After 340,000 UPS workers voted to pre-authorize a strike, the United States could see one of the largest worker strikes in the nation’s history.
The vote was 97% in favor of a strike, and the authorization could see it begin on Aug. 1, 2023, if contract negotiations fail.
With the threat now present, many are wondering what this could mean for their deliveries and daily lives, as the impact will be substantial.
To learn more about the possible impact, KNX Radio spoke with Patrick Penfield, who directs the Supply Chain Executive Management Program at Syracuse University.
Penfield shared that if the strike happens, it would cause another supply chain disruption in the U.S.
“Unfortunately, there is no other parcel service company that could pick up the slack from UPS going on strike,” Penfield said. “What would happen is we would have late deliveries, people would have trouble trying to ship products, it would just be chaos throughout the whole United States domestic market.”
While some might assume that UPS workers striking would just mean more business for the company’s competitors, Penfield says that’s not what would happen.
“They just don’t have that extra capacity to take on more work,” he said.
With the three main parcel delivery services in the U.S. being USPS, FedEx, Amazon, and UPS, Penfield says that it would be impossible for the other three to pick up the slack for what UPS does.
“You’re talking roughly 18 million packages a day,” Penfield said.
When it comes to what workers are potentially striking over, Penfield says it all comes down to money.
“Money is the main issue, and what the union is seeing is that UPS has done so well since the last contract,” Penfield said. “For the drivers and all the other folks that work within UPS, they’re looking to make more money.”
Other things the union is looking to get is a rollback on overtime, additional full-time workers, and mandating air conditioning in all UPS trucks.
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