A UPS strike could happen any moment now. Unionized workers have been holding picketing and rallies across the U.S. for arranging a negotiating table with the company before July 31, the day their contract expires.
As the deadline to get a new contract gets closer, the probability of a UPS strike rises.
There is less than a week to reach an agreement between the company and the Teamsters, the group representing more than half of the company’s workforce. The Teamsters will resume talk with UPS on Tuesday.
Sean M. O’Brien, elected leader of the union, has vowed for a strike if the union’s demands aren’t met.
“We’re sending a message… all 340,000 of our members are united and ready to fight,” O’Brien told The Associated Press at a practice picket Friday.
The workers are protesting for better pay, and improved working conditions. They feel a contract was forced on them in 2018, and now the company has grown and also delivers more packages.
The company has said that it is prepared to increase compensation. They said last Friday that they aimed “quickly to finalize a fair deal that provides certainty for our customers, our employees and businesses across the country.”