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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