Looking like a Brown out with UPS and Teamsters

When last we saw the players in our skirmish, they had agreed to give it the old college go, etending the strike/drop-dead deadline for talks to July 5.

UPS was making hopeful noises and the Teamsters’ head, Sean O’ Brien, was growling through clenched teeth.

The extra time got them nowhere. Both parties walked out, with each side waggling accusing fingers of “THEY did it!” at the other fellows as they stalked off.

The Teamsters Union said on Wednesday United Parcel Service “walked away” from negotiations over a new contract, a claim the shipping giant denied, lobbing its own accusation that the union had stopped negotiating.

The two sides traded salvos in early morning statements as they attempt an agreement to prevent a strike when the current contract, which covers some 340,000 workers, expires at the end of the month.

Workers of UPS have already authorized a strike should the talks break down. Such a labor action would be the first since 1997 for UPS workers, in a strike that lasted 15 days, cost the company $850 million and sent some customers to rivals.

What’s happened in the week since? Well, UPS workers are “practicing” for when they have picket lines to walk. I really am surprised this is a thing, but I guess it is.

The usual suspects are getting their activist/street cred photo ops done for campaign season, rallying the Democratic shock troops.

Today @AOC spoke to workers at a UPS practice picket line.

Teamsters at UPS are getting ready for what could be the biggest strike in modern history. pic.twitter.com/PN5rCr9sEN

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) July 7, 2023

The Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear, is on the rah-rah Teamster train. This seems like shameless vote buying from a state executive, but that’s just me.

In Kentucky, we have 14,619 @Teamsters members that work hard every day at UPS to provide for their families.

Good wages and healthcare are not only what these hard working Kentuckians have earned and deserve, but it also will help grow and drive our economy for years to come.

— Andy Beshear (@AndyBeshearKY) June 30, 2023

It’s not too surprising that Democratic politicians are cheering on the package apocalypse. They know which side their bread is buttered on and it has always been unions spreading the big blue largesse. There was over $4.5M handed out in the 2022 cycle from the Teamsters’ coffers.

…A strike could disrupt supply chains nationwide. According to UPS, the company transports more than 3% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GPD) and roughly 6% of the United States GDP every day.

But the Teamsters aren’t only an economic force in the U.S. — they are important politically. The union regularly endorses candidates for elections at state and federal levels. The Teamsters’ political action committee, Democratic, Republican, Independent Voter Education (DRIVE), spent $14.39 million during the 2022 election cycle, according to public records.

Leave it to Republican congressman Max Miller (OH) to pipe up after talks collapsed with an evenhanded tweet. One of the few that struck just the right “work it out” notes, I thought.

Both @UPS & @Teamsters are invaluable to America’s Economic Security.
 #UPSTeamsters deserve a fair contract. Both sides should continue to negotiate in good faith.
 
This is not a time for government interference.

— Congressman Max Miller (@RepMaxMiller) July 7, 2023

Rep Miller’s concern about government interference seems to be premature, however. According to Charlie Gasparino, the Biden administration – while making all the proper noises – is all in for enabling the Teamsters to break UPS on their way to conquering Amazon. He has a really fascinating report on the collateral damage happening to a smaller trucking company at this moment which is laying the groundwork for the Teamsters to triumph.

…Bidenomics is also about picking winners and losers in the economy — and putting possibly 30,000 average Americans out of work for the sake of cozying up with the president’s union buddies at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. If you don’t believe me, consider the sorry spectacle surrounding a trucking company named Yellow, and its slow walk into oblivion because Sleepy Joe doesn’t want to piss off a union whose support he needs to shore up as the 2024 election approaches.

The smaller company is a firm called Yellow. It is teetering on the edge of annihilation if it cannot get the Teamsters to work with it on a restructuring plan to save the company and the 30K jobs that come with it.

The sticking point in the plan for the Teamsters is not job elimination – it doesn’t eliminate any – but the fact that Yellow drivers also load trucks. The Teamsters are having no part of such a requirement. Union president O’Brien isn’t budging.

Seems like a smallish issue to work through, no? But there’s a bigger picture as far as O’Brien’s concerned, and he’s willing to “flush” 30,000 jobs to do it if he has to.

