Chamber-led coalition calls on White House to intervene in UPS strike

A U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led coalition sent a letter to President Biden on Thursday urging the administration to step in to help UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters reach an agreement and avoid a looming strike.

More than 250 organizations, including the Association of American Railroads and state and local chambers from 47 states, signed on to the letter expressing concern about what they call the “debilitating impact of a strike on American families and the economy.”

“[T]he Administration has successfully utilized its formal and informal convening power in the past year to help parties reach agreements in both the railroad and West Coast port terminal contract negotiations,” the Chamber-led coalition wrote.

“We urge you to lend similar help here and work with the parties to help reach an agreement by August 1.”

Last month, the Teamsters overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike if UPS and the union don’t reach a new five-year agreement before contracts expire July 31. 

The shipping company and the union are at odds over workers’ wages, benefits and compensation. Teamsters are also pushing to end a dual-wage system for delivery drivers and “forced overtime” on their days off.

On July 1, the two parties reached a tentative deal on the dual-wage system, overtime and a holiday on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, although tensions persisted on economic elements of the negotiations.

But negotiations collapsed a few days later, increasing the possibility that approximately 340,000 Teamsters members that work for UPS could strike. 

The strike could be one of the largest and costliest in U.S. history.

UPS moves approximately $3.8 billion worth of goods per day, and the shipping company’s competitors have said they do not have the capacity to take on the additional 20 million packages per day delivered by UPS.

Last Friday, UPS announced a “temporary plan” to train nonunion as the deadline looms. A Teamsters spokesperson called the plan “an insult.”

The White House stepped in last fall to avert a nationwide railroad strike. Former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh led 20 hours of negotiations that ended in a deal, narrowly avoiding a strike that could have devastated the U.S. supply chain.

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien told union members last weekend that he had been “very clear” in asking the White House not to intervene if UPS workers go on strike.

“The White House shouldn’t be concerned with the Teamsters. They should be concerned with corporate America who keeps making billions upon billions of dollars off the sweat of our members,” O’Brien said Sunday. “We’re not going to allow anybody to implement a contract.”