a local CVS pharmacy to the largest retirement community in the U.S. Experimenting with drone delivery is only the latest development in automation at UPS. While good for shareholders, automating deliveries through drones will be disastrous for UPS workers.

Drone deliveries will be limited to The Villages, a retirement community in central Florida. At first, the drones will be shuttling prescription medications from a local CVS pharmacy to a meet point where a package car driver will then deliver the medications. Eventually, however, the drones will be able to deliver the medications directly from CVS to the customer.

The drone will deliver packages to customers by hovering about 20 feet in the air and slowly lowering the medications using a cable and winch system. Previously, drone deliveries were limited to hospital campuses but now are being expanded to residential customers. UPS and CVS partnered in October of last year to explore drone delivery options for medications.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) which represents over 400,000 UPS workers, has not released any statement on this. The concessionary 2018 UPS Teamsters contract, which was passed despite a historic majority ‘No’ vote, has no language protecting Teamster jobs from automation. The contract instead allows the company to automate as long as the company meets with the union to discuss the changes.

Given the sell-out leadership of James Hoffa Jr., this contract provision amounts to nothing more than a blank check for the boss. Teamsters wanting to fight automation should support the O’Brien-Zuckerman Teamsters United slate in the 2021 IBT elections, a slate that is willing to fight against UPS and corporate greed and take back the Teamsters union for the members.

#TampaFL #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #drones #UnitedParcelService

Jacksonville, FL – Over 100 people attended a candlelight vigil at Planters Walk Apartments, May 13, in response to the police killing the day before of D'angelo Reyes Stallworth, a 28-year-old African American worker. Stallworth's family called the vigil, which brought out friends, coworkers and supporters from around Jacksonville.

Two white Jacksonville Sheriff's Office deputies killed Stallworth on May 12 after shooting him several times in the back. The police showed up at Planters Walk apartments to serve an eviction notice. They claimed that they thought Stallworth looked suspicious and got into a confrontation with him. As Stallworth ran away, both officers fired a combined six rounds, killing him.

While police claim that Stallworth drew a gun on them during their initial interaction, many witnesses and facts contradict their story. For instance, the gun that police allege Stallworth possessed was found on the patio, while the gun's magazine was found some distance away at the base of the apartment stairs.

At the vigil, Stallworth's family and their attorney, Eric S. Block, spoke briefly about the case. They emphasized that they saw serious contradictions in the police's narrative and that they would continue waging a struggle to win justice for Stallworth.

Stallworth worked at the United Parcel Service hub in Jacksonville, which is one of the three largest ground hubs for the company in the U.S. He was on medical leave from UPS when he was killed and was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Stallworth was due to return to work the following week. More than a dozen of his coworkers at UPS attended the vigil, many wearing UPS and Teamsters shirts.

Contrary to police descriptions of Stallworth as suspicious or threatening, supporters at the vigil who knew him gave a different story. “Dee was a wonderful loving person,” said Eboni Montgomery, one of Stallworth's coworkers at UPS. “It was never a dull moment with him. He could put a smile on anyone's face. That's why it's so hard to believe he's gone.”

#JacksonvilleFL #PoliceBrutality #Teamsters #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #UPS #UnitedParcelService #DangeloStallworth

Although UPS spokeswoman Natalie Black tried to place the blame for the service failure on high volume, the actual cause of the late deliveries is the greedy and exploitative policies of UPS management. November and December are the busiest and most profitable months for the giant logistics corporation, which reported fourth-quarter revenues of $14.57 billion in 2012 alone. This period, dubbed ‘peak season’ by the company, is also the time when UPS workers are asked to work the longest and most intense hours, with many drivers working 14-hour shifts.

During peak season, UPS hires a large seasonal workforce to deal with the higher volume. Most seasonal employees receive low pay and little to no training, while many permanent part-time employees work two or three jobs to make ends meet. During peak season, these part-time employees work shifts often over eight hours and many are forced to go without sleep to work their second job.

