Last time, the company "virtually shut down." The 1997 strike began on August 4 and was won 15 days later. At a time when the American labor movement is struggling to re verse its decline in membership and strength, the Teamsters' nine-month contract campaign at … Ongoing public relations initiatives, such as strategic issues management, could have prevented the problems encountered by the organization in the following case. The union complains that part-timers do not earn enough to support a family. The United Parcel Service strike of 1997, led by International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) President Ron Carey, started on August 4, 1997, and involved over … Found inside – Page 546The strategy of the IBT in 1997 UPS negotiations was developed around three principle organizing and tactical themes ... program with UPS workers , the IBT was able to generate tremendous public support before and during the strike . U.P.S. Six hours before the July 31, 1997 strike deadline, FMCS entered negotiations between United Parcel Service and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. For this entire time period, the strike rate averaged 1.1%, so for every 91 contract negotiations, about one would lead to a work stoppage. The UPS Workers Strike kicked off in Aug. 1997, lead by the Teamsters. has added 46,000 unionized workers: 38,000 part-timers and 8,000 full-timers. Although UPS ultimately overcame the setbacks it incurred from the Teamsters strike of 1997, the company would have much preferred avoiding the strike altogether. UPS/Teamster Strike. and the union said the talks had broken off indefinitely, dissipating hopes of a quick end to the six-day-old walkout by 185,000 drivers, loaders and sorters. Teamsters, UPS recess talks without agreement - August 1, 1997 No deal yet, but UPS employees report for work - August 1, 1997 With no progress in talks … … The two sides held their brief negotiating session yesterday after they met for a total of 19 hours on Thursday and Friday without reporting significant progress. The union also plans a big rally on Wednesday in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, and another large rally outside U.P.S. Although UPS was not aware of it as negotiations began, Carey had been quietly preparing the union for a strike. These are only some of the successful outcomes of the UPS-Teamster Union famous historic negotiations to end a labor strike that caused UPS million-dollar … UPS learned valuable lessons from the experience that have served them well in preparing for future crises. Clearly, the strike had an adverse impact on the company’s reputation, an impact that took years to reverse. The strike affected operations in more than 1,800 locations in all 50 states and generated media interest in every large- to medium-sized city. The public relations department functions included product publicity, financial communications, reputation management, and executive communications through a speaker’s bureau. Without any forewarning, the Teamsters union announced to its members that evening that it would strike. UNITED PARCEL Service (UPS) and the Teamsters opened negotiations last month in advance of an August 1 deadline. Found inside – Page 156... most visible exceptions to this shift in the effects of the strike are examples like the Teamsters-UPS strike in 1997 and the Justice for Janitors' campaigns in Los Angeles, Boston, and several other large cities in recent years. Found inside – Page 423The 1997 U.P.S. –Teamster Strike In 1997, 185,000 United Parcel Service (U.P.S.) employees represented by the International ... The six-month contract campaign culminating in a fifteenday strike, blended formal negotiations with ... Story previews upcoming contract talks between the Teamsters and UPS their first since the 1997 strike. These guides are designed to accompany CNN Newsroom, a daily 15-minute news program produced for classroom use and provided free to participating schools. Ron Carey, a former UPS driver and the first democratically-elected General … Surviving the UPS strike. In 1982, the IBT let UPS cut parttime wages to $8 an hour. Says Sternad. Management tries to scare members that UPS will lose customers if we don’t settle the contract early. “The Teamsters had clearly tested and researched this message and the others they used. Public relations can truly mean the difference between life and death for an organization, or the difference between profitability and failure. . Drawing on a textual analysis of over five hundred news reports, Deepa Kumar presents a rare, in-depth study of media representation of the 1997 United Parcel Service (UPS) workers' strike. The contract negotiations continued to unravel throughout the summer of 1997 and culminated with the Teamsters rejecting UPS’s final contract offer on July 30. The contract pitted a Fortune 500 company that was … Over 100,000 Teamsters signed petitions telling UPS that, “We’ll Fight for More Full-Time Jobs.”