“This shouldn’t even be a struggle,” she stated whereas stating UPS’s file earnings.
As 340,000 United Parcel Service employees put together to wage a historic strike, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) on Saturday joined Teamsters union members and leaders at a rally in New York condemning the corporate for refusing to pay employees a good wage.
“What we’re about to step into requires solidarity from all people,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Your struggle proper right here is about being the tip of the spear for dignity for each employee on this nation.”
The rally was held at a Teamsters native workplace in Lengthy Island with United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien in attendance. The occasion got here forward of a probable strike that might begin after UPS employees’ present labor contract expires on July 31, with no settlement for a alternative contract on the horizon.
If the employees go on strike, it will be the most important single-employer strike in historical past. Staff would even be becoming a member of greater than 100,000 different union members on strike in Hollywood amid a historic wave of union exercise and labor strikes.
“That is about ensuring that we not simply demand higher wages, equal wages for our part-timers, ensuring that we’re getting dignified circumstances, A/C in vehicles. However that is additionally about demanding respect,” Ocasio-Cortez instructed rally-goers. “That’s what that is about, demanding respect for our labor and for our employees.”
Earlier this month, the Teamsters announced that they secured the tip to a two-tiered wage system that allowed the corporate to supply worse pay and advantages to newer employees, a serious demand of the union. Final month, union negotiators were able to have air-conditioning added to the corporate’s supply vehicles, one other key demand as drivers have reported temperatures inside their cabs reaching over 120 degrees.
Ocasio-Cortez went on to criticize UPS for refusing to adjust to the union’s wage calls for in a time of record profits for the corporate. “This shouldn’t even be a struggle. UPS raked in $16 billion in revenue final 12 months, they usually’re attempting to say that ‘we are able to’t afford half timers to pay them a dwelling wage.’ I don’t suppose so,” the lawmaker stated. “You all standing up — that’s at all times the nexus. If we don’t rise up for ourselves, nobody will rise up for us.”
That is the second time that Ocasio-Cortez has rallied with UPS employees forward of their strike. Earlier this month, she joined employees at a follow picket in Queens, New York, telling picketers that UPS can afford to pay its employees larger wages however is selecting to not.
Wages, particularly for part-time employees, are a serious problem for the union, with part-time employees often making lower than half the speed of full-time employees. Amid worsening excessive warmth as a result of local weather disaster, employees have additionally reported having to work in grueling circumstances whereas being surveilled by administration.
