Workers Picket UPS Centers in Ventura, Newbury Park

Joining a nationwide strike, local workers with the United Parcel Service took to the streets Monday setting up pickets outside the company’s distribution centers in Newbury Park and Ventura.

The loud animated pickets organized by the local Teamsters union, which represents the more than 600 UPS workers in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, delayed the handful of deliveries that went out Monday. The interference forced several local manufacturers to scramble for alternatives to ship their products to market.

With workers on the picket lines, company supervisors and managers stepped in to handle high-priority packages.

At the Newbury Park UPS branch, eight supervisors climbed into some of the trucks in a fleet that usually keeps 65 drivers busy with deliveries in eastern Ventura County.

Chris Klostermann, who supervises truck loaders, called the transition hectic and expected to work overtime Monday.

“We want [the strike] to be over,” he said. “We’re urging everybody to settle it.”

The Newbury Park branch expected to deliver only about 600 packages Monday as opposed to 18,000 on a normal business day, said Tom Reagan, the office’s business manager. UPS picked up packages from only 50 of its 2,400 accounts and many of those involved emergency medical supplies.

Reagan said he feared some customers will make a permanent switch to a different carrier, which will result in layoffs among the staff of 215 people.

In Ventura, about 50 strikers waved signs and blew high-pitched whistles as they marched in front of the distribution center on Palma Drive.

As of Monday morning, no workers had crossed the line to help make deliveries out of that center, said Lyle Barnett, a Teamsters representative.

“I think it’s working,” Barnett said Monday morning. “Normally, we put out between 50 and 60 trucks from here. So far today, they’ve put out three.”

As one truck--driven by a company manager--left the distribution center, a car loaded with striking workers followed.

“We call that ambulatory picketing,” Barnett said. “We take [the strike] to wherever they’re doing business. We want people to know what’s going on here.”

Inside the distribution center, half a dozen UPS managers tried to make good on next-day, two-day and three-day deliveries, which are part of the company’s priority services, said David Achzet, a quality control manager who came up from West Los Angeles to help in Ventura on Monday.

“We’re all putting in whatever it takes to make good on those commitments,” Achzet said. “Still, I think this is really irresponsible of the union to give up on negotiations.”

Ventura police drove by the UPS pickets several times Monday, but reported no altercations or violence.

On the picket line, Julie Baker, a part-time worker for 12 years, said that besides benefits and pay, she is concerned about the scarce opportunities for part-timers to become full-time employees.

Part-time workers like Baker--who load and unload packages overnight--make up about 57% of UPS’ national work force and earn an average of about $11 an hour, company officials said.

Full-time employees, who drive trucks and deliver packages, average roughly $20 an hour.

Of the 611 UPS workers in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, 395 are part-timers. Although company officials had promised to create more full-time openings, Baker said it has been more than six years since any new openings were created.

Union workers are also concerned about workplace safety.

Trying to be more competitive, UPS now requires its employees to carry more packages and heavier ones--up to 150 pounds, union officials said. And workers must be able to make more deliveries at a faster pace--as many as 20 stops an hour, they said.

Those factors have caused more on-the-job injuries, union officials said.

Scott Murphy, a 17-year delivery man, ruptured a disk in his back three weeks ago at work. Murphy came by the picket line on Monday to show his support.

“This has been a good job,” Murphy said sitting in a van as fellow workers came by to check on his health.

He worried about the shift toward using more and more part-time employees. “Unfortunately we live in a full-time economy, and those people need full-time work,” Murphy said.

The two sides are also haggling over retirement benefits. UPS wants to withdraw from the Teamsters multi-employer pension and health funds, and has offered to create its own pension and retiree health plans.

It would also take control of pensions and benefits away from the Teamsters, and union officials complain that the change would give UPS too much power.

The first day of the strike crippled some local manufacturers that depend on UPS.

At Deckers Corp., a shoe manufacturer and UPS’ second largest customer in Ventura County, the striking workers met a UPS manager’s truck with picket signs and catcalls.

“It’s definitely affecting us,” said Scott Nathaus, a manager at Deckers Ventura shipping center. “We’re going to wait until Wednesday and see if they work things out. And, if not, we have a contingency plan in effect to go to some of their competitors.”

Carriers including the U.S. Postal Service, the Roadway Package Service and Federal Express have all reported an immediate upsurge in business.

If the UPS strike continues much longer, rival shipping companies expect to gain new customers.

The regional supervisor of the postal service spent Monday afternoon working out plans with area managers to handle the upswing in business.

The Thousand Oaks Post Office, which handles as many as 2,500 packages per day, saw an increase of 30% to 40% on Monday, Postmaster Doug Leeds said. In Ventura, postal employees saw a 20% to 30% jump.

As a result, the post office has implemented a four-package-per-customer limit to ensure delivery trucks will not be over capacity.

“We kind of expect the impact to build throughout the week,” Leeds said.

Scott Hadly is a staff writer and David Greenberg is a correspondent.

* MAIN STORY: A1