Union at UPS?

[Spacejet]

Hi all,

Does anyone here know much about the union at UPS? I'm particularly interested in how effective it is, and how UPS compares to a related non-union company such as FedEx.

UPS is pretty big and so is DU thus I'd imagine some here may have some personal experience.

Thanks for any info!

[pnorman]

1. To my knowledge, UPS is completely union.

During that historic UPS strike in 1997, the Teamsters made the first major reversal of that two decade long slide DOWNWARD of the labor movement. It actually began before Reagan's destruction of the air traffic controllers union, but that was the event that almost completely terrorized the labor movement ... until that UPS strike. UPS had been counting very heavily on driving a wedge between the full time drivers and the temps, but ALL HELD FIRM, and the strike as WON.

The Teamsters union was led during that strike, by a reformer from the Teamsters for a Democratic Union slate (TDU), Ron Carey. Here's a good overview of Teamsters history by an activist from TDU: http://www.solidarity-us.org/teamster/teamster.htm

I believe FedEx is completely NON-union.

pnorman

[Nadienne]

6. "...driving a wedge between the full time drivers and the temps"

...if only the union members where I work could have been so steadfast...

But, good for the Teamsters!

[pnorman]

7. I was a member of another union,

but I frequently came out in support of other unions in the Puget Sound area. I did so during that strike, and witnessed at first hand the 24x7 SOLIDARITY that made it such a resounding success.

That was Teamsters 174, then a particularly active component of the TDU democratic reform movement. I also attended the victory rally by the Teamsters hall, and it's difficult to describe the feeling of triumphant SOLIDARITY felt by all. It was the first time in soooo many years. Likewise, at the Seattle Labor Day Picnic a few months later. That's something that had been systematically stamped out by Corporate America, Needless to say, they've done their level best to stamp it out again. That VICTORY really frightened them.

pnorman

[Parche]

2. union

Well to be honest...it really has its ups and downs.....

[Spacejet]

3. Thanks for the response

could you detail the ups and downs?

Thanks!

[RagingInMiami]

4. UPS is represented by the Teamsters

I worked there for two-and-a-half years

[Spacejet]

5. Did you do package handling?

What did you think of it?

[RagingInMiami]

8. I was a pre-loader

It was during college and it was part-time, which meant I worked 25 hours a week. I worked from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. loading the brown trucks. It was the hardest job of my life. I hated it, but I stayed with it because I was getting paid ten bucks an hour (and this was like 15 years ago) and had great benefits.
Looking back on it, it was like my military experience. All the friends that I made there, the ones whom I still keep in contact with, all the same thing. It was like a boot camp that never ended.