ONLINE VERSION	VOLUME 106 - NUMBER 8 - SEPTEMBER 1997

Labor Rallies to Teamsters' Aid in UPS Fight

The BMWE joined the rest of the labor movement in rallying around the Teamsters in their fight for justice against the United Parcel Service (UPS). At press time, more than 185,000 Teamsters were entering their third week on strike, though President Clinton announced that the two sides were coming closer to reaching an agreement. The Teamsters are standing strong for more full-time jobs. The company's final offer would add only 200 full-time positions a year, versus 2,500 in the union's proposal. UPS has been in the forefront of the trend to using more part-time, contingent and temporary workers in the United States. Some 38,000 of the 46,000 new jobs the company has created since 1993 have been part-time slots. Part-timers now make up about 60 percent of all the company's unionized employees. As many as 10,000 union workers classified as part time in reality work a full 35-hour week, but still are paid at part-time wages. "By paying these workers half the wages of full-time workers," the AFL-CIO Executive Council said, "the company has been able to rack up record profits." UPS, which controls over 80 percent of the small-package delivery market in the country, had $1 billion in profits last year. A recent study from Cornell University found that two-thirds of the part-time UPS workers who left the company did so because they did not have the opportunity to move up to a full-time job. UPS also wants to force workers' pension money into a company-controlled fund. "This is a fight over corporate greed and the future of working people," said Teamsters President Ron Carey. "Working families are tired of taking it on the chin. We're not going to let big companies like UPS continue to undermine good jobs in America." You can help UPS workers fight for the future by: 1. Shipping with another carrier. 2. Calling or writing your local UPS office or call toll-free 1-800-PICK-UPS (1-800-742-5877) and tell the company that our economy needs good full-time jobs. 3. Wear a blue ribbon to show your support for UPS workers' fight for good American jobs. At press time on August 19 we received word that the union reached a tentative agreement with UPS. Details will be furnished in the next issue of the Journal.