American unions have rarely made so much noise on the other side of the Atlantic. Hollywood actors and screenwriters, UPS delivery drivers, automobile workers from the “Big Three”… More than 650,000 US workers threaten to go on strike across the Atlantic, reports Bloomberg. A combination unprecedented for half a century.
While actors joined the strike movement launched by Hollywood screenwriters in May a week ago, the strikes could multiply and spread to other sectors of the US economy in the coming weeks.
Air conditioning for UPS drivers
Starting with the package delivery company United Parcel Service (UPS). The Teamsters union, which represents 330,000 company employees, has effectively begun the renegotiation of the agreement that binds it to UPS. But as the end of the month approaches, the hope of seeing an agreement between the two parties fades.
Among the demands of UPS employees is the installation of air conditioning in more trucks and the improvement of working conditions for UPS drivers.
The union battle over air conditioning is not new. UPS trucks are unique in that they do not have doors, which makes it easier for delivery people to get out of the vehicles to make their delivery. However, the big drawback of this structure is that it allows heat to enter the truck and, combined with that of the engine, makes the thermometer rise very high. As a result, employees are currently reporting temperatures of more than 40°C inside their vehicles.
Sure Twitter, The union mentioned, last June, cases of “death, heat stroke and dehydration” that occurred due to these temperatures, among employees.
And if points of agreement have been found on these two issues, disagreements persist in particular regarding the salaries of part-time employees. The workers’ representatives, however, highlight the record profits recorded by the company in the last two years. They reached $12.9 billion in 2022, compared to $4.8 billion in 2018.
Therefore, the negotiations failed in early July, raising fears of a strike followed by hundreds of thousands of workers. To avoid this scenario, the union and management will have to reach an agreement before July 31, the date on which the collective agreement between UPS and Teamsters will expire.
Guaranteed jobs in the electrical industry
The automotive industry could also be affected by a major strike movement. This time, it is the United Auto Workers (UAW) that would be the instigator. The UAW conventions with the three major Detroit automakers, the famous “Big Three”, namely General Motors, Ford and Fiat-Chrysler (owned by the Stellantis group) began a few days ago, while the conventions will reach Its due in September. .
But union leader Shawn Fain has already been very aggressive. He warned that about 150,000 affiliates would go on strike if the construction companies did not meet their demands, reports CNN. The three groups “have made a quarter of a trillion dollars (250 billion, editor’s note) in profits in North America over the last ten years, they can afford to do it right” for workers, he said.
In addition to increased wages, as well as better health care and retirement support, UAW members don’t want to be left out of the transition to electric. The union wants to ensure representation within battery construction factories in particular.
A structural revival of strikes?
For labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein, director of the Center for the Study of Labor and Democracy at the University of California, cited by BloombergThe country could thus experience the “biggest episode of strike since the 1970s.”
An increase in the number of strikers had been observed since the beginning of the semester, adds the American media. On the other side of the Atlantic, and particularly in France, inflation and the drop in purchasing power have also led to numerous mobilizations.
But even before this price increase, pandemic-related tensions in the US job market may have increased the leverage of employees. Thus, the resurgence of social movements could be structural in nature and occur at a technological and industrial turning point. Just as artificial intelligence and its consequences are at the center of the claims of Hollywood scriptwriters, the transition to electric is one of the issues that will be discussed during union negotiations with car manufacturers.
If members of the UAW and Teamsters also went on strike, the number of strikers would rise to nearly 800,000 in the United States, according to data from Bloomberg.
Source: BFM TV
