Hollywood might not be the only industry that’s on strike — pretty soon, it could be parcel carriers who are hitting the picket lines as well … namely, thousands of UPS workers.
You may not have heard of this until now, but a doomsday is fast approaching that could halt a lot of UPS’s operations across the country — which would seriously screw up the supply chain … among other facets of American life that rely on the shipping/receiving giant.
Upwards of 325,000 UPS employees are primed to stop working starting on August 1 if their Teamsters union and their UPS bosses can’t strike a new labor contract … which has been getting ironed out in recent months, but which has hit a snag on the money front.
Specifically, part-time workers’ pay is at issue. At the moment, UPS says its PT staff — which makes up a significant number of its workforce across the company — makes about $20/hour on average, after completing a 30-day period. The union is asking for a serious raise.
The union’s leader, Prez Sean O’Brien, has been quoted with some fiery language over the prospect of UPS workers hitting the streets. During a rally speech in Atlanta Saturday, per CNN Business, he said, “We’ve legalized, strategized, now it’s time to pulverize.”
BTW, this would-be strike wouldn’t just affect ground transportation — a separate union repping UPS pilots has apparently also committed to joining in solidarity if an agreement can’t be reached soon … so this would be felt both domestically and abroad too.
Of course, the backdrop of all this is the SAG and WGA strikes that are going on right now — whose members are demanding a number of things as well in their own negotiations.
While those strikes are more so entertainment-geared, a UPS strike could truly hurt the economy at large.