…But the numbers suggest the company’s bankruptcy fears are real. Meanwhile, evidence is growing that O’Brien is using Yellow as a proxy in his war with a bigger, more lucrative foe, UPS. If he can prove to UPS he is willing to play hardball with Yellow — even killing the company — UPS might cave and agree to union demands on salary and more, industry observers say. A work stoppage won’t put UPS out of business, but the threat of a long strike from a proven, determined enemy would certainly be bad for business given the uncertain economy.

Where’s the labor department, transportation secretary, anybody?

…Insiders believe Sleepy Joe & Co. are partners in O’Brien’s plan. Consider: As a result of the Trump bailout, the Biden Treasury now holds about 30% of the company’s stock and it is owed hundreds of millions in debt. Yellow employs more unionized truckers than any company other than UPS, a key voting demo for Democrats.

Logically, it makes sense for Sleepy Joe and his peeps to tell the Teamsters they need to cut some deal. But after making some half-ass efforts at facilitating a truce, Yellow says it’s been radio silence from the White House on this matter.

It’s easy to see how the political types around Sleepy Joe are in cahoots with the Teamsters because they both have bigger union business to do by crushing the much larger foe in UPS.

It’s all very cynical if true — Yellow isn’t exactly small-fry. If it imploded, 30,000 jobs, 22,000 of which are unionized, would evaporate. These are good, blue-collar jobs, paying $39.95 an hour in salary and benefits, the company tells me.

Cynical yet…as if you weren’t already?

The Labor Secretary, Julie Su, says she’s gonna let the boys work it out between themselves.

US labor secretary sees no need now to step into UPS-Teamsters talks

…”That is right,” Su said on CNN when asked if she felt there was no need for her to intervene at this stage. She added she expected the parties to respect the bargaining process.

DON’T MAKE ME COME IN THERE

For the moment, Teamsters’ head O’Brien is already touting the gains made at the table with UPS before the talks collapsed.

Concessions that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters won from United Parcel Service Inc. promise to reshape the trucking business, even with the broader labor situation unsolved, and give organized labor a surer foothold at Amazon.com Inc. and other delivery firms that rely on contractors.

Before negotiations collapsed on July 5, UPS agreed to end a two-tier wage system that the union says short changes part-time drivers who also do warehouse work, as well as outfit its delivery trucks with air conditioning for the first time. Because of the way collective bargaining works, it’s unlikely that those agreements would be revisited, strike or no strike.

While the company and the union are apart on wages and other economic issues, the Teamsters showed it’s possible to regain ground that the union lost during the late 1980s through the Great Recession, creating the conditions for a spillover effect into other companies, business and labor observers say. That gives unions a new organizing argument as it battles automation and dwindling membership.

Basically waving the collective bargaining agreements as a warning cudgel to the other corporation s that have contracts pending renewals this coming year and to the corporations they are intent on unionizing.

…Teamsters President Sean O’Brien has long planned to use the union’s success as marketing for Amazon workers, saying in a 2021 interview with Bloomberg Law that the union planned to deploy part-time UPS and DHL employees to have one-on-one conversations with Amazon workers.

I think it’s called a “swarm.”

Retail businesses – especially small ones – need to be making work-around plans about 2 weeks ago. FedEx has already said they’re going to limit what extra they’ll be picking up and, while the Post Office will accept all comers, expect that the comers will take a while to get where they’re going.

…FedEx issued an advisory Thursday that there will be limits to how many shipments it will accept from businesses if a strike starts at UPS, and the limit will be based on the volume the customer shipped during the week July 17 to July 21 period.

“In the event of an industry disruption, FedEx’s priority is protecting capacity and service for existing customers,” said a memo that FedEx sent to its sales force Thursday. “Over the last six months, we have been actively communicating with current and potential customers and urging them to transition business while capacity is available. Time is now running out.”

FedEx’s memo also said its retail locations “will only accept drop-off volume that can be processed and stored until the next pickup to avoid overflow.”

The Postal Service said it will accept all packages tendered to it, as long as they are within normal weight and size limits.

What mail-order ammunition businesses will do, I have no idea.

And I certainly hope the employees at Yellow are happy with what their union dues bought them if the company goes under.

I’m sure glad the “adults” are back in charge, even if it’s hard to find them. It would be so boring otherwise.