AFSCME members applaud the Teamsters for reaching a deal with UPS today, averting a potentially devastating strike.
The five-year tentative agreement – which has to be ratified by the Teamsters rank and file – would cover 340,000 workers and provide raises for all, create more full-time jobs and offer a host of workplace protections and improvements.
The current contract expires July 31, and an overwhelming strike vote had authorized a work stoppage as early as Aug. 1.
But instead, the two sides reached what the Teamsters are calling a “historic” agreement, which comes at a time of renewed union activism in the country.
Film, television and news writers who are part of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have been on strike since early May. They were joined earlier this month by performers and others represented by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).
According to researchers at Cornell University, there were 265 work stoppages across the United States in 2021, involving 140,000 workers. Last year, 224,000 workers participated in strikes last year. And the latest Gallup Poll on union favorability showed 71% of Americans approve of labor unions, the highest rate in nearly 60 years.
Meanwhile, many AFSCME locals nationwide have achieved solid contract victories and our union’s Cultural Workers United campaign is helping a growing number of workers at museums, libraries and other cultural institutions gain a voice on the job. A growing number of workers want the union difference.