The Package King: A Rank-And-File History of Ups by Joe Allen

Author:Joe Allen [Allen, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Labor, Labor & Industrial Relations, Political Science, Business & Economics, Corporate & Business History, General
ISBN: 9781642592177
Google: H_3RDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 55898856
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Published: 2020-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

PUBLIC HEROES

Many strikers found themselves in the unaccustomed role of public heroes. Complete strangers would bring food and drinks to the picket lines, or shake their hands and thank them for what they were doing.12 There was constant honking of car and truck horns in support of the strikers. Approached by reporters on the first day of the strike, the strikers had been unsure of what to say, but their confidence grew by the day. Depending on the type of hub, most picket lines were a mix of part-time workers, package car drivers, and feeder drivers. To the great surprise of many reporters, many part-timers revealed that they knew more about how the economy worked than most Nobel laureates. Striker Laura Pisciotti told the New York Times while walking the picket line at UPS’s CACH, “These companies all have a formula. They don’t take you on full-time. They don’t pay benefits. Then their profits go through the roof.”13 Pisciotti’s work commute took an hour each way, and she worked no more than twenty-five hours a week, earning just a little over $8.00 an hour.

Other strikers echoed this idea: “‘People don’t even look at workers as human beings anymore,” said UPS part-timer Leatha Hendricks. “To them I’m just a machine. All they care is you got strength in your back. And when your back goes out of whack, it’s over. You’re gone.” Linda Borucki, a thirteen-year part-timer at the company, agreed: “You look around and it’s hard to find real full-time work anymore. How do people expect you to make it?” Mike McCarten, a ten-year part-time UPS worker, said, “You can’t feed your family on promises. You can’t make house payments on promises.”14

These and other UPS workers articulated problems that ran through the lives of millions of American workers. If the Teamsters were enjoying a public relations success, UPS was having the opposite experience. The darling of the business community and politicians, UPS and their fawning acolytes found themselves caught in the media spotlight and called out for arrogantly ignoring the strikers’ demands. “We are willing to continue to discuss the matter with the Teamsters, but we must emphasize that our last, best and final offer remains unchanged,” Kristen Petrella, UPS spokeswoman, told the New York Times three days into the strike.15 Such statements won few friends and influenced no one. They instead reinforced UPS’s image as greedy, insensitive, and out of touch with the needs of workers. Four days into the strike, Dave Murray told the PBS NewsHour, “There’s a whole lot of part-timers who only want part-time work.”16 Apparently, UPS workers disagreed. In response to the company’s repeated claims that workers were satisfied with their lot at UPS, Rand Wilson said: “All the spin doctors in the world can’t compensate for what people think and feel.”17

The perennial political melodrama of the 1990s—the conflict between the Clinton White House and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives—was blown off the front page for a few weeks.18 New York Times columnist Bob Herbert called the UPS strike “a crusade against low wages.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.