From Bryan Noel
Big Brown Shuts Down
"Never forget that corporations are first and foremost
fascist institutions."-
Noam Chomsky
185,000 Teamsters are not working. UPS members of
the Independent Pilot's Union are not working. UPS members
of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace
Workers are not working. There are many reasons why but at
the center lies the simple truth that most corporations are
at heart fascist. Power comes strictly from the top down
and employee participation in policy making is purely
cosmetic. When workers began to recognize this lack of true
democracy in the workplace they began to unionize. Key to
the early stages of organizing was the strike. Today the
strike remains one of the economic weapons that employees
can wield against unfair labor practices by their employer.
UPS wants to continue watering down the workforce
with part-time jobs. UPS wants to pull their employee
pension out of the Teamsters' multi-employer plan and
establish one of its own. UPS wants to make this next
contract a seven year contract essentially freezing current
wages and benefits until 2004. In the face of these
proposed concessions, International Brotherhood of Teamsters
president, Ron Carey called for a strike vote which was
approved by 95% of those voting. Part-time employees enjoy
little in the way of benefits and frighteningly low wages.
One picketer at the UPS hub in Philadelphia reports taking
home an average of $63 per week. At the strike vote meeting
at New York's IBT Local 804 Ron Carey appealed to the
members for a "contract that will take part-time members and
make them part of something." The current pension fund is
administered jointly by the company and the union and is
portable-- a Teamster can leave UPS and pick up his/her
pension at another Teamster workplace without any new
vesting requirements. If the fund makes money through
investments the profit goes to the members through better
benefits. In a UPS fund those profits would go into the
company despite the fact that it is not their money.
On Thursday, August 7th, I went to the Teamster
picket at the UPS distribution hub on Oregon avenue in
Philadelphia. Due to a court injunction the bulk of
picketers were required to stand on the other side of the
street and only three picketers were allowed per plant
entrance. Despite these limitations about 100 members showed
up to demonstrate their displeasure with UPS's corporate
greed. When I approached the picket line I was immediately
welcomed as if one of their own. When I told them I was
neither a worker at UPS nor a member of the Teamsters but a
member of the UFCW they were even happier. This is an
important time for labor. A strike this large does not
happen often and cross Union solidarity is of the utmost
importance. As mentioned earlier the IAMAW and the IPU have
honored the Teamsters strike. Thousands of workers from 10
Communication Workers of America locals marched through
Manhattan to join the Teamster picket in a show of support
and a warning to their employer, NYNEX, that they will
tolerate no concessions when their contract is up for
negotiation next year.
While much more sedate than picket lines in Boston,
due to the court injunction, the line did feature quite a
bit of excitement. Cars were driving by blowing their horns
in support of the workers. Workers were shouting at the
scab drivers. Cars would slow in front of incoming UPS
trucks bringing them to halt. This may seem a bit extreme
but remember these scabs are prolonging the strike by
breaking their coworkers' solidarity. They're
jeopardizing the workers'future ability to pay their bills,
put food on the table, and send their children to school.
The things that these workers are fighting for are the same
things all workers must fight for: Dignity, Justice,
Democracy, and Fair Play. Do your part. If you see a UPS
scab ask him what it feels like to steal someone's job. Go
to a picket line and let the workers know you support them.
E-mail UPS and tell them what you think. The banner
headline of the Socialist Worker, the newspaper of the
International Socialist Organization, reads: We have to
teach UPS a lesson. I would change this to say: We have to
teach corporate America a lesson. The success of any Union
depends upon the rank and file. We must be active and now
is the time to act.
"The darkest days have brought me the most light; the
severest trials have had the richest rewards, and the
bitterest defeats have given me my only victories."- Eugene V. Debs
Editor's note: After Bryan wrote this piece, UPS & the
Teamsters inked a new five-year contract that preserves
everything the Teamsters struck for & more. 10,000 new full-
time positions will be created by combining part-time
positions. The pension fund will remain a multi-employer
Teamsters fund with even better benefit levels. Both full-
timers & part-timers will get solid raises, with starting
pay for part-timers going up by $1/hr. and larger raises for
current part-timers. Any change in the limits for package
weights will be subject to union concurrence. In other
words, this two-week strike ended 16 years of corporations
having the upper hand in labor agreements and we all owe the
Teamsters our gratitude and respect.
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