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More than 200,000 members of the Teamsters union at United Parcel Service began walking out in the midst of contract talks early Monday morning, mandating a strike against the biggest shipping company in the U.S. Although the union is in discussions with the White House, no one knows if President Bill Clinton will intervene. Apparently, a federal law which mandates the White House to intervene -- the Taft-Hartley Act -- is not needed at this time. But Labor Secretary Alexis Herman has issued a statement which calls both sides to return to the bargaining table until they can meet on common ground. Four key issues are still at the heart of the Teamster's union's strike, including the creation of more full-time jobs, an end to subcontracting, safety, health and pension. As a result of the strike, employees at Federal Express -- the second largest U.S. shipping company -- will be working double shifts until the UPS strike ends. Aside from Fedex, other major UPS rivals have reported substantial volume increases since early last weeek. Fedex, which normally handles about 2.8 million packages a day, claims it will not open any new accounts until the UPS labor situation is resolved. UPS ordinarily handles close to 12 million parcels a day and ships more than any other competitor. Last Friday, United Parcel Service and Teamsters union negotiators held continuous talks in an attempt to halt a strike. Obviously, a strike anyway. One Teamsters official apparently thought that as long as the talks went on, strike action could be halted. Most involved reportedly didn't want to strike, rather, they had hoped to negotiate a new five-year contract, replacing the existing one, which expired at midnight last Thursday. |
