Teamsters President Sean O’ Brien lashed out Saturday at critics who say the union’s hard line in contract negotiations with UPS Inc. will push the economy into a recession, saying the burden of keeping the country out of a downturn falls on UPS, not the Teamsters.
At a raucous, ear-splitting rally in UPS’ hometown of Atlanta, O’Brien acknowledged concerns that a strike against UPS (NYSE: UPS), which delivers the equivalent of 7% of the U.S.’ gross domestic product per day, could be devastating to the economy. “But that’s on UPS, not us.”
By not agreeing to a fair contract with the Teamsters, “UPS is going to throw this country into recession,” O’Brien said.
UPS TEAMSTERS ROLL DEEP IN ATLANTA
— Teamsters (@Teamsters) July 22, 2023
Rank-and-file @UPS #Teamsters led the charge this morning in the home city of the multibillion-dollar corporation’s headquarters as Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien rallied members in Atlanta.#1u #strikeready pic.twitter.com/0OQWmkxS9g
O’Brien also acknowledged that the two sides are very close to an agreement. “We are at the 5-yard line,” he said, adding that we “have one more round to go.”
Bargaining resumes Tuesday in Washington after a 20-day hiatus. Talks stalled July 5 after UPS, according to the Teamsters, failed to meet the union’s demands on wage and benefit increases for part-time workers.
The current five-year contract expires July 31. The Teamsters have threatened to strike Aug. 1 if a tentative contract is not agreed to by its negotiating committee by July 31. It is expected to take about three weeks for the 340,000 rank-and-file members to review and either ratify or reject the tentative agreement.
Read more: 5 things to know with the UPS-Teamsters clock ticking
John King
Unions have outlived their usefulness in our already overregulated nation.
Teamsters don’t want to feel the belt-tightening effects the rest of our country has dealt with long before Covid.
Mark
This isn’t the 1960’s and Yellow has one foot in the grave an other on a banana peel. This is all just chest beating rhetoric.
Pieman
BWAHAHAHA Just more Building Back Better! Come on man!!!!!
Jack
Mark my words they will announce a deal Wednesday or Thursday. This is all smoke and mirrors they can’t afford a strike with yellow on the verge of bankruptcy and a looming strike It’s just simple math the union has 2 maybe 3 weeks strike fund it may hurt ups but they will survive can the members say the same if they wait them out and when they come back what deal would they get then when 30% gets laid off which actually wld be worse for the part timers because a full time employee takes 2 part time jobs when they get laid off. So exactly who wld the strike help sense the part timers are the one you are supposedly fighting for. Bottom line the union can’t afford 400,000 members on strike plus whatever movie teamster’s that are out to and to believe the Biden administration doesn’t have a say after they bailed out the central state’s pension fund you’d have to be crazy they just won’t do it in public.