Posted in: Comics | Tagged: diamond, lunar, prh, ups

Prepare For Major Comics Delays as UPS Vote to Authorise Strikes

In 2018, Bleeding Cool reported that United Parcel Service (UPS) workers and their union, the Teamsters, had agreed on a tentative five-year deal.

In 2018, Bleeding Cool reported that United Parcel Service (UPS) workers and their union, the Teamsters, had agreed on a tentative five-year deal which,prevented what was threatened to be their first UPS strike in decades. The deal saw part-time package handlers move from $10.35 an hour to $13 to $15.50 by 2022, while drivers then on $19 an hour, would get $20.50 and $34.79 an hour by 2022. Well, that five-year contract is now up.

Members of the Teamsters union in the US, who represent more than 340,000 UPS logistics warehouse workers and package delivery drivers, have voted to authorise a strike to take place from the 1st of August 2023, when the current contract expires. That's if there is no agreement in the talks about that contract, now taking place between  UPS and Teamsters. After a 87% vote in favour, Sean M. O'Brien, Teamsters General President stated "This vote shows that hundreds of thousands of Teamsters are united and determined to get the best contract in our history at UPS. If this multibillion-dollar corporation fails to deliver on the contract that our hardworking members deserve, UPS will be striking itself. The strongest leverage our members have is their labor and they are prepared to withhold it to ensure UPS acts accordingly."

UPS is the largest package delivery company in the world, delivering more than 20 million packages per day in the US alone. A strike would affect not only UPS customers but also other businesses that use UPS as a subcontractor, such as Amazon, FedEx, and USPS. Oh, and Diamond Comic Distributors, Lunar Distribution and Penguin Random House, the three big distributors of comic books in the USA, while Diamond UK has a monopoly for American comic books in Europe.  But a strike would also directly affect publishers as well as online stores/auctions. A lot of the dealers who appear to be using USPS are actually taking advantage of deals where most of the delivery is handled by UPS and the local post office just takes care of "the last mile."

There may not be a strike, of course. This just gives the union the ability to call a strike, which can then be used in negotiation tactics with UPS. And the union says it is confident there won't be a need for a strike, stating "The results do not mean that a strike is imminent and do not impact our current business operations in any way. We continue to make progress on key issues and remain confident that we will reach an agreement that provides wins for our employees, the Teamsters, our company and our customers." And they had reached a tentative agreement to get air conditioning fitted across UPS' delivery vans, but so far only on future van purchases, not retrofitting existing vans. UPS profits have nearly doubled during the five-year life of the current contract, from $6.3 billion in 2018 to $11.3 billion last year.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!