HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – Time’s running out for UPS to reach an agreement with its unionized workers. Rallies have been taking place all over the country in support.
If the UPS International Teamsters and UPS don’t come to an agreement by July 31st, 340,000 UPS employees will go on strike.
“We’re going to fight’em and were not going to stop,” someone said during the rally.
On Wednesday, dozens of UPS employees, community members and some government officials were at USW Hall in Steelton for a rally in support of UPS International Teamsters in their fight for better wages and working conditions.
Especially part-time employees, which makes up about 55% of the UPS workforce.
“We have part-timers who are homeless, we have part-timers who are on public assistance, we have single mothers trying to take care of families,” said International Teamsters Secretary Treasurer Fred Zuckerman.
Justin Seitz has been an employee at UPS for 16 years and this is his 4th time going through negotiations.
Seitz said, “It’s time for change, the workers want better working conditions……We come to work every day, we give our all, they strive off of our hard work.”
UPS delivers 25 million packages a day and since COVID profits have tripled.
“Making work extremely busy for all of you, back breaking work, that you do in brutal conditions and make barely 20-dollars an hour,” someone said during the rally.
State Rep. Mark Rozzi (D-Berks) was marching at the rally with his community to send a message to President Biden.
“My fear is that if the president steps in and tries to push both sides of just to come to a deal that the workers of this country would not get a fair deal,” Rozzi said.
If the hundreds of thousands of UPS employees go on strike, people will feel the impact.
“I know that a lot of people really depend on online purchasing for everything from basic household needs, to presents, to all kinds of things,” said Penn State University labor and employment professor Paul Clark.
Zuckerman said they are meeting with UPS on Tuesday.
More rallies will be taking place around the state this week:
-8 a.m. July 20th at the UPS facility in Philadelphia, 15 E. Oregon Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19148
-8 a.m. July 21st at the UPS Customer Center in Pittsburgh, 1821 Beaver Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15233
UPS sent a statement to ABC News saying, “We are prepared to increase our industry-leading pay and benefits, but need to work quickly to finalize a fair deal that provides certainty for our customers, our employees and businesses across the country.”