UPS driver Juan Trujillo recently released a video on TikTok that explained exactly what’s going on with UPS drivers and the imminent strike they have planned for September.
It’s important to understand that the strike is not to force UPS to raise wages for full-time drivers but for the company’s part-time workers. Recent negotiations with Teamsters, the UPS drivers’ union, already established that full-time drivers will be receiving a much higher hourly wage within the next five years. However, it seems that the part-time workers were left behind during that meeting.
In his video, which has received nationwide attention, Trujillo clearly states his position: “We’re going on strike because the part-timers are only making $16 an hour, and that’s unacceptable. And I will stand next to my part-time brothers and sisters and make sure they get theirs. And I’ll sacrifice two weeks of work if [I have to] because that’s what solidarity is.”
And Trujillo is not the only full-time employee planning to join the strike. UPS could find itself in quite a predicament if it doesn’t figure out how to come to an agreement regarding part-time wages.
The UPS workers are demanding $25 an hour for all part-time employees; apparently, this increase was requested at the Teamsters union negotiation, though it was denied at the time. The last day to sign the new contract with increased wages for part-time employees is on August 31st, and if UPS doesn’t make that change, tens of thousands of drivers will go on strike.
In Trujillo’s video, he responds to a particular comment that states, “No way you deserve 42 an hour as a delivery guy lol. Takes zero skill.” And while Trujillo explains that he believes $42 is enough, with the consistent raises full-time drivers receive every year, it’s the $16 for part-timers that he and the rest of the drivers are fighting for.
Thousands of people have commented to express their opinion on the situation, and though some agree that delivery drivers should make less than what they’re making, the vast majority of people stand with Trujillo and all UPS drivers.
The general consensus is that the entire country would fall apart without delivery workers; we as a society rely heavily on package shipments, and with over 350,000 drivers, UPS is a huge part of that system. As well, many people noted that driving and delivering for UPS is painstaking work with heavy lifting, sweltering heat, freezing cold, and long hours. And to top it all off, drivers work through almost every holiday that most people get off.
What will happen next is still unknown. The planned UPS strike will go ahead unless part-time wages are increased to $25, the company stops subcontracting, air conditioning units are installed in the trucks, and a few other demands the drivers have set.
If UPS does not meet these demands, it won’t be just UPS employees who have to live with this strike; just as the drivers claim, losing them will affect the entire nationwide retail industry.