. He needed to make a show of force and leadership to galvanize his support in anticipation of rerunning for the presidency if the election was nullified. We knew that we would need our people with us for the long term and we didn’t want to do or say anything that would tarnish the image of the UPS driver. Negotiations with the Teamsters began in early January of that year, even though the existing contract didn't expire until 12:01 A.M. on August 1, 1997. This book summarizes experiences to date on the extent and nature of decentralization and its outcomes - most of which suggest an underperformance of governance reforms - and explores the viability of different governance instruments in the ... UPS questioned how the fund was being managed, the future pension security of its employees, and wanted a separate pension fund for its employees who were Teamsters. Found inside – Page 230In effect, it is a negotiation of millionaires against billionaires. The owners are seeking cost containment in the form of ... A good example of the difference can be seen in the nationwide United Parcel Service (UPS) strike of 1997. Workers had given the union the go-ahead to call a strike earlier this month, giving the Teamsters leverage in the negotiations. Case based on classroom lecture and interviews with Kenneth Sternad (personal communication, March 30, 2009; September 2009). Found inside – Page 193Consider the high-drama negotiations during the summer of 1997 between the United Parcel Service (UPS) and the Teamsters Union. A nationwide strike commenced over the big issues of subcontracting and part-time work. Tens of thousands of Teamsters used high-pitched whistles in the hubs to “blow the whistle” on supervisors working and subcontracting. At the time negotiations began, the Teamsters union controlled the pension fund, one of the largest funds in the United States. At the bargaining table, management refused to budge on the core issues of pensions, subcontracting and full-time jobs. They also miscalculated the underlying resentment of Teamsters members toward the company. Pension benefits were cut, the retirement age was raised, and UPS ultimately negotiated a separate pension plan for more than 40,000 of its Teamster employees previously in the union plan. Taylor, European Union Leaders Meet to Discuss UPS. '', Assessing the likelihood of a settlement, he said, ''It ain't going to happen overnight.''. Unless something was done a clear majority of UPS jobs were going to be part-time. U.P.S. The anniversary of the 1997 contract victory is a chance to remember that we can build union power, fight back and win. The last time UPS had a strike was a 16-day walkout by the Teamsters in 1997, and there hasn't been a bigger strike since then. Mutual support between the IBT and the IPA during contract negotiations with UPS runs deep. . We maintain standby web sites that can be turned on instantly in the event of a crisis. Found inside – Page 272Thousands of UPS workers rallied around Carey, who had kept workers informed of negotiations for months prior to the onset of the strike (Minchin 2012,544). The strike's success hinged on comradery among workers. THE AUGUST 1997 strike at UPS — the only time UPS Teamsters went on a nationwide strike — had a major impact on other businesses and the U.S. economy. What are the lessons for today? Found insideDuring negotiations, UPS was unwilling to give ground to the Teamsters. As the strike progressed, it became clear that UPS was losing ground economically (the strike cost them about $40 million ... Moberg, D. (1997, September/October). Teamsters & Ups Despite the efforts of Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, no talks on ending the Teamsters strike against United Parcel Service are in sight. One strike vote in 1997 resulted in UPS . CASE STUDY. Officials close to the talks said the negotiators spent 21 hours at the bargaining table over the last three days explaining and defending their positions and feeling each other out for how the two sides might barter items -- the company might abandon one of its demands if the union did likewise. We realized that we had not adequately tested our messages before or during the crisis. With 250,000 union members set to strike, the 2018 UPS walk-out could be even larger than the historic 1997 strike and could effectively shut down the company for similar amount of time — or more. Companies like Mail Boxes Etc. Management’s goal was to freeze pension benefits—and eventually replace our pension with a 401k. The strike shut down UPS services for 16 days, costing the transportation company hundreds of millions of dollars. The company’s number one objective was to get a good contract; winning the public relations battle was not an objective. This week, Teamsters Package Division Director Denis Taylor met with a delegation of Nordic labor union leaders who represent UPS workers in Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. . They had also identified third-party experts who could point out the many positives of the company. The function was also responsible for overall message development, crisis management, sponsorships, and event support. Found inside – Page 307These include the 1997 confrontation between the Teamsters and UPS over the issue of part-time workers, and the strike in 2000 between the engineers union and management at Boeing over parity of treatment with the blue-collar workers. The public relations team had compiled extensive facts and figures about the company and had trained regional spokespeople in advance of a strike. We had