UPS worker details low pay, poor working conditions as potential strike looms: 'Really damaging'
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters are voting on whether to authorize a strike if the union and UPS can't reach a new contract agreement
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}UPS workers living paycheck to paycheck have been hoping a strike won’t occur but will be left with no other option if their working conditions don’t improve with a new contract, a UPS warehouse worker told Fox News Digital.
"A strike is something that nobody wants to happen," Luigi Morris, a New York-based UPS worker, said. "But we don't want to have another five years of low wages and bad working conditions and a contract that totally goes in favor of the company that keeps making billions in profit."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}UPS workers nationwide have been voting over the last week on whether to authorize a strike if their union – the International Brotherhood of Teamsters – does not reach a new contract with UPS by August 1. The results of the strike authorization vote will be released Friday and is expected to pass.
UPS and Teamsters are negotiating for a new contract. The union is asking for air conditioning units in delivery trucks as one of the terms. (Getty Images)
The strike authorization vote is a "tool for the union to have more power in the negotiation," Morris said. "We work hard, we make things work. So UPS should do their own part, so we can keep bringing this service to the community."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}UPS and Teamsters – a union that represents more than 340,000 UPS workers – have been negotiating a new contract since April after many UPS employees expressed their displeasure with the 2018 contract and the company's working conditions. The union's requests included higher wages, longer breaks and air conditioning in delivery trucks after some drivers fainted from the extreme heat last summer.
"If these demands are not met we might go on a strike," Morris, a member of Teamsters 804, told Fox News. "[UPS] has the capacity to give us what we’re asking for."
On Tuesday, UPS announced an agreement between their company and Teamsters to add air conditioning along with other heat safety measures in delivery vehicles, but other strike issues are still being discussed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We continue to make meaningful progress in our negotiations with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters," a UPS spokesperson told Fox News in a statement. "As with labor negotiations in other industries, the Teamsters will hold – and its members will overwhelmingly approve – a strike authorization vote."
"This vote is a routine part of the bargaining process and does not mean that there will be a strike," the statement read. "We respect this step in the process and remain committed to making progress at the bargaining table."
More than 340,000 UPS workers are represented by Teamsters. Morris says a new contract would be a positive impact on nearly one million lives including those workers families. (Courtesy: Luigi Morris)
More Americans have become reliant on delivery services over in-store visits since the COVID-19 pandemic. But a strike at UPS, which ships around 24 million packages per day, could lead to price surges and long delivery delays.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}UPS workers "live paycheck to paycheck," Morris said. "I understand you might not receive your package for three days or a week, but for us that also means we don’t have income for a whole week. That's really damaging."
Morris, a part-time UPS worker, says he hopes a strike won't happen as he doesn't want to lose his salary for the week. But he feels the UPS workers will have no choice but to strike if UPS and Teamsters can't reach a new contract to improve the working conditions. (Fox News Digital)
Morris, a part-time UPS warehouse worker, has two jobs to make ends meet.
"It’s impossible to balance out especially for me living in New York City," Morris said. "I work seven days a week."
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"I'm unhappy because it's a lot of effort, and it's not easy to wake up at 1:30 in the morning," he continued. "We really work hard … and then you see that those things are not compensated."
Morris told Fox News that if Teamsters and UPS reach an agreement with a new contract, it would also set a precedent for better treatment of organized labor workers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}New York UPS workers vote on whether to authorize a strike if UPS and Teamsters can't reach a new contract by August 1. (Courtesy: Luigi Morris)
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"If we can get better wages and better working conditions, then FedEx workers, families and workers, they might feel encouraged to fight for the same," Morris said. "Then we are talking about more millions of workers having a better life."
"I feel like most of the working class [are] suffering with inflation, economic recession [and] possible uncertainty," he said. "Hopefully this can bring more stability to our lives."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}To hear more from the UPS worker, click here.