The UPS Teamsters strike was about the future of living-wage jobs in the United States but it was also a test.
How well had management done on winning the loyalty of its work force, and how well have the new democratised union and Teamsters for a Democratic Union counteracted "Brown Culture"?
Militaristic UPS has brown trucks, workers wear brown uniforms. There is a very militaristic culture with rules This sequel by ALAN THORNETT to his book From Militancy to Marxism is a unique account of trade union activity in the British Leyland car plants in the 1970s. Its analysis of the conflict between rank and file and union bureaucrats under the last Labour government raises the question: Who opened the door to Thatcher's onlsaught? This 430-page, illustrated volume is due for publication in November at £11.95. Pre publication offer: just £7.95, plus £2 post and packing. Make cheques to Alan Thornett and send to 14, Colyton Rd, London SE22 ONE for everything including the importance of shiny shoes. Everything is timed - it should take 30 seconds to do this, 2 minutes to do that - so the drivers are really pushed to perform day in, day out.
The crisp, uniformed image and "rightest ship" slogan influence both the public's and workers' view, and evoke efficiency. UPS consistently uses internal promotions to capture the asnirations of work. place leaders.
The cultural, some say cultish, atmosphere of reward for self-sacrifice is combined with a constant scrutiny of workers' pace that keeps many of them working through breaks. Meanwhile, decades of comfortable relations with Teamsters International leaders have led less sophisticated workers to think that management chose to pay drivers decent pay and benefits.
Company's risky bet The company seemed to be betting they'd won the hearts-andminds thing - that there would be significant scabbing as the weeks wore on. UPS lost the bet.
The union's flagship issue - the demand to turn part-time into fulltime jobs - turned out to be wonderfully unifying, as well as a cause for widespread public sympathy, a rarity in today's industrial disputes.
UPS part - timers do the behind-the-scenes work of sorting packages and loading them on trucks for delivery. It's intense, dangerous work, lifting and placing thousands of parcels of wildly varying size and weight.
A high proportion of sorters and loaders only last a few days or weeks.
The Teamsters fought to slow or reverse the sharp expansion of part-timers. The union also wanted good wage rises, including the first increase in the part-timer starting rate in fifteen years.
The Teamsters put their case for "decent full-time jobs" to a public now sensitised to the growing problem of part-time, contingent work. Every young worker and every parent of a twenty-something knows it's hard to find full-time, decent paid permanent jobs.
Pensions
Meanwhile, in demanding control of UPS workers' pensions from the Teamsters benefit funds, the company aimed to split off feeder drivers, who tend to be older and have sometimes organized for higher pensions.
The point of multi-employer pension funds is mutual protection.
When the freight industry consolidated in the eighties, UPS and other companies' negotiated pension contributions helped ensure retirement income for thousands whose companies closed and left a debt to the pension fund.
Now UPS asked its union employees to turn their backs on other Teamsters.
Events showed how deeply strike sentiment and union consciousness ran among UPS Teamsters. Fewer than three per cent broke ranks in the first week.
By holding strong, with widespread public support on their side, strikers shut down the company's only profitable operation, which it can't possibly move overseas.
After fifteen days on strike, that proved to be enough. cept contracts that were rejected by majority vote. That's now in the past. Now we have a union leadership and membership that can win a major victory for all of labour."
If you look at the union prestrike offer and the company's "final" offer of July 30, the agreement appears to fall about 90 per cent on the union side. In other words, we won!
We won because we built a reform movement over two decades that got our union in a place to lead this fight. We won because we elected a Teamster International leadership willing to fight, not sell out.
We won because we campaigned for six months. We targeted the right issues, we took them to the members and the American people, we unified the members.
In short, our union did what a union should be all about. We won because we reached out and made this the best supported strike in decades. We won because UPS Teamsters stuck together and surprised the company - which underestimated the unity, determination and will-to-win of Teamster members!
Now where?
Now we move forward to spread this spirit, this victory. We can start with the upcoming national freight contract and move on to every part of the Teamsters and the labour movement.
Now we move forward to build that reform movement -to bring out the best in unionism. and to make possible innovative struggles. fresh leadership and Teamster victories.
If we do that, this will be only the first of a string of new Teamster victories that help make labour into a growing, dynamic force.
Geoff Ryan WORLD