Teamsters and UPS workers held a rally in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday morning, demanding better pay for full-time and part-time employees, as well as better workplace and safety conditions.
“Imagine working out of the back of that package car all day and it's 100 and 30 degrees in the back of that package truck,” one speaker said. “You're looking for packages, you can't find them. Imagine doing that all day. Those conditions are unsafe. People pass out, people get sick and in the case of our brother from Pasadena, people die.”
In her speech, Yvonne Wheeler, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, blast UPS for wanting to cut employees’ hours.
“When I hear that UPS has a profit margin of $13 billion and wants to cut your hours, that’s insane,” she said. “That’s unconscionable and immoral.”
Christian Castro, spokesperson for Teamsters Local 396 told KNX News, said the part-time workers are only making $15 an hour.
“They're not getting full-time work, so it really does change the dynamic again,” he said.
“It is a great job being the driver of the big semis. That is the epitome of a good union job. But at the end of the day, that's not everyone. The unsung heroes are the ones that load the truck that do all the back-end work, back-breaking, hot work, and the truth is they're not getting paid.”
Reuben Tiscareno Jr., a driver with UPS who is also on the negotiating team, told KNX News it’s time to improve wages.
“There's too much work, you know, and that goes into the day-to-day, so they deserve more,” he said.
The rally comes after negotiations between the Teamsters and the shipping firm stalled on July 5, with Teamsters saying UPS walked away first. While the Teamsters say UPS walked away, UPS spokesperson Malcolm Berkley said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times it was the Teamsters were the ones who stopped negotiations.
The contract, which covers more than 340,000 workers, is scheduled to expire on July 31.
Castro told KNX News the union is ready to return to the table.
“The truth is, as a team says, we've told, UPS exactly what we need and that's it,” he said. “They know exactly what they need and they ended up walking away from the table because of that. We're here, we're ready to negotiate and we're ready for it.
We want a contract for our members.”
The rally comes in the midst of multiple strikes taking place in Los Angeles, including the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes and the hotel workers' strike.
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