Teamster President to Biden on UPS Strike: Mind Your Own Business

United Parcel Service (UPS) workers last went on strike in 1997, when 185,000 workers walked off the job. At the time, the group demanded more full-time work, higher pay and pension protection. After 15-days, UPS agreed to their demands.

President of the Teamsters Union Sean O'Brien recently said over the weekend that he asked the White House multiple times not to interfere with their ongoing negotiations with UPS ahead of a potential strike at the end of this month.

“The White House shouldn’t be concerned with the Teamsters,” O'Brien said at a Sunday meeting. “They should be concerned with Corporate America, which continues to make billions upon billions of dollars off the sweat of our members. We’re not going to allow anybody to implement a contract.”

Last year, US President Joe Biden signed a bill forcing railroad unions to acquiesce to a labor agreement that did not address the union members’ primary concern regarding paid sick leave.

The move angered many union members, who complained the president eliminated their leverage despite claiming to be the most pro-union commander-in-chief in US history.

O’Brien, seemingly, does not want that kind of assistance from Biden.

“My neighborhood where I grew up in Boston, if two people had a disagreement, and you had nothing to do with it, you just kept walking,” O’Brien said. “We don’t need anybody getting involved in this fight.”

UPS, which has roughly 340,000 employees and delivers 24.3 million packages a day, said it will begin training “nonunion members” to fill the roles of union members in the event of a strike. These workers, colloquially known as scabs, are unlikely to keep the same pace as union workers in the event of a strike.

The Teamsters and UPS reportedly came to a “near-agreement” earlier this month, but talks broke down again over pay for part-time workers.

The last UPS strike occurred in 1997, but the demand for online shopping has since grown exponentially, expanding the role UPS and similar delivery services play in the economy.

If the strike goes forward, it would be the single largest worker strike in the United States since the Steel Strike of 1959. A consulting firm found that a 10-day UPS strike could cost the US economy up to $7 billion.