Local UPS Workers Confront Costs of Strike
With the hum of big, brown delivery trucks signaling the end of the nationwide strike, local Teamsters returned to the United Parcel Service’s Ventura warehouse Wednesday morning declaring victory for organized labor.
But for many workers, the high-fives and braggadocio faded at the cross-wire fence outside the Palma Drive warehouse. On the gate, managers posted the names of 14 drivers, loaders and a clerk who had been laid off--casualties of the 15-day walkout that cost UPS about $600 million.
“I kind of expected this,” said Jeff Bowe, a 22-year-old package unloader who lost his $8-an-hour, 28-hours-a-week job. “I don’t have seniority.”
Calling the strike “a good cause,” Bowe said he has no regrets. He hopes to be called back to work when business picks up. In the meantime, the Newbury Park resident will get by as a bartender at the nearby Black Angus restaurant--his other part-time job.
“You’ve got to work two jobs if you’re part-time here,” Bowe said.
Across the county at the Newbury Park UPS center, 65 workers--mostly package loaders--saw the strike end with pink slips. While company officials said many are expected to be rehired as business resumes, many workers who kept their jobs are having their raises offset by reduced hours.
The deal between the Teamsters and UPS management provides a $3.10 hourly wage increase over five years for full-time workers and a $4.10-per-hour hike over five years for part-timers. It also calls for the union to keep control of worker pension funds.
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Moreover, the company agreed to create 10,000 full-time jobs by combining part-time positions, if business conditions allow. UPS employs 372 union workers in Ventura County, with most of them part-time. How many of them will get full-time jobs is uncertain.
Even as they hoped to put lingering tensions behind them and get back to work, some Teamsters could not help but pump their fists.
“I think everybody feels this is a victory for us,” said Victor Vizcaino, a 30-year-old full-time driver now making $21.21 an hour. “Now the company can see we’re solid, that we have solidarity.”
Local UPS employees said they returned to a tense workplace Wednesday. In addition to the layoffs at the Ventura center, four workers there were fired for unruly behavior on the picket line, Teamsters officials said.
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Randy McLucas, a part-time driver, was among those fired. The 34-year-old Oxnard resident said a supervisor driving a car bumped his leg as he walked the picket line. McLucas said he retaliated by pushing the hood of the supervisor’s car.
“I’m going to fight this through the union,” he said.
“It’s good to be back, but we knew what would happen when we got back,” added Jerry Carpenter, a 21-year-old package loader. “They’re tightening down.”
Carpenter was one of numerous loaders who had their morning shift scaled back by an hour and a half. He said privileges such as drinking from a water bubbler were taken away.
Unloader Armando Leza lamented that 4 1/2 years as a part-timer--sometimes working more than 50 hours a week--was not enough to get him full-time work.
“I’m 39,” said Leza, who makes about $12 an hour. “I can’t be a part-timer the rest of my life. I’ve got five kids to raise.”
Business owners across Ventura County, meanwhile, felt relief as UPS trucks pulled up to their storefronts and carted away piles of late shipments.
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It has been a hectic two weeks at Rincon-Vitova Insectaries in Ventura, which sells pest-eating bugs to farmers. The firm relies on UPS to ship the insects, but scrambled to Federal Express offices in Ventura and Oxnard throughout the strike.
“It’s a relief,” said customer service representative Susie Meach. “The chaos of not knowing what is going out and when it will get there is gone.”
Other businesses said the strike has taught them not to rely so heavily on UPS, which handles 70% of small cargo shipments nationwide.
Brian Davis, the owner of automotive company PR Supply in Oxnard, said he will shift about 20% of his packages to another delivery company. About 200 packages piled up at the company’s Oxnard headquarters, causing the loss of $25,000 in business.
“I’m disappointed that the Teamsters and UPS didn’t come together sooner,” Davis said. “Whatever the next conflict, I hope we don’t see a strike again.”
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Hoping to recapture the loyalty of customers like Davis, UPS drivers were instructed to apologize to customers for the inconvenience and promise a smooth transition back to full operation.
“We’re counting on the drivers to get the customers back,” said Tom Provost, an Atlanta-based UPS community services manager who worked in Ventura during the strike. “They’re the ones who have that individual contact.”
As the strike wore on, some workers who consider UPS a good employer grew frustrated. Clerk Jill Nelson, for example, said her 25-hour-a-week schedule suits her fine, because she has time for her two teenage children. And even as a part-timer, she collects health and retirement benefits. “That’s why we went on strike,” Nelson said. “We wanted to make it stay a good place to work.”
Correspondent David Greenberg contributed to this story.
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