Ep 303: UPS-Teamsters negotiations

Postal Hub podcast

Dean Maciuba, Managing Partner (USA) for Crossroads Parcel Consulting, shares some insights into the negotiations between UPS and the Teamsters - the union representing UPS employees.

• UPS driver employment model - including a lower-paid class of driver
• Why are these negotiations attracting so much media attention?
• Change in Teamsters leadership and implications for negotiations with UPS
• The relationship between UPS management and UPS employees
• UPS communicating with drivers and ramifications for contract negotiations
• Key issues: Wage stagnation, health-related issues in UPS trucks, and second-tier drivers
• What happened during the 1997 UPS strike - including how customers tried to get parcels into the FedEx network
• What’s different: More regional carriers, more forward stocking fulfilment centres, the presence of Amazon with its own last mile capability
• Retailers potentially losing sales to Amazon if UPS can’t deliver
• Importance to carriers of controlling intake of packages
• US industrial relations and the role of the US President
• Could UPS drivers be compelled to return to work if they strike?
• The role of Roadie in all this
• UPS has an advantage over FedEx thanks to Roadie
• Other employees in the UPS network, e.g. aircraft operations support and handlers at hubs
• UPS leveraging its poor Q1 earnings as part of negotiations