Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Visits UPS Hub As Strike Looms, $7 Billion In Losses In 10 Days If Drivers Walk Out

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) stopped by a Queens United Parcel Service (UPS) UPS hub on Saturday to show support for workers who authorized their union on Friday to call a strike as soon as Aug. 1. Contract talks broke off this week with both sides claiming the other had walked away from the table.

If the strike goes ahead, it will be the largest labor strike in the U.S. in decades.

The Teamsters represent more than 325,000 UPS employees in the U.S., where the company has nearly 450,000 employees overall, 97 percent of whom voted in favor of the strike authorization.

The union's primary contention revolves around securing higher pay and more full-time jobs for employees and pay disparities for a category of driver who typically works on weekends. UPS maintains part-timers average $20 an hour and, after 30 days, could be eligible for health care and tuition assistance.

Teamster leadership also argues that UPS workers are not being compensated fairly in view of UPS's 2022 profits of nearly $14 billion, especially after drivers consistently worked throughout the pandemic. 

Ocasio-Cortez was joined by United Auto Workers president Shawn Fein and Teamsters president Sean M. O'Brien to demand fair contracts from UPS. 

“This shouldn't even be a fight,” Ocasio-Cortez said Saturday. “UPS raked in $16 billion in profit last year and they're trying to say that we can't afford part-timers to pay them a living wage? I don't think so.”

O’Brien told union members on Sunday that he’s asked the White House not to intervene in the case of a walkout.

“The White House shouldn’t be concerned with the Teamsters,” he said. “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.”

Significant Economic Fallout 

In 2022, UPS delivered an average of 24.3 million packages per day, totaling 6.2 billion during the year, per its website. The company delivers roughly a quarter of all U.S. parcel volume.

Some estimates put the economic impact of a 10-day strike at more than $7 billion. 

As CNN pointed out, UPS isn’t just another large shipping company. It carries 6% of America’s gross domestic product in its trucks.

“This strike is a serious threat to the US economy,” said Patrick Anderson, president of Anderson Economic Group, a Michigan think tank with expertise in strikes. “The sheer scale of the number of people and the breath of impact across the country is very serious. And the degree to which us economy has become dependent on fast delivery of small items that can be carried by UPS hasn’t really been tested.”

Photo courtesy of Teamsters' LaborPress.org