“The issue is instead of working people to the bone they should hire people full time,” said Cory Oliver, a UPS worker and member of Teamsters Local 344. “There are way too many people pulling 13 to 16 hour shifts when they're only scheduled for 3.5 hours minimum. It creates dangerous working conditions when you're working with a person that exhausted. They also rely on people who are months-in with no insurance or knowledge of their rights and take advantage.”

UPS delivers high profits to shareholders by keeping their labor costs low, which means low wages and long hours for workers. In southern states, like Florida, UPS hires temporary workers to deliver packages using unshielded golf carts. These workers are barely paid over minimum wage. UPS cuts corners by hiring these temporary workers off of the street, rather than adding more jobs and delivery routes for permanent employees during the holidays.

UPS’s long-established practice of inadequately staffing their operations seems to have finally caught up with them. Oliver put it this way: “So then they rely on drivers who don't know their routes and seasonal loaders who don't know where the boxes go, creating a back-up in service that then makes service failures for the company and customers’ gifts.”

Oliver continued, “We had one night where our entire belt, short of one load, was unable to scan [boxes]. So we were yelled at to work faster to pick up the company’s confusion of what boxes went where.”

On Dec. 26, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) released a statement about the massive service failure, saying, “For years, management has been boosting profits by shrinking the workforce – cutting and combining routes and eliminating full-time jobs inside on the package trucks and in the hubs. Excessive overtime, supervisors working and production harassment are no substitute for having enough Teamsters to get the job done right.”

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters represent UPS workers across the country. According to Article 3, Section 7 of the National UPS Master Agreement, UPS “shall make every reasonable effort to maintain a sufficient workforce to staff its operations with bargaining unit employees.”

As of Dec. 27, UPS customers continued to report late deliveries.

#JacksonvilleFL #Teamsters #UPS #TeamstersForADemocraticUnionTDU #UnitedParcelService

This anger has led to a group of part-time workers to start petitioning outside the gates of the UPS hub in Tampa, Florida. They are members Teamsters Local 79. “We’re talking to union members about our contract negotiations. We’re getting part-timers and drivers together to demand a strong contract. We won’t accept a contract that doesn’t secure higher pay and a living wage for part-timers,” said Dustin Ponder, a 24 year-old pre-loader.

UPS is the world’s largest transportation and parcel delivery company. “Part-time workers at UPS are fighting for a better contract. Production harassment has reached new limits. Starting pay is below minimum wage in some states, yet this company has earned billions in profit. We want to see good paying full-time jobs,” said Daniel Ginsberg, a member of Teamsters Local 344 in Milwaukee.

UPS reported revenues of over $53 billion dollars and a gross profit of $39.5 billion in 2011. After strong quarterly reports showing profits up in 2012, part-time Teamsters like those in Tampa and Milwaukee are fighting for an increase in the paltry starting wage. Over half of UPS’ 330,000 employees are part-timers, with the average part-time worker earning wages of $10,000 a year.

The contract between UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters will be a test for the U.S. labor movement. A major fight here could set standards for workers all over the country. With major corporations like Verizon and Caterpillar forcing through major concessions in 2011 and 2012, despite making billions in profits, the UPS negotiations could set union contract standards in 2013. Members of the Teamsters at UPS led one of the last major national strikes in 1997, winning significant gains, including the creation of thousands of full-time jobs by combining part-time work.

Many Teamsters believe that this kind of battle is called for again. Abuse of forced overtime could be solved by awarding more part-time workers full-time jobs. But UPS likes it the way it is, so it will take an organized fighting labor movement to win a fair contract at UPS.

Many workers in their mid-twenties are saying that they are ready to fight back. Dustin Ponder is one of those workers. “I hope we’re ready to go on strike again if UPS isn’t ready to pay part-timers fairly. We’re the ones who make them rich. I am ready to do whatever it takes.” He also noted the current contract negotiation’s national significance, “We need to look to the teachers in Chicago. They struck for education all over the country. Our contract is also a fight for workers all over the country. Fighting like the teachers in Chicago is the only way you can beat back the assault on working class people.”

#TampaFL #Teamsters #UPS #UPSContract #partTime #UnitedParcelService