Newspaper Article

SUNDAY FOCUS / UPS Strike Makes New Labor History

Nelson Lichtenstein. Nelson Lichtenstein , a professor of history at the University of Virginia, is the author of "Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit."

1997

Overview

The strike successfully pressured UPS management into a new round of marathon negotiations. But more important, it has roused an old-fashioned thing called \"solidarity.\"The full-time workers are fighting on behalf of the lower-paid part-timers, and the union is going all-out to protect the pensions of unionists not employed by the highly profitable UPS, who are relying upon a generation-old multi-employer fund. But in this strike the workers have a lot going for them. UPS can't hire scabs - the rank opportunists who now often go by the polite euphemism of \"replacement workers\" - because the nation's unemployment rate is at a quarter-century low. For most workers in a tight labor market, part-time UPS jobs pay wages that are nothing to write home about. It's a good investment. A transformation in the economy and a revitalization of the entire labor movement may well lie within the hands of UPS strikers. By demanding that UPS transform many of its \"part-time\" jobs - now comprising 57 percent of all UPS employees - into full-time, high-wage positions, the Teamsters have already forced managers throughout the nation's huge service economy to rethink their \"low-road,\" low-wage strategy toward ever higher profitability. The stock market, which closed last week with its second-largest one-day loss ever, is skittish over \"wage inflation\" and the prices for Wal-Mart, K-Mart, McDonald's and Fed-Ex are all going to take a hit when the extent of the Teamster victory becomes clear. But the health of the economy will be given a powerful stimulant when companies once again realize that wages have to rise with their profits and their sales.

• Publisher: Newsday LLC
• Subject: LABOR & PERSONNEL ISSUES