The 1997 United Parcel Service strike: A Victory for Workers

The 1997 United Parcel Service strike was a pivotal moment for workers' rights. It was a five-week strike that began on August 4, 1997.

The strike was sparked by a disagreement over wages and benefits, with the union demanding a 22% increase in wages. The company, on the other hand, was only willing to offer a 3.5% raise.

The strike was ultimately a victory for the workers, with the company agreeing to a 9% raise and other concessions. This was a significant win for the union and set a precedent for future labor negotiations.

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The Teamsters' strike authorization vote showed 93% of members voting to strike, sending UPS into a scramble.

UPS's chief negotiator, David Murray, distributed an audiotape to upper management stating that $8 an hour was more than enough for even the full-time workers.

The union ignored UPS's demand to destroy their new, edited version of the tape and provide the names of all those it was distributed to.

On August 4th, following repeated delays by management and their insulting last offer, the Teamsters called a strike.

Over 185,000 hub workers and drivers, along with over 2,000 pilots and mechanics, walked out of work to join the picket lines.

In Massachusetts and Rhode Island, workers clashed with police as they tried to stop scab drivers.

Competing corporations like USPS and FedEx could not handle the sudden extra daily traffic of over 11 million packages.

UPS lost upwards of $40 million each day.

Delivery drivers walked their normally-assigned routes, going door-to-door to explain the situation directly to the community.

They won support by explaining the necessity of the strike and how people could help by donating to the Teamsters' strike fund, visiting picket lines, and boycotting UPS.

Public support grew so large that opinion polls showed 55% of Americans supported the strike, and a majority opposed government intervention.

After 15 days of striking, UPS conceded to the Teamsters' demands.

The 1997 United Parcel Service strike had a significant impact on the union and its members. The strike forged a new generation of union activists.

Being on the picket line was a transformative experience for many, including Reiman, who says it made him a union activist. He learned that management wasn't just about writing paychecks, but also about taking away workers' rights.

The strike also led to significant gains for UPS workers, including wage increases and pension raises of up to 50 percent.

Carey created the Field Services Department to organize contract campaigns and run strikes for contracts negotiated by the international union in Washington.

The department trained a crew of field representatives for the upcoming UPS contract campaign, with forty people from a cross-section of the Teamster membership being trained to focus exclusively on the campaign.

"We wanted people we could count on", David Eckstein, the Field Services Department director, recalled.

The field representatives were expected to work around uncooperative local officials, mostly old-guard figures allied with James P. Hoffa.

Carey made it clear that the full weight of the general president's office would be brought to bear on uncooperative local officials, including the possibility of trusteeship.

The international union held a national contract meeting with two representatives from each of the 206 local unions representing UPS workers to outline contract goals and strategy.

The meeting took place four days before national negotiations began, on March 7.

UPS Teamsters rallied in ten major cities three days later, giving them confidence that the international union was solidly behind their most important demands and grievances.

The strike against UPS was a massive success, with the company agreeing to raise pensions by as much as 50 percent and pay the biggest wage increases ever.

The strike also sparked a new generation of union activists, as Reiman, a UPS worker, notes that being on the picket line made him a union activist and taught him that management wasn't just about writing paychecks, but also about taking away workers' rights.

UPS workers in Europe rallied in support of the Teamsters, with the International Transport Workers Federation turning its London headquarters into a global command center for strike activities.

The ITF's leaflet "UPS: Importing Misery from America" was translated into five languages and distributed across Europe, showcasing the international solidarity behind the strike.

German UPS workers, represented by the ÖTV, coordinated strike support throughout Germany, including Cologne, the location of UPS's air hub for European operations.

International solidarity kept spreading, with railroad workers in India refusing to transport UPS packages and workers in the Philippines organizing a motorcade of one hundred cars that surrounded the UPS subcontractor in Manila and prevented the delivery of packages for a day.

The company reached a tentative agreement with the Teamsters on August 20, 1997, fifteen days after the strike began, marking a historic turning point for working people in the US.

The strike lasted for 15 days, shutting down UPS nationwide and leaving managers struggling to make even a tiny fraction of deliveries.

Drivers followed supervisors when they took trucks out during the strike, which was "very entertaining" to see, according to Bolton.

The strike changed the managers' perspective, as they realized how vulnerable they were to the drivers' knowledge of delivery routes.

UPS invested heavily in technology to track both packages and drivers after the strike.

The Victory was a significant milestone in the strike's progress.

UPS agreed to raise pensions by as much as 50 percent.

The strike also forged a new generation of union activists.

Reiman, a union member, credits the strike for making him a union activist. He says that being on the picket line made him realize that management wasn't just about writing paychecks, but also about taking away workers' rights.

In Europe, transport unions rallied to support the Teamsters.

The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) turned its London-based headquarters into a global command center for strike activities.

The ITF's leaflet, "UPS: Importing Misery from America", was translated into five languages and distributed across Europe.

German UPS workers, represented by the ÖTV, coordinated strike support throughout Germany.

The ÖTV even endorsed a strike action in Germany, despite concerns about its legality.

International solidarity kept spreading, with railroad workers in India refusing to transport UPS packages and workers in the Philippines organizing a motorcade to surround a UPS subcontractor.

The company eventually reached a tentative agreement with the Teamsters on August 20, 1997.

UPS agreed to the union's main demands, including creating ten thousand full-time jobs and the largest wage increases in UPS history.

The company also backed off its plan to hijack the full-timers' pension fund.

Historian Nelson Lichtenstein noted that the strike ended the "PATCO syndrome", a period in which a strike was synonymous with defeat and demoralization.

The Strike of the Future is still a significant victory in US labor history. It remains the most important victory by industrial workers in the last four decades in the United States.

The 1997 UPS strike was a multi-racial strike that traversed the "Blue State-Red State" divide. John Sweeney said it was a game-changer for organizing.

The US and world economy is now organized around the logistics industry like UPS. Logistics giants such as FedEx, Walmart, and Amazon are as visible in daily life as UPS was in 1997.

Today, Amazon might employ nearly four hundred thousand workers by the summer of 2018. If a labor movement is to be rebuilt in this country, it will have to organize logistics giants like Amazon.

The UPS contract campaign and 1997 strike provide one successful model for fighting a logistics giant.

The 1997 strike against United Parcel Service (UPS) offers valuable lessons for the current fight.

The fight today mirrors the strike of 1997, with demands like more full-time positions and higher wages.

UPS and the Teamsters agreed to abolish the notorious “22.4” full-time position in 1997.

The “22.4” position paid less than full-time Regular Package Car Drivers (RPCDs) and forced workers to work six days a week, often up to 60-70 hours a week.

The success of the Teamsters in securing a strong contract in 1997 set higher standards for wages and working conditions across the industry.

The Teamsters also fought to end workplace harassment and surveillance in 1997, a demand that remains relevant today.