U.S. Labor News Roundup
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‘Vote No’ Movement Sends UPS Bargainers Back to Table
The largest union contract in the U.S. is on hold at United Parcel Service thanks to a Vote No movement by rank-and-file Teamsters.
Members narrowly voted to approve the national contract at UPS, covering 235,000 Teamsters, by 53 to 47 percent. But members rejected 18 regional and local contract agreements. These contracts all need to be renegotiated, re-voted, and approved by members before the national agreement can go into effect.
Sixty-three percent of UPS Teamsters are covered by local agreements that were rejected.
Although chief negotiator Ken Hall had promised no increases to health care costs, the contract does increase costs for 140,000 of the UPSers. It was soundly rejected in many of the areas where those cuts would take effect.
But health care was not the only issue. UPS has made fat profits during the recession, including $4.5 billion last year, by cutting full-time jobs and increasing harassment and excessive overtime.
The national grassroots movement Teamsters for a Democratic Union, which has a strong base at UPS, says the rejections give leverage to improve the contract.
UPSers are holding organizing meetings and rallies—and circulating petitions that say: “We’ll Keep Voting No Until UPS Gets it Right.”
Fast Food Strikes: What's the Strategy?
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The Service Employees have underwritten short strikes by fast food workers in seven cities in the last two months. The strikes seemed to come from nowhere when the first one jumped off in New York last November, but they are part of a coordinated effort by SEIU, which has been providing funds as part its project “Fight for a Fair Economy.”
Fast food is an unlikely union target, due to high turnover and layered franchise ownership. And the path forward is uncertain, say organizers. The only thing that seems sure is that typical union elections won’t work.
The union is funding groups in at least 10 cities to employ fast food organizers. In some cities the groups were created by SEIU; in other cases they aren’t related. The union sends staff to train organizers and coordinates the efforts with national phone calls. In New York, for example, a local group hired 40 fast food organizers last spring.
They initially made contact with workers by asking them to sign a petition for a campaign such as affordable housing. Using those names and phone numbers, organizers called and met with workers through the summer and fall.
The fast food campaign initially focused on New York and Chicago, but a survey of those workers showed large majorities favored unionization. That’s when SEIU expanded the effort to many more cities.
An important element is support from community leaders like clergy and city council members. Every worker who struck in St. Louis, for example, walked back in with a delegation of these leaders.
In most cases, community supporters deliver letters in advance telling management that workers are going on strike and why.
Overall, the effort seems aimed at organizing low-wage workers not into a union but into a force that could extract gains from local governments, such as a boost to the city minimum wage, or a city ordinance requiring paid sick leave.
Fast food strikers publicly are demanding $15 an hour, a bold figure that is now roughly the median annual wage in the U.S. Campaign observers hope the union will commit sustained resources, and not abandon workers if legislative goals aren’t immediately met.
“If the objective is really to raise the minimum wage [legislatively], it’s important that workers know that that’s what they’re fighting for,” said Bill Fletcher, Jr., chair of the new National Retail Justice Alliance think-tank.
