Can Biden Risk ‘Backlash’ from Butting in on UPS Union Talks?
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Teamsters leaders and UPS returned to the negotiating table Monday in hopes of hammering out a new deal that would prevent 340,000 workers from walking off the job on Aug. 1. But as the July 31 contract deadline approaches, many are wondering not only if the Biden administration will intervene, but also what kind of political blowback would result from an historic labor strike.
With a potential strike possibly in play starting Aug. 1, even just a brief stoppage lasting a few days could result in billions in economic losses, millions of package delays and thousands of employees without a steady paycheck.
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The federal government has a track record of stepping in to keep supply chains moving during labor disruptions. Last year, it averted a potential railroad strike. Last month, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su played an active role in facilitating a tentative West Coast deal between unionized port workers and their employers.
But the administration has claimed it will let the UPS negotiations play out and Su has said she hasn’t seen a reason to step in. The Teamsters made a point of telling President Joe Biden and the White House to stay out of the contract talks.
A strike could put the Biden administration in a “cautious” position, particularly where the court of public opinion is concerned, said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research and a senior lecturer at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
With an election year coming in 2024, votes could be at stake. Sixteen percent of Americans live in a household where at least one resident is a union member, according to an August 2022 Gallup poll.
“It’s not UPS who’s going to elect Joe Biden, it is hundreds and thousands of UPS drivers and auto workers and actors and writers. They are the votes he needs,” Bronfenbrenner told Sourcing Journal. “He may get money from UPS, but the votes he’s depending on are those very workers that are going on strike.”
Pro-union sentiment has picked up steam across the U.S., with 71 percent of people in the U.S. approving of labor unions in 2022, Gallup said. This was the highest Gallup has recorded on this topic since 1965, and up from the 48 percent low-point in 2009.
“The administration needs to realize that the public supports the UPS workers,” Bronfenbrenner said. “Public attitudes toward labor are very different than they were even a year ago. There continues to be a great deal of organizing activity. When the Teamsters go on strike—because they’re in every single community, small towns, big cities—it generates much greater support for labor and increases in organizing activity.”
While public support for unions is high, government intervention doesn’t a guarantee a solution.
“If the administration tries to push a settlement, and it’s not what workers want, and not what the issues the public supports the workers on, that could really backfire for the Biden administration,” Bronfenbrenner said, noting those in the labor movement who “were pretty unhappy with the railroad settlement.” One such outspoken pro-labor politician, Senator Bernie Sanders, took big railroads to task for offering employees too few paid sick days.
The looming UPS strike comes as labor tensions dominate 2023 headlines. From the West Coast ports to Amazon warehouses and most recently at struggling trucking giant Yellow, labor unrest has been a common theme this year.
But strikes, and other budding labor battles, extend well beyond the supply chain. The Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America have brought much of Hollywood to a grinding halt, while the United Auto Workers (UAW) union began contract negotiations with automakers Ford, Stellantis and General Motors earlier this month.
Even for an administration that aims to appeal to pro-labor sentiment, taking these on would be a tall order.
“The question is, is the administration going to get involved in all of them all at once? Politically, it’s a whole lot of fights at once,” Bronfenbrenner said.
She also suggested that Su could play a role in how far the administration is willing to go in labor negotiations, saying that strategies may be different if the Senate officially nominates her to the permanent Labor Secretary position.
With just a week left until the July 31 deadline, UPS and the Teamsters have reached tentative agreements on several issues, including installing air conditioning in more trucks and getting rid of a two-tier wage system for hybrid employees who work weekends but earn less money. Their biggest remaining sticking point is wage increases for part-time workers, who earn a minimum of $16.20 an hour, according to America’s biggest package carrier.