essentially no communications in the first 24 hours. When old-guard officials refused to support the campaign, the IBT field staff worked directly with shop stewards and members. Workers wanted part-time . spokeswoman. Neither side wanted a repeat of the 2-week strike that hobbled UPS during the … The UPS public relations office received more than 20,000 phone calls during the strike. THE TEAMSTERS' VICTORY over United Parcel Service in August 1997, represents the biggest strike and the most important labor union victory in the United States in the last twenty-five years. With 185, 000 Teamsters on strike for nearly three weeks beginning on August 4, 1997, fighting under the slogan of " Part-Time America Won't Work," the UPS strike … I'm learning a lot from my TDU brothers and sisters. with United Parcel Service (UPS), it is a good time to revisit the strike and determine how it was won. In retrospect, the company acknowledges that they could have done a better job of handling the communication before and during the strike. As spring turns to summer, Teamsters are on the verge of taking the baton from teachers in states such as West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona and engaging in militant labor action. Information also based on United Parcel Service (2009). '', See the article in its original context from. workers voted 95 percent to 5 percent to authorize a strike. Ilana DeBare, Chronicle Staff Writer. This is a trick to get members to settle early, settle short and accept a weak contract. UPS driver stabbed; strikers charged - August 9, 1997 No progress made in UPS strike talks - August 8, 1997 UPS, Teamsters show little optimism as talks … The case demonstrates the importance of developing and maintaining relationships, even with those whom you may feel are adversaries. It rallied some 185,000 delivery-workers across the nation and was the largest strike of the decade. This year, Teamsters around the country voted in June to authorize a strike, but union brass took no steps to mount a serious strike threat against the company. ''We continue to believe we made a very good offer,'' said Gina Ellrich, a U.P.S. Should members choose to strike, it would be the first at UPS since a 16-day walkout in the summer of 1997. "It is time that we break the logjam at the negotiating table," said James Hoffa . But the union insists that the main obstacle is the company's refusal to turn more part-time jobs into full-time ones. MGT702 : Negotiation , Bargaining and Advocacy Assessment Item 1. But the seeds of the victory were planted a year earlier when the International Union launched a contract campaign to mobilize members and prepare for contract negotiations. Found insideThis book reveals how UPS managed to displace General Motors—the very symbol of American capitalism—to become the largest private-sector unionized employer in the United States; its long, tumultuous history with the International ... In recent days, teamster leaders have sent urgent letters to hundreds of union halls telling them to be prepared for a long strike. It won widespread public support, created thousands of full-time jobs, safeguarded pensions at a time when pension plans at private companies were largely being dissolved, and won a strike at a time when unions everywhere were losing. Teamsters went on strike. We also saw clearly that in your messages you need steak and sizzle, facts along with powerful images that touch people’s emotions, not just their intellect. The last strike by UPS workers in 1997 lasted more than two weeks . Carey refused to put the weak offer to a vote. Low-wage part-time jobs were on the rise. Teamsters rallied with labor and community allies under the slogan, “Part-Time America Won’t Work.”. UPS Strike #377111 CBS Evening News for Friday, Aug 15, 1997 View other clips in this broadcast → Material supplied by VTNA may be used for educational analysis or research only. Throughout negotiations, UPS has remained focused on winning concessions from the Teamsters and General President James P. Hoffa, the son of the notorious Jimmy Hoffa. 2017.11.03. The company achieved $51.5 billion in 2008 revenues and has more than eight million customer contacts per day. The 1997 UPS strike was one of the largest and most successful national strike victories since the 1970s. At the start of negotiations the primary issues focused on traditional areas such as wages and health and retirement benefits. There were few trained spokespeople, since the company did not have the public disclosure obligations typical of publicly traded firms. August 19, 1997 Tentative UPS Strike Settlement. . Violence at work, ranging from bullying and mobbing, to threats by psychologically unstable co-workers, sexual harassment and homicide, is increasing worldwide and has reached epidemic levels in some countries. Found inside – Page 148TDU would help networks among all unions to support struggles at the local , national , and international levels , as well as alliances with community , religious , and civil rights organizations.35 The UPS Strike On Labor Day , 1997 ... Under the company's proposal, a part-time worker who started at $8 an hour would earn $10.50 after five years and get a $1,530 bonus. 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