RIVERSIDE, Calif. — With a July 31 contract expiration date looming, and after a breakdown in negotiations with the company, Teamster union members are stepping up “practice picketing” actions in preparation for a possible strike by over 340,000 UPS workers across the country. Outside the warehouse here over 100 union members took part in a 6 p.m. shift-change picket and rally July 6.
They received an update on negotiations from Sam Stewart, Teamsters Local 63 president, who said a number of issues have been resolved in negotiations, but key questions of wages and working conditions for part-time workers who sort packages and load trucks remain. “Part-timers make up over two-thirds of the workforce,” he said. “We won’t leave the part-times behind.”
Both drivers and warehouse workers talked to the Militant about their concerns. “Discipline by the bosses” is an important issue for Demonde Morris, a driver for seven years. “They can write you up if you don’t finish your deliveries within a certain time. And if there is a package missing, they blame the driver. Strengthening union protection against this stuff is important.”
Tiffani Aquirre has worked for UPS as a part-time package sorter since 2018. She is a shop steward and a member of the union’s safety and women’s committees. “Pay raises are important,” she said. “I get $18 an hour now for four hours a day. Maybe four and half if we’re lucky.”
“I also get called all the time about bosses ignoring safety. They are more worried about reaching PPH [packages per hour] numbers and pushing the flow out than safety,” she said. “They overwork the members by rushing them to work faster. Whenever we stop the belts to catch up with the flow, they complain we are stopping production. They complain when we go to get water or to the restroom. Overall they need to put people first before packages.”
Sherre Wilson, who drives vehicles that move containers in the warehouse, has worked for UPS for a couple years. “They are constantly after us to go faster. I hate bullying, that’s why I volunteered to be a shop steward,” she said.
Local 63 is organizing another rally outside the large UPS warehouse in Ontario, where some 4,000 workers are employed, July 14.