ROANOKE, Va. – A United Parcel Service (UPS) workers’ strike became more of a possibility Wednesday as talks between the company and the Teamsters union representing workers broke down.
Both sides accused each other of abandoning labor negotiations aimed at averting what would be the largest strike in the U.S. since the 1950s.
Teamsters Local 171 represents UPS workers from Roanoke, Dublin, and Lynchburg. Vice-President of the group, Scott Barry, continues to receive updates from the group’s president who’s up in Washington negotiating.
“As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, the latest proposal from UPS was unanimously voted down by Teamsters,” Barry said.
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UPS released a statement in part saying, “Refusing to negotiate, especially when the finish line is in sight, creates significant unease among employees and customers and threatens to disrupt the U.S. economy.”
Contractual talks had appeared to be making progress as recently as last week, with agreements on a range of issues including installing air conditioning in trucks and eliminating a two-tier pay system for part-timers buy pay rises remain a sticking point.
“We just want them to pay up. We want them to give us what we deserve. They’re a multi-billion dollar corporation that made over 100 billion last year. We just want them to pay up and give what we deserve,” Barry said.
Michael Bergeron has worked at UPS for over 20 years in Roanoke. He and several of his colleagues live under the poverty level.
“How do we pay mortgages? How do we pay rent? How do we put food on the table,” Bergeron said.
A walkout would be risky for both sides, with parcel volumes waning as the economy slows and the pandemic boom fades, leaving competitors with the capacity to absorb some of the business.
UPS says it delivers the equivalent of about 6% of the nation’s gross domestic product, meaning a work stoppage could lead to frustrations for U.S. consumers and disrupt the many businesses that depend on speedy shipping.
The last time UPS faced a strike was in 1997 when the 15-day stoppage cost UPS hundreds of millions of dollars.
For weeks, some workers have stood outside their respective UPS hubs while practicing picketing.
“We want to get the company’s attention...know that we are serious about this. Show them we got that strength in numbers and they see people do it every week, they realize how serious this is and they need to get serious about negotiating,” Barry said.