BY CAPPY KIDD
CHICAGO - A surprise walkout by 3,000 United Parcel Service
(UPS) package handlers and drivers paralyzed the operations of
the sunrise shift at 12 Chicago-area facilities December 9. The
walkout was called by Teamsters Local 705 to protest
supervisors doing union work, numerous unsettled grievances,
and the company's refusal to implement the contract that ended
the 1997 national UPS strike.
"We told UPS, `Hey, we are not playing. You have to respect our contract.' It was just a one-day strike but it got their attention and they're negotiating now," said Sonny Gavilan, 24, who has worked at UPS for five years.
Gavilan and Fiore Auriene spoke with Militant correspondents a few days after the walkout. Auriene is also 24 with four years on the job, and both are package handlers at "the Catch," the largest UPS center in the world.
Failure to live up to the contract is a key issue for the thousands of package handlers who work part-time at UPS. After the 1997 strike, UPS agreed to convert 10,000 part-time jobs to full-time positions over a five-year period.
"There are over 1,000 people on each of the four shifts at the Catch and I don't know of anyone who has been given a full- time job," said Auriene.
Teamsters Local 705 represents more than 11,000 UPS workers in Chicago. Local 705 spokesman Paul Waterhouse was quoted in the December 10 Chicago Tribune saying, "We have grievances on a daily basis. When you add up what we have caught them doing, it's the equivalent of 50 full-time jobs." Other union officials said the company's estimated 1,000 supervisors work an extra 20 to 25 minutes a day handling packages.
Gavilan and Auriene told the Militant that UPS has been claiming they weren't doing the volume of business necessary to create the full-time jobs. "But they made over a billion dollars in profits in 1997 and they are projecting $2 billion this year. How can they possibly claim the volume isn't there?" said Gavilan.
"The corporations don't care about the workers. To them, we are just the machinery," said Auriene.
When asked if they would be willing to resume the strike if the company continues to stonewall, Auriene said he would be more than happy to go back out and Gavilan responded he would be the first on the picket line.
Cappy Kidd is a member of the United Auto Workers.