PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania — Last Friday, Teamsters in practice picket lines in major cities across the country, including this one, sent a message to the United Parcel Service that they will strike if their demands are not met.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and Sara Innamorato, a candidate for Allegheny County’s chief executive, came together with other local Democrats and the Allegheny-Fayette County Labor Council, which represents over 100,000 workers in western Pennsylvania, and joined the Teamsters to “rally for a fair contract.” They waved signs that read “UPS TEAMSTERS JUST PRACTICING FOR A JUST CONTRACT.”
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Talks between the Teamsters and UPS halted in early July. Since then, union workers have held a series of rallies across the country to draw attention to their concerns with the company. The current contract expires on Monday, July 31, one week from today.
Talks were set to resume Tuesday as the strike deadline looms. According to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters' website, the union represents more than half of the company’s workforce, including UPS package car drivers, air drivers, feeder drivers, part-time loaders, unloaders, sorters, clerks, and mechanics.
UPS is also the single largest employer in the Teamsters union and its contract is the largest private collective bargaining agreement in North America.
Economic analysts, large and small business leaders, and local elected officials all fear the massive disruption to the economy if deliveries are halted. The last time the Teamsters struck UPS was more than 20 years ago, long before the economy became centered on e-commerce and depended on the service to the extent that it does today.
The possibility of intervention in the strike from the White House, in the same way President Joe Biden stepped in to stop a railroad strike, got a hard "no" from Teamsters president Sean O’Brien in a call with members on Sunday.
"We don’t need anybody getting involved in this fight," he said.
O’Brien, a colorful and blunt character, added, “My neighborhood where I grew up in Boston, if two people had a disagreement and you had nothing to do with it, you just kept walking.”
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Logistics experts Pitney Bowes estimated UPS ships on an average day 24 million packages. A stoppage in those deliveries will not only affect the nation's ability to do business or buy products, but it will also add to already strained supply chain issues.
The Anderson Economic Group forecasted that the U.S. economy would lose close to $7 billion in a 10-day strike, with workers themselves losing upwards of $1.1 billion in lost wages. UPS itself would lose $816 million in profit.